Honda Canada Racing Presents the Monday Gate Drop

Good day and welcome to another edition of the Honda Canada Racing Monday Gate Drop. I hope everyone had a great weekend and I trust that all of the Moto Moms out there had a great Mother’s Day yesterday. We celebrated Mother’s Day by going riding (insert laughter now) and then going out for a nice dinner. Other than the chilly weather that engulfed Ontario this past weekend, we had a perfect two days of riding and hanging out with family.

Without too much racing to write about this weekend, let’s talk about Moms for a minute and all that they do for us. I think it’s safe to say that for the most part a Mom’s role at the race track has changed a lot since I was growing up. Back then, most of the Moms spent their time behind the scenes doing whatever was asked of them. My Mom was exactly the same as everything she did wasn’t really witnessed by too many people. Unless of course you saw her at the grocery store on Saturday buying food for our raceday cooler, or if you came by our house at 5am on Sunday morning and watched her cook us breakfast before it was time to leave for the track. Once at the races while my Dad and I were busy with bike stuff, my Mom would sit there patiently until she was needed. When it was time for me to race there was always the usual good luck and I love you wishes, and then my Mom’s face would change. I obviously never understood the feeling a parent has when they’re sending their child off to battle until I became a father and my son started racing. It’s an awful feeling and I didn’t really know how much my Mom hated it until I was finished racing. She kept all of her emotions inside as she knew that was the last thing that I needed to see. Like all Moms at the race track, mine was a rock from the moment I started racing until I was finished. Actually, even to this day when I decide to do a little Vet racing, my Mom finds time to come out to support me. So as we get to watch our fearless moto Moms doing just about everything at the track these days, once again I want to say Happy Mother’s Day to every single mom out there.

Tanner Ward is one of the fast young riders looking to win his first pro title in 2019. Photo by Mike Vizer

With the Rockstar Energy Triple Crown AXTour Series wrapping up last weekend, and the MXTour coming up very fast, this is always a very busy time of year for everyone. Here at MXP Magazine our second issue went to press last week – here is a preview of the new Tyler Medaglia cover. As with every issue of our magazine, I’m extremely proud at how this one came together. With this latest issue out of the way, it’s time to get the MXTour program completed as it goes to press this week. I have been looking after the National program for five years now and each year it’s always exciting to see it come together. Since we do both a west program as well as an east program, I love seeing all the team photos come through for the first time. With most of the teams doing their photo shoots early this year, it hasn’t been too much of an issue getting everything in. The final team remaining is the Honda Canada GDR Fox Racing Team as they’re doing their photo shoot early this week. With the program out of the way later this week, the final countdown to the opening of the MXTour will officially begin.

So who do you think will be the rider to beat when the gate drops in Calgary on June 1? As we sit here right now I think both classes are wide open as far as who might dominate the early western rounds. In the 250 class, the defending champion Jess Pettis should be the rider to beat, but the last few months have not gone according to plan. There was his unfortunate injury back in February after he had such a great start to 2019. By all accounts Pettis healed up fine and had a great April training in Florida with his teammate Tanner Ward. Then just over a week ago, Pettis had another big get-off in California. Although he wasn’t injured too badly, he was still banged up and will have to relax for a week or two. So while his preparation hasn’t exactly been what he wanted, I still believe that Pettis will show up in Calgary healthy and ready to make a statement, or as the KTM company slogan states, Pettis will be ‘Ready to Race.’

Jess Pettis will be ready to race when the gate drops in Calgary on June 1st. Photo by Mike Vizer

However, the story line that will most certainly make this class perhaps the one to watch this summer is the riders that will be looking to dethrone Jess Pettis. Names like Dylan Wright, Tyler Medaglia, Luke Renzland, Josh Osby, Marco Cannella and Tanner Ward are just a few of the wanna be champions in the 250 class. Each rider brings their own specific skill-set to the starting gate and each has a belief that they should be out front. With just sixteen motos this summer there is very little room for error and every point will count in these early rounds. Will the aggression of Dylan Wright be the answer to beating Pettis? Will it be the experience of Tyler Medaglia that will get the job done? Or will it be another rider who will break through? I guess we’ll just have to wait to find out!

In the 450 class, the road to the 2019 MXTour title looks to be as uncertain as ever. Last summer we saw Colton Facciotti come out of the starting gate in the opening two rounds and dominate his competition. He won three out of the first four motos in 2018 and did so in convincing fashion. From there, Facciotti remained consistent and took points when he could throughout the middle part of the 450 series, then he came on strong at the end to win his fifth 450 Championship. It was a perfectly managed title run last year for Colton, but can he do it one more time this summer? There is definitely more than one rider who doesn’t think he can and they all come in with confidence and championship winning experience.

Which riders will win these cool trophies at Round 2 in Prince George? Photo by James Lissimore

I think you’re going to see a much more aggressive Cole Thompson in these early rounds out west. Last year he really struggled in the first half of the MXTour Series and by the time he got going it was too late. In talking to Cole and to the people around him, he’s definitely ready to take the next step with his outdoor 450 riding. Another rider who we know will be good is Matt Goerke. He most certainly looks great on his new Kawasaki, and let’s face it, this guy knows how to win and how to battle for an entire series. If Goerke doesn’t win the 450 title, you know it’s not because he didn’t give it everything he had trying. Phil Nicoletti also enters this summer’s MXTour as a favourite to win races. Phil has had some great results in the USA Outdoors so we know he has some serious speed on wide open tracks. The big questions that we always ask newcomers to our Canadian series is, can they adapt to our tracks and how will they handle battling with riders that they thought they can beat? In recent years we’ve witnessed both Davi Millsaps and Christophe Pourcel handle things very well, so I’m very interested to see how Nicoletti adapts. On the other hand, it’s going to be cool to see how the riders adapt to racing with Nicoletti. He’s obviously fast, he’s fit, he believes he can win, and he’s very aggressive. This sounds like a great combo to me so it’s definitely going to add to the drama of these opening rounds. Now we just have to wait two and a half weeks for the gate to drop on the 2019 Rockstar Energy Triple Crown MXTour Series.

In the meantime, this coming weekend at Moto Park is the opening rounds of one the biggest motocross events in Ontario, the Moto Park Cup. Since 2012, these MP Cup events have grown each year and in the process they’ve become very enjoyable to attend. Two days of racing, pit parties, fireworks, a steak BBQ, and lots and lots of bench racing, the MP Cups have it all. Beginning this Friday with an optional practice day, Round 1 gets underway on Saturday. As they used to say when I was a kid, be there or be square.

Well, that is it for me this week. I hope everyone has a great week as well as an exciting Victoria Day long weekend. Good luck if you’re racing and ride safe. Don’t forget that the opening round of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Series gets underway this weekend in Hangtown, so that will be entertaining, for sure. Finally, if you live in Ontario please keep and eye out for Mark Booker’s Team Holeshot KTMs that were stolen last week. With all of the team graphics, these bikes shouldn’t be hard to spot. Is there anything worse than people who steal? Let’s find these bikes and get them back to Booker and his team riders.