Greetings! Welcome to this post-Mother’s Day edition of the Monday Gate Drop Column, which as always is brought to you by the awesome people at Yamaha Motor Canada. This week, the MX101 Yamaha Racing Team is conducting their annual team photo shoot and then they will be at the Sand Del Lee track on Sunday for Round 3 of the 2026 AMO Racing OPC Series. With just over four weeks remaining until the gate drops in Calgary on June 7th, the riders and teams are now in the process of making their final preparations for the fast approaching Triple Crown Series.
Have you managed to catch your breath yet after Saturday night’s exciting SLC SX? Between the 250SX East/West Showdown main event, and the 450SX main event, the final round of the 2026 Monster Energy Supercross Series certainly lived up to it’s hype. Let’s first begin with the 250SX race and what everyone assumed would be another Haiden Deegan runaway. Even when Haiden made an early pass for the lead on his teammate Max Anstie, I figured he would go on to win his final 250SX of his career. Thankfully for us fans, his other teammate, 250SX East class champion Cole Davies had other ideas, and within a few laps he was right on Deegan’s rear fender. At that point, Deegan had to have known he was in a bit of trouble, as not only was Davies faster in the whoops and some of the corners, but he also knew that Davies was looking for some redemption. If you recall, Deegan took Davies out last year in Denver to secure the 250SX West title, and now it was payback time. For all of the praise that Deegan gets from certain members of the media, as well as the SX Series commentators, one of his biggest faults (as we witnessed last year with Jo Shimoda in Vegas) is that when he gets another rider right behind him, he’s unable to shake, his insecurity kicks in and he begins to look over his shoulder trying to guess where said rider is going. It is a very bad habit, and one that Deegan is going to have to quickly correct as he prepares for his rookie season in the 450 class this summer. So, Deegan began to look around, Davies saw this and knew he had Deegan on the ropes, and that it was just a matter of time. I will however give Deegan credit for his mid-race adjustment in the whoop section, when he changed up his line to block Davies run, down the left side and then began blitzing the whoops again in an attempt to at least match Davies speed. RC and JS7 were going nuts in the booth commenting on Deegan’s superior racecraft, when in reality it was really just common sense that almost every pro racer would have. I mean, who doesn’t know that Davies is fast in the whoops, and who in that situation wouldn’t hear the crowd cheer as they were going through the whoops. At that point, Deegan would have known that Davies was making a run through them, and given that they were racing 250s, you know he wasn’t able to square up the corner before, and go down the right side of the whoops. Anyway, when Deegan took away Davies clear advantage in that section, it was then up to the young New Zealander to make something happen elsewhere on the track. Well, he certainly did, and I feel like other than a fringe group of Deegan diehard fans, most of the world cheered loudly when Davies made the aggressive pass for the lead. Whether it was payback or Davies just trying to prove a point, his pass was exactly what the sport, the series, and the race needed at the time. In that moment, Davies proved to everyone that he’s not only a great rider, but also has the ability to be a ruthless racer! Again, I’m giving credit to Deegan for his response after the race, he seemed okay, and even thrilled with the way the two Star Racing Yamaha riders battled. It was an amazing race, and one that we won’t soon forget.
Moving onto the 450SX class and the final battle battle between Hunter Lawrence and Ken Roczen. Heading into the main event on Saturday night, I honestly had my doubts that Roczen would be able to finish ahead of Hunter, as his day didn’t go very well. Whether it was his bike, nerves, or the track, Roczen struggled all day, right up until the point where it mattered the most. On lap one, in turn two, Roczen made a clean but aggressive pass on Hunter for the lead, and from that point on the race and the 450SX championship was his to control. You want to talk about racecraft, and rising to the occasion, that pass (and laps after) was Roczen’s career moment. All of the injuries, all of the hard work, and of the sacrifice came down to that pass and that moment. From there, all Hunter’s decision making became that much more difficult as he had to figure out what his move would be. Should he just stay in second, pressure Roczen, and hope for a mistake? Should he try and pass him right back in the same aggressive manner? History would tell us that Roczen’s best laps are always in the early part of a main event, while Hunter’s best come in the second half of the race. Given that, both riders were playing to their strengths in those opening laps, and I’m sure like me, you were all on the edge of your seats. As the 450SX main event approached the halfway point, Jorge Prado was in third and beginning to put pressure on Lawrence. This is when the entire complexity of managing the race changed for Lawrence, as he was now forced to play defence and offence at the same time. Unfortunately for Hunter, with the championship fight on the line, this change of events became too much mentally and he cracked! One big mistake turned into an even bigger mistake, and just like that his title hopes were dashed. Up front, Roczen was in cruise control and didn’t even have to worry about a few riders passing him in the final few laps. All he had to do was finish in front of Hunter, and that is exactly what he did. In what is truly an amazing story of courage and resilience, Ken Roczen is now our 2026 Monster Energy Supercross Champion! Those are honestly words I never thought I’d say. What a final race, what a season, and what an amazing career comeback for Ken Roczen, who as we all know nearly lost his arm in 2017. What will Kenny do now is the big question as we get ready to watch his competitors head outdoors for the Pro Motocross Championships? Will he retire? Will he just race the WSX Championships in the fall and then retire? Or, will he take a few months to let this amazing season sink in and then make a more rational decision? Honestly, at this point it wouldn’t surprise me if he chose to ride off into the sunset, or return for another season of SX. Regardless of his decision, Ken Roczen is finally a SX Champion, and he can do whatever he wants to do. Again, what an amazing season of SX, and it was cool to also see Cole Thompson in the 450SX main event, as that could be his final SX race of his career.
That is it for me this week. I hope everyone has a great week and good luck to everyone racing this coming weekend. I am heading to Sand Del Lee on Saturday for the AMO Racing event, but up first is the GDR Honda Team Media Day tomorrow at Gopher Dunes. This is always a good time, the media will be able to chat with GDR Honda riders Dylan Wright, Dylan Rempel, Braxton Zeitner, and Hannah Cole. With Ken Roczen winning the 450SX title in SLC, Chase Sexton’s main event winning ride kind of got overshadowed. So, I’m choosing Chase Sexton as the Motovan Canada Rider of the Week. Thank you for reading and if you have any questions or comments, please email me ateditor@mxpmag.com.
