Athletes Eric Jackson, Leanne Pelosi and Director Travis Robb heat up “Winterpeg’s” Premier of “Black Winter” . Prairies Tour Part 2 of 2.

Next on the Black Winter “prairie tour” was the fine city of Winnipeg, Manitoba featuring an IMAX screening of the movie and a hang session with athletes Eric Jackson, Leanne Pelosi and director Travis Robb. The crew at Royal Sports and Kings Snow, Skate, Surf along with Monster Energy wrangled up the snowboard community which is pretty hefty considering the town’s proximity to the mountains. But in spite of its isolation from anything considerably vertical and snowy it has produced some great riders and more recently the young Andrew Geeves (also in the movie).

Premiering the movie on an IMAX screen raises the energy level a bit especially when the director is also in the house and excited to see his work projected on a 72 ft wide x 53 ft high canvas. The fine detail of the athletes “crash-face” comes across much better on a screen that size and so do those sketchy but salivary big mountain lines. But better than IMAX is having the ‘real thing’ present and have the riders connect with the audience in person by sharing stories and signing autographs. Turns out some of the best stories came from the locals, like the history lesson that Leanne Pelosi got from a Flin Flon local. Yes, Flin Flon is a town in Manitoba and it’s named after a man called Flintabody Flonitan. Let that fun word combo soak in a minute….
As the movie progressed, the crowd showed their love for Leanne and Eric’s parts and gave the “that’s our boy!!” props for Andrew Geeves.  After seeing many of these premieres in the last few weeks I would say that Chas Guldemond’s part always leaves a hush in the audience as people try to wrap their brain around the number of rotations he does.

Montreal Supercross
Olympic Stadium
Montreal, Quebec
October 3, 2009
 
This past weekend the Monster Energy Leading Edge Kawasaki Team traveled to Montreal, Quebec for the annual Montreal Supercross in the Olympic Stadium.  
The team brought two riders, Brock Hoyer from Williams Lake, BC to ride in the Canadian only MX2 class and recently crowned Canadian MX2 National Champion, Teddy Maier from Fort Dodge, Iowa who was riding the new fuel injected Kawasaki KX450F in the MX1 class.
 
During Friday’s practice Teddy felt very comfortable aboard his new bike and clocked the fasted lap times, showing some veteran champions that he was serious about stepping up to the MX1 class. Meanwhile in MX2, Hoyer would log the fourth quickest time in qualifying. These lap times ensured both of the Monster Energy Leading Edge riders a good gate pick for the Main Event.
 
In MX2, the gate dropped and Brock Hoyer would get pinched off on the start. Despite being a ways back from the leaders, Hoyer put his head down and began to charge, logging the quickest lap time of the event in the process. Slowly Brock worked threw other riders into 4th and had a good battle with 3rd place finisher, Brady Sheren but couldn't make the pass before the checkers. Still a great ride for one of Canada's most promising up and coming riders.

Bonser Skatepark
Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Sept. 18-19, 2009
 
Last weekend Monster Energy teamed up with Billabong for the 2nd annual Canadian installment of Damn Am. This two-day event is part of a series of four contests held across the globe for amateur skaters. Consisting of a Bowl Jam, High Ollie contest and BBQ on day one and a Street Contest and Best Trick on day two, the Damn Am series has been a place for amateur skaters to get noticed.

 

The industry watches these events closely, and it's a great place for skaters to show what they can do, and have a great time doing it.

 

Day One - Bowl Jam and High Ollie Contest

A perfect Bowl Jam would be having Alex Chalmers as a guest judge and occasionally having him drop-in to show the skaters some lines. Well, that is exactly what happened. Alex is well known and respected in the skateboard world for his smooth and progressive bowl riding. Chalmers stoked the other skaters to get into the mood for the best trick jam. Highlights include Nathan LaCoste backside smith grinding at mach speeds and Adam Hopkins pulling off a trick on almost every corner and hip in the bowl, giving him the win.

Montreal, Quebec

Am Getting Paid is the largest amateur skate contest in Canada and brings in riders from all over North America. In its 5th year, the event had a location change to Le Taz (a brand new indoor skate-park just outside of downtown Montreal).  The riders were super excited about the new course, some of them saying that, "it was like skating an X-Games course."

Monster Energy had our sample booth set up inside the park, where we sampled two pallets throughout the event to spectators and competitors.  Our V.I.P lounge was the place to hangout, with couches, food, and music for the riders to chill out between rounds. Out of the one hundred and thirty five skaters, Magnus Hanson (Vancouver, B.C.) nailed 1st, Manny Satiago (Massachusetts, USA) 2nd, and Micky Papa (Vancouver, B.C.) 3rd.

