Greetings! Welcome to this post Father’s Day edition of the Monday Gate Drop Column, presented once again by the awesome crew at Yamaha Motor Canada. I hope every Father out there had a great day yesterday as we celebrated and cherish all the Moto Dads. Judging by the weather now in most parts of Canada, summer is getting close and officially arrives this coming weekend.
So, what did everyone do this past weekend? With the Triple Crown Series on a two week break I think it’s safe to say that most of the riders took a well-earned weekend off. I did see on Social Media that our 450 points leader Jess Pettis embarked on a 100km road bike ride with his fiancé, so that was cool to see. Also on Social Media, Quinn Amyotte was out doing motos to stay ready for Round 3. WLTN Kawasaki rider Dylan Walsh helped me teach a riding school on Friday at Walton Raceway which was pretty fun. Today, he is flying back to California to ride for a week before returning for the remainder of the summer. After two weekends of racing out West I’m sure it was good for everyone to have a few days off before returning to the grind this week. One rider who is also going to have to continue his training is Jared Allison. After coming out of retirement for the two Western rounds, the GDR Honda Team has agreed to provide Jared with a bike for Round 3 in Ste Julie. Jared is a good guy and this is certainly one of the feel-good stories so far in 2025. After an 8th overall in Cold Lake, Jared currently sits 11th in the 250 Pro/AM class points standings right now. Can he improve on his finish at Round 3? His progress will definitely be interesting to watch as the competition always deepens in the East.
Speaking of the 250 Pro/Am class, last week I wrote a story on the top ten riders after two rounds, and how they were able to get to where they are currently in the points standings. This class is going to be one to watch in the final six rounds of the Triple Crown Series as there doesn’t appear to be much between Preston Kilroy and Ryder McNabb. In the opening four motos of the series, Kilroy was able to win three of them, while McNabb put his head down and won the final moto of the day in Cold Lake. Before the series hits the sand tracks of Gopher Dunes and Sand Del Lee, the riders will have to deal with another harder packed track in Ste Julie next weekend. I know the track crew is putting a lot of work into the track and facility, so I would expect the conditions there to be rutted and tacky come race day. I think it goes without saying that Round 3 is a very important race as you want to start off the East strong. Also, Gopher Dunes and SDL could have hot and humid weather conditions so, as a rider you never know what is in store there. While Kilroy and McNabb continue their championship battle, Dylan Walsh told me on Friday that he’s satisfied with his opening two rounds, but he’s really looking forward to Round 3 as his health is continuing to improve. He feels like once he’s 100% in the coming weeks he will be able join the battle for lead and challenge for the title in the final six rounds. That will definitely be fun to watch as I have a feeling Walsh will be very aggressive while battling for moto wins. One rider who is now in a must win or at least podium situation is MX101 Yamaha rider Sebastien Racine. After a decent opening round in Calgary, Racine suffered a DNF in Cold Lake, and now sits 48 points back of series leader Kilroy. This is obviously not a good spot to be in, especially considering that Racine was a title contender coming into the series. On the bright side though, the strategy is fairly simple moving forward as Racine really just needs to go for it, and in the past, he’s been very good on these Eastern tracks. If Racine can get himself out front in several of the next few motos then he’ll be able to salvage points and get himself back on track. On the 450 class side of things, stay tuned this week as I’ll break down the top ten in that class as well.
Well, that is it for me this week. Thank you for reading and if you have any comments to questions, please email me at editor@mxpmag.com. For this week’s Rider of the Week, I’m going way back to one of my favourites, Doug ‘The Sweeper’ Hoover. I was a big fan of Hoover while growing up and whenever he would show up at a local Ontario race, I was glued to watching everything he did on the track. He’s a multi-time Canadian National Champion and I recently found out that in October he’s being inducted into the Canadian Motorcycle Hall of Fame. Congratulations to Doug and his family, and I cannot wait to go to the induction ceremony later this year in Hamilton, and watch one my all-time favourite riders receive this incredible honour. So, for that Doug Hoover is my pick for Rider of the Week.
