MattFracy.com

Matt finished up the VMC club championship just the way he started it, another convincing win in the Intermediate class. The Lohrmann Trial was the final event this year down at the VMC. The days leading up to the trial had been torrential rain, but fortunately the day of the trial was not too bad. Make no mistake, it was very wet and slippery, but not much rain on the day! Matt got off to a good start, and had a 14pt loop on a very tough riding course. Matt has matured as a rider constantly this year, and again after the first loop, continued to push himself hard, and kicked it into high gear for the final two loops coming in with two very fine 5 point loops, distancing himself from his closest competitor. At the end of the day, Matt won with a total of 24pts. Second place had 55pts and third place a wopping 92. Matt has won every single event this year so will easily win the club championship.

The final trial of the year for Matt will take place on Dec 6 at the Shawnigan property for the ISTCs final trial of 09. This will also mark the final time Matt will compete in the Intermediate class! We have really savoured these last events, and cherished this time at the end of this season. Matt is defenitely ready for the jump to Sportsman class next year, but nonetheless, he also understands that things are not going to come so easy for  him at the beginning of riding up a new class. It will be fun all the same, because as I have told him, now the real riding begins. Everything he has learned up until now will be applied next year!! Stay tuned for results from the next event!

A dominant win by Matt last Sunday at the latest club trial here on the island!! Matt came in with a total of only 7pts on the day, with his nearest competitor at 28! The weather was typical westcoast fall temps with light rain, just enought to keep everyone on their toes! It was a calm, confident day for Matt who clearly has progressed quite nicely throughout the year. He actually had the second lowest score of all the Int. and Sen Int. riders which was another nice bonus!

It was great to see all our local friends after a long summer of competing out of town. Next event will be back at the VMC club property in the middle of November. Our next big ride before that will be a fun mountain ride up Mt. Benson in Nanaimo with a group of friends from the DualSport BC club! Stay tuned for more info!

After what seems like a huge layoff from any competitions, it will be back to work for Matt this coming weekend. Its the VMC Rick Wells Memorial Trial. Rick Wells was actually the best friend of Matts grandad and was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident in the late 1960s.

This will be the first local event for Matt since winning the National Championship. It will be great to see everyone again, and a chance for Matt to show off his new #1 plate too. So far Matt leads the club championship in the Intermediate class with only 2 events left in the series. Matt will be moving up to the Sportsman class next year, so these last two will be a really fun time. Next year begins the serious work, and I think he is up to it!

Well it has been 2 weekends now since the National in Ontario. The emails from friends and family to Matt have been overwhelming. We all appreciate them so much! It only seems to motivate Matt even more and he is looking forward to getting back at it.

Since our return, Matt has been doing a lot of training on his trials bicycle. He also just bought a new one from one of my old friends in Alabama, Tom McNeal who is the younger brother of Steve McNeal. Steve was one of my good friends when I lived in Tennessee. He was also ranked as high as #2 in North American back in 1985. Matt seems very eager to progress his skills with the bicycle now, and knows that since he will be moving up a class next season, it will surely help with learning some trick riding. Not to mention that its an incredible aerobic activity!!!

Its supposed to rain all weekend here on the island, so thats good news for us getting out to ride. We are planning a ride over at the club grounds on sunday. We will be accompanied by legendary artist and poster maker, Bob Masse. Bob is from Saltspring Island and is world renowned for his artists skills. He will be doing a photo shoot for Matt, and helping us work on a special project we have in mind that will be presented to all Matts sponsors at the end of the year.

Club events will be getting underway again by the end of September, so it will be great to see all of our friends again after the summer travels. As well, we are awaiting Matts new number plate to put on his 125 Raga replica. It is being designed and built by LewisportUSA down in California. The have also in the past done some cool plates for all the top riders down in the US including multi-time champ Geoff Aaron. Stay tuned!

Matt and I are just back from a great trip to Ontario! It was a fantastic weekend, full of some great riding and competition. We arrived at the trials site on Fri AM about 9am after travelling all night Thur on the dreaded red eye flight! We got in a bit of riding even though we were all tired and managed to look at all the sections and the loop. It was apparent that we would be riding in some conditions we are not used to. Deep water crossings and mud! Luckily we had just missed tornadoes in the area the day before, but we were greeted with thunderstorm conditions.

