What can I say about the racing and the Castrol facility itself? They were both great!
We hung out at the track Friday evening because they were having 'street legal' drag racing as well as Sprint Car racing on their dirt oval. I've never seen either so it was pretty cool. I walked over to the dragstrip and the first thing I saw was a motorcycle racing with a snowmobile. And the snowmobile won! I think the dude got up to 118mph.
I don't usually freak out over dirt but this was different. It was a beautiful dark brown with perfect moisture content.
It was so nice that Mark Perrin, of MPI, entered the final MX2 Jr class on amateur day. It was hilarious. He actually had arm pump while sitting at the line. There was a DNF so Mark didn't finish last. Sorry Mark, I had to.
He was all smiles when it was over.
Darryl waved the Blue Flag at him on lap #2 just for fun. We were all killing ourselves!
Here are Joe and Craig getting the finish line set up. Good dudes.
I almost had a Hannah-Barbara moment here.
Late in the week, the rumour mill was spinning wildly with the prospect of Dean Wilson lining up in one or both MX1 motos.
Here, they add fuel to the fire by applying the Lime Nine graphics to his 450.
Jake Lee was busy getting all the bikes through the sound check.
That's Josh Snider and Mason Phillips 'helping' Matt Lee with his track prep.
#12 Kyle Beaton tried out a wrist splint during practice but decided it wasn't helping his particular issue so I believe he raced without it.
Nick Evennou did all he could to become MX Forum's favourite rider (check out the sticker on his helmet) but he got a berm worm caught in his tranny and ended up 16th overall. Brock Hoyer is running one too but I didn't get a good pic of it. Brock ended up 8th OA.
#19 South Africa's Kerim Fitz-Gerald keeps his 'top secret' suspension settings on his hand.
8th and 12th place finishes left him 9th on the day.
First gratuitous girlie shot alert!
I always think it's a good idea to have Supermini races during intermissions. Cole Varty is fast!
This pic of Cole gives you an idea of the size of the table top just after the finish line.
Here's Charles Stancer of MXP Mag searching for clues. Elementary my dear Watson!
Thanks for the use of the Sirius Satellite radio during my travels.
Dean Wilson set the fastest times in both qualifiers but left the 450 in the trailer. I guess we'll never know...
Dean leaves Canada with a perfect score in 3 rounds of MX2 racing. Good luck at Ponca and Loretta's.
Teddy Maier had a solid day with a 2-2. Here he is getting one last look at Deano up front.
#72 Clearbrook Yamaha's Spencer Knowles actually led BOTH motos! He made amazing, aggressive moves to push past some heavy hitters. He eventually ended up in 10th OA and collected a Royal Distributing Holeshot award in the process.
The 'broadcast booth' was 'chock o block' full of MX1 riders during the MX2 races. It's where all the cool kids want to see and be seen.
#1 KTM Canada's Eric Nye pulled off a 3rd place. Look for him to gain momentum as the summer progresses.
The other big news in the MX2 was the Allison brothers. #21 Jared got 5th place overall! His brother Parker was 7th. Wow.
I don't know...it's a tight race!
That's Jody driving Mark and Amanda around. There's a good chance Jody could be First Mate on the run through Saskatchewan, starting Tuesday. Do it, do it!
Brett Lee is hilarious and did a great job sitting in on the webcast during intermission. Hopefully, we can get him on there again. Thanks Brett. Someone once said, in Brett's words, that "they wouldn't hire him to kick a stone down a gravel road." Now THAT'S funny! Here, I caught him doing some heavy lifting.
Hey-yo!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5qTP6v2Wpc
Jeremy Medaglia also came up and let us pester him on race day. Thanks Jeremy.
This is a pretty cool way to advertise and watch the races.
As Ricky would say, he got "two birds stoned at once."
Here's Liam O'Farrell climbing up to hang out with us. I think they were ducking me in the Putt Putt World Champs today at West Edmonton Mall.
This is how we do it 'westcoast style.'
The excitement this week was definitely in the MX1 class. With no Dean Wilson we assumed it was going to be another Colton Facciotti runaway but that was not to be. Dusty Klatt got into the lead in the first moto and he and Colton had an epic battle to the checkered flag. I've never seen a more emotional fist pump over the finish line. It was cool to see.
He was so thrilled after the moto that he forgot he had to go straight to the podium. Dusty went 1-3 for 2nd overall.
Jeremy Medaglia was the top Rockstar/OTSFF/Suzuki rider on the weekend. He ended up 6th. His helmet is cool and it looks like he's wearing an open-facer from the 80s.
#15 Mason Phillips spent a lot of time up by our webcast but was chicken to put on a headset. We'll get him next week. He, apparently, broke a bone somewhere in his foot but halfway to the hospital decided to head back for the second moto.
He ended up 5th.
Here's Ryan Millar getting ready to race. Sounds like people are riding at his private track this week so I'll crash that party and see what's what. I'm sure Ryan is happy to put Castrol Raceway behind him.
Tyler Medaglia looked good and was in battles all day long. He ended up 8th.
The big 'upset' was Colton Facciotti getting beat straight up in both motos. It will be interesting to see what happens in Morden.
His 2-2 gave him 3rd place.
Mitch Cooke's good summer continues. He finished in 7th OA. There are 3 guys you need to watch throw whips in practice and Mitch is one of them!
The overall went to #101 Cernics Kawasaki's Paul Carpenter. I have no idea what happened. Dusty and Colton were at least 30 seconds ahead of him in the first moto and then he just went nuts in the second. His 3-1 gave him the win on the day.
See you at the races...
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