Canadian motocross

Eh ?

Rollerball.

Take off, hoser

If climate and weather is the key factor, how do you explain tiny Sweden supplying more MX talent than Canada?

Its probably more cultural than anything else. 

Lack of access to tracks and facilities would be my best guess. I grew up an hour north fo Toronto and found it extremely difficult to find anywhere to ride, and when you found a place it would shut down. People are always complaining about the noise or pollution and ruin it for everyone.

"I assume the climate and weather is a major issue but I would have thought it would be relatively easy for Canadian riders to race in the US?"

You're correct on both. 

We have 8 races a year from June to August and most seem to be content with doing that. Once the season ends, they take some time off, and once winter comes around, they go down south to train/practice. Most of the guys work regular jobs during winter in order to pay to race the following summer. If they're lucky they'll get a couple of weeks to a month down south to train/practice before taking the summer off to race the Canadian Nationals. Some of the guys are also under contract for 12 months limiting them in what they can and can not do. 

Bottom line is they don't race enough. Very few invest in themselves to go race SX. Some can't because teams won't let them. They might be able to do one or two races with permission, but then you have to ask yourself if spending all that time and money out of your own pockets is worth it for one or two races. Most would say no. Supercross is not something you can do on a whim. To do it properly you need a good set of suspension, preferably two, and to spend a significant amount of time to learn it. 

Unlike Australia, weather plays a big part in it. We don't have the weather to benefit from riding year round or have a SX/AX season. The series promoters tried to build a SX/AX season for a few years and it just wasn't well supported. Aside from the attendance being low, some of the big teams didn't support it. They only get X amount of dollars to spend and extending that budget for an extra series is almost impossible. There's also a very short window where they can race indoors. Once fall comes around the arenas are fully booked for hockey. 

We do have a short Arenacross series on the West coast of Canada. Something like 4 rounds over two weekends. The problem with that one is that most of the teams and riders are based across the country on the East coast of Canada making the logistics difficult. Again, budgets play a big part in that. The series is mostly attended by some of the pros that live on the West coast. The guys in the East don't want to spend thousands of dollars to race two weekends for no money. That or they've already gone back to their regular jobs in order to pay for next year's season. 

Some of the US Nationals overlap with our schedule, so they can't make those rounds. Once our series ends there's usually 1-2 US Nationals they could hit. Some guys are injured or have nagging injuries, so they sit them out. Others either don't want to spend the money to get there or simply don't have the money from having spent it all to race our series. Some go right back to working their regular jobs. 

IMO, they need to race more (think money races, Mini O's, etc.), and some need to bet on themselves, put some sponsors together and race the US Nationals for a year. If guys like Kullas, Guillod, Verhaeghe, Paturel, Pape, etc., can make it happen from across the Atlantic, our guys should be able to make it happen from across the border as well. 

Obviously, for some that's easier said than done since they make a decent living. Forgoing a 2-3 year contract in order to go race the US Nationals could put them in a tricky spot. Leave a team where you get paid in order to go race in the US for a summer, and if it doesn't work out, the team they left has signed a replacement. The chances are that if they don't get a support ride in the US the following year they'll need to put a program together once again to either give it a second try or comeback to Canada and privateer the series. That might not be possible if they used their own savings. If they come back to Canada and they're lucky, a team could potentially give them some support. With smaller budgets, doubtful. Putting a program together and raising funds to do it at a high level is not easy. It takes a lot of money and that money is hard to get. 

IMO, I think if they could get their costs covered to race the US Nationals, and are able to get into the SMX playoffs, they would make decent money. Between the purse payouts at each round, the contingency programs from the manufacturers, potential bonus programs from gear sponsors, and the purse payouts and season payouts in SMX, they would do alright. Add in the exchange rate and I think they'd be fine. 

Edit:

I forgot to mentioned that guys like Guillod, Paturel, etc., were forced to put a program together. They didn't have any rides lined up. At that point, you might as well try and put something together to race in the US. That decision is less difficult to make when you're not leaving a salary on the table. You either try and put something together to keep racing with the hopes of getting a ride or you sit at home waiting for a call that might never come. So, what better way to try and get a ride than being out there showing what you can do. 

Everyone that follows our series knows that our top two guys shouldn't be racing in Canada. They've both outgrown it. When you're beating third place by over a minute, yeah... It might be time to bet on yourself. 

Talent comes in waves too.   Dusty Klatt had elite level speed for awhile,  but couldn't put it together down south.  He took a money ride in 06?  When factory ktm was interested in him... but they laughed at his asking price.

Darcy lange was good enough to win sx "lites" races too.  Had a pc ride,  I think a few podiums, and got cancer.

How many pro hockey players are from Australia?

Had a buddy that ran the third largest dealership in Canada. Shop was in BC. He was heavily involved in MX sponsorship and was familiar with the governing body .

From what he said it seemed a combo of unnecessary petty politics, weather , land availability, lack of funding and travel costs. 

I dated a chick from BC back in the day and spent a lot of time up in there and I couldn’t understand why Canada wasn’t turning out tons of world class enduro guys . The terrain there was prime for that discipline . 

How many Celine Dion's has Australia produced?

