Decal Works Presents Monday Gate Drop

Once again, this week’s Monday Gate Drop is brought to you by the fine hockey and motocross loving people at DeCal Works. As we enter into the final week of January 2016, now might be the perfect time to treat yourself to a brand new set of custom graphics. All you have to do is log onto www.decalmx.com and within minutes you can design and order your very own set. So please go and support a company that supports Canadian motocross.

Is it just me or are these winter days getting pretty dull? At least in Ontario, the sun hasn’t been shining too much, and when it does peak through the clouds very cold temperatures seem to come with it. I guess this is winter and we should all be used to it by now. However, in today’s Social Media world we’re bombarded with photo after photo of a few of our Canadian friends down south riding. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love seeing our kids training hard in the sunny and mostly warm south but it’s hard to look at an Instagram photo of someone putting in laps on a perfect track just before I head out to shovel snow. Hopefully I can get down to South Carolina or Georgia in March or April to get a head start on the 2016 riding season, but with the Canadian dollar struggling right now it might not work this year. Let’s all hope for an early Spring in Canada.

One Canadian rider who is going to change up his off-season riding destination is third year pro rider Dylan Wright. As we speak, Dylan and his dad have the hammer down and are heading west (well southwest actually) to California instead of south to Florida. Although the drive to California is obviously quite a bit longer and most of the tracks there aren’t as good as they are in the southeast, what rider hasn’t had dreams of going to California to ride? I’m sure this is a dream come true for Dylan, and no doubt he’s going to have a great time. I’m planning on heading to the San Diego 2 SX in a few weeks so I’ll be able to hang out with Dylan and check in on how’s he’s doing. I think this is a great move for Dylan to change up his scenery this winter and try something different. As I mentioned, he’s now moving into his third full season as a pro rider and it’s time for him to become a consistent podium guy and a threat to win each moto. Dylan’s first season was spent trying to get a foothold on the steep learning curve that every rookie encounters. For Dylan, his biggest problem was trying too hard and making little mistakes. In the grand scheme of things, that is a great problem to have, but when you‘re racing at the top level, you have to learn to let the races come to you. In his 2015 sophomore year, Dylan was much better. He improved his fitness and he learned how to be more efficient on the track with his line choice and his machinery. All the tools are there. After a few months riding with all the fast kids in California, Dylan should be feeling very confident as he heads into the 2016 racing season.

So by now all of you know that Saturday in Anaheim, CA didn’t go that well for Cole Thompson. After taking a few hard crashes in practice, he was forced to sit out the night program with an injured shoulder. And while the full extent of his shoulder injury is unknown, this is definitely not good news as the 2016 Monster Energy Supercross Series heads north this weekend to Oakland. Even the smallest shoulder injury can make riding difficult, and in Supercross especially, it’s almost impossible to ride with an injured shoulder. Hopefully Cole’s injury isn’t too bad and he will be back on the race track sooner than later. I’ll definitely keep you informed as the news filters in.

Obviously Cole wasn’t the only rider who fell victim to the challenging Anaheim 2 track. Top riders like Dean Wilson and Trey Canard also had a rough night on Saturday. As we all watched, Trey continued his long running streak of bad decisions as I thought he was once again way too aggressive exiting turn one in his heat race. As he headed into the first turn he was mid-pack and then, just like he did last year in Detroit, he was just overly aggressive jumping onto that first tabletop and ran into another rider. This caused a chain reaction crash and Trey once again got the worst of it. Although he’s a great guy off the track, Trey’s sponsors and fellow competitors must be getting tired of the same old, same old from him. I know his hand was messed up, and good on him for even trying to race the main event, but that didn’t go very well either as he DNFd. Maybe this criticism is harsh considering all that Trey has been through, but it’s very frustrating when almost every crash he has had could have been avoided by better decision making.

On the flip side of that, how cerebral and entertaining was the racing for the lead in the 250SX class between Christian Craig and Cooper Webb? To watch those guys battle and cut underneath each other was very impressive. Craig definitely put up an awesome fight but Webb was just too tough and much too confident. Cooper Webb has shown during the first three rounds that he can stop almost anywhere in the main event and still win. He just seems to know when to be aggressive and when to let the action in front of him play itself out. His riding has been very impressive to watch and hopefully Webb, Craig, Zach Osborne, Joey Savatgy and the all of the top 250SX riders can stay healthy and keep on putting on a great show. Even Jimmy Decotis had a great ride on Saturday night as he battled hard to finish in 4th. Jimmy D has been getting faster and more comfortable each and every weekend, and is getting closer and closer to the podium.

In the 450SX class, what started a few short weeks ago as a five or six rider battle for the lead has quickly turned into a three or four rider battle. Ryan Dungey is obviously on a roll with two wins in the first three races, Chad Reed looks to be very comfortable with his current speed, and if he can stay healthy then his time at the front of the pack isn’t too far away. Eli Tomac and Ken Roczen appear to be the only other riders capable of running the leader’s pace so look for them to win some main events very soon. All I know is that when you see the very top riders in SX struggling with parts of the track the way they were struggling with the whoop sections on Saturday, you know those whoops were crazy deep and more spaced apart than normal. As I said earlier, I know the track took its toll on a few riders but it was good to see the track builders throw something different at the riders.

So as the riders move onto Oakland for Round 4, this weekend I’m going to head up to Barrie to check out some Snowcross at Georgian Downs. If you live close and want to see some awesome Snowcross action, then come on up to Barrie and watch it from the warm enclosed spectator seating area. Also, if you have some time on your hands tonight, our own Ryan Lockhart will be on PulpMX show live in Las Vegas, so that should be entertaining. I hope everyone has a great week and stay tuned for more news on Cole Thompson later today. If you have any comments please email me at chris@mxpmag.com. And be sure to check out our Facebook page and our Instagram page @mxpmag.