Seems to me the Edmonton Observations struck a nerve.
Seems to me the Edmonton Observations struck a nerve.
Crazy that me going to Edmonton for a CMRC national and then taking the time to voice my opinion on the series (right HERE) could get me so much mail. And every single one of it was people voicing their frustration with dealing with the CMRC and the state of Canadian MX.
It just can’t be me right? Below are just some of the emails that I got about the topic of me going up there. Some of the emails I couldn’t print because the people within the industry give themselves away with their comments and I don’t want to jeopardize any relationships they may have with CMRC or any of the other companies that Mark Stallybrass of the CMRC runs that work at the nationals.
I also left out the last names of the emails because I didn’t ask if I could print these and I changed a few things to again, not hurt the people involved.
But yeah, the critics over there will say it’s a one-man grudge that I have and I don’t like Canadian moto. Despite me pushing for (and getting) feature stories on the web and in the magazines down here, despite me spending thousands of dollars of my own money to go to the Canadian races since 2000. It just seems to me that there are a lot of passionate Canadian moto fans like me that just don’t like the downward trajectory the series has been in for the last five-ten years.
Hey Steve, thanks for your insight. It was great to see you at Edmonton and nice to see that you still make the effort to come back home to your MX roots. You are “bang” on with your comments and opinions about Canadian MX and the CMRC and the CMA. Problem is I don’t know who is going to be able to “right the ship” or when ??
Anyway just wanted to say “Hi” (I know you don’t even know me) but I saw you at BP Saturday night having dinner with James, Billy & Donk and was impressed you would make the effort to come up here. I enjoy your weekly show and columns and we all appreciate the coverage you give Canadian MX (even if it is kind of messed up!).
Regards, Brent
Man, you nailed it. Years past I involved with putting on some races up here. I don`t miss the petty egos of the CMA planning events for the same day as CMRC and the other way around. It`s the riders and fans that suffer. Rather than reiterate all the points you have already made. Let me just say…I`m glad you said it. What a frustrating ordeal this has been. The racers should be able to put it to a vote. One sanctioning body needs to be removed. Being from a shop this is strictly my own opinion not the shop. Being from Edmonton I was going to hit the National as well.
All the best, Greg
Matthes,
You tell it like it is. Love it. I still can’t believe myself that CMA still has their dirty little hands in there! I am 41 and raced CMA back in 80s, CMX and now CMRC again. Your right, the Canadian MX scene for Pro Moto is not the same as late 90s and early 00s. This year the amateur scene has been picking up steam and all the guys that are now 40 plus seem to be coming out of the woodwork. Unfortunately for me a cross rut on a big double has ended my career again until plus 50.
Love the pod casts and how you keep the interview on track, it got me through 4 weeks in recovery this spring. Thanks for dropping some Canadian stuff into the mix, great stories.
Sincerely, Dan
Great column on the state of Canadian MX. I have said for years how the hell can they turn away the media & expect to grow. The series needs the media, fans & sponsors. They need to let anyone who wants to cover the series complete access to their events, my guess is it will never happen. Maybe you should start up a new series with all the pull you have in the industry it sure wouldn’t be any worse, my guess is it would be a hell of a lot better.
Keep writing your great columns, look forward to reading them all the time.
Brent
Mathes, Kudos to u for stickin it to stally and the cma bullshit!
Keep up the good interesting words.
Ron
Hello Mr. Matthes.
How are you today? I read your article of Observations on Racer X. I live about 25 minutes from Walton, Ontario which holds the largest motocross race in Canada. I haven’t been there in years. Why? I think it has to do with the fact that Walton is a very poor track to watch at(at least it was). I have been to more American tracks to check out the action than Canadian. (Red Bud and Unadilla). TV coverage is very poor here. I never know when the race is going to be on. American tracks are landmarks. After I watch every race I say to myself “that track looks amazing, I want to go there someday”. I’ve never said that about a Canadian track but maybe I’m wrong. I also been to 3 Motocross De Nations. Bud Creek, Thunder Valley and I went to France last year. I was really disappointed that Canada did not send a team. Why does Canada refuse to send their best team? In 2010 at the Canadian boys did well, 13th I think but I’m always left wondering where would we stand up if we sent our best. Who do you believe are the top Canadian boys right now? Do you think Canadian Motocross will continue? Thanks for reading. Always enjoy what you have to say.
