DeCal Works Presents Monday Gate Drop

Good morning and welcome to this week’s Monday Gate Drop, brought to you by the fine hockey loving folks at DeCal Works. If you want to get some custom graphics for your new or used bike, DeCal Works is the place to go. Just visit their web site at www.decalmx.com and within minutes you can build yourself the exact custom graphic package you want.

A sample of the cool custom graphics that you can get from DeCal Works.

I hope everyone out there had a good week. Here in Ontario we were snowless until early Thursday when the latest Nor’easter unleashed its fury. Within twelve hours we had over a foot of the fluffy white stuff. I’m not a big fan of snow or cold, however it’s December. Since it’s not going to be 20c outside, it might as well snow so people can get out and enjoy some winter activities. Actually, for those out there who have young kids you’ll know exactly what I mean when I describe the situation in our driveway last Thursday. There I was blowing and shoveling snow with my face covered in the falling wet snow, all the while I was miserable and mumbling like Joe Pesci in one of the Home Alone movies. Then in perfect contrast, my son screams with joy and jumps off the porch into a snow bank, laughing the entire time. Kids love snow, and with it being the Christmas season, I guess it’s only fitting the there’s a song called “Let It Snow”.

So with the fireworks from last weekend’s final round of the Future West Canadian Arenacross Championship all but extinguished, this coming weekend we can all cheer for the 2014 series Pro Open Champion, Ross Johnson, as he and his Cycle North Honda boss, Kourtney Lloyd, head over to Germany for the Munich SX. I’m assuming Ross and company will be taking a few parts with them to attach to their borrowed bike. Having your own suspension and bars with you can go a long way to helping you feel comfortable when you take to the track in a foreign country. I think Ross has a good chance of finishing well over there this weekend as the track should be very similar to what he raced on during the last two weekends in Chilliwack. Whatever happens, I’m sure it will be a very fun pre-Christmas trip to Germany for Ross and Kourtney.

Good luck to Ross Johnson this weekend at the Munich SX.

As Ross Johnson takes to the track in Munich this weekend, it will officially mark two weeks until the beginning of the most anticipated series in the world. On January 3rd, the 2015 AMA Monster Energy Supercross Series kicks off at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, Ca. With Shaw cable being the only cable company in Canada that still carries Speed Channel, almost all of this country will have to rely on Twitter updates as we won’t be able to watch it live. With no television and no Toronto SX, Canadian fans are certainly getting the short end of the stick this coming year when it comes to watching this awesome series. It’s a real shame as so many people were used to having SX parties every Saturday night. I know a lot of people that don’t even own dirt bikes that used to watch SX each weekend. As a longtime fan of this sport, I can tell you that I love talking to people that don’t follow motocross but they ask me questions like “What’s that Villopoto guy like?” or “Will Chad Reed make it back?” As I said these people have no idea what goes on in the rest of the sport, but they know about SX. Hopefully 2015 will just be a one-off year and SX will be back on our television sets and back in the Rogers Centre for 2016.

Here is the track that the riders will do battle on at Anaheim 1.

So with all the hype that comes with a brand new season, who is going to be the rider that gets it done in 2015? Usually Anaheim 1 produces a surprise winner, and then as the series goes on the cream slowly rises to the top. As we saw last year, Ken Roczen held strong until the Daytona SX and then was forced to say uncle as the grind of his first full season of SX began to wear on him. With no Ryan Villopoto in 2015 who is going to be that rider that can maintain his speed and health through the four long months that the series covers? Riders have to deal with the difficult tracks, the competition, the travel and just simply not getting sick at the wrong time during what is the cold and flu season for everyone. Obviously, a lot of things come into play when going for any championship, and with the absence of the series multi-time champion Villopoto, the 2015 Monster Energy AMA Supercross is really up for grabs.

Can Chad Reed show the same speed he did through the first few rounds in 2015 and can he stay healthy? History and his age would say no, however this is Chad Reed; with him anything is possible. If he wins the 2015 title then I believe it will be the most impressive championship run we’ve ever seen in any sport!

How will Ken Roczen do on his new Suzuki? Since winning the outdoor title this past summer and then switching to the RCH Suzuki Team, Roczen has been pretty low key during the off-season only giving us glimpses of his 2015 preparation through social media photos and short videos. Barring any issues he has with his new bikes during the first few rounds that may result in a little panic, I think Roczen is definitely the favourite as we head into 2015. He will no doubt take what he learned last year when the long series wore him down and manage every detail a little more efficiently this year. How cool would a Roczen/Reed 2015 series battle be for all of us fans? Old versus young, experience versus relative inexperience, two friendly adversaries going at it in stadiums across America. It would be like the Jeff Stanton/ Damon Bradshaw battle of 1992 when they took the title down to the final round in LA. If you remember, it was the older Stanton who took home the 1992 championship.

After being away from the sport for over a year, can Davi Millsaps find the speed he showed in the early rounds of 2013. If his Monster Energy Cup result in October was any indication, Davi will be just fine on his new Kawasaki.

Of course there are a number of other riders who will also contend for main event wins and the 2015 title. Riders like Ryan Dungey, Eli Tomac, Trey Canard, Davi Milsaps and James Stewart (if he’s allowed to ride). The first month of the series is going to be intense as the top riders try to establish themselves. Also exciting for this coming year is that on the starting line at Anaheim 1 the industry will have six manufacturers represented for the first time. The gate in 2015 will look like a rainbow with all the different coloured bikes as these top athletes begin their quest for the big pot of gold that is the 2015 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship.

As I said, it all begins in two and half weeks in sunny California. Well, that is it for me this week and the Monday Gate Drop presented by DeCal Works. All this talk about Anaheim 1 and Christmas has reminded me that I still have some shopping to do. Good luck to Ross Johnson over in Germany and I hope everyone has a very safe last week before the Christmas of 2014!!