2006 MXON
TEAM CANADA AT THE MOTOCROSS OF NATIONS
The 60th anniversary of the Motocross of Nations was held in England in 2006. The English dominated the event in the early years and were still tied with the Americans at 16 overall wins. The Americans have been the dominate team the past few years. Ironically, the event in England is where the Americans made it a record 17.
After some organizational problems for Team Canada at last years event in Ernee France we didn’t want to take any chances and made a pre-trip to the Matterley Basin location in June for the British GP.
Good thing we did as we met up with people willing to give us a hand and got a good feel for the area. Main contact was with Geoff Davies of Par Honda. Geoff, his wife and two sons run the Par Honda transporter of Team owner Paul Rowlands. Par run a British Championship Team as well as attend a number of Grand Prix events with their fully equipped transporter and agreed to host the Canadian Team under their roof at the MXON for a reasonable fee.
Par agreed to loan us a well prepped 07 Honda for our Open class rider Blair Morgan.
They also put us in touch with Alan Brown of MotoXtreme who rented the team a Kawasaki for our MX1 rider Colton Facciotti. KTM Canada arranged for a factory 250F through the KTM GP Team for our third rider Marco Dube who competed in MX2. This saved lots of work and money as it negated shipping the bikes from Canada.
Paul Hensman of Rail-it Graphics provided dynamic Graphics and numbers for the bikes and Vince Goodeve topped everything off painting sensational looking helmets. Par even had some special stands made for each of the rider’s bikes which set everything off. Live Nations Dave Prater commented that he and a couple others conducted an informal poll and decided that Canada won the best looking team award.
The riders where accompanied by their mechanics who did a great job of working on the bikes and keeping their riders ready to go. Colton had Steve Simms, Blair, Anthony Turner while Marco had his old friend Mario Rivard. Marco’s lady, Isabel, also made the trip to help.
Carl Bastedo, Blair Morgan, Steve Simms (hidden), Colton Facciotti, Mario Rivard, Tim Marks, Anthony Turner and Marco Dube
We had booked our Hotel, the Holiday Inn, Fareham, which opened the month we arrived, in April. Turns out it was the same as that used by most of the American team and provided a great facility for the team.
After our flight problems to Ernee last year we arranged direct flights from Canada to London Heathrow for everyone, no missed connections, no lost luggage. We even had Carls assistant, Tim Marks go a few days early to check out the bikes we where getting for Colton and Blair to insure we didn’t have Ernee type surprises.
Blair was the last to arrive so we had Tim come to the airport to pick him and Anthony up as we couldn’t all fit in one vehicle anyhow. Turns out we needed 3 so Marco rented a car just to get down to Fareham and followed Carl down as he “knew the way”, right!
Steve and Colton traveled in Carl’s car and got the Ernee treatment, lots of laughs with Carl and Marco playing games. Colton wore his Team Canada helmet to help insure survival. They didn’t let Carl drive much after that.
At dinner, Colton was ordered down to the whirlpool. His shoulder had nicely recovered from his accident during the Nationals but on Sunday, two days prior to departure, he had pasted himself into the second part of a double while practicing and injured his knee.
There are times when you just have to ride no matter what. After hearing about the accident Blair sheepishly told how he had taken a big header while practicing on Sunday as well, a little nervous laughter by all.
The team had left Canada on Tuesday, a day early this year so we could get over our jet-lag on Wednesday and practice on Thursday. A track was arranged by Brit Paul Butler who had us all out to his practice track. Tim took Colton and Blair and their mechanics to pick up Coltons bike at MotoXtreme, Blairs was being delivered to the practice facility.
Carl, Marco, Mario and Isabel went to the track first thing to look for Marco’s bike.
The KTM Team had arrived from Holland overnight Wednesday. It was Paul Nunns bike he had used in just one Grand Prix so Mario checked it all over while we waited for the truck Tim had arranged for to arrive and take it to the practice track. Practice went well with the riders able to ride the bikes they would be using at the race and all seemed content with their bikes. At the end of practice Colton commented that he should have brought more than 2 clutches. MotoXtremes’ Alan Brown, who had loaned us the bike, raised his eyebrows and said, “For a 450?” Colton knew something we didn’t.
Blairs mechanic Anthony gives Colton a hand at practice while Carl looks on
On the way home from practice we stopped in Winchester for dinner. Blairs a bit of a history buff so after dinner he walked us through the historic sections of Winchester. We saw where King Arthur met with his Knights of the Roundtable and other historical sites.
Steve Simms, 2nd from right and Isabel, end of table, made it in this photo.
The Americans had practiced on Thursday as well and Friday morning at breakfast I hear a tire rep complaining to Roger DeCoster that one of them is saying he can’t ride his bike with the moose in the tube that the Euro’s use to prevent flats. Turns out that would be an interesting point of conversation with our team on Sunday.