Derek
Finally, somebody with the stones to say it like it really is.
Why Kyle hasn’t gone postal is beyond me. The guy does more for The Canadian Nationals than there own “official” media group and continually gets treated like a red-headed step child.
Good work, Richard
The “Kyle” in here is Kyle Carruthers the owner of Directmotocross.com which is one of two websites dedicated to covering the Canadian series. The other one is owned by the CMRC and is number two in terms of covering their own series by the way.- SM
Thanks for finally putting out there what all Canadian moto fans know but are too humble too say. Like all of them this power play is hurting our sport. These people are shameless self promoters of really nothing but themselves. To hear them tell it there was no Canadian mx scene before they’re arrival which is just so untrue. Yes the CMA dropped the ball and the CMRC is certainly not all bad but they have a lot to learn and a long way to go. Their arrogant attitude towards “outsiders” is one of the first things to be dealt with.
Thanks again David.
Hi Steve. OMG! i just learned more about our Canadian series in five minutes than surfing the internet for hours ( including the CMRC website ),thanks. Now i know why Colton is not doing so well. I can’t wait for the series to hit Gopher Dunes, i live one hour away and it’s my favorite track to ride, next to Walton, which i might not be able to get on in the near future. I have heard an un-confirmed rumor that since my club ( TVR – Thames Valley Riders ) switched insurance providers ( we used to get our insurance through CMRC ),the Lee family won’t return any of our calls to set up races as their roots run deep with CMRC ( again with the private club ).Again, this is un-confirmed. Love reading all your articles, this one especially this one, thanks, Tim.
Yep, the frustration among fans runs deep with the CMRC and the Canadian nationals. What are you going to do though? If they can’t see for themselves that letting go of their little egg and letting others help out is going to help them in the end, I guess they deserve what they get.
Ok, nuff said- here are a few more letters about a few more things:
With Mike Alessi running second in the Pro Nat’s why do you and Kenny still refer to the team as the hot tub company? There is a piano company that makes bikes but they can’t take a top 5. Can’t think of the name but it’s something like yaboma or something. When H&H is running second next year be sure to slag them with something like “that bro, ghetto ink company”. Seriously. Allessi is killing team fucken Honda and you rip on his team? No class man. None.
Todd
As Brotocross says, there is NOTHING funny about motocross. Motoconcepts is primarily funded by Leisure Concepts which is, wait for it, a hot tub accessory company. And a very successful one at that. We hardly “rip” on his team by the way. Sorry to make you so mad bro. -SM
Guys, I have to agree with Kenny on the Jamie Bestwick situation. Asside from him sounding like an idiot, Weeg and Fro have awesome timing and flow and Bestwick fucks that up. He is the Supercross wall jump of commentators. Is this some ploy by the producers to bring “extreme” cred to our sport ? We don’t need it. This move ranks up with “getting our ride on” before a supercross broadcast. To me it cheapens the experience.
Love the show. Keep up the good work.
Cy
Thanks Cy, the “wall jump” of commentators. Good one.- SM
Hi Steve, Kenny, Tits,
Just thought i’d email in to let you know that there is at least one person of moderate intelligents listening to your show! I listen to the show every week and most of the callers you get seem to be complete morons and ask some of the dumbest questions I have ever heard! Is there something about this sport that attracts fucking idiots? I occasionally check out the comments from people on racerx or vital and some of the shit they come out with is just unbelievable.
Anyway as I said I listen every week and love the show but just think maybe you should screen the calls and questions a little more as these jerkies are making the rest of us look bad!
Cheers guys,
Don
But Don, sometimes the dumb callers are the funniest. Who wants to listen to someone who is well spoken, calm and makes good points?- SM
Aldon isn’t a Baker he’s a Juicer and he gave all the right answers to prove it.
He says:
“I’ve never seen it personally.” -that’s the classic political line; all that means is he allows his clients to administer the shit themselves!
