Bigwave's "Calgary MX National" Photo Report

Well, the summer is just rolling along and I now find myself hunkered down in a hotel room by the Wild Rose track in Calgary.
Check that, now I've taken over Adam "Crawdaddy" Crawford's house in Edmonton to try and get this thing done, finally.
Sorry for the delay but with the webcast archive and car issues I haven't been able to sit down and do it until now. Actually, I have to hurry because I think we're heading to the West Edmonton Mall soon.

The weather was perfect all weekend long, the track prep was great, and our webcast seemed to go off without any technical difficulties. I had a listen to it and see there is a lot of work to be done to make it a more enjoyable listen so we'll see if we can improve it for this Sunday. Don't expect Bailey and Weigant but...

Let me start off by thanking our sponsors for making these Photo Reports and Webcasts a possibility:

http://www.arson.ca






I think we learned a few things about doing a live webcast this past weekend. We'll try to get more 'backstories' to keep the slow times more interesting. I'll try to have a few rider/mechanic interviews at my disposal to keep things moving too. Commentating is definitely a learned skill (like juggling...which I can do) so I would expect them to improve as we head east.

Wild Rose MX Park is a full-service facility with enough tracks to keep every type of rider interested and entertained. It's also really cool to be 5 minutes from downtown Calgary.


Wild Rose has one of the few cement starts on the Canadian tour. Here's Aaron Harvey getting his set-up just right. He's starting to put it together and got 2nd overall in the MX2 class Sunday.


Leading Edge Kawasaki's Brock Hoyer is faster than his results have shown after the first 2 rounds. He pulled a huge holeshot in the second MX2 moto and got 8th overall. Watch for Brock to put it all together very soon.



The Julies still cause quite a stir as they wander the grounds.


#12 Totota/Blackfoot/Red Bull rider Kyle Beaton showed great pain tolerance and lined up for both motos with a very sore-looking wrist. He was up front with #49 Canidae Kawasaki's Dean Wilson in moto 2 before the restart. He ended up 7th OA.
He hopes his wrist will get a much needed rest after Morden.

You can tell by this pic that there is some arm-favouring going on.




One of the stand-outs was #758 Jason Potter who rides for the DNG Designs/Allsport Honda/Fly Racing Team. He battled up near the front all weekend. He got 6th OA and turned a lot of heads.


Here's the Moto Jewel booth run by Julie and Chuck; two of the nicest people you'll meet. Thanks for all the hospitality along the way so far guys. I think you'll notice #1 coming by to have a look at some stickers.


Royal Distributing/KTM Canada/Thor rider Eric Nye is finding out how difficult it is to repeat as champion. He ended up 9th on the day.


Ok, this isn't a great picture of Wilson or the MX Forum/MXP webcast booth but it gives you an idea of where we were. Brady Sheren sat in and helped Andrew call the second MX2 moto while I ran around and tried to get some pics.


The second moto holeshot went to #22 Brock Hoyer of the Monster Energy/Thor/ Leading Edge Kawasaki team. Like I said last week, it shouldn't be long until he puts two very solid motos together. He ended up 8th on the day.



Johnny Balducci is back at the track and helping out #72 Spencer Knowles of the Clearbrook Yamaha team. "Spenny" finished 12th.


#29 Joey Leadbeater, who rides for the Murphy Motorsports/Magnum MX team, finished up in 15th place overall. With a good start he could be up near the front, for sure. His bike hits a note that almost has me reaching for my ears.


I don't even know who this is but it shows how much they watered the track to keep the dust down. It worked but made for some serious clean-up after the qualifiers.


#91 BC's Colton McLean, who rides for the Orca Bay Suzuki team was unable to compete this weekend due to a knee injury. He a super nice kid and at only 17 has a bright future ahead of him.


Nick Evennou has the speed to run right up front and proved it with his second place finish in the second MX2 moto. Once that #49 kid heads back south, look for a higher place on the podium for Nick.
PS Why does he always bang his head in the same place?


Nick's teammate #14 Teddy Maier is another guy to watch for. He ended up 5th overall.


But, of course, the story was how fast #49 Dean Wilson of the Canidae Motorsport/Monster rider is. He turned up the wick in the second moto and I think everyone who was there now knows EXACTLY how fast he is! He's amazing to watch...you'll see.
Here he is enjoying a 'rockstar' moment.


#19 is South African Kerim Fitz-Gerald. He's riding for the RTR Performance/Orange Motorsports (an MX Forum sponsor) team. He's having some bad luck so far but has shown good speed. He DNF'd moto 1 but scored 10 points in the second for 16th OA.


The womens class was all about Heidi Cooke again this weekend. It doesn't look like anyone is going to challenge her this summer.
Actually, Jackie Ross mentioned she was hoping to hit the final rounds so we'll see.


I hate it when people keep red-headed Julie waiting.


Speaking of South Africans, #28 Liam O'Farrell could use some good luck of his own. After basically landing on a lapper his right thumb looked VERY painful. He rode the sighting lap before the second but was forced to pull off the track and call it a day. I haven't heard the extent of the injury yet so I won't guess.



This seems to be team Toyota/Redbull/Blackfoot/Yamaha team rider Dusty Klatt's 'signature' qualifier move. I think it's way radical!
Dusty seems to be the only guy able to keep his teammate in sight so far. He got 2nd on the day with 3-2 finishes.


#101 Paul Carpenter stayed about the same distance behind Dusty the entire 2nd moto. He got third on the day with 2-3 finishes.


#30 is Tim Tremblay. I think he's the top Honda rider right now. He rounded out the top 10 in Calgary.


#3 Tyler Medaglia of the Rockstar/OTSFF/Suzuki team had a much better second round. I don't know what was up in Kamloops but he seemed like a different rider this past weekend. He ended up 4th overall.


I'm also giving their pit crew the 'enthusiasm award' for the weekend. They would wave like mad every lap.


I bumped into this guy at the Monster party Saturday night. I'm sure everyone remembers Bart Stephenson...I think he's in this pic, somewhere. :eek:


#46 Julian Cerny kept getting great starts and ran near the front for a lot of each moto. He ended up 15th overall.


Mason Phillips seems to be struggling a bit so far too. He was hanging out with us in the 'broadcast booth' for a while. He got 16th OA.


I'm sorry, did you say something?


James Lissimore taught me some things about 'photo perspective'...that's why the city looks THAT close in this pic of Kyle Keast.
Kyle is looking for a better finish in Edmonton, I'm sure. He ended up 12th on the day.

Anyone care to caption this one? I'm NOT touching it!


Jeremy Medaglia is also looking for some better finishes. I know he doesn't think he belongs getting 11th place overall. Watch for him to start lighting it up as the summer progresses.


The girl on the right even helped tear down the track on Monday.


But seriously, wait until you see how relaxed Colton Facciotti looks running up front this year. He picked his way through lappers, stayed low over the huge jumps and was never even challenged on Sunday. I don't know what it's going to take to beat this guy. I know that Hungarian dude, Kornel Nemith, is going to be close though. Can't wait until he comes back. Colton went 1-1 again this weekend. You know that word you're not supposed to say to a goalie? Well...


This guy claims to be from "Drury Lane" :wink:


Here's what the podium looked like for MX1.


Times sure have changed for The Champ.


The obligatory Champagne shot.


Ok, one more 8)


See you at the races...






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