The riders where going to try to get to Stonehenge Friday morning but at breakfast we decide to head out to the track together to insure all was ready. It turned out to be the worst day for weather. We had trouble with sound on Coltons Kawasaki but otherwise breezed through Tech Inspection and hoped the weather would break for Saturday. Because of the delays caused by the rain they re-opened Tech Saturday morning and let Colton bring his bike through for the sound check then which we passed.
Back to Winchester for Dinner Friday night and then to the Hotel. As we arrive and get ready to head to bed our CMA crew of Joe and Vera Godsall and Marilynn Bastedo show up late after getting delayed, but they made it.
Everyone was ready to go Saturday morning, we were all confident that we could easily make the A final and where hoping for as good a placing as our 8th in Lierop in 2004. The weather has cleared but its going to be muddy for the qualifiers.
The journalists start showing up to say hello, Roddy, a Canadian who transferred himself to Germany a number of years ago, another German, Matthias Schwarz and RacerX Canada’s Dawn McClintock. We knew the MXForum party team where lurking out there somewhere, respectfully leaving us to do our job, but watching our every move on the track.
Practice got underway for the MX1 and that was when our bad luck began. We just couldn’t seem to catch a break. Colton only got 4 laps in as he ended up frying the clutch on his 450, not a good start. Next up was MX2 practice. Marco finished 18th fastest and considering he was on the factory bike for the first time we felt that was acceptable.
Blair was 14th fastest in MX3 practice and that was a little unnerving as we expected him to do better. So, after practice we were all a little nervous but ready to go for the Qualifiers.
The first qualifying race was for MX1. Jean had scored a 14th in Ernee and we had set that goal for Colton. He finished 21st so that put us behind the eightball right off the bat. He had worked his way up to 18th but slipped a bit at the end, saying clutch again. With scores like that we wouldn’t make the A final.
Next up was Marco in MX2. Dusty had a sensational holeshot in Lierop and ran a consistent 9th most of the race until having a problem on the last lap finishing just as Jean had in 14th. Marco ended up with a disappointing 28th spot. Not good for our prospects, maybe it was a little nerves and pressure as well.
Marco got a good jump and then bogged down.
You have to understand, this is the World Stage. Quotes about the Nations by the winning team in RacerX say it all—Ivan Tedesco “You can’t explain this race until you come over and experience it. Words can’t describe it. The crowds, the fans and the atmosphere are insane” –James Stewart “I feel a different vibe that I never felt winning other races” “It’s crazy, it’s nothing I’ve ever experienced before.—Ryan Villopoto “The pressure is huge”.
To say we were in trouble to make the A final was an understatement. Once again it was up to Canada’s most celebrated off-road racing star, Saskatchewan’s Blair Morgan. Blair had led the team to its best finish ever in Lierop. This time we needed him to get us into the big show.
Things in the Canadian camp where glum Saturday afternoon, there was no finger pointing though and everyone worked quietly away on the bikes and waited for Blairs moto to determine our fate. Journalists covering the Canadian Team and Canadian Fans at the event kept their distance. Our British friends tried to keep spirits up. No one was talking about us going to the B final Sunday morning.
Soon enough Blair and Anthony head to the Parc Ferme to await the call to the start for the final qualifier of the day. We are joined by all the riders, mechanics, Marilynn and Tim. Blair is calm, he knows he needs a great placing. Other teams are having trouble to. Ranked teams like the Swedes, Netherlands, Ireland and Russia all seemed destined for the B Final.
It all came down to this last race of the day. Blair had finished an excellent 8th at Lierop in 2004. We needed that kind of performance or better. Even a 10th may not have done it for us. Blair calmly went out, had a decent start and when it was all over had worked his way up to 6th place giving Canada its place in the A final for the third consecutive year.
Obviously things were upbeat back in the Canadian pits. We knew that everything that happened today didn’t matter. We where in the A final, surely our luck would turn around Sunday. The MX Forum party team showed up and we all had a good chat. Things where looking up for Team Canada.
We had a bite to eat at the track as Saturday night we have to be there for the dreaded team introductions. We got through it all and back to the Hotel with the riders all headed down to the gym/whirlpool while Tim, Anthony, Mario and I had “a meeting” in the bar talking it up with a bunch of the Americans including old friends Bevo Forte, Davey Coombs, and Steve Whitelock as well as Jonathan Beasley, the Promoter of the 2007 Nations at Budds Creek.
Blair, Anthony and Carl grab a snack.
Sunday morning at the Nations, always a panic as practice is at 9:10. We breakfast together and then head out before 7:30 a.m.