Our plan going into the final two rounds was to be conservative. Matt was one of the few riders making the long trip to Ontario and we knew that he was in the lead in the standings. Day 1 saw Matt ride well, but not with the usual killer attitude that he usually exudes. That was in part due to me, coaxing to Matt the fact that it was important to be steady with no big mistakes and not to take too many risks if possible. The whole event was new ground for Matt having never competed in this type of terrain. As well, the scoring system they used is much different than we are used to in the way that loops scores were not posted after each lap. This made things difficult for us as Matt has always had the ability to raise his game when needed, and without knowing how the other riders in his class were doing, it was a bit of a crap shoot.

Final results on Day1 had Matt down in third place, but a solid podium none the less. First place went to David Tronnes from Alberta with a fine ride. His good placing made Matt take notice, and a quick review of the points after Day1 revealed that Matt would need a strong ride on Sunday to seal the deal and win the Championship! Day2 had almost all of the sections tweaked somewhat, and with the torrential rain that happened overnight, it most certainly made all of the sections harder than day1. Matt was focused and motivated and knew that a win on the day would erase any scenario that would see him not acheive his goal. For me it was such a huge thrill to sit back and watch him put in one of his best rides of the year. It was also evident for me that each and everytime Matt had been faced with the pressure of needing a clutch ride, he pulled through with flying colors. His ability over this weekend to learn and overcome muddy conditions, be agressive and smooth at the same time, was truly a spectacle to behold! It was exciting for me as his minder to hear all the cheers and well wished throughout the day, as well as the many kind words from people who sought Matt out in the pits when the event was over! In the end, Matt was only 2pts away from the win on the day, but another clear cut victory with the pressure on over his closest rival for the championship, halfing his score!

So all of this means that Matt, at the age of only 13, is the National Champion for the Intermediate class in Canada. A proud moment for all of us and especially me, his mom Lorraine, his sister Micaela and all of Matts sponsors who have helped pave the way to his success this year!!! Thanks to all of you! Next is a big celebration this weekend, and some time off. The it will be back to work and the continuation of all of our club trials from now till Decemeber.

After months of preparation, training, and competing, the wait is finally over! This Thursday, Matt and myself and our friends Ian and Devon Dargis are departing for the Nationals in Mansfield Ontario. We are all quite excited, and looking forward to get riding! The bikes are enroute as we speak and should arrive a day before us.

I think Matt is feeling very confident after some good rides at the last event only two weeks ago, and with some more training time on the new Raga replica, it should yield some great results. But, as I have told Matt going into this, it takes consistency to win a championship and although a couple of wins would be really satisfying, winning his first National Championship at age 13, would be much better!

Matt has had a nice week of getting lots of rest, hydrating, eating well, and the ever present workouts with his Mom!!! All of this will hopefully pay-off as it is a long flight to get back east. It sure beats driving though as I did many times when I was riding Nationals in the 80s. It will be an intense few days with lots of riding crammed in! We do hope to see a few sights on the Monday after, before flying home later that evening. For Matt, Ian and Devon, it will be there first time in Ontario. It should be a great experience for all !

We will report back as soon as we can, with results and a full story! Please feel free to post any well wishes, as Matt looks to try and win his first National championship!!

Last weekend saw Matt compete in the last two rounds of the PNTA championship.(BC, Wa, Or), in Goldbar Wa. It was a great event, and thank goodness the temperatures dropped slightly, so that riding was bearable. Even so, the mid twenties was hot enough! Matt was really excited about this event because it was the first time ever to compete on the new bike!

Day 1 started with so much promise, but was disturbed by the fact that Matt woke up with a terrible kink in his neck from sleeping. We had him relax all morning before riding, which meant not as much warm up. A few Ibuprofens still did not help, and Matt found it really painfull to move his neck any which way. The sections were not overly difficult, which meant that a few unlucky fives put Matt in a tight race for first place going into the last lap. The only section that had given Matt any trouble was #10, and we knew that the entire trial was going to come down to that section.  I told Matt that he really needed a good ride there at the end to have a chance for the win. The first two loops, he had scored a 5 and a 3 there. We both took a lot of time there analyzing at the end, so I was so proud of him to come through under pressure to score a magical clean on the last lap to win the event!!! It also was really a learning day to get used to the new 125 Raga bike, which is magical in its own right!

Day2 had similar conditions, except for the fact that it was evident early on that the sections were quite a bit harder than day 1. It was also clear early on that again, Matt recovered well from his ride on the first day, and he was going to be  ON !  It was one of the two very special rides that Matt had this year, almost mirroring his day 2 ride in Ioco earlier in the summer. In fact, on section 4, Matt was the only rider out of all the AM riders, who cleaned this section all three rides. The ride on the second lap was so perfect, I was speechless while he rode it, and it gave me goosebumps!!!! In the end, Matt again had a clear cut victory of 40pts ahead of his next rival.

