BLUE COLLAR PRIVATEER
Remembering a Moto Christmas
I
just finished draining the gas out of my bikes and putting them away for the winter. Even though I haven’t raced in a long time, I still really enjoy moto-ing and putting my-
self through torture week-in and week-out. I’ve had a nagging back injury for the last six years and after many trips to spe- cialists and being sent for MRIs, CT Scans, X-rays and, of course, physiotherapy, they think it may be that my SI Joint has been out of place for quite some time. As is the case for most riders, injuries are part of the game,
but nagging injuries can sometimes become depressing, espe- cially as it seems no one can pinpoint exactly what is wrong. They still aren’t 100 percent certain this is the problem, but in the last couple months it does seem that it may be getting bet- ter. I’ve been going to a new chiropractor who has been trying to get the SI Joint in place and stabilized. Don’t get me wrong, this article isn’t about ‘poor me’ be-
cause I do have a lot to be grateful for. But when you love something so much and it is temporarily taken away, you’re willing to do almost anything to get back that incredible adren- aline rush you get from racing your dirt bike around the track. There is no other feeling like it in the world. We are expecting snow any day and that means, unless I
take a trip south of the border, I won’t see any seat time until spring. What I have to look forward to is Christmas, as it is always a
By Jason Frenette
“My sister was all bummed out but I wasn’t going to allow this day to go down in flames...”
special time of year for me. Usually you’re around the ones you love and, of course, you al- ways get a visit from old Saint Nick. When I was 12 years old, I was as anxious as a cat on a hot tin roof come Christmas time. I remember waking up before the crack of dawn and I knew Mr. Claus had to have left me something special as I wasn’t that rotten a kid. I proceeded to wake up the entire house, which consisted of my sister and my mother,
neither of whom were as excited as I was. As my sister and I rushed into the living room to devour our presents, the first thing I noticed was my poor sister’s budgie hanging up- side down in the cage. I didn’t realize at the time that birds don’t sleep upside down like bats. Yes, my poor sister’s bird had indeed died on Christmas Day. A definite bummer for my sister. Anyway, back to me. My sister was all bummed out but I wasn’t going to allow this day
to go down in flames, so I proceeded to go for my stocking. I was correct: I must have been a pretty good kid during the past year. First thing I pulled out was a bitchin’ pair of JT gloves and any of you old-school dudes will remember JT gloves came with a black wiper on the index finger that was supposed to be used to wipe your goggle lens. They never worked but they looked ultra-trick. Next out came a set of Smith goggles that had a battery-powered fan to prevent the lens
from fogging. Today goggles come with lenses that are already anti-fog. It’s funny to re- member the gimmicks from years past but we’ll probably be saying the same thing about the current products 15 to 20 years from now. So far my Christmas was looking good. I also had the usual stocking stuffers of underwear, socks and a couple of dirt bike maga-
zines. At that time it was Dirt Bike or Motocross Action. Times have really changed with the number of motocross magazines available and, of course, access to the internet. My sister was still weeping hysterically over Raymond the budgie but it hadn’t put a damper on my moto Christmas parade.
Next I started dipping into the big stuff. I
noticed as I was opening my presents that none of them had anything to do with mo- tocross, just the regular old normal every- day kid stuff. When I came down to my last present I almost started to do my own pity party and it didn’t have anything to do with Raymond the dead budgie. My mom then informed me I had one more present. There was a white envelope stuck in the middle of the tree wedged in between the lights and ornaments and, yes, Old Saint Nick had left me one more surprise present. When I opened up the envelope I no-
ticed three tickets to the opening round of the AMA Supercross Series in Anaheim, California. Indeed Santa must have read my letter that I sent to the North Pole be- cause that was on the top of the list. Wow, what a Christmas. Too bad about my sis- ter’s budgie but we all got over it as we packed our bags to go south that next month to watch the race. What an awe- some Christmas gift for a 12-year-old boy. Now that I think about it, what an awe- some Christmas present that would be for the mid-30-year-old dude that I am today. I think I better get started on my list to Old Saint Nick because Christmas is just around the corner. As far as the Canadian Nationals this
year, what can a guy say? The 450F Class Colton Facciotti had the fastest raw speed but two devastating crashes took him out of the championship, handing the champi- onship to Dusty Klatt who came from a big points deficit and chased down Bobby Kiniry, a New Yorker riding for the OTSFF Suzuki Team. The 250F Class was also a good fight between eventual winner Tyler Medaglia and Teddy Maier. Tyler’s brother Jeremy got an impressive third overall in the championship. I want to do a shout-out to the Allison brothers who finished fifth and sixth in the champi- onship. The Allisons are local boys for me. I also have to mention the Canadian Mo- tocross of Nations Team. Before the event people were calling them the B Team. The team of Kyle Keast, Jeremy Medaglia, and Kaven Benoit put the team into the A final with respectful finishes by all three racers. Congratulations to all the Champions. Happy Holidays to all and I hope every- one has an awesome Christmas and Happy New Year.
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