Honda Canada Racing Presents the Monday Gate Drop

As the summer of 2016 rolls on, Honda Canada Racing has been tearing up the race tracks right across Canada. Whether it’s young Austin Watling in the amateur ranks, or Colton Facciotti in the pro class, Honda has been at the front of the pack. In the 1990’s it was Carl Vaillancourt and Marco Dube who rode a Honda to their Championships. From 2001 to 2006, it was Blackfoot Honda’s Jean Sebastien Roy and Dusty Klatt who reaped the rewards of riding red. Fast forward to 2016 and it’s the Honda Canada Fox GDR Racing Team of Colton Facciotti and Jeremy Medaglia looking to add to Honda’s rich history of success on the track. We would like to welcome Honda Canada as a proud new supporter of this Monday Gate Drop column. If you want to see all of Honda’s line up for 2016, just log onto www.motorcycle.honda.ca.

I’m sure everyone who is reading this has heard the age old saying “When it rain, it pours”. Well this was definitely how I felt on Friday afternoon when the doctor in Collingwood told my son that he had indeed broken a bone in his foot. Ayrton had taken a small tumble while riding on Thursday and had landed awkwardly in his right foot. He got up and was instantly sore so we did the usual ice thing and then waited to see if the pain would continue. The bone that he broke is on top of his foot and it’s the one that is connected to his second toe, so while he had a little trouble putting his full weight on it, he was still able to get around. It wasn’t until he was a up a few times that night complaining about how much it hurt that I figured something was really wrong. So after a few x-rays (his first) it was concluded that he’s now a member of the large MX fraternity of riders who have broken bones. With my wife is still laid up with the injuries that she suffered back in June, we’re currently a house full of walking casts, crutches, walkers, you name it, and of course me in bubble wrap so I don’t go down as well. This summer has definitely been an unforgettable one, in so many ways.

Because of my son’s injury I was again forced to cancel my plans to travel to Halifax for round 7 of the 2016 Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals. I was actually really looking forward to visiting a region of Canada that I’ve never seen before as in the past, Moncton is the furthest east that I have gone. However, it was not to be and by the looks of the Conx@Share live streaming, I missed some pretty good racing and a facility that looked top notch. With having not been a part of the national circuit since 2002, the Pleasant Valley track was a bit of an unknown as the teams headed to round 7. As it turned out the riders gave the track mixed reviews as it was a little on the short side (especially the start straight), but the fans loved it as it’s always cool going to a new track and a new part of this great Country of ours. I must admit that this was one race that definitely would’ve been better to watch in person then on my computer. With very few battles to watch up front, listening to the bikes and smelling the bikes would’ve added to the entertainment value.

In the MX2 class we again watched Cole Thompson dominate both motos and extend his already large points lead. Other than a small mistake last weekend in Ulverton, Thompson has been virtually perfect in 2016 and really has complete control of this class. With three rounds remaining, his 74 point lead over Shawn Maffenbeier is exactly what I’m sure Cole envisioned while training for this series. When he holeshots, he’s gone quickly and when he doesn’t holeshot, Cole is as patient as any rider we’ve ever seen before in the MX2 class. He knows his speed is good, he knows his equipment is good, and he knows that his fitness is good, that folks is called the perfect package and it’s no surprise that Cole is where he is right now.

The racing behind Cole looked great yesterday as Dakota Alix, Dylan Wright and Shawn Maffenbeier all battled hard for the runner-up position. I thought yesterday was a must win for Maffenbeier if he wanted any chance of challenging Thompson for this championship in the final six motos. Very few riders try harder than Maff and that must be a great feeling for his mechanic Josh Cox, who over the years has been at times stuck with a few riders that were uber talented, but didn’t seem to care where they finished. However, this year Josh and his team don’t have that problem as Maff is giving 100% from the time he opens his eyes in the morning until the time he closes them at night. This Bobby Kiniry type quality that Maff has is serving him well this year, the only problem is that the rider he’s chasing is just plain good, very good infact. Another thing that is hurting Maffenbeier right now is that if he makes one mistake he has the likes of Wright and now Alix screaming behind him. Currently there isn’t much speed difference between these three so it’s a toss up as to what order they finish in. The one area that I saw while watching the live streaming yesterday that these three riders could learn from Thompson is with their overall line choice. This is where Thompson really makes up time, especially in the second half of each moto as the track gets more challenging and the really fast lines begin to disappear. Like they do so often in other sports, I hope these riders are not just training during the week, but also watching as much video as they can from the races to see where they can find that extra one or two seconds that they’re losing each lap to the big #4. With a true hard packed track waiting for the riders this coming weekend in Moncton, it will be interesting to see who will be able to adapted the quickest to conditions that these riders haven’t seen in a month.