It was a big confidence builder for him I am sure. The new bike is amazing and is so much better in all aspects compared to last years bike. Now, we have only two weeks to go for our trip to Ontario, and the last two Canadian Nationals which will conclude all the major competitions this year for Matt. Keep your eyes posted here for results and more stories.

Well, with much aniticipation, we got the call from Matts sponsor Dave Fair on Tues morning that his shipment of 09 GG Ragas had just arrived. So, right after work, Matt and I went right down to pick up Matts new bike. Wow! I have to say that in all of my 30+ yrs of riding trials bikes, this has to be the best looking bike I have ever seen. The attention to detail and the entire color scheme are brilliant! Not ony that, but the technical improvements are amazing.

We spent a coupe nights in the shop just doing the usual PDI and prep, putting Matts personal handlebars etc on the bike. I sounds similar to the old bike, but thats were the similarities end. The motor is quite lively, just riding it in the driveway. We have been doing some gentle break in just around the house, and today, Saturday, will get out for the first real ride. We will get out again on Sunday too, as it will be important to get as much time as possible between now and Matts next ride in Goldbar, WA.

Some pictures will follow after this weekends ride!

Well, all the riding is done and when the smoke cleared, there was a defenite statement again. Day1 Matt actually had quite a bad day by his standards. It was filled with adversity and disappointment. An easy trial again, and a couple bad fives resulted in Matt not being where he wanted to be. Although after having such a tough day, he was surprised and relieved to be on the podium with a 2nd place. After the trial, TeamFracy all had a big pow-wow and had a lengthy discussion on what had happened on Day1, and how we could all do somethings better, and mostly what to focus on for Day2. It was one of those very emotional family moments, and like always, Matts mom Lorraine was the glue that holds us all together. Even though Lorraine and Matts sister Micalea are often behind the scenes at the events, we both count on them tremendously and Matts confindence emminates from them alot! Later that night even as we ate dinner, it was evident that Matt was already thinking about Day 2. I knew that this was going to be a good thing!

Day 2 was not only another day, but a completely different course! The sections did not seem any harder, but in some cases, much bigger obstacles! The kind of stuff that Matt just eats up! He has developed the ability to be aggressive and attack at such a young age. Something you cannot teach! After the first loop, Matt was way out in front with a loop score of just 5pts. A steady second loop knowing he had the lead and a 7pt loop increased his lead! The 3rd lap was so much fun and Matt was able to really hang it out, knowing he had the lead, and he had cleaned every section so far at some point. He was working on a clean loop until about section 6, and finished up with 4 ones. His last loop was his  best, so with the loop scores of 5-7-4, and a total of 16. Second place was at 30pts, 3rd at 44pts, and 4th-at 50. Matt even managed to beat all of the Senior Intermediates on the day, except one, Bob Clark. Some of which Matt had never beaten before.

The best part of the entire day though, was the fact that all of this happened in front of Matts Grandad Doyle, and all of the Doyle Aunts and uncles and cousins!!! It was the first time that all of them had come out to see Matt compete. It was a huge boost for Matt to have his own cheering section! Wow! Special cudos to Uncle Randy and cousin Chelsea for hiking the entire loop and getting to see Matt ride every single section! What an incredible day in so many ways!!!! Oh and in case you forgot, it was Fathers Day too! The best gift a Dad could have had in the world, happened in front of my very eyes!!!

Exactly one week left now until we leave for the next round of the PNTA series. Matt has had some great time in on his bike this last couple of weeks, despite the warm weather in these parts! We have been getting out every Sunday and Wed night in the backyard playground. As well we have both taken on some cardio training a couple nights a week too. A nice leisurely pedal around Shawnigan lake which is about 22km.

Today one of our friends, Devon Dargis will join us for a ride out back. Devon and his dad Ian are also our travel partners for the big trip out to Ontario in late Aug for the last 2 rounds of the WEC Canadian Nationals. This Wed will be the final practise before next weekend. We are all looking forward to it. It is always one of the premier events in the Pacific Northwest! The best part for Matt, is that this event is usually not TOO easy, and the sections are varied and a good ride is usually rewarded!

We did just receive a few pictures from the last PNTA in Victoria and will try and get these up on the gallery ASAP. So, if you would like to wish Matt good luck for the next event, please leave a message on the blog!