The Monday Gate Drop Presented By Yamaha Motor Canada

You know, I’m always amazed at how nature seems to balance itself out, and here is a great example of that. In Southern Ontario, we’ve had by normal standards a wet and cool spring. Our tracks have been slow to get rolling (unless it’s Gopher Dunes), our farmers have had to sit and wait with their tractors idling hoping that the rain would stop at some point, and most of us haven’t been in a rush to pack away our winter coats. But that all changed over a week ago when the sun came out and stayed out until today. Although an easterly wind kept things cool last weekend once the wind direction changed and died down on Wednesday, we had some almost summer-like conditions as the temperatures climbed to 29c. It’s been a great ten days and thankfully everything has dried up for riding and farming. However, on a somber note, now the bugs are out and we have to deal with that annoyance.

So for this week’s Monday Gate Drop, I’m going to take you through what happened last week and just how awesome it was. It all started on Tuesday when I was on the road and headed to Walton Raceway just after 8 am. After opening for their first practice the previous day, Tuesday was Kawasaki day at Walton Raceway as the Thor/Kawasaki/Pro Circuit Team were having their annual photo shoot. All three of their riders were in attendance as were a few of the marketing executives from Canadian Kawasaki Motors Inc. With Kawasaki’s head office being located in Scarborough, Ontario it’s not every day that the office staff can put aside an entire day and make the long drive out of the city and to one of our tracks. But on Tuesday they came out in full force to see their Factory MX Team in person as well as Walton Raceway. Also in attendance was Dave Hatch and his TSN Motorcycle Experience Show. Dave and his crew shot a few segments for their popular riding show and once I get the date of when it will air this summer I will let you all know. Finally, one of our two-wheel legends Jordan Szoke drove up to Walton Raceway to do a little riding and also to display his plethora of Kawasaki motorcycles. Szoke had with him his moto KX450F, his heavily modified dirt track KX450F, as well as his ZX-10 Superbike. Yes, if you happened to drive by Walton Raceway last Tuesday you would’ve seen a green glow exuding from the property.

It was a great day of riding, bench racing, and just generally hanging out. Our MXP Photographer James Lissimore flew out from BC and we were able to get some incredible photos of all of the riders. The only person who didn’t have a great day was Jordan Szoke who miscalculated how much speed you needed on a KX450F to safely clear the Dave Bell Tower Stepdown. Szoke, who obviously is quite proficient in all areas of riding just carried a little too much energy off of the take-off and ended up landing near the bottom of the valley. It was an unfortunate scene and we all knew right away that Jordan was injured. The next day he confirmed on Social Media that he had a “Fractured Jaw, plated right leg, and shattered left ankle.” It was a tough day for Szoke and we wish him all the best as he begins what will most likely be a long recovery. As I’ve said a few times, this sport is fun until it isn’t and things can change so quickly. Thankfully, the rest of the day was all positive and everyone in attendance had a great time.

So with the Triple Crown Series team ball rolling on Thursday last week, we moved from Walton Raceway to Gopher Dunes for the Honda Canada/GDR/Fox Racing Team launch. As I mentioned in my opening paragraph the weather on Thursday at Gopher Dunes was warm and sunny and almost everyone was finally able to break out their shorts. It was great to see so many people attend the GDR team launch and Derek Schuster and his staff went all out in welcoming everyone there. This team launch was multi-faceted with a press conference to kick things off, then there was a lunch, after that both Dylan Wright and Ryder McNabb suited up and took to the main track for a few laps, and then at the end of the day MXP was able to ride Dylan’s and Ryder’s race bikes for 45 minutes. In between all of this, there was some great bench racing and Derek even had all of the team’s championship bikes lined up in the shop for us to view. It was another great day and like Tuesday at Walton Raceway, the GDR Honda event got everyone really excited for the upcoming 2022 Triple Crown Series which begins in a few weeks.

As I mentioned, to kick things off on Thursday at Gopher Dunes Brett Lee hosted a press conference up in the new gym area. During the PC Jetwerx CEO Justin Thompson made an appearance and spoke about the upcoming Triple Crown Series as well as the opening round of the FIM World SX Championships potentially being at Olympic Stadium in Montreal on September 10th. I say potentially because JT confirmed on Thursday that it’s a go, but then I read on Friday that due to the amount of road construction in and around Montreal during that time the beginning of the series may be pushed back to October and not even visit Montreal. Anyway, hopefully, it all works out as it would be very cool for Canada to host the opening round of this new Global SX Series. Justin also spoke about how excited he is for the Triple Crown Series to be headed back out west for the opening three rounds. With the WCAN kicking off the opening round in Kamloops on Friday and Saturday the start to the 2022 series is going to be incredible. After Justin left the stage it was time for the GDR boys to be front and center. During this time it was great to hear from Derek regarding team details and how excited he is to be fielding his two-man 2022 race team. He also spoke about some of the exciting things happening at Gopher Dunes this summer. Finally, the riders were introduced and they spoke about the upcoming season and how they were prepared to go and try to win both titles. Dylan Wright also spoke extensively about his time in Europe last fall and it was interesting to hear about his time on the track as well as off of the track. We all saw Dylan’s results in Italy last year but I don’t think most of us realize what went on behind the scenes. Overall, it was just great to hear from everyone and as I said, last week went a long way in generating some excitement for the upcoming Triple Crown Series, which begins in less than three weeks.

The final part of the day on Thursday was spent getting to ride Dylan Wright’s factory race bike, the same one he’ll be using at the opening round in Kamloops. I also brought my son Ayrton with me and he was able to spin some laps on Ryder McNabb’s race bike as well. So there we were, father and son out riding on two of the best bikes in Canada, it was most certainly a dream ending to a great day and a solid week. For a more detailed account of how Dylan and Ryder’s race bikes were, please stay tuned later this week as I will have a full report.

Well, that is it for me this week. I hope everyone has a great week and a fun May 2-4 long weekend. MXP is headed over to Spain next week to test ride the new Stark Varg E-Bike. It should be a great trip and a great opportunity to ride this new and exciting motorcycle. Have a great week and thank you for reading!