Decal Works Presents Monday Gate Drop

Throughout the 2015 season, DeCal Works has been a proud sponsor of Monday Gate Drop column. With this being the final Gate Drop of the year, we at MXP Magazine would like to thank DeCal Works for their continued support of not only MXP but of Canadian motocross in general. So if you’re looking for a set of custom graphics, then all you have to do is log onto www.decalmx.com and within minutes you can design and order your very own set.

As I mentioned above, we have finally reached the final Gate Drop of 2015, and what a year it’s been in Canadian moto. When you think back on the past 365 days, we’ve all witnessed some pretty awesome events as well as some very good performances from our Canadian riders. You think back to Tyler Medaglia’s riding, kicking off the year with his solid rides in the GNCCs in March. Once the snow finally melted in Canada, we saw some very successful events in every region to begin the season. The proverbial ball got rolling very early in this country and continued right through the summer.

When the gate dropped in Kamloops for the 2015 Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals, our Canadian contingent of Colton Facciotti, Tyler Medaglia, Kaven Benoit and Dylan Wright (just to name a few) all came out swinging. From the rounds in the West, all the way east to Moncton, these riders carried our Canadian flag with pride as they battled hard against their American and Australian competitors. Each and every moto gave us something different and left us talking for weeks about what we just witnessed, and when the series concluded, Colton Facciotti gave us a final MX1 moto that we’ll never forget. Although Colton came up just shy of the MX1 Championship, he once again proved to us that he is indeed one of the best riders this country has ever produced.

Of course that final moto at Walton Raceway was just one of the many incredible races in 2016, and that was just in the MX1 class alone. For those of you that followed the 2016 Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals, there were definitely a number of motos that stand out. If we think back to the opening round in Kamloops when the Whispering Pines track was extremely rough and the temperatures were soaring. All of the riders that day were put through two agonizing motos, and for those riders that weren’t fully prepared, it was a day of pure survival. However, for Jimmy Decotis and Brett Metcalfe, it was a day of dominance as they both won their classes.

The next weekend in Nanaimo, the temperatures were once again very hot, especially for Vancouver Island. Somehow the Wastelands crew kept the track in good condition and the racing was again great. On a track that isn’t supposed to cater to high revving two-strokes, Kaven Benoit put on an absolute riding clinic in the MX2 class. With his high level of confidence and fitness, it will be very interesting to see how Benoit does in the 2016 MX1 class. Having paid his dues for a number of years in the MX2 class, he brings a lot more experience to his rookie 450 year than one would think. If he can get some solid moto finishes in the western rounds of the 2016 series, Benoit might be a title contender when the series moves east. However, looking back to that day in Nanaimo, he was unreal, which was when he grabbed the points lead and never looked back!

Also standing out from that hot day on Vancouver Island was the riding of Cole Thompson. After soldiering through the opening round with back spasms, Cole used his smooth throttle control on the slippery Nanaimo track to separate himself from the pack. Cole won the overall that day and made it a clean KTM sweep on the top step of the podium. While not a lot of riders enjoy racing on the Nanaimo track, for whatever reason, it always seems to produce some incredible racing every year. With even more top riders slated for the MX2 and MX1 classes in 2016, the racing will be exciting as the series visits Vancouver Island on June 12th, 2016.

From the beautiful scenery of BC, the series moved east to some elevation and it’s most urban backdrop in Calgary. There we witnessed the bad boy from the 2014 series, Vince Friese, show his speed on a big 450. While Friese rode to the overall win that day, Brett Metcalfe suffered his first setback to his 2015 title hopes as his KX450 broke down while he was leading the opening MX1 moto. Metty would DNF that moto and Matt Goerke would take over the points lead, a lead that he would never relinquish. Oh yes, the first three rounds of the 2015 series got off to an exciting start, and the results from those six motos in each class set the stage for the remainder of the summer. We also watched in Calgary that day as one of the nicest girls in Canadian moto, Sara King won her very first CMRC Western Canadian Women’s Championship. Will we see the same type of excitement during the opening rounds in 2016? I honestly can’t see why not.

I could talk all day about the great moments from the past year. And whether it was one of the multiple moto battles in the MX1 class at the Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals, Kaven Benoit’s dominance of the MX2 class throughout the ten round series, or Marco Cannella’s big win at the Loretta Lynn’s Amateur National, there were so many great moments in 2015. We were all treated to some extraordinary battles in every class from coast to coast. As Canadians, we should be very proud of our sport at the moment. Yes, there are still improvements that need to be made, that is the same with everything. And while the moto landscape will look somewhat different in 2016, particularly in Ontario, I can’t wait to see what the future holds. If we look forward to the next 365 days I wonder what the headlines will be when we look back on this coming year. While I can’t predict who’s going to win the races and the championships in 2016, I can predict that we’re in for a very interesting and exciting ride as we enter the 16th year of this century.

Next week I will take a look at the upcoming 2016 Monster Energy Supercross Series as Anaheim 1 is just over a week away. Cole Thompson will be there riding a KTM for the Slaton Racing/KTM Canada team in the Lites class. That will definitely be exciting to watch. All of the 450 guys appear to be ready for another season of SX. All of their preparation is now complete, so all they can do is wait for the gate to drop. As we’ve been hearing for the past few weeks, this is definitely the most wonderful time of the year! I hope everyone has a safe and fun New Year’s Eve and hopefully we all get to ring in 2016 with joy and optimism. Happy New Year from all of us at MXP Magazine.