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Yamaha Motor Canada Presents The Monday Gate Drop

Good day and welcome to another edition of the Yamaha Motor Canada Monday Gate Drop. We spoke with the fine people from Yamaha Canada late last week and they wanted to send everyone their best wishes during this difficult time. They also wanted us to pass along that they will be resuming normal operations as soon as they possibly can. In the meantime, stay safe, stay home, and stay healthy.

Well, here we are on week four I believe of being under the grips of the Covid-19 Virus and it’s now to the point where I have to quit watching the news. The daily updates, while uber informative, are a dire mix of new cases of Covid-19, more instructions to stay at home, an updated death count, and then late last week the whopping projection that this could go on all summer long. Whether all of this information is accurate or not, currently the mainstream media is really getting out of control. I guess it’s easy news, just as the protesters blocking rail tracks last month was, but it doesn’t mean we have to watch it. We all know how serious this is and that we all have to do our part in staying at home and practicing Social Distancing, but I don’t need to know every time someone unfortunately dies as a result of this virus. I also don’t think it’s fair for our media or our elected officials to project too far into the future about when our lives might return to either fully normal or at the very least a version of normal. They don’t know, we don’t know, heck, no one really knows, so why go on television and tell everyone that this ‘stay at home’ order could on all summer long? Even if this is what ends up happening, can the average person mentally digest that information right now? When faced with uncertain times like we’re experiencing now, my feeling is that it’s best to just take things two weeks at a time. Let’s worry about the next two weeks and then go from there.

Will there be a National in Calgary at all in 2020? We sure hope so as this is one of the best events on the Canadian racing calendar. Photo by James Lissimore

For instance, late last week the City of Calgary announced that no large gatherings would be permitted until at least June 30th. This news will obviously impact the opening round of the Rockstar Energy Triple Crown MXTour, which is currently schedule for June 7th. Will the series now begin the following weekend in Drumheller or the next weekend in Kamloops? If there can only be two western rounds then does it even make sense to begin the series out west, or will it now begin in the east and then finish up in the west? As with everything else right now, no one knows what is going to happen in the coming weeks and months so we should continue to remain in ‘wait and see’ mode. As I mentioned above, I’m just getting tired of all of the negative projections. Last week the town I live in announced that all Canada Day celebrations will be cancelled. This town isn’t that big, and trust me, other than a decent fireworks display our Canada Day party isn’t that big and doesn’t take a lot of time to organize. My point is, why announce in early April that an outdoor event in two months isn’t going to happen? With all of the fear and uncertainty that is currently being generated with this virus, people need hope more than ever. And part of feeling hopeful is looking forward to things. I realize it’s important for large events like this summer’s Wimbledon Tennis Championship in England, where people come from all over the world to attend. Events like this take a ton of planning in advance so it’s understandable to hear of these being either cancelled or postponed. Let’s hope that in the coming weeks things begin to improve and by early May we can see some light at the end of the tunnel with this mess.

Hopefully our Regional racing will be able to begin sometime in May. Lets cross our fingers now!

In keeping the Rockstar Energy Triple Crown Series, last week Jetwerx announced that beginning this Wednesday evening at 8pm on MavTv Canada as well as the TwoWheel TV App, they will be hosting a weekly talk show called InsideX. This new show will provide us with some much-needed mid-week entertainment, as well as keeping us up to date with important news and also what our riders and industry people are doing during these strange days. Here is the official press release:

 

Brigden, On- Jetwerx is excited to announce the launch of a weekly talk show called InsideX. The first episode will drop April 8th at 8pm ET, live on MavTV Canada / TwoWheel TV app, and will continue each week on Wednesdays at 8pm.

With special cameras/technology and video chats with guests, the Jetwerx crew will be able to bring you some entertainment while practicing Social Distancing. 

With the Rockstar Energy Triple Crown becoming a staple in the Canadian motocross industry, Jetwerx saw a need to build a way to better connect with our fans.

From race recaps, rider interviews, industry news and product launches, InsideX is set to deliver. Triple crown announcers Ryan Gauld, Kyle Thompson and Brett Lee will be hosting a wide variety of topics and guests.

This platform allows our teams, our riders and our partners to have a voice on a national and international level, and give all the Triple Crown fans the latest on the happenings around the sport of Motocross. 

“Inside X was a project that started years ago but always got pushed to the back burner due to Jetwerx’s work loads. I’m extremely excited to help bring something to our fans and families that they can look forward to in these tough times. We love our sport of motocross and look forward to the next chapter” – Justin Thompson, Jetwerx

The GDR Fox Racing Honda Team will be using Renthal Products in 2020.

In other industry news, last week it was announced that the fine folks at Matrix Concepts Canada have obtained the distribution rights in Canada for Renthal. This is great news as Renthal is one of those iconic brands that has been around for many years. Here is what Matrix Concepts Canada Brand Manager Ryan Lockhart had to say about their new relationship with Renthal: “We here at Matrix Concepts Canada are very excited to have the opportunity to be working with such an iconic brand like Renthal. I truly believe with our involvement in the motorcycle community in Canada that this relationship will be a great fit for many years to come. Matrix Concepts Canada is known for being involved with industry leading brands and there is no question that Renthal falls into this category.” 

Well, that is it for me this week. I hope everyone is doing okay and has a Happy Easter this coming weekend. Finally, I want to send my deepest condolences and best wishes to Steve Simms who sadly lost his father last week. I never met Steve’s dad, but from reading all of the comments from people who knew him well, he obviously was a great man and will most certainly be missed. All the best to Steve and his family during this difficult time. My family also received some bad news last week as one of my Aunt’s passed away at the glorious age of 87. My Dad had three sisters and now they’ve all passed away. Since he’s now the only one of his siblings left, the news hit him particularly hard last week. I know we’re not allowed to hug anyone right now, but let’s do our best to continue to let our loved ones know how we feel about them as much as we can. Have a good week everyone and stay healthy!

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