Once again this week’s Monday Gate Drop is brought to you by DeCal Works. Even though we’re approaching the off-season here in Canada, now is a perfect time to purchase a brand new custom set of DeCal Works graphics. All you need to do is log onto to www.decalmx.com and within minutes you can design and order your very own set. Also, with the Christmas season fast approaching, a set of DeCal Works graphics would make a terrific Christmas gift.
I hope everyone had a great pre Halloween weekend in this great country of ours. With the Federal election going on last week as well the Toronto Blue Jays season coming to an end, we all needed a good weekend to turn our frowns upside down. My weekend was once again spent inside a Hockey arena but I didn’t mind since it was all for a good cause. Then, unexpectedly last night I finally caught the sickness that has been going around. For weeks, everyone around me has been sick while I’ve remained healthy. Well sadly, that is not the case anymore as some type of flu hit me last night. But, I digress and hopefully it passes and I feel better soon.
However, enough about me, let’s talk about the MX news from this past weekend. As we reported towards the end of last week, it appears the Mike Alessi to the Monster Energy Thor Kawasaki deal is done, all we need now is an official press release. With Brett Metcalfe leaving to sign with the Rockstar Energy OTSFF Yamaha Team, Jason Hughes and company had to find someone to race alongside Vince Friese in 2016. With that in mind, Mike Alessi seems to be the perfect fit as he not only knows our tracks, but he also knows how everything works in Canada. He is also fast (although his results during the last 365 days don’t corroborate that), he loved the summer he spent up here in 2014, and other than his Moto Concept SX deal for 2016, Mike couldn’t have had a lot of offers to race next summer. All things considered, Alessi is the perfect fit for the Kawasaki Team and he should do very well next year if he can adapt successfully to the green machines. So Friese and Alessi are reunited again in Canada and now will compete for the same championship. It should be exciting to watch as we all know what Alessi brings to the table, and judging by Friese’s performance this past summer in Calgary, he will no doubt have the speed to win motos and challenge for the MX1 title.
So with their 2016 outdoor program beginning to take shape now, the Monster Energy Thor Kawasaki Team headed to Penticton, BC this weekend to compete in rounds 5 and 6 of the Canadian National AX Tour. So far this series has been jammed with non-stop action as the Kawasaki duo of Chris Blose and Jacob Hayes have had their hands full with KTM rider Cole Thompson. When the gate dropped Friday night in Pentiction, there were a few new faces on the line as Jess Pettis, Ross Johnson and Keylan Meston made the trek this beautiful city in Southern BC.
If the fans in Penticton wanted to see some good old fashion AX racing, then that is exactly what they got. After repeated warnings to play nice with each other, Cole Thompson and Jacob Hayes quickly renewed their hostilities and came together more than once on the tight track. It finally came to a head on Saturday when Thompson went out of his way to push Hayes wide in a corner and ended up taking them both out. Thompson was then penalized for his rough riding and these two aggressive riders now move onto the final weekend in Calgary.
I’m not sure what is going on between these two top AX riders? Over the first three weekends of this series they’ve both been guilty of instigating contact on the track, whether it was Hayes that started it or Thompson, these two clearly don’t like each other. Now, as I’ve mentioned before, back in the 1990’s, AX was a huge part of my racing program so I’ve witnessed and been a part of a lot of aggressive riding. In fact, I’ve sat on the starting line waiting for my heat race and watched in disbelief as Mike Jones got a bad start, and then proceeded to take one rider out in each of the six laps, before finally taking the lead on the final lap. It was like a horror show as riders were left picking themselves up and shaking their heads. Nothing was ever said or done about it and everyone just moved on and kept racing. These days there seems to be a little more at stake and while some say it’s just a part of racing indoors, this Hayes/Thompson feud seems to consist of something bigger. Although I wasn’t there to see what started it this time, Thompson’s take out move did seem to be a little over the top, almost like he just went looking for it and didn’t care what happened. In the bigger picture, I’m excited to see Cole riding this aggressive as I never thought he was like this. I think this bolds well for him if he ends up racing some Supercross in 2016 in the Lites class. Anyway, as much as Cole’s aggressive riding has impressed me, so has the raw indoor speed of Jacob Hayes. This kid from North Carolina flat out hauls indoors and he looks very comfortable on the 2016 Kawasaki’s. As he now prepares to try and wrap this series up in Calgary and then move on to the Amsoil AX Series in the USA, I can’t help but think he might be a good fit to ride outdoors next summer in Canada. I’m guessing he knows how to ride a Lites bike outdoors pretty well also.
So with only one weekend remaining in this new and exciting series, we all prepare for the grand finale in Calgary in two weeks. This is when the championships and bonus money will be handed out. The fact that there are two AX Series taking place in Canada simultaneously is very good news for our sport. As I’ve said on more than one occasion, racing AX makes you a better all around rider, regardless of what class you ride. It improves your reflexes, your decision making and it makes you quickly learn how to be aggressive, but also how to protect your line so other riders aren’t using that aggression against you. As it’s been proven many times over the years, racing indoors is a win win for almost every rider. To help tell the story of the weekend in Penticton, here is a good collection of James Lissimore photos from Friday and Saturday night.
So that is it for me this week. I hope you have a great week and please tag @mxpmag when you post Halloween photos on Instagram this weekend. I can’t wait to see all you photos and maybe there will be a prize from MXP Magazine for the best costume. Have fun and be safe kids!