Heading into Pleasant Valley in the MX1 class, two things were pretty much a given. First, after two mediocre rounds in the east, one had to think that Davi Millsaps was going to come out swinging at round 7. Second, we also had to know that transplanted hometown boy Tyler Medaglia would more than likely have his best round of the series so far on his home track. Well, both proved to be true as these two riders had their best performances in weeks at round 7.

For Millsaps, he definitely had to make a statement on Sunday as it had been exactly 28 days since he’d won a moto in the MX1 class. For the past few weeks Millsaps has been suffering through some sore ribs and some very painful blisters. For these reasons, and also because of the resurgence of the Rockstar Energy OTSFF Yamaha boys, Millsaps has been kept out of the win column and has allowed his points lead to dwindle. So like Maffenbeier, I thought his weekend was a very important one for the rider who has really been the fastest rider all summer. Well, Millsaps didn’t disappoint as he completely dominated both motos on route to a perfect 1-1 moto score. Behind him, Brett Metcalfe had another solid weekend finishing in the runner-up spot in both motos, but Metty was still a few seconds off the pace of the leader. Metty’s performance yesterday moved him into second overall in the MX1 class, just ahead of his teammate Matt Goerke. Yesterday, Millsaps looked like the Millsaps from the first four rounds and I wouldn’t expect much different this coming weekend in Moncton. Just like the MX2 class, the battle for second in these final three rounds is going to be incredible, and that is if Millsaps continues to stay in the top three. One more 8th place finish as we saw with him in Ulverton and the battle for the 2016 title is back on.

One rider who didn’t have a great day yesterday was former MX1 Champion and Canadian hero Colton Facciotti who went down hard in moto two. I’m sure Colton came into round 7 with the hopes of trying to build some sort of momentum and get his series back on track. Colton hasn’t exactly been slow or off the pace in the MX1 class, he’s just struggled with his starts a little and really hasn’t been allowed to taste the lead. I assumed, like last year, that it would take one holeshot and one moto win to spruce up Colton’s confidence and then it would be on. However, that never came and when he crashed ten feet out of the gate in moto one yesterday, it was just one of those days. Hopefully Colton’s injuries are too bad and he will be in Moncton, but for all intensive purposes, his chances of finishing in the top three in the MX1 class are now over. With only three more races in this series and no MXON for Colton in September, one has to wonder when is the next time we’ll see him line up for a meaningful race? I for one hope we don’t have to wait until 2017 and the opening round of the Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals. With all of his competition planning out their off-seasons and where they’re going to race, I believe it’s imperative that Colton find some sort of racing to do between September and June of 2017. Nothing crazy like racing SX or anything, but maybe the Winter Series in Florida or even moving some of his off-season to California so he can ride with very fast riders each week and do some local races there? I, like so many other Canadians would love to see Colton win a moto before the series is over in a few weeks and then compete in a few off-season events somewhere!

So that is what happened on the weekend in Nova Scotia as our top riders battled hard. As mentioned, with just three rounds remaining in the 2016 series, the riders have now entered the stretch run. The series now heads to one of the oldest tracks in Canada and Riverglade Raceway just outside Moncton, NB. The racing is always great at this track and of course the attendance is also great, yes, the fans at Riverglade are some of the most passionate of the entire series. I hope everyone has a great week and after taking care of my injured house mates this week, I will be heading to Moncton early Saturday morning. Please enjoy your week and ride safe!