Motocross Performance Magazine Canadian Motocross news leader
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Well, well, well, what did we have this weekend in Southern Ontario? After months of cold and unsettled weather, Mother Nature finally changed her mood and gave us one heck of a nice weekend. Judging by the numbers of riders that participated in either open practice or the races that took place, every single person who owns a dirt bike in SWO was out riding. This is great news for the sport of motocross as it isn’t always about the races and who is racing, it’s more about who is riding. As long as those numbers are high, that is what matters.
About 300 riders got to see this cool painting live at Moto Park this past weekend. It was a glorious weekend for the 2016 SWO Motocross race season to begin.
My weekend was spent at one of the oldest and coolest race tracks in Canada, Moto Park in Chatsworth, Ontario. I was up there on Friday, Saturday and Sunday watching my son and hundreds of other excited Ontario riders get in some early season riding. As you can imagine, the smiles were big on everyone’s faces as they were finally able to ride without the assistance of a heavy coat to stay warm. It was great seeing all the riders out on the track; some were riding for the first time this season, some were breaking in new bikes, and some, like my son, were out getting used to a bigger bike. Regardless of their story, everyone was having fun and the crew at Moto Park had the track in absolute beauty shape.
No this isn’t the TVR race at Gopher Dunes yesterday, it’s the deep sand section that the riders had to face on Saturday in St. Louis. Photo by Matt Wellumson
As everyone knows, the SWO Ontario race season kicked off yesterday with the Ontario Provincial Championships at Moto Park as well as a TVR race at Gopher Dunes. Even though I’ve been attending motocross races for 40 years, it’s still exciting for me to witness the first gate drop of the season. It makes all of the days that we are forced to sit inside (because it’s winter outside) seem worthwhile as it’s now time to go racing. As much as I’d love to live in Southern California or Florida during the winter so I wouldn’t have to deal with the cold and snow, it definitely makes me more appreciative whenever our nice weather finally does arrive and the new race season begins. Judging by what I witnessed yesterday at Moto Park, as well as what I saw on Social Media from Gopher Dunes, the speed and talent of our SWO riders is at a level that we’ve never seen before. Instead of using these first few races of the season to get into riding shape, it appears a large number of riders are already in shape as they spend significant time training down south. As I said, the 2016 SWO race season is now underway and everyone couldn’t be happier.
In St.Louis there wasn’t just action at the front of the pack, here Trey Canard, Justin Barcia and Blake Baggett all battle for position. Photo by Matt Wellumson
In the USA, Round 14 of the 2016 Monster Energy Supercross Series took place in St. Louis, MO. As he’s done so many times this season, Ryan Dungey was the rider to beat as he, yet again, held off a hard charging Ken Roczen to take the win in the 450SX class. These last few rounds have definitely not been easy for Dungey as he’s had to work his butt off for each victory. The pace at which he and Roczen have reached in the last few races has been both incredible and very entertaining, however, you have to wonder if either of these riders are going to have anything left for the outdoor series when it’s begins in a month’s time. Both of these riders are certainly going to have their hands full with Monster Energy Kawasaki rider Eli Tomac, who last year was dominating the outdoor series before getting injured in Colorado. As the supercross series heads to Boston this weekend for the first time in over 30 years, all eyes will be on Ryan Dungey to see if he can keep his win streak alive. The weather may also play a part in Boston as there is chance of rain and cooler temperatures for this coming weekend. Here are the results from St. Louis and the updated points standings as the riders head into Round 15 in Boston. One of our most trusted photographers, Matt Wellumson, was on hand in St. Louis and he sent us these awesome photos of the action.
