Greetings! Welcome to this late August edition of the Monday Gate Drop Column, which is once again brought to you by the great people at Yamaha Motor Canada. Two weeks ago I travelled down to ClubMX in South Carolina for the North American media launch of the 2027 YZ250F. While there, the media were given a guided tour of the entire ClubMX training facility, including the brand new state-of-the-art fitness centre. Then, we spent an entire day test riding the new YZ250F on the very challenging back practice track at ClubMX. On this trip also was Justin Balkos from Yamaha Motor Canada, as well as Austin Jones and Kyle Thompson of 48 Cuts Media. We all had a great time as you can imagine, and Kyle edited this cool video of us together.
This past weekend Ironman Raceway welcomed a Canadian invasion as several of our riders, as well as a couple of honorary Canadians travelled to Indiana for the final round of the 2026 Pro Motocross Championships. In the WMX class, we had Kaylie Kayer, Brandy McLarty, Hannah Cole, as well as the 2026 Triple Crown Series WMX Champion Jamie Astudillo, all racing. In the SMX Next race on Friday, we had our 250 Triple Crown Series Champion Dylan Rempel, and then on Saturday in the Pro Classes we had Tanner Ward, Quinn Amyotte, Preston Masciangelo, Tegan Kortenbach, Cole Pranger, as well as Preston Kilroy and Ryder Malinoski, who aren’t Canadian but we obviously know them very well and cheer for them whenever possible. It was great to see so many Canadian riders at Ironman Raceway this weekend, and I know there are some keyboard warriors who always take the positive of a few of our Canadian riders racing in the USA to speculating as to why more don’t race in the USA, and what is wrong with those who don’t. First of all, it’s not easy to get into a Pro National or a round of the Monster Energy Supercross round as the AMA only takes a limited amount of entries per race. Even the SMX Next race was hard to get into for Rempel this weekend. In the end, he needed some help with a few people pulling some strings in the USA to get him in, and because of that, he didn’t find out until the very last minute that he got in. Also, it’s not cheap to race one of the pro classes at a Pro National or Supercross in the USA. By the time you buy a license, pay to sign up, and then travel to the race, buy all of the normal essentials for a raceday, you’re easily $2,000 for the weekend. So, while it would be amazing to see 5 to 10 fast Canadian riders on the starting line at these late season AMA Pro Nationals, it’s just not realistic. However, for those Canadian riders who did go to Budds Creek last weekend and Ironman Raceway this weekend, good on you for stepping up and racing against some of the best riders on the planet.
Of the riders I mentioned above, it was good to see that the speed that say Malinoski and Kilroy were running in Canada this summer was good enough to battle with the top riders in the USA. Malinoski, who was racing in just his second Pro Motocross National, was able to get a good start in the second moto on Saturday and then hold on for a 10th place finish and a solid 14th OA. Kilroy, who moved back to the 250 class for Ironman, rode great all day and eventually went 17-14 for 15th OA. Dylan Rempel also turned some heads on Friday with his impressive 8-3 moto score in the SMX Next race. In the moto two, Rempel was battling with Carson Wood and Landon Gibson, who have both raced several rounds of the Pro Motocross Championships this summer. Rempel was pretty much on their pace where honestly that is where I’d expect him to be at this point in the season. I mean, he did just win a Triple Crown Series Championship over Malinoski (who finished tenth in a moto on Saturday). I would’ve been more shocked if Rempel hadn’t been near or at the front in the SMX Next class. However, given the fact that he was a late addition to the class and was still sitting at Gopher Dunes until mid-afternoon the day before, I feel like Rempel rode very well. Tanner Ward and Quinn Amyotte also rode solid in the 450 class, finishing near each other in 27th OA and 28th OA. With all of the excitement and chaos of the championship drama in the 450 class, the riders probably spent most of the time looking over their shoulders. Preston Masciangelo rode well in the 250 class, even running inside the top 20 for a lot of the opening moto. Preston would eventually finish 24th OA, which is about where he’s been most of the season. Unfortunately, Tegan Kortenbach and Cole Pranger just missed qualifying for the motos in the 250 class. In the WMX class, we had Astudillo finishing 10th OA, Kayer finishing in 17th, McLarty ending up 20th OA, and Cole with a solid ride to finish 23rd. It was a solid conclusion to the season for all of these riders!