 

 

 

Strathcona Skate Park, Vancouver, B.C.



Last Saturday was the ES Game of Skate at Strathcona skate park in Vancouver, presented by Underworld Skate Shop and Monster Energy. 

This contest has been around for years and has had a following of great skaters and spectators, and this year was no exception. Vancouver’s best were in full force, throwing down some amazing tricks.



 

This was the first Canadian event where Marketing merged with the M.A.T. team to execute a perfect day of skateboarding and sampling.  Monster Energy provided the DJ booth, where Vinyl Ritchie spun records all afternoon to create a perfect vibe. 

Magnus Hanson made it all the way to the finals and emerged as the winner.

(Sand Del Lee, Richmond, Ontario August 9th)
 
MX2 – The plan for the Monster Energy Leading Edge Team for this round was to stay on top and maintain their points lead. Holding on to the points lead is crucial as this is the second last round of the national tour. Monster Energy Leading Edge Kawasaki’s Teddy Maier is still on top and also increased his lead with a 4th over all by finishing 4th in moto 1 and 3rd in moto 2. Teddy’s teammates Brock Hoyer pulled off a holeshot in moto 2 and finished 10th overall and Nick Evennou struggled with a 12th in moto 1 and a DNF in moto 2. Now the team heads to Walton, Ontario for the Walton Trans-Can and the final round of the 2009 season. With all three riders inside the top 10 in points, it's been a great year for the team and hopes are high that all three riders can go out with a bang. The team is working hard to clinch their first CMRC National Championship.

Photos of the Vancouver stop are now posted.  Many attendees may have noticed Greg Graffin of Bad Religion cracking open a can of original Monster Energy during the set and El Hefe of NOFX wiping his sweat on a Monster Energy Golf towel then tossing it in the crowd.

 

Anyway, check it out here.

(Gopher Dunes, Courtland, July 19th)

Gopher Dunes is a sand track like no other. It has a global reputation for being one of the toughest tracks and conditioning is a must. This was very evident as the racers battled the roughest sand berms, woops, jumps and ruts. You would think getting a good start is the key at this track. It helps, but in no time you are dealing with lappers that constantly are filling your helmet with sand.  This track has always mixed up the podium and this weekend was no exception.
With the weather holding out for us, Gopher Dunes hosted one of the largest crowds this season with 40 Coca Cola and Mac’s Convenience Stores partnering folks also in attendance.

(Shadow Valley Raceway, Morden Manitoba, June 28th)

Morden Manitoba always has a surprise up its sleeve. This year was no exception. Week’s worth of heavy rain was not helping the already soaked dirt. 2 years ago Morden was know as the worst mud race in Canadian history and this weekend was becoming a mirror image.

 

Saturday’s racing and practice was cancelled as winds picked up and played havoc with tents. Once Sunday rolled around the weather started to become absolutely beautiful. As the riders checked out the track, more and more where pleased with the conditions. It was looking like we would pull off a great day of racing. And we did.

MX2 – Leading Edge Kawasaki Teddy Maier pulled out with a great start in Moto 1 and held his lead comfortably till the checkered flag. Maier 1st, Evennou 4th, Hoyer 6th. Best finish this season for the Leading Edge Team. Moto 2 Teddy started in the same scenario but unfortunately his bike couldn’t hold out for the duration.

 (Castrol Raceway, Edmonton Alberta, June 21st)
 
As riders arrived on Friday and gazed at the pristine Castrol Raceway track, many were in awe of the dirt quality and high speeds this track will offer. After racing the track myself on Saturday, I knew that this would be the race to watch out of all the rounds so far.

 

The Pro practice on Saturday really showed the speeds that were possible. Surprisingly, as the day progressed, the Monster Energy Kawasaki Cernic’s Team was nowhere to be found. Finally the familiar faces of Paul and Jack Carpenter and Bobby Kiniry began to appear on track although too late for practice.

 

The team was not discouraged; only more excited to get the job done.
 
MX2 – Once again Canidae Motorsports/Monster Energy rider Dean Wilson dominated with a 1st overall. This was Wilson’s last stop on the Canadian Nationals tour and he will open the door for others to chase for the championship. Wilson is looking forward to the racing ahead of him in the United States.

 

Following closely and charging hard was Teddy Maier aboard the Leading Edge Kawasaki. Teddy is now sitting pretty in 2nd is looking forward to dominating the rest of the rounds as the series moves east.
 
MX1 – Finally some changes have been made to the podium! 

Up until now Colton Facciotti has won every moto since this stop last year but his winning streak came to an end with fast performances by his teammate Dusty Klatt and Monster Energy Cernic’s team rider Paul Carpenter.