The Monday Gate Drop Presented By Yamaha Motor Canada

Do you ever have moments that you don’t want to end? Well, that is how I feel right now as I sit at 37,000 feet flying back to Toronto from the beautiful city of Calgary. This past weekend my wife and son flew out to the final round of the Triple Crown Series with me and as expected, we had an exciting and memorable four days. Not only were we able to visit with family, get a tour of the Fox Racing Canada HQ, and watch some exciting AX action, but my son Ayrton also got to race the amateur portion of the Calgary AX. It was a busy few days for sure, but it was a trip that we won’t soon forget.

When the Triple Crown Series schedule was announced earlier this year, the final Calgary round kind of stood out by itself as it was a month after the second to last race in Sarnia. At the time there was some doubt as to which teams and riders would be able to make it to Calgary as budgets were tight and sometimes at this late point of the season some riders simply don’t want to race. As it turned out the only two teams that weren’t represented in some regard this weekend were the GDR Honda Team and the Thor/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki Team. For GDR Honda, they currently don’t have any riders who were able to race as Dylan Wright is on the mend from double knee surgery and they haven’t officially confirmed that Jacob Piccolo has signed for 2023 to replace Ryder McNabb in the 250 class. From my understanding though, Piccolo has been riding his new Honda for a month now. He even rode SX with Jess Pettis last week as JP15 was preparing for Calgary and his upcoming trip to Germany. As for the Kawasaki Team, Tanner Ward was scheduled to race Calgary this past weekend but he hurt himself two weeks ago in Chilliwack. As I said, all of the other Canadian race teams were represented with at least one rider and good on them for spending the money and making the effort to have a presence at the final round. Having some of these top riders in Calgary was made possible in part by the fine people who run the Triple Crown Series. They transported a number of bikes and containers out in their series semi-truck. This weekend the indoor pro paddock looked like the pits at one of the WSX rounds as each rider had multiple containers and tool boxes with almost everything they needed for two days of AX racing. I thought it was a cool way of doing things and everyone involved made the best out of what they had to work with.

From an event perspective I thought this past weekend was superb as everything from the venue to the track was top notch. The Nutrien Western Event Centre is perfect for an event like the Triple Crown Series AX as the floor is a little bigger than a traditional AX. The amenities are fairly new, and there is the perfect amount of seating to make an event like this viable. The location of this race is perfect as the arena sits smack dab in the middle of the famous Stampede Park. To be perfectly honest, I love this race as I love indoor racing and I love the city of Calgary. The city and AX go together like peas and carrots and I hope this event returns in 2023. Obviously, I wasn’t the only one who liked this race as there were plenty of pro riders there as well as a plethora of amateur riders who made the trek to Calgary. All the classes were full and there are definitely a lot of talented indoor riders in Western Canada. It was a great event to be a part of and I as sit here and reflect on it I’m glad we made the effort to travel to it as a family and not just have me go alone to cover it for MXP.

History has always shown us that whenever you have a great venue and a solid track you almost always end up having great racing. That was the case this weekend as there were entertaining battles in every class. As I mentioned above, Jess Pettis was back after missing most the summer with an injured elbow. Pettis was fast all weekend long but at times he appeared to struggled with the right set-up on his KTM250F. Pettis told me that all he’s been riding for the past two months was his 450 and he only got back on the smaller 250F last week. Pettis looked fast right from the first time he took to the track for practice on Friday. Even though he won the 450 main event later that evening, he couldn’t quite find the consistent speed to match Mitchell Harrison (who pretty much dominated the final round in Calgary) On Friday night the main event winners were Harrison, Pettis, and St Cyr, then on Saturday evening Harrison won all three main events and even had to pass Pettis in two of them to get to the front. In doing so, Harrison secured not only the 2022 Triple Crown AXTour Series title but also the overall 250 class Triple Crown Series Championship. It’s been quite a season for the GASGAS rider from Michigan and one that I’m sure he’ll remember for a long time. Harrison has been a welcomed addition to the series in Canada as his riding and his low key demeanour off the track have made him an instant fan favourite. Thankfully, Harrison has signed for two more years with the Cobequid Team and heading into 2023 he is most certainly the favourite to repeat as the Triple Crown Series Champion. Outdoors, Harrison has the fitness and strength to challenge for moto wins every weekend. Indoors, this kid has some serious speed and this past weekend in Calgary it really showed in the whoop section. Harrison is fun to watch and as a media person he’s a joy to work with off the track as well.

Other riders that were fast this weekend were Julien Benek, Quinn Amyotte, Westen Wrozyna, and St-Cyr. Tyler Gibbs was also one of the podium favourites coming into the final round but a small miscue over the finish line double in Friday’s practice caused him to crash hard and suffer a concussion. Gibbs had to get checked out at the local hospital and was not cleared to return to race for the remainder of the weekend. It was a shame, as for the past month I’ve witnessed first hand how hard Gibbs worked to get ready for the final round in Calgary. Coming into the weekend he was ready to be a consistent podium guy and even a main event winner if things went his way. However, mistakes in AX can come in all shapes and sizes and his error on Friday afternoon was a big one. Now unfortunately there is no ‘next weekend’ to redeem himself as all that is left of 2022 is the long and dreaded off-season. On the flip side, one young rider, and I do mean young, Blake Davies had a solid weekend in Calgary. After racing the Youth Open class as well as the 250 pro class on Friday Davies opted to just focus on the pro classes for Saturday. He also obtained the services of Tyler Gibbs trusty mechanic Andrew White who was left with nothing to do after his rider crashed on Friday. White went over Blake’s Husqvarna with a fine tooth comb and made sure it was 100% ready to go for Saturday’s final round. Whether it was the confidence Blake drew from the extra attention or just the fact that he felt more comfortable on his second night of racing; either way, he was on fire on Saturday night and in the 250 main event he finished up with an amazing 4^th. I really like this kid and I think he has a really bright future ahead of him in the pro class. On the track, he’s smooth and precise and doesn’t take big chances. Off the track, he appears humble and calm and takes the ups and downs of racing with a grain of salt. It was enjoyable watching his confidence grow this past weekend and I was happy for him when things all paid off on Saturday night. Also, I believe Blake is only 14 right now which makes his mature riding even more impressive. If I was running a team in Canada right now I’d sign Blake to a Pro-AM deal ASAP! If you compare him to other riders his age or even close to his age, you’d have to give Blake the advantage because he’s able to ride motocross, SX and AX without issue. That’s a big bonus in my opinion and I hope Blake is able to get down south this winter and hopefully race a few SX Future events.

Well, the Captain just came on the PA system and announced that we will be arriving in Toronto shortly. Sadly, our first family trip in three years is about to come to an end. It was most certainly a memorable few days in Calgary and like any fun trip it all went by too fast. Now it’s back to hockey and a nice long break from the long days at the race track. Soon the snow will arrive and I’m sure it won’t be long until we’re dreaming about going racing again. I really want to say thanks to the entire Triple Crown Series crew for helping to make not only our weekend in Calgary a fun one, but also for helping to make the summer of 2022 unforgettable. This sport is a hard one and it comes at you quick, As everyone knows it can change in an instant and you have to be ready for it. As a family in one afternoon it can make us swear and fight, it can make us smile and laugh, it can make us experience every emotion we have at our disposal, but the fact that we do it as a family gives us experiences that we’ll never forget. I hope it’s the same for everyone and I hope all of you have a safe and relaxing off-season. Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions please feel free to email me at chris@mxpmag.com