Jesse Royan takes the holeshot on Sunday afternoon during SMA/ACM Shootout action at the Lucas Bachman Memorial Raceway. Taylor Weaver Meridian Source
It was race weekend at the Lucas Bachman Memorial Raceway as an interprovincial shootout brought in motocross riders from throughout Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Alberta Championship Motocross (ACM) played host to the Saskatchewan Motocross Association (SMA) this past weekend at the local track, and according to ACM vice president, Bobby Warring, it was one of the best tracks he’s ridden in a long time.
“The weekend was awesome. As far as the track goes, that’s probably the best prepped tracked I’ve ridden in years, it was just fantastic,” said Warring, who hasn’t raced in the Border City since 2005.
“Lloyd was an unreal host; I’d come back in a heartbeat.”
But Warring wasn’t the only one taking notice of the on-track conditions.
“The weekend has been great. The track’s better than I’ve ever seen it here,” said 14-year-old Colton Beattie, who is part-way through his first season as a sponsored rider with the team from Lloydminster Honda.
“We had rain on Saturday night and they tilled the track really deep, so it really helped the moisture in the track today, and it’s really kept the dust down.”
Lloydminster Honda put a team of four riders together this season including Beattie, Bentley Tondu, local pro, Jesse Royan, and the late Lucas Bachman’s sister, Charity, who had to take time off from racing due to cancer treatment but has since gotten back on the bike.
Kelly Briggs, better known locally as “Briggsy,” is the Powerhouse manager at Lloydminster Honda as well as the sponsor of the Lloydminster Honda motocross team.
For Briggs, race weekends aren’t as much about winning or losing as they are about family.
“We’re at the greatest place on earth right now because every family here is having a great time,” he said.
“It’s a culture, everybody comes here together. If you look around you, there’s trailers everywhere, and everyone knows each other. They’re in competition with each other, but they’re also family. If somebody gets hurt, everybody’s there for you, you’re there for them, it doesn’t matter what happens.”
As for the weekend as a whole, Briggs said it was great to get so many talented riders and their families out to the local track for a couple of days.
“This whole event is absolutely unbelievable. We’re right on the border and we love this sport, and we love promoting this sport,” said Briggs.
“We grow this sport in every age group, from four years old all the way up to a 69-year-old rider who’s out on the track racing right now.”
Being around motocross racing for quite some time, Briggs loves many aspects of the sport, but his favourite of all is the people involved.
“It’s the people. I love people. I love great people that help people, that’s what matters to me, more than anything,” he said.
