Foreigners at the forefront
It was a strange year for our Canadian Nationals, perhaps a bit disappointing for some Canadian fans. Both of the National classes, MX1 and MX2, were won by Americans this year. Not just won either, they were essentially decimated. Matt Goerke is a pretty solid top-10 guy down in the States, but he chooses to race in Canada now during the summer. Last year, he was riding injured for most of the season and our best, Colton Facciotti and Dusty Klatt, were able to beat him on most weekends.
This season, Goerke came in healthy and led the whole MX1 series right from the first drop of the gate. Facciotti may have had something for him, but he injured his shoulder at the second round and rode the rest of the series hurt. Klatt became a husband and a father this year and he looked pretty domestic on the track most of the season. He started coming on towards the end of the series, even won a round, but he was rarely anywhere close to Goerke’s speed.
In the MX2 class, Teddy Maier, a previous champion in this class, dropped down from the MX1 class he competed in last year and pretty much did the same in MX2 as Goerke did in the big-bore class. After struggling just a little in the muddy opening moto of the series, he won the second moto and the overall at the first event, and never really looked back. Our fastest young riders, Jeremy Medaglia and Kyle Beaton, were sometimes able to keep Maier in sight, but rarely actually challenge him. So what does this mean for Canadian motocross? How does it affect our race program when both of our National titles go to foreigners?
Showing their support
First, it should be noted that this is nothing new—we’ve been here before. If you look at the list of previous Canadian champions you will see it is spotted with American riders who’ve made the trek up here. It’s a necessary pitfall of having a series that appeals to fast young Americans who, from time to time, will win the whole thing. Unfortunately, we cannot have it both ways. There was a point in time when a ruling was instituted that didn’t allow foreign riders to win our National titles. This rule nearly killed our series. Unable to officially win the series, the American racers stayed away in droves, and their absence left our starting lines thin and the bottom line thinner.
The fact is, there just isn’t enough money in Canadian motocross, or enough top-level riders, to support a National series of the calibre we currently run. We depend on the influx of American talent and greenbacks to make our series work. Of course, we all cheer for our own, and love it in those good years when we win both titles—like we did last year, and actually usually do—but we have to accept years like this that keep it real. In fact, we have to thank these riders for coming up and supporting our series, and lending it credibility. We have to take them in as our own, and that’s exactly what I intend to do.
Shifting into supercross season
Now that winter is shutting down motocross in Canada, the emphasis shifts back to the U.S. and the upcoming supercross season. This coming weekend of October 20, 2012, I will witness the Monster Energy Cup, a one off all-star race of sorts. Riders from both classes will compete against each other in a three-moto format for a grand prize of $1 million. Any rider capable of winning all three motos, as Ryan Villipoto did last year, gets the giant cheque. It should be noted that Villipoto spent some time racing our National series back in the day. Go Villipoto!
Then in January, the supercross series fires up. Our newly crowned Canadian National Champions will likely be racing in it, as well as other Americans—like Bobby Kiniry and Tyler Villipoto, who also spent their summer racing with us. In a strange twist of allegiances, these American riders will now become my hometown favourites, who I will cheer for as adopted Canadians. Go Goerke! Go Maier! Thanks for representing the sport.
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