Now, we look ahead to the next few months as our regional events slowly wrap up, and then we have the MXON in France, which is just over a month away. Dylan Rempel is part of Team Canada for the first time, and after listening to his podium speech at Ironman on Friday, as well as interviewing him last week, he still has some big aspirations to race in the USA. I mean, with where he is right now in his career, as well as the fact that at 19 years of age, he’s still relatively young, and has some USA experience already, if he wants to race some more USA races, then now is the time to do it. Yes, important things like talent, speed, support and hard work are all important ingredients to having a successful pro career in this sport, but something that gets overlooked is timing. And by timing, I mean coming into the sport at the right time (which is not something you can’t always control) and making the correct decisions at the correct time with regards to what class to race, and where to race. I’m not sure who exactly has been responsible for calling the shots in his career thus far (whether it’s just Dylan or a family effort), but I don’t know if they’ve made a bad call yet. Whether it was going straight to Intermediate from the Supermini Class after signing with the Huber Kawasaki Team, riding for the Partzilla PRMX Team, choosing to go with the KTM Canada Team last year, or becoming a member of the GDR Honda Team this year, so far everything has worked out. So, if he wants to race some 250SX East rounds next year in Supercross, I say go for it! Over the years, one of the things that I’ve liked about this kid is his ability to not overthink the big moments. Whether it was two weeks ago at Walton Raceway, or when he does travel south to race, he usually puts himself in a good place to find success, and he doesn’t seem to care who he’s lined up beside on the gate. Trust me, it’s so easy when you’re racing in the USA to look left or right on the gate and think about (even if it’s just for a moment) how fast or famous that rider is. I could be mistaken, but over the years Rempel has been a rider who seems impervious to this and doesn’t seem to care who he’s lined up next to. If Rempel wants to race some SX in the future I’d love to see him do a hybrid SX schedule similar to what Malinoski did last year. Use this latest result to try and get into the Australian SX Series (or some other International SX events) in the 250 class or whatever they call their SMX Next class there. Then come back to North America and raced a few rounds of the 250SX East Series, and then obviously defend your Triple Crown Series 250 title next summer. As I mention above, timing is everything, and as the old saying goes, you have to make hay while the sun shines.
Now, onto the race that will having people talking for weeks and months to come, the two 450 motos from Ironman Raceway. With Hunter and Jett [Lawrence] heading into the final round with just one point separating them, there was a lot of speculation beforehand about whether or not the Brothers had a plan that involved allowing Hunter to secure this title without too much of a fight from Jett. With the heartbreak from last year’s SMX Final where Jett secured the championship with just a few laps to go, pushing his older brother back to second, or most recently the final round of the Monster Energy Supercross Series in SLC, when Hunter lost the 450SX title to Ken Roczen. Not to mention, that in recent years it has been Jett who has been doing the heavy lifting in the family when it comes to winning championships. Finally, with Jett battling through a very serious injury this summer (it was a small miracle that he even lined up at Fox Raceway, let alone win races and be in the championship hunt) some felt that the Lawrence Family dynamic would simply dictate that it was finally Hunter’s time to win. Of course, there was more fuel added to the conspiracy fire when in the early moments of the opening moto, Hunter got collected with a slightly out of control Deegan and went down in a heap. Jett, who got off to another bad start, saw his brother down and obviously knew that this was a make or break time when it came to the 450 championship. After that, I’m sure most everyone assumed that in typical Jett fashion, he was going to systematically pick off one rider at a time, and by the mid-way point of the moto he’d be up front, while Hunter would be riding for his championship life and trying to pass as many riders as possible. This is when the conspiracy fire turned into an inferno as Jett would go nowhere, while seemingly waiting for his brother to catch up so they could decide this championship the right way. Hunter did his part and before the halfway board came out, he had not only caught his younger brother, but had blown past him, as well as a few other riders. This is when it became obvious that there was something wrong with Jett and after the moto it was confirmed by this team that he had hyper extended his bad ankle in the early laps of moto one. Again, some people bought this explanation, while others called BS on the entire charade and assumed that Jett was simply rolling over so his brother could win the title. Two family members going for the same championship in an individual sport, a moment or a situation like this in our sport, or any sport really, is unprecedented. Even in moto two, Jett had plenty of opportunity to put the hammer down and show us some of his usual “Jett” speed while sitting behind his brother in 4th place, but he appeared content to sit there and allow the spotlight to be solely on Hunter. It was truly an amazing and unforgettable moment and I think it gave us a further indication of just how strong this family bond is.