The best Hard Enduro rider in North America is Trystan Hart from BC.

Cory Graffunder, Bobby Prachnau, Guy Perrett, the most recent top guys from BC for off-road, but the list get's pretty big the further back you go.

I was curious and looked it up. There's currently 3 active players in the NHL, but two were born in a different country. One was born in Canada and the other was born in Wales. Both raised in Australia from a young age, so they're considered Australians. 

The other guy is the only one from Australia that was born and raised there who made the NHL. The only one in the history of the NHL. 

Fun Facts:

Canadians currently make up approximately 41% of the NHL. We have currently have 434 active players. The next closest is the US with 288. 

5479 players born in Canada have played in at least 1 game since the league was founded in 1917. 

All 32 NHL teams have at least 1 Canadian player. 

Historically, Canadians have made up for approximately 45-50% of all NHL players. That number is down now with the growth of the sport in the US and Europe. 

There just isn't much support for motorsport in Canada in general. I mean, even looking at four wheel stuff, Oz has V8's and a decent open wheel series, and we have what, the Sentra Cup now? There's plenty of decent amateur racing but you're doing it on your own dime and unless you can fund a move elsewhere, there's really nowhere to go.

There isn't much support for motorsport, but we do have other forms of racing. I think it's just not marketed very well or aired on TV much. 

There's the Canadian NASCAR championship, the Canadian Superbike Championship, the Canadian Rally Championships. 

I know the Canadian Karting Championship airs on TSN. 

In terms of open wheel there's the F1200 series. 

There's regional series as well. As you mentioned, you have to pay out of pocket and if you want to make a serious go at it to make a living you have to race outside the country. 

I don't follow any of those series so I have no idea if any of the guys are able to make a living off of it. 

I think superbike rider and 14x CSBK Jordan Szoke is probably one of the few who has. Current champ Ben Young. Miguel Duhamel and Pascal Picotte are two other guys that come to mind. 

Edit: 

We get plenty of snow and if you want to make a living racing snowmobiles you need to race in the US. 

Canada gave us RUSH.

Canada gave us Gilles.

Canada gave us Gretzky.

Canada’s moto scene is doin’ fine and they will deliver a Bad Ass MXer. 

Yep, and there's drag racing too, they're all in about the same boat as the motocross series. All the pro series are struggling. 

I think you're right about our riders, guys like Pedeson, Klatt, JSR, etc, right up to Wright and Pettis today could be or have all been at least solid top ten guys in the USA, although in Dylan's case I think he'd be better off in MXGP. But yeah, leaving a sure thing in a small pond vs taking a big risk in the big pool, I'm not sure I'd do any different if I was fast, talented and handsome. And Duhamel was a special talent on the road side, Szoke and Young are good, but not MD good. He was an amazing rider in his day.

As an Aussie that's been living in Canada the past 10 years plus, I have a somewhat unique insight into both countries' scenes. I grew up in Perth, on the west coast of the country, opposite side to the whole industry and majority of the racing scene. But in a 3 hour radius of Perth, there was probably 10-15 tracks. Even with the big mainstream sports of football, cricket, rugby etc there is still a big motorsports following and coverage in the media.

Based on my past 9 years in the Vancouver area, there's very minimal if any motorsports coverage in the media here, and not much of a following unless you're a diehard. I really didn't understand how big hockey was until I was a couple of years in. From my knowledge and correct me if wrong, but there might be 3-4 tracks in a 3 hour radius of Vancouver (the Island excluded). I've lived on Vancouver Island for the past year and there's 4-5 tracks in a 2 hour radius here, but I imagine the logistics going to and from must be a nightmare for any aspiring racer. The talent is here, but the opportunities and facilities just don't really exist. There's a metric shit tonne of off road/forest/mountain places to ride recreationally, so maybe it's just easier to go have fun in the woods than chase the unlikely dream here

They are at a competitive disadvantage because they have to race in kilometers per hour, which means they have to go a little faster to match the same speed of Americans racing in miles per hour.

Winter is six months and we ride sleds. Remember Blair Morgan. World snow cross champion. Canadian national Mx champion. 

I remember back when our family owned a dealership (Toronto area)- our rep told us that Suzuki sold more RM's in California than all brands sold motorcycles in Canada total (includes road and OR) 

Ontario has a crazy good mx scene. 4-5 health series with great ride turn out but i'm not sure we have any young talent ready to break out and take on the world right now. So yeh..................Oz is kicking our ass and it aint even close. 

We are going to bring some Arenacross to Canada! 

For a long time Mercedes sold more AMGs in California than the rest of the world so benchmarking toys against that state is tricky 

yeh yeh - i'm just glad you didn't want to compare Canadian vs Oz motorcycle road racers lol. I'm a Vet so remember the list of legends. Gardner, Corser, Go-show and last but not least Mr Doohan.

So maybe it's the 6 months of snow that's the problem :-) 

To be fair, Australia is kicking everyone's ass. 😄

Ontario has always had a strong MX scene. Quebec used to turn out some great riders, but no one has taken over the torch from Benoit. 

JSR, Dubé, Homans, Benoit, Tremblay, ...