Motocross Performance Magazine Canadian Motocross news leader
Good day and welcome to February and the first Honda Canada Monday Gate Drop of the month. So far, 2019 is moving right along and hopefully before we know it Spring will be here and our outdoor riding season will begin. Until then, sit tight, stay warm and don’t worry, Wiarton Willie didn’t see his shadow on Saturday so it’s going to be an early spring.
Well, Jess Pettis finally did it! After five rounds of racing in the uber-competitive 250SX West class, he was able to secure a very well deserved Top 5 finish. In a rare occurrence, a week ago the weatherman (accurately) predicted that Southern California was going to be hit with a major winter storm right about the time the riders in San Diego would be getting ready to walk the track. I suppose these days with computer weather models it has taken most of the guesswork out of a weatherman’s job. Something tells me, though, that this particular storm was so large that you didn’t a computer to predict its path. In a winter season where California has seen more rain than it has in the past decade, unfortunately Round 5 of the 2019 Monster Energy Supercross Series couldn’t avoid Mother Nature’s wrath. Anyway, back to Jess Pettis and his amazing 5th place ride.
For anyone reading this who has experienced the nightmare of racing a supercross in the mud, I can tell you that it is one of the most difficult tasks you can perform on two wheels. One of the keys to having a good mud race is to keep moving whenever possible. Momentum accomplishes two things in a difficult mud race: it keeps you from getting stuck or even bogged down, and by keeping your wheels moving as fast as possible it cleans the mud out of your tires and allows you to maintain some sort of traction. With the speeds on a supercross track being slower than they are on an outdoor track, this makes maintaining momentum that much tougher. And, because of this, your tires have a hard time cleaning themselves out so you end up having very little traction.
Because I always thought of myself as a pretty good mud rider back in the day, in 1998 when I rolled into Tampa Stadium for Round 8 of the Supercross Series I was pretty excited. The weather that day in Tampa was a lot like it was in San Diego on Saturday as heavy rain pelted the area throughout the day. The track, as you can imagine, was a disaster, and in those days, riders outside of the Top 20 had to run day qualifiers to make it into the night show. This meant that qualifying wasn’t about just one fast lap in the mud, you actually had to line-up, do a start and then race a four-lap sprint. As I said, in those days I was fairly proficient in the mud so I assumed the conditions would suit my skill set. Well, from the moment I got on the track it was a struggle as the mud was deep and heavy. If my memory serves me correctly, I don’t think we had the right tires on my bike, and with near stock suspension, the added weight of the Tampa mud really made my CR250R difficult to ride. In certain sections, you entered into a deep rut and couldn’t get out of it for an entire straight-away. What started as a day of soggy optimism, quickly turned to frustration as I just wasn’t able to execute anything on the race track. In a day and night that I would love to have back, Larry Ward ended up winning the main event while I sat in the stands wondering what the heck I did wrong. Yes, racing a muddy supercross is extremely difficult, and as we saw in San Diego on Saturday, even the best riders can struggle.
I’m sure Jess Pettis’s mechanic Matt Deroy wasn’t smiling this much when he had to clean his riders bike after the race in San Diego. Photo by James Lissimore
For Jess Pettis, he did himself a massive favour by almost getting the holeshot in the main event. Looking back at my 1998 Tampa race, one of the big issues for me was that I just couldn’t get a decent start. However, to his credit, Pettis rocketed off the gate and just missed getting the holeshot. With that important task completed, Pettis set sail for one of the best races of his young career. I know that the ugly conditions were responsible for a few of the top riders finishing well back, and their bad luck certainly moved Pettis up the leaderboard. However, I feel like even if this race had been run in the dry conditions, Pettis was still in line for his best result of 2019. To finish in the Top 5, or even near the Top 5 in an AMA supercross race, even in muddy conditions, takes an abundance of effort, talent, and most importantly self belief. During these first four SX races of 2019, Pettis was able to build a solid foundation of confidence that allowed him to execute Saturday’s main event the way he wanted. To sit on that starting gate in San Diego, knowing just how important a good start was, and then to almost holeshot and put yourself in the position that Pettis did, well that’s pretty amazing if you ask me.
With the 250SX West Series now taking a long break, Pettis has the opportunity to not only sit back and let all of his early season success sink in, but he also has a chance to do some more training and testing on his new Red Bull Thor Racing KTM. Having been thrown into the fire quite quickly in December when he first signed with his new team, the weeks leading up to Round 1 in Anaheim were more about getting comfortable. Pettis wasn’t able to sit back and do some stress-free testing. This long break gives him and his team a chance to figure out his bike a little better, and he’ll also get a chance to meet his new teammates for the first time when the team gathers in the southeast for their annual team photo shoot next month. Also, at this point, I think it’s safe to assume that Pettis will be finishing out the 250SX West Series when it resumes in Seattle on March 23rd. After five rounds Jess now sits in tenth overall and he’s just nine points out of fifth.
Chad Reed had a great ride in San Diego and managed a fifth place finish in the muddy conditions.
Another great ride that went a little unnoticed in San Diego was Chad Reed’s solid fifth place finish. I mean, this guy is going to be 37-years-old next month. He’s not only still out there racing, but also doing it at the highest level. Will the stars align properly and allow Reed to get at least one more podium finish, or even a main event win? In this sport anything is possible. For the next issue of MXP Magazine I was able to do a phone interview with Reed that lasted almost 45 minutes. As you can imagine it was great to interact with this legend, and I was very surprised how open he was and how well he articulated his thoughts. To be honest, though, as much as I loved chatting with him, it was a little bitter sweet talking about his long career. Whether it’s this year, next year or whenever, the day that Reed steps away from racing supercross will most definitely leave a huge void in the sport. I’ve always hated change, especially when it’s a good thing coming to an end. It’s hard to believe that 2019 could possibly be not only Chad Reed’s final year of racing but also Colton Facciotti’s up here. Both riders made their big stage debuts around the same time and both have had great careers racing dirt bikes. I know this sport will move on and new legends will be created, but filling the shoes of a Chad Reed or Colton Facciotti will not be easy.
Jake Tricco is now a Red Rider.
In other Honda news, last week it was finally announced the Colton Facciotti and Dylan Wright will have themselves a new teammate this summer. Multi-time Ontario Amateur Champion Jake Tricco has signed on with the GDR Honda Fox Team to race in the 250 class in 2019. Jake raced the East 250 MXTour Series last year and found himself hovering just inside the Top 10, so he definitely showed that he has the speed and fitness to be a consistent Top 5 rider. Breaking into that elusive Top 5 will be difficult for Jake in 2019 as it really is his rookie year. He will be learning new tracks in the west, he will now have a new bike to learn as he’s been riding blue for some time now, and most importantly, he will have to deal with two things that have been kryptonite for a lot of kids over the years: pressure and expectations. In many cases, these two mental road blocks have proven to be too big a weight to bare, and because of that, promising young racing careers have been cut short. But I like this signing for Jake as he will most certainly have a ton of support under the GDR Honda tent this summer, as well as the freedom to still have a bad race or two. Racing-wise, this will be the most difficult summer of Jake Tricco’s life, but having mentors like Colton Facciotti and Derek Schuster could be exactly what he needs to find success in 2019.
Anyway, that is it for me this week. I hope everyone has a good week and I hope everyone enjoyed the Superbowl last night. We haven’t seen too many defensive battles over the years in this big game, but that was certainly one of those. Obviously, a game with a ton of offence is more exciting but some of the battles last night as both teams searched for the smallest of openings was pretty cool to watch. In the end, I’m glad Tom Brady and the New England Patriots won yet another championship. Have a great week and thank-you for reading.
