Decal Works Presents Monday Gate Drop

This week’s Monday Gate Drop is once again brought to you by the fine hockey and motocross loving people at DeCal Works. These days everyone is decorating their bikes with custom graphics, and in this industry you can’t beat DeCal Works for quality and customer service. All you need to do is log onto www.decalmx.com and within minutes you can design and order your very own set of custom graphics.

So here we are on the eve of one of the most important days this country celebrates each year. During my life, Remembrance Day has been a huge deal in my family as I had a Grandpa who fought bravely in WW2. My Grandpa actually rode motorcycles in the war if you can believe that. His main job was to ride around and deliver information to his fellow troops and their commanders. He was overseas for five years and when he returned home he went to work for CN Rail as a train engineer, and then he obviously had a family of his own. He, like many others, never really got over the war emotionally. What he witnessed over there haunted him until he died a much too early death in 1986. Although I saw him a few times a year when I was a child, he never once talked about the war, even when asked he would quickly change the subject. I guess it was just too hard to talk about, especially with a curious little kid. Anyway, on Wednesday we will remember and pay tribute to him and to all of our soldiers who paid the ultimate price so we can live free and enjoy what we have today.

Anyway, let’s get onto the big news from this past weekend. As most of you know there was two pretty important indoor races in Western Canada, one in Calgary and one in Cloverdale, BC. I wasn’t at the race in Cloverdale so I’ll let my contributor Brett Worrall fill you in on how it went. However, I did attend the race in Calgary, which happened to be the final round of the 2015 Canadian AX Tour. This eight round series began back in London, ON just over a month and a half ago. From there it made stops in Sarnia, Penticton and this past weekend in Calgary. Now that it’s over and Jacob Hayes was crowned the Champion in the Pro class, I can say that this series was a huge success, in my opinion. Not only did it give pros and amateur riders a series to race throughout the fall, but it was well run and well supported in the industry. For many years the riders in BC have had their indoor series that has allowed them to keep racing and improve their skills. We’ve seen riders like Darcy Lange, Dusty Klatt and Kyle Beaton (just to name a few) come directly out of the BC series and right onto the pro stage without missing a beat. The high intensity, give no quarter world of arenacross has served those riders very well as this type of racing simply makes you a better all-around rider.

With plans now in the works to make the Canadian AX Tour happen again in 2016, riders in Ontario, for instance, will once again get the same chance that their BC counterparts get to race indoors. I know the learning the curve is a steep one, however I saw with my own eyes in London, Sarnia and also this past weekend, just how much the riders improved from their first practice on Friday to their final race on Saturday. I firmly believe that each and every rider that participated in one of these indoor events have made themselves better riders. Maybe they don’t feel it right now, but when the Spring of 2016 hits and it’s time to goes racing again, maybe that’s when they’ll notice the improvement.

On the pro side of things, the 2016 Canadian AX Tour came down to three riders for the championship. The two Monster Energy Thor Kawasaki riders, Jacob Hayes and Chris Blose, and Royal Distributing Fox KTM rider Cole Thompson all put on an incredible show throughout this series. Just as if it was a script written for a movie, the championship battle all came down to the final round on Saturday night. After many battles (both clean and dirty), Jacob Hayes not only won the Open class, the Lites Class and the Clash for Cash class, but he also took home the Parts Canada Triple Crown prize of $25,000 USD. I’m just guessing here, but when you add up what Hayes made for a month and a half of work in this series, he probably walked away with over $50,000, and also he impressed his Canadian team so much that they’re bringing him back to race the MX2 class next summer. I would say that deciding to race this new Canadian series was one of the best decisions Jacob Hayes has ever made and I’m sure he’ll want to come back in 2016. As for his series rivals? Chris Blose is headed to the Amsoil AX series (so is Hayes) and Cole Thompson will be heading to California soon to prepare for the West Coast Lites class in the Monster Energy Supercross Series. Yes, we will have a Canadian rider to cheer for when the gate drops at Anaheim in January. Cole will be riding a KTM in the Lites class. Judging by how he rode in the Canadian AX Series, as well as how fast he was in Supercross a few years ago, I think Cole will do really well in 2016.

So that is it for me this week After a quick trip to Calgary and a lot of work ahead this week for our next issue, it’s time for me to regroup and focus. I hope everyone has a great week and please take a moment on Wednesday to remember our fallen heroes. Also, if you live in Ontario and you race either a pit bike, an 85cc, a 65cc or a 50cc, don’t forget about the Chestermen’s Indoor race this coming Sunday in Tillsonburg. I’m going to turn this Monday Gate Drop over to Brent Worrall as he brings us all of the action from the latest round of the Future West Moto AX Series in Cloverdale, BC this past weekend.

