Monday Gate Drop

Good Morning and Happy Monday! Well, I can tell you that this version of Monday Gate Drop is going to be short and sweet for two reasons: First, we’re trying to put the first MXP issue of the year to bed this week so as everyone can imagine, it’s a pretty busy time. Also, I know it may be different in other parts of the country, but in Ontario this week is March break and I have a high energy six year-old sitting ten feet away from me wondering why we’re not outside doing something “fun”. Any parent knows how hard it is to tell a child that work comes first. However, I must thank Teletoon this morning as they have chosen to air the only Scooby Doo movie that my son hasn’t seen so he’s currently into that.

So let’s get into some news from the weekend in Canadian motocross. As everyone knows, the final rounds of the Kawasaki Canadian Arenacross Series took place this weekend in Cloverdale, BC. Like all other rounds, this weekend had some great racing with four different riders taking main event wins, and thankfully, unlike the previous race in Chilliwack, this weekend was without a lot of drama. When it was all said and done it was Cycle North Honda riders Jeremy Medaglia and Ross Johnson winning the Pro Lites and Pro Open Championships. When you combine the points, our new Kawasaki Canadian Arenacross Champion is Jeremy Medaglia.

Congratulations to Jeremy Medaglia and the Cycle North Honda Team

For the entire series Jeremy was the most consistent rider. While he didn’t win every main event, he was always in contention and it was nice to see the Championship won by a good old Canadian (Ontario) kid. Congratulations to Jeremy and his entire Cycle North Honda Team. They all worked hard and they’re deserving Champions. I will add that it was cool to wake up on Saturday and see that Ryan Lockhart had finished on the podium in the Pro Open class on Friday night. The Newf takes a lot of abuse about how many times he’s decided to retire only to rethink his decision and un-retire a few months later. Well, I say that anyone who criticizes him is just jealous. When you’re 30 years old and can still ride like he does and you work a 9-5 real job, you can do anything you want.

While we’re on the subject of Arenacross, I want to congratulate Future West on putting on such an awesome series from start to finish. The Hellam family are extremely hard working people and they all have such a passion for the sport of motocross. From their days in Ontario to now, they’ve engrained themselves in the fabric of this sport in Canada and they don’t always get the appreciation they deserve. Considering that last year with no Montreal SX, high caliber racing pretty much stopped after the Parts Canada TransCan back in August. Thanks to the Kawasaki Canadian Arenacross Series we had top notch racing to watch and to cover all winter, so congratulations to Future West, the sponsors and all of the participants on a series well done. You’ve been the envy of the rest of Canada during the cold winter months.

The Maple Ridge Motorsports Team had a great Arenacross Series.

With Arenacross now in the books I’d like to pick up on the Tyler Medaglia subject that was brought up on Friday by Danny Brault in his Northern Notes column. Tyler’s situation is certainly a hot topic in Canadian motocross right now as it’s almost unbelievable that a rider who will wear the big number three in 2014 is still searching for a ride. Even in my day, when you manage to finish in the top three it was considered fairly prestigious and warranted a very good ride the following year. Now, Tyler may still get a good deal for this summer but with just over two months to go until the 2014 Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals begin, for a top rider like Tyler, he’s running out of time to test and get totally comfortable on a new bike. This year kind of reminds me of 2001 when we had a lot of good American riders entering the national series. Unless you’re name was Roy, Morgan, Lange or Dehaan, it was tough to get a really good deal on a big team. However, even in 2001 if you had the number three on your bike, you were in pretty good shape.

If I was Tyler (the last time I checked I’m not because he’s much younger and has much better hair), if I can’t get a deal where all my expenses are covered to the Nationals, I’d pull the plug and go where I can still make money. Let’s say Tyler can get a decent deal from Kawasaki and Freedom Cycle. If this deal isn’t dependent on him racing all ten rounds of the Nationals then he could spend April, May, and June racing a few Quebec Arenacrosses, the Sackville AX, a few Eastern US Nationals and then show up at Gopher Dunes in July and ride all the eastern rounds. Then in the fall he can go to Europe and use his superior indoors skills and race some overseas Supercross. This will put him into November and he’s back at the BC Arenacross Series. There, like I was Tyler’s agent or something, I just hypothetically laid out his entire 2014 race season. The only downside of this plan is that he won’t get to wear number 3 in 2015, but national number or not, he’ll still be considered one of the top Canadian riders. Also, if he does well in the Eastern Nationals that he does ride, he’ll still be in line for some good support in 2015. Anyway, look for a conversation with Tyler later this week on MXPMAG.com where I’ll run this idea by him. I think, like most Tyler Medaglia fans, I just want him to get the support he deserves. Without him running in the MX1 class and his brother possibly going back to the MX2 class, the pressure will really be on Colton Facciotti to carry the Canadian flag all summer.

As one of this country’s hardest working and top riders, Tyler Medaglia deserves some really good support in 2014.

I’ll now move on from trying to give advice to trying to give away some wicked tickets to the Toronto SX. We’re now into week two of the Parts Canada/ Leading Edge Kawasaki/ MXP Toronto SX Ticket Giveaway. After tremendous response to last week’s trivia question, here is this week’s. For a chance to win two of the best seats the Roger’s Centre has to offer, name the number of motos Brett Metcalfe won in 2013 on his way to his MX1 Championship, and also name the town in Australia that Brett is from. Please email your answers to chris@mxpmag.com. Remember, the draw will be made on March 17th.

So that’s it for another week. I guess as I look back over this column, it isn’t that short after all. In closing, I received a text last night from Wendy Tricco. Her family is down in Daytona racing the Ricky Carmichael Amateur Supercross and she was happy to report that both her boys and hubby Dan all qualified for today’s main events. So good luck to the Tricco’s and all the Canadians who are there racing; we’re all still very jealous. Have a great week and a safe March break.