Honda Canada Racing Presents the Monday Gate Drop

Good day and welcome to another edition of the Honda Canada Racing Monday Gate Drop. This past weekend in Barrie, ON, Honda Canada’s top rider, Colton Facciotti, managed to secure second overall in the Rockstar Energy Triple Crown AX Series. Throughout the six-round series, Honda Racing GDR Fox Honda star Facciotti competed hard aboard his 2018 CRF450, battling a number of top riders en route to second overall. Now, Facciotti and team will set their sights on the opening round of the outdoor next month in Calgary, AB.

We’re very happy to be in Mexico this week and away from all of the awful weather in Ontario.

I know that I’ve said this before in past Gate Drops, but please bare with me this week because this edition might be on the short side. Currently, I’m taking time away from the beach and the pool in Mexico to compose this. With the dreadful weather back home in many parts of Canada, I’m sure most of you are thinking ‘Suck it Palms, I hope you get sun burnt in Mexico.’ Well, I can certainly understand your frustration as I’ve been keeping an eye on weather back in Ontario, and honestly, I’m at a loss for words. It’s April 16th for God sakes. Let’s hope that the moment this crap weather passes, it will mark the beginning of our real spring. My fingers are crossed, I hope yours are too. After all, I can’t return home from Mexico on Thursday and see snow on the ground, it just cannot happen.

It was great to see Jess Pettis back on Canadian soil last weekend. Photo by James Lissimore

Obviously, I wasn’t at the Barrie AX this past weekend so I missed all of the excitement. With the above-mentioned weather, the paddock outside must have been very challenging, to say the least, for all of the riders. I honestly can’t even imagine how bad it was on Friday and Saturday in the Barrie area. My sincere congrats go out to all of the riders who braved the adverse conditions, all for the love of our sport and this new series. In talking to people who were in Barrie this past weekend, and also from keeping up with Social Media posts, the racing sounds like it was pretty good in all classes, but having a good race track was again a struggle with the soft soil. My first thought was that this sounded like the report from three out of the four weekends of the Triple Crown AX Series. You know, I can honestly remember sitting in the press conference during the announcement of this new series back in August, and thinking that other than in a few rare cases, spring AX racing is a tough business in Ontario. There are just too many unpredictable factors that can affect the event. A few promoters like Carl Bastedo and Mark Stallybrass have all tried it, only to rethink their decision shortly after. Basically, like the Jetwerx crew, their hearts, minds and ambitions were in the proper place, but Mother Nature and the wet Ontario soil trumped all of the that. At least last weekend in Sarnia once again proved that you can sell out an arena in Ontario for AX which is just awesome for the future of our sport.

Congrats to Shawn Maffenbeier, Marco Cannella and Ryan Lockhart on their great 2018 Triple Crown AX Series in the 250 class. Photo by James Lissimore

First, the Jetwerx crew have been involved in the sport of AX for a very long time. Some events in recent years have been in Canada, but for the most part they’ve been down in the USA. So, take away the soft dirt from Abbotsford, Sarnia and Barrie this past weekend, as well as some of the racing incidents and subsequent penalties that have left more than a few riders soured. The Jetwerx crew are great to deal with on a daily basis and are always there to make sure everyone has what they need. I personally tried to assist them by offering my services to the newly created ‘Rules Committee’ a few weeks ago. I just wanted to help in some way, but after receiving complaints that I might not be able to be unbiased when it comes to certain decisions, Jetwerx and I both decided that if me being involved was going to cause any conflict, then I simply shouldn’t be involved. I agree in some ways as it’s really not worth the hassle to me, but I do find it a little insulting that some people out there doubt my ability to be unbiased when it come to the rules.

Due to the wet spring weather in Ontario, the Barrie track was soft and full of ruts. Photo by James Lissimore

If anyone asked me what could done to assist with the fast-approaching outdoor series my very first suggestion would be to get Brett Lee out of the live streaming booth and into a role where he could make a serious difference. For years, Brett helped the CMRC with the day to day event operations at the outdoor nationals, so he has a good idea what needs to be done to help make each round run smoothly. I think that Brett is doing a good job calling the races on the internet, in fact I don’t know why he and Kyle Thompson aren’t doing the television commentary as well, they make a pretty good team and appear to have a good rapport. However, Brett’s skill set could be better served helping to iron out some of the wrinkles that have already come up, and will no doubt continue to come up during the outdoor series. If Brett doesn’t want to do it, then get someone. With the first leg of this series all done now, it’s imperative that the outdoor nationals run as smoothly as possible.

The second thing moving forward and into 2019 is that maybe this AX Series should be moved to the fall. Perhaps just one indoor series that runs from late September until November would eliminate some of the problems that we’ve seen in the past month. The weather is better in the fall, the soil is obviously better, there is nothing else going on with regards to pro racing during that time in North America so the series could draw a few more riders from the USA, and I’m sure the amateur turn outs would improve. Also, did I mention that the weather and soil would be better? I love the idea of having high level pro racing in Canada during the early part of spring, but maybe there are just too many unpredictable factors that can impede the success of having events this early in the calendar year.

Your top three overall series finishers in the 450 class. I cannot wait to watch these riders battle this summer in the outdoor series. Photo by James Lissimore

So, get a few more employees in place before Calgary to add to the already great staff. Then, perhaps look at changing the schedule in 2019 to having an outdoor series in the summer, and then just one indoor series in the fall, and definitely include Sarnia on the 2019 schedule as the fans there seem to love indoor racing. As I said before, the Jetwerx crew is great to deal with as far as I’m concerned. The Triple Crown Series is here to stay (I guess you’d have to call it the Double Crown series in 2019 if changes were made) so we might as well try to make it the best it can be for all parties involved.

Before I say good-bye and head back into the hot Mexican sun, I want to congratulate Shawn Maffenbeier and Cole Thompson on winning their classes in this first ever Triple Crown AX Series. Also, good job to runners up Colton Facciotti in the 450 class and Marco Cannella in the 250 class. I can’t believe some of the conditions all of the riders had to race in during this series. One thing is for sure, this sport is never boring. Finally, can someone tell Mother Nature to sort out all of her issues and get us back on track. It’s April 16th!! Have a great week and please be safe.

With his AX Series win, Cole Thompson draws first blood in the 2018 Rockstar Energy Triple Crown Series and its $100,000 payout at the end of the year. Photo by James Lissimore