Trey Canard’s San Diego victory is a rare one for the loyalists, one for the people who stuck with him through the good and bad, just as he did with them. This victory is the ultimate for the team concept, as folks that invested in Trey eight years ago, when he was 17 years old and just graduating from the B class, can take pride in it. Making the grade with a premier class supercross win is the ultimate in this sport. Other series are cool; other disciplines are tough. But dealing with pressure for twenty laps, heart rate around 190 the whole time, while nailing jump combos and blitzing whoops, is the toughest feat for a motorcycle racer, or perhaps any athlete on the planet. If you win one of these, you’re all-time.
When a rider wins, the team is the first to get the thanks, but we all know the team concept only goes so far here. Even in this era, with pro factory teams signing kids to guaranteed pro deals (a concept accelerated when the Factory Connection Honda team mined Canard and found gold) there’s still very little patience on both sides. A few bad years, bad injuries, bad bikes, bad vibes, or bad decisions—or one good offer—send each side running for greener grass. So, while the recent trend for brands to sign amateurs early and set them up for the pros has bared fruit for all—Jeremy Martin and Cooper Webb with Yamalube Star/Yamaha being just the latest—seeing the partnership thrive all the way to the center of the box in a 450SX main event is still rare. It’s the ultimate goal, though. When you see a kid at Loretta’s talking about his upcoming pro debut, the focus is on the next national at Unadilla, or his first supercross the next year, or contending for a title in the 250 class sometime soon. But the real goal, of every brand and every rider, is not 250 wins, titles, or podiums. The ultimate payoff is success at the very highest level. That’s the big class, and the big stadiums.
Canard’s tale is exceptional, because he delivered early, but also endured ups and downs. The last few years were not banner years for either Trey or Honda, but now they’re back on the rise together. Makes for a feel good story, especially for the man who had a big hand in it all, Factory Connection (GEICO Honda) founder Rick “Ziggy” Zielfelder.
“Back when we were starting this amateur program, there were talks with American Honda to get the best riders,” he says. “We were looking to find talent for our Lites team, but we had also talked about this becoming a stepping stone to ultimately land as a 450 rider with American Honda. Success that far out was on the wish list, kind of a utopian thing.”
It’s a long journey from an amateur on small bores to a stadium win on a big bike. Here’s a brief rundown of the riders who went from factory amateur support with a brand to later deliver that a win for that bike in the premier class, without ever switching sides along the way:
1990 Damon Bradshaw, Yamaha
1990 Jeff Matiasevich, Kawasaki
2000 Ricky Carmichael, Kawasaki
2005 James Stewart, Kawasaki
2008 Josh Hill, Yamaha
2009 Ryan Villopoto, Kawasaki
2010 Ryan Dungey, Suzuki
2011 Trey Canard, Honda
2013 Justin Barcia, Honda
2015 Eli Tomac, Honda
You can see the trend is picking up, mostly through that Factory Connection Honda program, which guided Trey Canard, Eli Tomac, and Justin Barcia. We’ve also seen numerous stars reunite with their original brand and deliver the W, like Jeff Emig with Kawasaki, and Davi Millsaps and Ken Roczen on Suzukis. Some ties always bind.
“Even though we have a guy [Tomac, still with GEICO Honda] racing against Trey, we’re just as happy to see Trey win, because he’s still one of my kids,” says Zielfelder. “I love everything about him, everything he stands for. To see he and Eli scrapping it out for wins is just a wonderful situation.”
Jeff Majkrzak, co-owner of the GEICO Honda team, echoes the thoughts. “Obviously, we’ve had so much invested in Trey, and him with us, when he wins, we’ll always feel like it’s one of our guys.”
While today’s amateur-to-pro programs should ensure more such loyalty in the future (Yamaha surely has long-term hopes pinned on Martin and Webb, for example, and Kawasaki would love for Adam Cianciarulo to follow Ryan Villopoto’s path), there’s always a chance that business will get in the way. For the rare few, it doesn’t.
“It’s a job, it’s what they do for a living, and there’s all kinds of people that get involved,” says Zielfelder. “The biggest thing is, the dollar gets involved with everything. But Trey’s one of the best people you’ll ever work with, and that makes the whole situation quite exceptional.”
