The Canadian Invasion

While Canada is home to some of the toughest, widely varied terrain in the world we are not especially known for breeding top tier off road motorcycle riders. Outside of our insular community Canadians are known for being great hockey players, Olympic calibre figure skaters and damn good snowboarders. Face it, as far as enduro racers go, we aren’t even close to being the top when compared to the Europeans, the Aussies or the Americans. All is not lost though, as there is a dedicated and ever growing group of Canuck off-roaders who are determined to elevate Canada’s standing in international competition.

In three short years Canadian names have begun to creep into the top ten, and even top five and on to the podiums, at some pretty impressive races. With our own truly national series, and word that a Red Bull sponsored extreme race might be in the near future, we are on our way to that higher level of competition. How great would it be to be known not only for having tough terrain, but for having riders tough enough to tame it? To have Canadian riders, such as Bobby Prochnau, Jordan Szoke, Jason Schrage and Victoria Hett ranked on the same level as international enduro stars David Knight, Juha Salminen, Kurt Caselli and Maria Forsberg might seem like a long shot, but inch by inch our boys and girls are getting there.

Canada’s ISDE trophy team has been showing a steady improvement in the last few years. In 2008 BC’s very own Geoff Nelson led a very proud group of Canadians home. All five trophy team members, and the three club team members, earned medals at the Serres, Greece event. In 2009 Ontario native Brian Wojnarwoski came close to reaching his goal of a gold medal at the ISDE, but fell short by a matter of minutes. Never the less, the trophy team once again brought home five medals for five riders. In 2010 there are hopes for gold, and not only in the World Trophy class, but also in the Women’s Trophy class. CEC National champion Victoria Hett, along with fellow western wild women Jillian Bolso, formerly Kings, and Jody McGuire are all stoked to be the first women to represent Canada at the Six Days. There are also hopes of Jodie Foster joining the team as the third member, but as of yet I haven’t been able to confirm her participation. Team manager Lee Fryberger is excited to have these fast and fearless females join the team and represent the Maple Leaf in Mexico. With the event so close to home, 2010 is the best chance many Canadian enduro fans will have to cheer on their countrymen and women as they compete against some of the best riders in the world in one of the toughest events of the world.

Never one to shy away from a challenge, or his Canadian heritage, Marty Halmazna is
one tough Canuck. “The Party,” finished three consecutive Erzbergrodeos (2006 through 2008), finished twelfth at the Red Bull Last Man Standing in Texas back in 2007 and was the first Canadian to participate in the Hell’s Gate event in Italy in February, 2009. Not only was Halmazna the only Canuck, he was the only North American who made the main program. While not especially pleased with his 29th finish (out of 79 riders in the main), the tough rider plans to keep going and soldier on racing more of the extreme races. Fiercely patriotic, Halmazna contends that the best riding is at home; and he’s not alone. Endurocross riders Cory Graffunder and Bobby Prochnau agree that Canada (specifically western Canada, as all three riders are from the west) has some of the toughest terrain, and the best riding. In 2010 Halmazna will be one of a growing number of Huqvarna riders, and will once again to race against the toughest riders the world has to offer aboard his 2010 FE450. While he admits that it’s unlikely that he’ll be seen at the 2010 WEC CEC series, it might be safe to say that if this Canadian extreme race dream comes true, Halmazna will be there, front row, pinned to win.

Speaking of tough races and tougher riders, Canadian Shane Cuthbertson is no stranger to racing the extreme events. The Corner Grass Race team founding member is probably one of the most well known names in Canadian off-road riding, having competed in Europe and the United States. Cuthbertson is also an important part of the Corner Grass Hare Scramble race that takes place in Alberta each June for the last three years. In 2007 the Alberta native piloted his Husaberg into a sixth place overall at the Red Bull Last Man Standing, in front of fellow Canadians Cory Graffunder (tenth), Bobby Prochnau (eleventh) and Marty Halmazna (twelfth). More recently Cuthbertson competed in the Red Bull Romaniacs finishing inside the top ten two years in a row (2008 and 2009), with a powerful ninth place in both years. Erzberg was a different story, however, with an unimpressive finish. Graffunder, however, finished fifth place overall, impressing both the crowds and sponsors.

Graffunder was so impressive, in fact, that Husqvarna USA/Zip Ty racing signed him to a contract to race the rest of the AMA Endurocross series and the European enduro series. The young gun from British Columbia proudly attributes his success on the international stage to the tough conditions at home; riding through the Rocky Mountains and Pacific rain forests has conditioned the young rider to be comfortable in the rough stuff. Graffunder opened the AMA Endurocross series with a third place finish, behind KTM’s Taddy Blazusiak and Kawasaki rider Damon Huffman. When the series returned to Vegas in November, Graffunder finished eighth in the event which put him in the fifth in the overall points standing

He wasn’t alone in Vegas, fellow BC native Bobby Prochnau raced his way to top finishing Canadian at the final round, putting him in eleventh overall. Christy Williams, former Canadian Trials des Nation team member, raced the trialscross events in Denver and Las Vegas, finishing second and third respectively.
Williams, as some might know, celebrated her tenth anniversary with the Canadian Trials des Nation team, but did not compete on the 2009 team. In 2009 the team consisted of Jordan Szoke, Jonathan English, Derek Thomas and Andrew Young; as a team they finished 13th at the TdN in Darfo Boario Terme, Italy.
Trials riding can be incredibly difficult and even dangerous for unskilled riders, but many of the TdN team and alumni hope that off road and motocross riders will take advantage of the learn to ride and demo days. Once you get the hang of riding the seatless bikes, they are fun to ride, and useful tools for developing balance and finesse on a dirt bike. Many top tier Endurocross riders such as Geoff Aaron and Taddy Blazusiak have their background in trials riding.

Some might argue that our sheer size keeps Canada from ever having that unified “force” that many of the European countries have, but if you ask anyone involved in representing Canada on an international level, they’ll tell you that’s a cop-out. Russia is larger than Canada, and Australia is almost as large (and almost every European nation has a larger population than us too), and they consistently put together excellent teams. If they can do it, why can’t we?

Well, the short, clean answer is we are, slowly. Very slowly. The necessary steps to develop a climate for riders to rise to the occasion and match the higher level of competition are being taken, but things like this need time, and money. The riders are not divided; they all understand that above their regional and provincial identities, they are Canadian, and that’s more important than petty rivalries and arbitrary land divisions. “We’re all Canadian... and that’s what really matters,” seems to be the consensus.

With a new crop of fast riders ready to take the world stage, our home and native land might one day become a force to be reckoned with in the world of off-road motorcycle riding. It might be a lofty and long off dream, but it is one that comes closer with each small victory. Every time a Canadian breaks into the top ten at Erzberg, gets up on the podium at Endurocross, gets asked for an autograph by a fan, earns an extra dollar from his/her sponsors, the entire field gets closer to living the dream. It might take years, even decades, but eventually we will make it to that top tier. Until then, however, riders like Marty, Shane, Cory, Bobby, Victoria and Wojo will be working hard to prove that Canada can produce more than hockey players and maple `syrup.