“We need more testing, for at least the top guys” -of course we do, why state the obvious… reminds me of the homosexual pastor preaching against homosexuality; if you’re guilty it’s what you have to say… if you’re not guilty you’d talk about ways to catch the cheaters rather than pass the buck to the powers that be.
“PEDs don’t help the guys who don’t put the work in or the guys with crappy bikes” -this is the classic line I’ve heard from many PED users in various sports… it’s kind of like a personal justification for a moral dilemma…. And in Aldon’s case, he wasn’t asked directly about how PEDs help, he simply worked that into the conversation, which begs the question of why he’d mention that.
Aldon best change his formula answers else he be popped for the cheater he truly is.- Eight Pack
Thanks for the email and keep an eye out for those black helicopters, they’re always there man.-SM
Zup Matthes.
1: I listen to you guys talking about Dungeys KTM and the WP Forks <— you were curious like me to know if they were similar to Showa / KYB, why didnt you ask ROB that when he was on , probably RG3 are tight liped about the internals and factory wont say much, but i think factory connection is doing the offroad WP factory racing maybe you should ask a dude at f-connection if there is similaritys or if there is a huge differnce i guess there is differene cause it is offroad but not that radical.
The internals of the WP fork are supposed to be a lot like Showa as WP hired a Showa guy away a few years ago. There were rumors of a lawsuit even from Showa as the forks were supposed to be such direct copies of Showas. Of course, Rob wouldn’t have told us any of this and I didn’t think it was worth asking. -SM
2. When Jason Thomas stops racing he should be a reporter of some kind, maybe not as bad as you? 😉 but that guy is smart and hes opinions seems realistic and hes been around longer then pretty much anyone out there right now, he is a cool guy and had a chat with him when he was here a couple of years ago, that dude earns respect even if he is not a top 10 rider who cares.
JT is great at anything he does except racing dirt bikes. Wait for it… thank you very much, I’ll be here all week. Nah, JT is one of my good friends, I’ve known him for 15 years and he is looking to get into the media side of things when he hangs up the boots. Which is probably at the end of this year. I’d like to think I helped him get some good traction in the media end of things by using him and exposing him to so many people. That’s why it’s going to suck when he takes my job sometime.- SM
3. Next pulp mx show maybe you should call up villopoto and talk about hes future “ideas about going to europe and race? He said he maybe do that after 3 more year in us? He said : Everybody wants go to united states and race, but what if a top rider would go to europe.
That RV, he sure is good at PR. No chance he goes to Europe except if it’s to go and vacation.-SM
4.Ricky Carmichael riding a Pro Circuit suzuki rmz 450? Reason / why ? Is he helping out with R&D ?
He’s always ridden a Pro Circuit bike and I’m sure his loyalty to Mitch Payton at PC suppasses his loyalty to Yoshimura-SM
5. I guess you wont come to sweden and miss out all the hot chicks here?
I wanted to go badly, almost went. It was close trust me. But yeah, tell the hotties to not cry that much, I’m married.-SM
6. Is it possible for me to call in on the show and ask a question from swe cause that gay o rourke is calling all the time?
Yeah you can call in and then when you say you’re from Sweden, Kenny can insult you and make fun of you for that. -SM
7. Oh yeah back to dungeys bike, the overheating issues is as far as i know wrong. That fan radiator thing you talked about is a part you can buy from the powerparts catalog, not even secret factory over it, maybe some tweaks as usual but overheating problems no? btw let me guess who is the top guy that thinks dungeys bike looks bad? Chad Reed ? He has been talking about Mosses bike alot and the setup in sx. But i think it is wrong , if you win or second to stewart in the best series in the world it works better then everyone elses factory bike out there?
8. And to all the Kenny haters out there , my answer to them is : SUCK ON THE ZACK Fuckers!
9. How can Roczen be aloud to wear that jewel chain around the neck ? What if he gets in a crash and that big neckchain is getting stuck in some weird angle on another bikes, that will rip hes head off, just saying…
Thanks for a good show, i enjoi the show (ps put a electrical collar on tits), he is sleeping some time lol. And btw Team HANNY All the way bro!
Yes, Team Hanny bro. I’m there with you.-SM
// Mike!
