The first race meet in the Saskatchewan Motocross, CMRC regional series was held at Moose Jaw over the weekend. Included in the Yorkton contingent were a couple of riders who recently returned from training in California to prepare for the current season.
Brendon Arnett and former Sask. Ladies class title holder Denaye Giroux travelled to Murrieta, California to train for five weeks prior to the opening of the Saskatchewan season. "We pretty much just rode four or five days a week and went to the gym," says Giroux.
The duo drew up their own training schedule and routine this year, with the help of Jared Stock and his sister who is a trainer, Giroux says.
Arnett says despite putting in a lot of track time and gym effort, he enjoyed the experience. "It's hard work but it's fun," he suggests. The training was more relaxed without a lot of pressure, he adds.
The training will give him a head start in the Pro MX-1 class in the Saskatchewan series, Arnett believes.
This time around, Giroux says she liked developing her own training regimen with less pressure and having more fun with it. "Before we had a set routine of what we had to do. This year we kind of were just going with the flow and had a lot more fun with it," she reports.
Initially Giroux feels she didn't develop as well as she would have liked but also suggests that the experience this winter left her feeling the most comfortable following the training. "I just feel more aggressive on the bike just from being around Brenden and Jared, riding with them and learning things from them which really helped me," she states.
Giroux says she's about 95 per cent healthy now with the exception of a hand which bothers her from time to time. "I'm getting used to it and I'll be 100 per cent soon," she adds.
Arnett says focusing on training without the distraction of a job for a whole month, doing nothing but ride and train will help him in the provincial series.
He admits the tracks the pair trained on were not really like the tracks at home.
Giroux explains the six tracks they trained on were very different. Some were sand. Some were dry. Some had lots of jumps. "It was all different stuff that we got to practise on," she says.
Both agreed the practise tracks in California were not at all like the tracks here which are dry and dusty by comparison. They were all prepped, watered and tilled every day and sometimes twice a day, Giroux points out.
Arnett's goal this season is to finish in the top three in his class on the Saskatchewan circuit.
Giroux says she'd like to win the Western Canadian National title, win the Walton amateur national event and finish in the top 20 in the Women's Motocross Association south of the border.
Giroux turned pro in the U.S last year. In Canada she's currently listed as intermediate in the boys' rankings and pro in the Canadian women's class.
Results of the Moose Jaw Motocross Meet were: 50cc, 7-8 years - 8) Kamry Lutz. 85cc, 7-11 years - 1) Kennedy Lutz. 85cc, 12-16 years - 4) Haylen Langelier. Intermediate MX-2 - 1) Denaye Giroux. Junior MX-2 - 3) Zachary Hudy. Ladies Class - 1) Denaye Giroux; 2) Kennedy Lutz; 4) Erin Litvanyi. Plus 50 - 3) Roland Giroux. Pro GP - 2) Brendon Arnett. Pro MX-1 - 4) Brendon Arnett. Super Mini - 2) Zachary Hudy; 4) Haylen Langelier.