With his win in St.Louis, Jeremy Martin tightened up the points race in the 250SX East class. Photo by Matt Wellumson
250 Main Event
1. Jeremy Martin (Yamaha)
2. Aaron Plessinger (Yamaha)
3. Shane McElrath (KTM)
4. RJ Hampshire (Honda)
5. Gannon Audette (Kawasaki)
6. Anthony Rodriguez (Kawasaki)
7. Alex Frye (KTM)
8. Malcolm Stewart (Honda)
9. Tyler Bowers (Kawasaki)
10. Paul Coats (Honda)
11. Benny Bloss (Yamaha)
12. Matt Bisceglia (Suzuki)
13. Justin Starling (Kawasaki)
14. Dakota Alix (KTM)
15. Martin Davalos (Husqvarna)
16. Darryn Durham (Yamaha)
17. Henry Miller (Honda)
18. Joshua Cartwright (Yamaha)
19. Jimmy Albertson (Suzuki)
20. Daniel Herrlein (Honda)
21. Cedric Soubeyras (Kawasaki)
22. Gradie Featherstone (Kawasaki)
Once again Ryan Dungey and Ken Roczen were this close throughout the main event in St.Louis. Photo by Matt Wellumson
450 Main Event
1. Ryan Dungey (KTM)
2. Ken Roczen (Suzuki)
3. Jason Anderson (Husqvarna)
4. Justin Bogle (Honda)
5. Trey Canard (Honda)
6. Chad Reed (Yamaha)
7. Eli Tomac (Kawasaki)
8. Josh Grant (Kawasaki)
9. Justin Brayton (KTM)
10. Mike Alessi (Honda)
11. Justin Barcia (Yamaha)
12. Blake Baggett (Suzuki)
13. Jake Weimer (Suzuki)
14. Broc Tickle (Suzuki)
15. Marvin Musquin (KTM)
16. Weston Peick (Yamaha)
17. Vince Friese (Honda)
18. Christophe Pourcel (Husqvarna)
19. Nick Wey (Kawasaki)
20. Nick Schmidt (Suzuki)
21. Alex Ray (Honda)
22. Jeff Alessi (Honda)
Even though Dungey has a massive points lead, he didn’t give an inch and fought hard to take the win. Photo by Matt Wellumson
250 Eastern Regional SX Points Standings
1. Malcolm Stewart 115
2. Aaron Plessinger 114
3. Jeremy Martin 99
4. Martin Davalos 83
5. Tyler Bowers 78
6. Gannon Audette 77
7. RJ Hampshire 77
8. Shane McElrath 73
9. Justin Hill 63
10. Matt Bisceglia 58
11. Anthony Rodriguez 58
12. Paul Coates 50
13. Alex Frye 47
14. Benny Bloss 46
15. Jesse Wentland 41
16. Cedric Soubeyras 41
17. Justin Starling 34
18. Arnaud Tonus 29
19. Dakota Alix 29
20. Jimmy Albertson 22
It’s not just great to see these two supercross warriors battle on the track, it’s also great to see just how much respect they have for each other off the track. Photo by Matt Wellumson
450 SX Points Standings
1. Ryan Dungey 328
2. Ken Roczen 280
3. Jason Anderson 260
4. Eli Tomac 226
5. Chad Reed 208
6. Marvin Musquin 188
7. Cole Seely 173
8. Justin Brayton 161
9. Trey Canard 154
10. Jake Weimer 114
11. Davi Millsaps 105
12. Mike Alessi 105
13. Weston Peick 102
14. Justin Bogle 94
15. Christophe Pourcel 94
16. Vince Friese 76
17. Blake Baggett 62
18. Wil Hahn 56
19. Josh Grant 54
20. Justin Barcia 37
That is it for me this week as it’s time to recover from a long weekend of moto. I hope everyone isn’t too sunburnt today as I’m sure some skin that hasn’t seen the sun for a number of months was exposed over the past few days. Finally, as you read right here on www.mxpmag.com, Brad Nauditt will be back this summer racing a SG Power Honda in the MX2 class. Nauditt is a podium favourite whenever he lines up so it’s great to hear that he will be back for another season in Canada. Please have a safe week riding and we’ll see you at the races!