A quick cameo here in Chris’s Monday Gate Drop. I had the honour of being trackside for Rounds 3 and 4 of the Future West Moto Canadian Arenacross Series this past weekend in Cloverdale, BC. The ‘Wet Coast’ lived up to its reputation this weekend but thankfully the comfortable, climate controlled confines of the Cloverdale Agriplex was our indoor playground. Last year at this event the soil was very soft and rutty, which provided a huge level of skill separation in all classes. This year the conditions were a little bit better but for reasons beyond control of the Future West team, we were once again confronted with a very technical indoor race track. As a race fan who had the luxury of sitting trackside pontificating that the key to success would be minimizing mistakes, I was smiling and knew we were in for a great weekend of action.

With not a seat left to be had on both nights and all classes, big and small, very well supported, it was go time. At the top level, Devol Racing/ Gibson Tire/ KTM 250 two-stroke mounted Jake Anstett from Port Angeles, Washington would hit the top step in the Lites class on Friday night. In the same manner, a two-stroker and how it works on the surface of a sand track, this bike seemed to be advantageous for Jake. In taking nothing away from Anstett, who is a very talented skilled veteran of this series, he would ride the mixed fuel machine to perfection. Anstett bested AMA nationally ranked number 96 Noah McConahay, who would see his first action of this series Friday night. Points leader in both classes heading into Cloverdale, Cycle North/ FXR Racing/ Honda rider Ross Johnson would soldier through the pack and finish third.

The Dash for Cash on Friday night would see an epic sword fight between Maple Ridge Motorsports Kawasaki rider Ryan Lockhart and Husky rider Noah McConahay. On Friday, like most nights, the man we call ‘The People’s Favourite,’ Lockhart brought his best and proved victorious. Lockhart and his newborn son Meston and fiancée Randi were in attendance on Friday and justifiably beamed with pride. The Pro Open Friday night would see Vernon Motorsports rider Jess Pettis get a big holeshot and lead early. Jess would not fare well in the minimizing small mistakes department on this night and ended up settling with a 5th for his work. The main event winner would be Spokane native and GA Checkpoint Yamaha rider Brad Nauditt, Lockhart would charge hard for the 2nd step of the podium. Ross Johnson would make up a ton of ground in this main event and collect the final podium spot. Ross was not that pleased with his efforts on Friday and rode with a sore hand after casing the finish line double earlier that evening.

Saturday night would see some great racing action, and once again the plot at the top of the Pro title points chases thickened in a big way. The previous night’s Lites main event winner Jake Anstett would succumb to a flu-like virus and was a post time scratch Saturday. Noah McConahay, who did a masterful job of throttle control on his brand new Husqvarna USA motorcycle, would hit the top step with a solid victory. Jess Pettis, on the Vernon Motorsports sponsored bike, actually had a few mechanical issues in practice and had to borrow a bike on a moment’s notice. The man who sat next to me during the live broadcast, Kyle, KD Beats Beaton’s bike was the weapon that would see Pettis forge his way to 2nd in Saturday night’s Lites main event. Ross Johnson would round out the top 3 trio for Round 4. The Dash for Cash would see San Antonio, Texas’s Danyluk Racing/ FXR/Suzuki rider Kyle Swanson edge out McConahay in the Launch For Loonies Saturday evening in front of a packed house. 1,050 loonies if you are counting, not bad for a lap and a half. How much does that work out to an hour? Nice job Kyle.

The Pro Open class on Saturday night would see Jess Pettis throw down his best performance of this series to date. As Kyle Beaton and I called the race on the worldwide web, I mentioned to Kyle that Jess seemed to be riding with an edge we had not seen thus far. Beaton concurred that Jess felt he had nothing to lose and had nothing other than having some fun on his mind as an expectation. Whatever it was, we saw a flawless top step performance from the up and coming Pettis that he was full value for. Noah McConahay would collect second and seemed just a bit off the pace of frontrunner Pettis. Jess would manage to break away by about 3 seconds come checkers after 15 gruelling laps. Ryan Lockhart, who told me on Sunday afternoon that he was already very sore from having to hang on tighter than normal, would earn 3rd in the Open. Ryan made a couple of veteran moves and did a great job of riding within in the limitations of the conditions.

The track in Cloverdale warranted pinpoint placement of ruts that could and did at times break away without notice. It made for some great racing and kept race fans cheering loudly on the edge of their seats throughout all races on the weekend. As the midway mark in this series has now been reached, the points plot is very thick. I have not seen a tally as of yet but I do know that what the next two weekends of this series will write, will likely be another chapter in the bestseller that is Future West Arenacross. Rumour has it that a few big named heavy hitters will see some action in Chilliwack. November 26th and 27th at the full 300,000 square ft. footprint floor of Chilliwack’s Heritage Park is where all the action will all go down. All the details can be found at www.futurewestmoto.ca. I will be there, come join me and Let’s Go Racing.

‘Airmail Out’