The track is 30 minutes away during normal days but we are at the Nations so we plan on at least an hour, even at 7:30 in the morning. It’s worse than we could imagine. Roads are closed, to many accidents to mention, we are told there was even a casualty. It’s complete gridlock.
Finally make the decision to have the riders and mechanics get out and walk/run across the fields for 30 minutes to get to the pit area on time. A number of other teams doing the same.
Tim and I stick it out in the two vehicles, another heavy rainfall overnight has left the parking area a sea of mud. Thousands of campers stranded for the day in fields all along the way but their all cheerful as they are at the Nations and the sun is shining. We make it to the pit area and miss most of practice but the riders made it in time to get dressed and onto the track.
An argument ensues over the power wash area and we have to get some of the officials to intervene. Some of the teams take the nozzles off the hoses with them so they can go to a position whenever they want, others know this from past experience and bring their own nozzles. It’s a zoo at the wash bays until the officials can get it somewhat under control.
The first race is for MX1 and MX2 so its Colton and Marco. We all wait in the Parc while the riders take their hot lap. The horns are blowing, it terribly exciting. Back in and it’s the call to the line one by one. We are the 15th pick based on our result last year in Ernee so we give it to Colton letting Marco wallow in the 30th pick position. After Marco goes to the line we head over to the Canadian Pit Tent to watch the start. It’s electric. Marco’s late pick turned out to be a problem for him as those that picked last got into quite a muddy area and although he hooked up well coming out of the gate he got shoved all over by the big bikes.
The battle between Everts, Stewart, Villopoto, Pourcel and Townley is so good it’s hard to keep track of our boys. These are “Races of the Century”. The TV with instant lap times, position and overall Team order is a great help for us to keep track of our riders.
The Moto is a disaster for Team Canada. Marco can’t recover from his poor start and can do no better than 29th. Colton fries his clutch on the 3rd lap finishing 39th only ahead of Great Britains Tommy Searle who pastes himself into the ground on lap one.
#49 Colton Facciotti with some fast company #1 James Stewart, U.S., #25 Neville Bradshaw, South Africa and #7 Stefan Everts, Belgium —thanks Roddy
We are just beside ourselves with the clutch problems. Tim goes over to one of James Stewarts mechanics and gets a special one for Coltons bike. Marco has to go right back out in Moto 2 with Blair while Colton has a couple hours before he is back in action. Furious action in the Canadian Pit.
Moto 2 has Marco back out in MX 2 and Blair in the Open class. More bad luck and another disaster. Remember we discussed the moose, to keep from getting flat tires. Blair decided not to use it and got a flat. Marco was doing better than in moto 1 when the valve stack in one of his forks came loose causing him to catapult into the spectator fencing on a big step up. We finish 35 & 36.
As for the race itself, the come from behind ride of Tony Cairoli sweeping past the likes of Villopoto, Townley, Ramon, Rattray, Tedesco and Pourcel was a site for the ages.
Devistated but we aren’t giving up just yet. Now, we are in 17th if we can at least beat the 15th overall we got last year in Ernee. The last moto is with Colton, who now has the new clutch and our team leader Blair—Anthony has insisted on the moose this time.
Obviously we give Blair the 15th start thinking he has the best chance for points. After the hot lap we head over to the Team Canada Pit. They’re off and after lap 1 we are 21-22. That’s more like it. Blair keeps moving up getting all the way up to 14th on the last lap.
At one point, Colton goes to 21st giving us 14th place overall on the computer. Then, disaster again for him as a hole in the clutch case just as he appears to be moving up a bit causes the oil to run out and slows him right at the end, he limps around to a 25th. We finish a disappointing 17th overall.
While this is all unfolding the race up front is one of the best we’ve seen in our lives. Stefan Everts puts on an incredible riding clinic. His fastest lap times where recorded near the end of the race as he expected a challenge from James Stewart, who, in spite of everyone saying he was riding for the team, also put in his fastest lap times at the end of the race. 5 riders finished within 30 seconds of Stefan 10 within 60 with some great battles going on for the top 10 positions.
It’s all over, we aren’t getting to slagged, everyone realizes the tough luck we had in every moto. Our concentration now is on how to leave the property. They’ve closed the gates and won’t let anyone leave because of the traffic and accidents. Darkness falls, we make a run for it, slithering through the parking lots finally getting to a Bobby who is exasperated and decides to let us leave. We know the back way home from our pre trip in June and take it with no problems arriving back at the hotel around 9:30. We beat the Americans, finally, as they start rolling in around 10. Davey and I spar to see who can buy the most drinks, he wins.
Bevo announces to all that what the Canadians need on the track is Snow. Roger puts it more delicately as he says in a heavy accent, “Team Canada struggled on the track today” It’s 11 and more stragglers are just getting back. Our boys are all in their rooms getting ready for the trip home tomorrow. W’ell get em next year.
