With most of the snow gone, off-road racers in Western Canada are busy preparing their bikes for another season. They have only two and a half months before the Canadian Enduro Championship (CEC) gets going, and perhaps even less time before their local series starts up. But for many, especially B.C. riders, it’s the Desert 100 Race in April that signals the start of the season.
For the past three years this event, which takes place in Odessa, Washington, has been won by B.C.’s Bobby Prochnau. Although he wasn’t successful in defending his title again this year, Prochnau still walked away with a second-place overall finish.
The tall 28-year-old, who is from a small town in southern B.C. called Savona, started his racing career in 2003. Two years later, he had worked his way up from Intermediate to Pro and ever since then, has dominated the Canadian enduro scene.
RidersWest recently had the chance to chat with Prochnau, and in 15 minutes we found out what his goals are for this summer and where he’ll be racing. As luck would have it, his better half and fellow RPM Racing Team member Chantelle Bykerk showed up during our interview.
Do you have some time to talk with us right now Bobby?
Yeah sure. I’m getting ready to go riding.
We’ll try to be brief then. Winning second at the Desert 100, were you a little disappointed?
A little bit but it was good. The rider who won is a super good rider. You go to the U.S. and with the talent there, you never know who’s going to show up. I don’t feel bad one bit about getting beat by a guy who just went to GNCC (Grand National Cross Country) last weekend and got second there. I still feel good about getting second, and hopefully he’s there next year to defend his title and we can do it over again.
What are your plans for the rest of the season?
Just everything we can in B.C. So Chani and I will go to all the local stuff, motocross if there is still off-road and then we’ll do the Canadian national pro series and the (GEICO AMA) EnduroCross Series.
So you will be defending your CEC title?
Oh yeah.
That will be five times in a row if you are successful.
That would be nice (laughs) but we’ll see.
What about XGames?
Both of us will be there so that’s pretty exciting (motor revs in the background). I can hear Chani coming up to the shop right now—we’re just going riding. The only other thing we for sure will do is the TKO (Kenda AMA Tennessee Knockout Extreme Enduro). We’ll hit that when we’re over on the east. Those are our for sure commitments, then it depends on how the money is.
Do you have any goals for this season?
To keep my Canadian title and just improve on my endurocross. I’m not pressuring myself too much for the endurocross series. I’m just going to try and do better than last year.
What were you up to this winter?
Just working as much as I could. I little bit of sledding. That’s about it. Actually, we did go for a few rounds of arenacross, which kind of got us hooked, so we’ll probably follow that series next winter to keep us in the riding loop a little more.
What’s your cross-training?
Being up north we’re late starters, so we’re kind of just getting rolling right now with riding and cross-training. Most of it is at home. We don’t go to the gym much but try and do hill runs.
You still work in the logging industry?
Correct.
What do you do?
I run feller buncher, so just cutting stuff down in the forest.
And you usually take your summers off?
I try to.
Do you and Chantelle get to do much riding together for fun?
Oh yeah. Every day. She’s sitting right in front of me on her bike right now.
Do things ever get competitive between the two of you?
No, I just try not to push her too hard so I don’t get in too much trouble. She’s pretty competitive with her brothers, I gotta say that.
On a personal note, how do you and Chantelle usually spend a Saturday evening?
Usually we are getting ready to go racing, but in the winter when we’re not racing we watch a movie or go out for Thai food—usually nothing too crazy.
Well, I better let you guys go, but before you head out, do you have any special thank-yous or shout-outs?
We should thank KTM, RPM Racing Team, Vernon Motorsports, RTR Performance, Riders Edge Suspension and for racing, Klim Gear, Bell Helmets, Sidi Boots, Leatt and 100 Percent.
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