Greetings! Welcome to this late July edition of the Monday Gate Drop Column, which is once again brought to you by the awesome people at Yamaha Motor Canada. It was quite a week at the 2026 MX Deschambault ECAN for the Blu Cru riders, as they were all over the podium. The big winner was Intermediate rider Jonathan Bergeron who took home multiple ECAN titles as well as the Yamaha Factory Rider Award. Now these talented Blu Cru riders will prepare for the 2026 Walton TransCan, which gets underway on August 10th at Walton Raceway.
As I mentioned above, one of the best events of the year took place in Deschambault this past week as the gate dropped on the 2026 ECAN. If you’ve never been to the ECAN before, I highly suggest that you put it on your bucket list. The facility is truly amazing, the vibe is awesome, social events are entertaining, and the track is one of the best in the country. I really can’t think of anything negative to say about the ECAN, and since the crew fromGreetings! Welcome to this late July edition of the Monday Gate Drop Column, which is once again brought to you by the awesome people at Yamaha Motor Canada. It was quite a week at the 2026 MX Deschambault ECAN for the Blu Cru riders, as they were all over the podium. The big winner was Intermediate rider Jonathan Bergeron who took home multiple ECAN titles as well as the Yamaha Factory Rider Award. Now these talented Blu Cru riders will prepare for the 2026 Walton TransCan, which gets underway on August 10th at Walton Raceway. AMO Racing came in and took over the racing side of the event several years ago, everything has run like clockwork. Even when Mother Nature introduces some rain to the event, the track responds very quickly and within half a day the riders are back to enjoying solid conditions. My family and I arrived on Monday last week as we drove straight there from Round 6 at Sand Del Lee. From there, we spent all week at ECAN as my son practiced on Tuesday and then raced the Pro/Am class on Thursday and Friday. We had a great time and honestly, I can’t wait to go back in 2027. Thank you to the Thibault Family for putting on an incredible event, and also to AMO Racing and the Triple Crown Series for taking care of the racing side of things. July has flown by, and now we’re down to just one round of the Triple Crown Series, and of course, the biggest race of the year, the Walton TransCan.
With yesterday being a travel day, and reset day, I apologize that this week’s column is coming to you on Tuesday. However, as good as it is to be home after spending over a week on the road, I won’t be able to get too comfortable. Tomorrow, I’m heading to Minnesota for the 2027 CRF450R Media Launch at the beautiful Spring Creek MX track, or Millville as it’s known to everyone. I’ve been waiting for this trip for some time as it’s going to be very exciting to test ride the newest generation of the CRF450R. This bike is pretty much new from the ground up. It’s lighter, faster, and features a plethora of changes for 2027. Back at the Birmingham SX in March, I was talking to Shane Drew (who helped with the design and testing of this bike) and he said that through all of the development stages of this new bike, including having Jett and Hunter Lawrence personally involved in testing, the 2027 CRF450R has been nothing short of amazing. On Thursday morning, I will get to spin my first laps on this new model from Honda, and obviously I cannot wait. There will most likely be an embargo on releasing any feedback stories until early next week, but I’m sure I will be able to post photos and videos of me riding on Thursday. Stay tuned for more information on the 2027 CRF450R, and please follow @mxpmag.com for photos and stories of my trip. As I’ve been doing for each round of the 2026 Triple Crown Series, I compose a press release for the Triple Crown Series website (www.triplecrownseries.ca) and here is the PR for Round 7. Read it over, and then I’ll talk specifically about the final 450 moto:
“Deschambault, QC (July 26, 2026)
In front of the largest crowd of the series, Round 7 took place at the beautiful MX Deschambault circuit, located 45 minutes West of Quebec City. Over the years, this track has witnessed some of the greatest moments in Triple Crown Series history, including last year when local Quebec hero Kaven Benoit came out of retirement to win the 250 Pro/Am class. This year, it was the return of the 2025 Triple Crown Series champion Phil Nicoletti who had the fans attention on what was also considered to be the hottest round of the series thus far.
