Photo by James Lissimore
Shawn Maffenbeier of the Schrader’s Yamaha DC ATM PerformX SMX Racing sent me his updated blog. It was so good that it put me right in the action and I thought it was the best way to tell everyone about the most recent National in Moncton!
Quebec is one of the craziest races in the series. They’ve got freestyle guys jumping at half time, bands playing at night, and the track workers at St. Julie worked till midnight and were up at 5 am to make sure the track was ready to go. With the language barrier it sometimes creates problems but everything in the end seems to work out and everybody enjoys the weekend. Also changing things up a bit was the additional riders coming up like Jack Carpenter, Mike Brown, and Simon Homans. With them out there it was sure to be a battle right to the checkers. First race I got off to a poor start and was working my way through the pack when I went to make a pass and got tangled up with a nothing rider which sent me flying into the trees. Lucky I was okay but had to work my way from 40th. In the end I caught back up to 20th. Second race I got a much better start which put me in and around 10th place. After an epic battle with Kyle Keast and Jack Carpenter I ended up 11th leaving me with 16th overall for the day and 12th overall in the series. After the races we packed up and headed to the Champs House, "JSR”, to see what I could learn for the week.
Acton Vale, Quebec is where we spent the week with former Champ JSR. We rode his own private track on Tuesday and worked on some things, then on Wednesday we went to an old national track, Overton, which is only open for one week each year. Again we worked on a couple of things with my riding and with the mental part of motocross. Thursday it was back to the private track. Each night we would gather at JSR's house for supper and apparently the rest of Acton Vale eats at JSR's house to. There were always friends and family coming over to see Jean and it doesn’t matter who you are he treats everyone the same. After three days of riding with the Champ I was ready for Moncton New Brunswick.
The dirt was red and the skies were blue today at Riverglade MX Park in Moncton. After a little bit of rain Saturday night the track was looking extremely good in the morning. The track rutted up and got rough after practice and qualifying. The races were going to be good with the track having lots of different lines in the corners allowing us to pass and make the crowd excited to be there. Speaking of the crowd, the people from around Moncton packed the stands and lined the side of the track like I have never seen before. It was cool to see the crowd go wild over a pass or an intense battle. The first race I had 11th gate pick which gave me a good starting position. I came out of the gate and was in and around 10th place. The rocks were flying and the dust was thick for the first couple laps but once the pack started to spread out it was time to put on a charge and make up some ground. As I was trying to chase down 9th place I got kicked sideways going into a corner and just about ended up in a pond. I had to jump off and pull my bike back and in that time I was passed and was down to 13th. Once I was back on the track it was time to charge again and see if I could make up some lost ground. I got up to 10th place and that is where I finished out the first race. The second race I got another decent gate pick and got off to an even better start then the first moto putting me into about 7th place. I held seventh till just before the half way mark where I laid the bike over in a tight corner. The 8th place rider got around me but I was able to get up quickly and start chasing him down to get back my position. There was a three second gap between me and the 7th place guy at the finish. 8th in moto 2 and 8th over all for the day. The best finish of the year and the best finish to date for me. We are now headed back to Ontario to Ottawa for the Second last race of the series.
Oh, one last thing. My biggest fan sent me a picture where he put 129 tattoos all over his face and body! Check it out and thanks for the continued support!.
Follow Shawn on Facebook and Twitter and at www.smxracing.ca
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