11 6 http://www.racerxonline.com
Kawasaki ride coming out of
amateurs but was passed over,
left adrift on the edge of moto-
cross relevancy. Epstein showed
up at round one in a van and
trailer with MX2 teammate Ryan
Surratt and has been riding well,
with winning four motos and
hovering around the top fi ve in
MX1 points as of press time.
“When I go out there and I’m
qualifying well or beating them
in a moto, I feel proud of myself
for once, because Pourcel is no
joke, Goerke is no joke, Fac-
ciotti, Benoit—none of these
guys are a joke,” Epstein says.
“They’ve all done something big,
whether it’s been in Canada or in
the U.S. or somewhere else.
“What I like about the series
is how it’s so laid-back and
everyone’s cool, even the team
guys,” Epstein adds. “In the
U.S., if somebody doesn’t know
you, they’re not even going to
try to talk to you. The guys here
don’t care who you are or what
you are or what you aren’t. It’s
like, ‘Hey, dude, what’s going
on? How are you?’ I like that
part of the aspect because
what it does is it brings every-
body together; everyone’s here
doing the same job, whether
you’re a factory guy or a pri-
vateer guy. We’re all doing the
same thing, essentially.”
Epstein’s just trying to fi gure
out where he fi ts in for now, but
Goerke, Chisholm, or Pourcel,
they’re veterans trying to make
a living. And for Goerke, that’s
the number-one reason he’s in
Regina on the weekends and
not, say, RedBud.
“It just seemed like I got
a better deal up here,” says
Goerke, who also races AmsoilArenacross for the same Cana-
dian team. “I’m on what you call
a factory team in Canada. It’s
good, fi nancially, racing in both
Canada and then arenacross.
Both of those things kind of are
the reasons why it’s my choice.”
“It’s good money for ten
races,” says Chisholm, who,
like Goerke, hails from Florida.
“It can be really, really good
money for ten races if I’m on
the podium. That’s kind of the
goal going in. There’s good
guys, so it’s tough to be on the
podium, but that’s kind of what
the plan is—top-fi ves and being
on the podium in points at the
end of the year. It’s defi nitely
worth it to go there. I wouldn’tbe there if it wasn’t.”
So what kind of money are
we talking about exactly? It’s
hard to pin down exactly, as the
American riders all seem to have
slightly different deals. But from
talking to sources and the riders
themselves, guys like Goerke
or Chisholm can expect to earn
about $30,000-$40,000 for the
ten-race series, plus podium
bonuses in the range of 5K for
fi rst, 3K for second, 2K for third.
And the championship bonuses
are said to be in the range of
$50,000 in the MX1 class.
A Canadian rider like Honda
Canada GDR’s Facciotti, on the
other hand, is in the $150K range
if he wins the MX1 title. He’s con-Mike Alessi may wear #5
now in Canada, but his
trademark #800 (and his fa-
ther, Tony) is never far away.
(Below left) Dillan Epstein
celebrates a win with some
Canadian champagne. (Be-
low) Canada has Rockstar
Girls, not Monster Girls.The guys
here don’t
care who
you are or
what you
are or what
you aren’t.
It’s like,
‘Hey, dude,
what’s going
on? How
are you?’”DILLAN EPSTEIN