The WMX class gave the fans much to cheer about as Kaylie Kayer used her exceptional sand and jumping skills to secure her first overall win of the series. Behind Kayer, was defending champion Jamie Astudillo, who rode well and moved to within six points of the series lead with one round remaining. It was a great day of racing in the WMX class, and it was amazing to hear the fans cheering loudly each time Kayer jumped the massive MX Deschambault Double Jump!
In the 250 Pro/Am class, Ryder Malinoski came into Round 7 looking for some redemption after his mechanical issues last weekend at Sand Del Lee. The MX101 Yamaha accomplished exactly what he set out to do on Sunday by winning both motos, and climbing right back into the championship battle. With points leader Dylan Rempel finishing second in both motos, the points gap between him and Malinoski is only three points heading into the final round at Walton Raceway. Third overall in the 250 Pro/Am class was once again Josh Boaz, who has been riding solid all season long.
The 450 class provided what most in attendance referred to as the best race of the year as Harri Kullas and Dylan Wright battled tooth and nail for the overall victory. After winning the opening moto, Kullas got out front early in moto two with Wright only a few bike lengths away. For the next 35 minutes, the two riders battled around the challenging Deschambault track. The fans didn’t dare take their eyes off the two leaders for fear of missing the incredible action. In the end, Kullas would hold on for the win, and now with just one round to go, he’s only 12 points behind Wright in the championship chase. Preston Kilroy took the final spot on the Round 7 podium with a consistent ride in third.
The Eastern swing of the 2026 Triple Crown Series consisting of Riverglade, Sand Del Lee, and Deschambaut produced some of the best racing of the series with endless battles and multiple winners. Now, the series moves to Walton Raceway for the eighth and final round. It’s been an incredible series so far, and with Walton Raceway being the most famous track of the series, the best could still be yet to come. For more information on the series, please visit www.triplecrownseries.ca
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As I mentioned in the PR, the final 450 moto featured an incredible battle between Harri Kullas and Dylan Wright. This battle was not only for the moto win, but also for the overall win and the large bonus that goes with it. This was one of, if not that most entertaining moto of the series so far, and there wasn’t one person in the stands or lining the fences at MX Deschambault who wasn’t cheering and watching every moment of this battle. For 35 minutes, Wright stalked Kullas, even getting along side of him a few times, but Kullas fought him off each time. Now, the Deschambault track is notorious for being hard to pass on, so there weren’t too many opportunities for Wright to make a move. However, a lot of credit has to go Kullas for really not putting one wheel wrong for the entire moto. If you haven’t already, you have to go to the MXP Instagram page (@mxpmag) and listen to my post race interview with Kullas. He goes into great detail about the race and how he just tried to be patient, take as many inside lines as possible, and not make any big mistakes. He also talked about his plan to not sprint too hard in the opening laps as he knew that regardless of how fast he went in those early laps, Dylan would be able to go just as fast and he wouldn’t be able to pull away. So, he just tried to settle in and find some sort of flow, and not worry about what Dylan was doing. This is a great lesson for every rider out there. If you can keep your mind and body as calm as possible, then it allows you to be more cognitive about where you’re fast and where your opponent is fast. Kullas said that he figured out quickly where Dylan was fast and where his passing opportunities might be, and then he just countered that whenever it happens. It really was a brilliant piece of riding by Kullas, and also an incredible effort by Dylan to keep him so close for the entire moto. As I said, it was the moto of the year so far, and now there is only 12 points separating these two heading into the final round at Walton Raceway. Actually, all three class championships are coming down to the final round, which is going to make Round 8 very exciting.
Well, that is it for me this week. I hope everyone enjoys these final few days of July. I cannot believe that we are almost into August, and that in two weeks we will be racing at the Walton TransCan. Time sure flies when you’re having fun! Thank you for reading my Monday Gate Drop Column this week, if you have any questions or comments, please email me at editor@mxpmag.com. Finally, the Motovan Canada Rider of the Week is BC Junior rider Fisher Bentley, who had an exceptional week at the ECAN.