Now that it’s been a few days since the final round at Ironman Raceway and we now have more information regarding Jett’s injury and what exactly went down, here is what I think happened. First of all, I don’t believe for a second that Jett faked another injury to his ankle and simply let his big brother win the title. I don’t think Hunter would even allow that to happen, as I’m sure in his mind he’s been the better Lawrence brother overall in this series. Not that Jett wouldn’t be a deserving 450 champion this summer, but he has certainly been battling with his bad ankle all summer long. So much so that I would be surprised if we see him race again before Anaheim 1. I believe Jett’s state-of-mind began after Unadilla when Hunter crashed in moto two and threw away his points lead. I don’t think Jett wanted to hand his brother this title, but I do feel that deep inside he felt like it was big bro’s time to win! With his ankle slowly getting better, a brand new CRF450R for 2027, and the fact that he checked the ‘shutting up Deegan’ box this summer, Jett accomplished some goals, and the future looks very bright once again. So, while I don’t think Jett came into the final two rounds with the goal of simply laying up for his brother, I do think he wasn’t as driven or as focused on winning as we’ve seen Jett in the past. This could explain why he was riding so mediocre in practice and in the opening laps of moto one on Saturday, thus opening the door for some abnormal imprecision in his riding that caused him to tweak his ankle again. Once that happened, Jett went fully into ‘How can I make sure Hunter wins this title’ mode so they could keep the 450 Pro Motocross Championship in the Lawrence family. That to me, is the obvious hypothesis of what went down on Saturday. But if we go deeper into their family dynamic, we have no way of knowing just how deep the bond goes between little bro and big bro. Especially, when they were younger and Jett had to watch Hunter deal with struggle after struggle while he appeared to walk between the rain drops on the road to being Jett Lawrence. This was Hunter’s year, and after throwing away the SX title back in May, Saturday became Hunter’s moment for redemption, and while not handing it to him, I have little doubt that Jett (after tweaking his ankle again) played a big role in making sure it was Hunter’s day. All you had to do was look at Jett’s face at the podium after moto two, there wasn’t any look of disappointment. He was genuinely happy for his big brother and I thought that more than anything spoke volumes about the incredible bond they share. What a final day of racing, what a 450 series, and now we only have three more SMX races to go before the off-season.
Well, that is it for me this week. I hope everyone enjoys the first few days of September as we get ready for the long weekend. My wife’s birthday is this coming Saturday so Happy Birthday to her! Finally, the Motovan Canada Rider of the Week is Mr.Beast Mode himself, Eli Tomac, who while I was writing this column, he announced his retirement. What an amazing career Tomac has had as he’s done it all in this sport, on multiple occasions. It’s sad to see this sport lose another legend to retirement, but it does feel like it’s the perfect time for ET3 to move on. I’m sure none of us will forget those moments when Tomac twisted the throttle harder than anyone on the track, engaging ‘Beast Mode’ to fans delight. Also, off the bike he’s been such a class act and great ambassador for our sport. Congratulations to Eli Tomac on a great career, and isn’t it fitting that his final professional win will be the Daytona SX earlier this year!
