Motocross Performance Magazine Canadian Motocross news leader
We are now officially into the 2017 holiday season. Honda Canada Racing is not only the sponsor of this Monday Gate Drop, but they’ve also graciously decided to be the title sponsor of our Honda Canada Racing 25 Days of Christmas. From now until Christmas Day, we will be profiling products from our 2018 Holiday Buyer’s Guide. If you want to see what awesome products are available now and in the New Year, check out our Honda Canada Racing 25 Days of Christmas.
As I sit here composing this week’s Gate Drop, it’s actually Sunday afternoon and I’m at 37,000 feet over Denver. In just over an hour I will be touching down in San Diego, CA. (insert Anchorman jokes here) and then making my way to Temecula, CA. For the next few days, I will be experiencing what really feels like an early Christmas present, or a well conceived motocross dream. Thanks to KTM Canada, myself and Billy Rainford from Direct Motocross will be the first honoured Canadian media guests of KTM USA on Monday and Tuesday, before being transported over to the awesome folks at Husqvarna USA on Wednesday. The purpose of this incredible trip is to not only test ride the 2018 KTM Factory Edition models on Tuesday, but also to attend the Rockstar Husqvarna Team launch in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday before flying back home and back to reality on Thursday.
The flight from Toronto to San Diego is a long one, but the scenery is beautiful. This is just to the east of San Diego when the dry desert meets the vegetation closer to the Pacific Ocean.
As you can imagine, I’m absolutely giddy with excitement for this week’s events. This is considered a worldwide launch so there will be media attending from all over the globe, which is always pretty exciting in itself. To kick things off in style, on Monday morning we will be driven out to the Red Bull KTM Team Supercross test track for a meet and greet with the staff and riders, before getting to sit there and watch all of the factory supported KTM Teams practice on their SX track. After what will most likely be a delicious lunch, all of the media will travel to Pole Position Kartways for a little semicompetitive go-karting. Then as mentioned, on Tuesday I will get to throw my leg over the 2018 KTM Factory Edition models. After riding a 2017 KTM Factory Edition 450 all season long, I’m extremely excited to see what these new models have to offer. It will also be interesting to talk to the team riders from both KTM and Husqvarna to hear what their thoughts are on the upcoming season, which by the way begins in just over a month. So, stay tuned to mxpmag.com, as well as our Social Media channels, for updates from my big adventure this week.
It’s hard to believe that heading into 2018 we will never see these two shaking hands after a hard battle again. With Ryan Dungey now retired, the sport needs at least one more strong year from Chad Reed. Photo by Krystyn Slack
Speaking of the upcoming 2018 Monster Energy Supercross Series, did anyone else catch Chad Reed’s interview last week with the boys from DMXS Radio. If you didn’t, then you should definitely give it a listen and hear what this legend has to say about his injury, the current state of the sport, as well as his plans for 2018. Due to the broken foot he suffered at the Red Bull Straight Rhythm back in October, Reed will not be on his new Husqvarna until just two weeks prior to Anaheim 1. That’s crazy as he obviously won’t be in his normal race shape for the first few gate drops of 2018. Hopefully he’s able to get some training in during the next month so that his cardio is at least decent heading into Anaheim. It sounds as though the opening month of the 2018 season will be comprised of Reed racing himself into tip-top shape. Although the first half of the series may not bring too much success for Reed and his new Husqvarna Team, he may be hitting his stride as the series hits its crucial stretch run through March and April. I for one hope that Reed is battling for podium finishes at some point in 2018. With the loss of Ryan Dungey, Trey Canard, and the somewhat unknown status of Ken Roczen, the sport of supercoss needs a fast and healthy Chad Reed for at least one more season. Anyway, listen to his interview, it’s very interesting what he says about the sport and the direction he feels it should be headed.
Heal up quick Jess so you can have more moments like this in 2018. Photo by James Lissimore
Switching from events in the USA to here in Canada, how gutted does everyone feel for Jess Pettis and the injury he suffered Saturday night in Chilliwack. This kid was flying in the midst of building some much needed confidence for the opening rounds of the 2018 Monster Energy Supercross Series. Now, with a broken arm, he’s headed home to heal until the new year. From the looks of his Social Media posts, his arm in badly broken and he will be off the bike for quite some time. However, even with a broken arm he will still be able to do some training. Add to the fact that he’s still so young means that he will heal quickly and be able to return before we know it. Even though we always look for a reason as to why bad things happen to us, sometimes it’s just bad luck and we cannot do anything about it. Get well soon Jess!
Up until his crash on Saturday evening, Pettis was having a great night inside the Chilliwack arena and had seemingly found a way to beat Carson Brown. Brown was the dominant rider on Friday night so he no doubt had a big target on his back heading into Night 2. It was a bad way to end what was a great weekend of racing out west. Now the 2017/18 Future West AX Championships takes some time off before resuming early in the new year. It was also great to see Ontario Intermediate rider Jake Tricco jump on a plane and compete in Chilliwack. Tricco showed of his immense talents in front of the BC fans, and he was the fastest Intermediate rider all weekend. I love how talented our young riders are these days. They’re fast, fit and extremely confident.
Good luck to Austin Watling and whatever the future holds. Photo by James Lissimore
As we all heard last week in Austin Watling’s shocking announcement, he has decided to take a step back from racing and focus his energy and talents elsewhere. I spoke to him for a while last week on the phone and he mentioned that his biggest fear in telling everyone was how they were going to react. Thankfully, everyone saw this for exactly what it is and have been very supportive to Austin and his family. He is so grateful for this and the overwhelming support has really driven home the fact that he’s making the correct decision. This kid has had the hammer down since he was a little kid; he’s been through injuries and just about everything else so far in his career, and it sounds as though he’s just tired of it. All he’s done since he was a young kid was chase the elusive moto dream and right now he just doesn’t feel like doing it anymore. He has also found that he is just as talented off the bike with his film and camera skills, so that is where he’s focusing all his energies. I say good for him and I wish him all the best in his future endeavours. To help him get the ball rolling, we at MXP Magazine have hired Austin to do some Social Media work, as well as some future video stories, so look for his work very soon on this website as well as on our Social Media channels.
Well, that is it for me this week as the Captain just announcement that, “We will be commencing our descent very shortly into the San Diego area.” It is time to begin another awesome adventure this week and I cannot wait. Finally, in truly remarkable news, Estrella Cemovic has made some incredible progress with her injuries, and in the past few days has spent some considerable time with her eyes open. Remember, you can still assist the Cemovic family by visiting this page: https://www.gofundme.com/estrella-cemovics-recovery-fund We continue to hope and pray that she makes a full recovery! I hope everyone has a great week and a safe week doing whatever activities you chose to do.
