Motocross Performance Magazine Canadian Motocross news leader
Good day and welcome to another edition of the Honda Canada Racing Monday Gate Drop. With just under two weeks to go before the Honda Canada GDR Fox Racing Team takes to the track in Kamloops, BC for the opening round of the 2017 Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals. Red riders Colton Facciotti and Dylan Wright are fit and ready for the gate to drop on the 2017 season. It all begins on June 4 at Whispering Pines Raceway. Thank you to Honda Canada and their continued support and good luck to the GDR Fox Racing Team this summer.
At least the weekend started off with good weather for the opening rounds of the 2017 New Era Moto Park Cup.
As I sit here writing this weeks Gate Drop, it’s Sunday evening and my family and I are fresh off the opening two rounds of the 2017 New Era MotoPark Cup. Sadly, as I look outside it’s foggy and raining and unfortunately because of this wet weather the second half of today’s racing had to be cancelled. This has definitely been the wettest spring in recent memory, and just when you think we’re done with the rain, more dark clouds seem to roll in. After a windy but sunny Saturday at Moto Park, everyone was looking to Sunday and another great day of racing. Well, it just wasn’t meant to be and for yet another weekend in Ontario motocross, we all got rained out. At least on Sunday they were able to get half the day in before the rain and the mud just became too unbearable, and the rest of the day was cancelled.
Other than the adverse weather conditions on Sunday, the opening rounds of the 2017 New Era MP Cup was a great success with 500 entries on Saturday and lots of great race action. There was definitely a lack of top pros in attendance, however, fans were thoroughly entertained by the riding of Kyle Keast, Taylor Ciampichini, Zeb Dennis, Nathan Bles, Austin Watling, Marco Cannella and Tanner Ward. All of these riders battled each other on Saturday, and for one moto on Sunday. For me, the highlights were watching all of our fast kids, especially Jake Tricco on his screaming YZ125, Marco Cannella in the final moto on Saturday, and everyone who braved the muddy conditions on Sunday, including my son who had a big muddy smile on his face at the end of the day. It was a great weekend, and now it’s onto the final two rounds at the beginning of July, hopefully Mother Nature has improved her mood by then.
It’s been very cool to witness first hand the growth of the MP Cup races over the past few years. With support of main sponsors like New Era, Rockstar Energy, Canadian Tire, Fox Racing ,Yamaha Canada Tigwell Motorsports, Dundas Autobody and Mike Jackson GM these races have become the most popular in Ontario. Not only is their constant entertainment all weekend both on the track as well as off the track, but there are also a ton of giveaways and more than enough to do after hours. There is also no membership of any type required to sign up and race so that no doubt attracts a few extra riders. If you’ve never been to MotoPark before then the next MP Cup on July 1,2 might be a great time to head out to one of the oldest tracks in Canada.
As you can see the riding at Erzberg was incredible on the new 2018 KTM250 XC-W TPI.
So for everyone who follows me and this magazine on social media knows, last Tuesday evening I boarded a Lufthansa 747-400 for Salzburg, Austria and the media launch for the new 2018 KTM250 XC-W TPI. This new fuel injected two-stroke off-road master piece is a real game changer in dirt bike world as it blends the age old reliable two-stroke power plant, with the latest in fuel injection technology. After landing in Salzburg and meeting up with Dave \O’Connor from KTM USA and a few of my fellow journalists from California, we hopped in a van and headed 2.5 hours to a hotel that was located just 45 minutes from the home of the famous Erzberg Rodeo Enduro race. On Wednesday evening we all recieved a presentation from the KTM R&D department about how this new fuel injected bike came to life. Believe it or not, KTM started the design process for this bike back in 2004, and since then has had two main designs before settling on the one that we’d be riding the following day and the one Canadians will be seeing in dealerships later this year. It was very impressive to listen to how this bike went from the design studio to sitting right in front of us in the hotel lobby. I always love hearing about this kind of stuff, especially from the individuals who have actually done the work. For the past few years KTM has definitely been at the forefront on innovation in our sport and this new fuel injected 250 XC-W is a running testament to that.
The following day we awoke to clear skies and warm temperatures as we made our way from our hotel to the 130 year old Erzberg Iron Mine. Being a long time motocross guy, I was not too familer with what exactly Erzberg meant to the off-road world. However, once I saw it in person I quickly realized that this place was very impressive and extremely unique. You see the Erzberg Mine is still in operation and during our day of riding we were constantly reminded to keep an eye out for large dump trucks. And when I say large, I mean really large as the only trucks they use there are the gigantic Komatsu Electric dump trucks. Anyway, throughout the day we had to move over and wait as these massive trucks made their way up and down the roads of the mine.
It took all of my skills and courage to get through some of the extreme sections in Erzberg.
For the day of riding on these new bikes, all of the journalists were split into four groups based on our riding skills. At first I was thinking that with all of my riding experience that I should go into the #1 group with the faster riders, but after listening to stories about what type of conditions we’d be riding through, I decided it might be best to stick with the #2 group. In hindsight, I’m glad I made this decison as our group did almost the exact same route as the top group, minus one miserable long and rocky uphill that very few riders even made it up. We ended up riding from 10am until 5pm with an hour off the bike for lunch. With the tough conditions, a little jet lag, and the mental strain from trying to stay on two wheels, I was completely drained by the end of the day. It was a cool day of riding and each group had a guide who was not only a KTM Team rider, but also were preparing for the big race at Erzberg next month. Each time we would come to one of the famous sections of the Erzberg race, we would stop and our guide would talk about how it got it’s name and some cool stories from over the years. For instance, there is one really difficult section called “Karl’s Diner” and this section got it’s name because one year the conditions were so extreme (and the riders come to it very late in the race) that the event organizer Karl Katoch stood at the entrance to this section and handed out bananas to each rider. Just so they could get a boost of energy prior to this section. It was little stories like this that made the day that much more enjoyable. I will also say that this new bike was pretty amazing to ride and was definitely made for conditions like what we rode in Erzberg. Please stay tuned this week as I will have a complete report on this new and exciting bike.
The 2017 Lucas Oil Outdoor MX Championships kicked off in Hangtown on Saturday. Photo by Krystyn Slack
Well, that is it for me this week as it’s getting late and Monday is a holiday. I hope eveyone is having a great weekend and I hope everyone has a safe weekend of riding. As I mention at the beginning of this column, we are now less than two weeks away from the opening round of the 2017 Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals in Kamloops, BC. All the riders are ready to go and as we saw in Hangtown on Saturday, Kaven Benoit has recovered from his broken leg and is back up to speed. His 16th in moto one gave us a clear indication that his speed and fitness is ready to go for Kamloops. Have a great week and lets all keep sending prayers to Nicky Hayden as he fights for his life in an Italian hospital. Nicky was hit by a car last week while cycling in Italy and remains in critical condition with severe head trauma. The 2006 MotoGP World Champion is in very bad shape and definitely needs all of the prayers he can get at this moment.
Kaven Benoit had an alright day at Hangtown going 16-DNF in his motos. Krystyn Slack
