Honda Canada Racing Presents the Monday Gate Drop

Good day and welcome to the Honda Canada Racing Monday Gate Drop. As I write this I’m sitting at 39,000 feet on my way home from Prince George, BC. Already, the early part of the summer of 2018 is going fast as we just completed Round 3 of the Rockstar Energy Triple Crown MXTour Series. For anyone who has not been to Prince George, I can tell you that it’s a very unique city that is built mostly on the pulp and paper industry. The surrounding landscape looks a little more like Northern Ontario or Northern Quebec that it does BC. When you’re flying into the PG area the traditional BC mountain views give way to miles and miles of trees. As my very knowledgeable BC expert tour guide James Lissimore tells me, PG is pretty far from the Pacific coast line, 700KM in fact. But, the people are nice, and this city is a great host to our national motocross series.

The track in Prince George was a little muddy for half of the day and very rough for the second half. Photo James Lissimore

The Blackwater Track is actually located about 40 minutes from the city centre, and about 20 minutes from the most popular powersports dealership in PG, Cycle North. Basically, you drive west on the main highway until you see the Cycle North dealership, then you make the next left hand turn and disappear into the wilderness. By the time you reach the Blackwater MX Track you’re almost certain that at some point you’ve missed it. Yes, this track is definitely off of the beaten path, but so are a lot of great mx tracks on this planet. As it did last year, rain dominated the weather forecast for Round 3, and when everyone arrived early for riders meeting, it wasn’t just raining outside, it was darn right cold. For most of the morning, in fact, the temperature didn’t rise much above 5 Celsius. With the light rain falling it really didn’t feel much above the freezing mark. With the wet weather, the Blackwater track was very sloppy and in some spots, down right muddy. After two very dry races to kick-off the 2018 MXTour Series, dust was not going to be an issue at Round 3 in Prince George.

To prepare the track for its second year of national competition, the PGMA and Jetwerx crew trucked in numerous loads of sand to lay down on the normally hard packed surface. They also built a couple of new sections to add to the already rider-friendly layout, the paddock area was made larger from last year to accommodate the teams and their vehicles, and a portable cell tower was erected to aid in the signal for the many cell phones that everyone has these days. All of these improvements were welcomed by all in attendance and it was great to see the PGMA make the effort. The wet and cool weather also presented the riders and teams with some important decisions regarding tire choice for Round 3. With the uphill start and first half of the track being made up of fairly deep sand, most of the riders felt they would be best to go with a full sand tire on the rear of their race bikes. However, with the cement starting pad and the other half of the track being harder packed and rocky, a full sand paddle type tire wouldn’t provide enough surface area to be completely effective. Between the cold, the rain, tire choice and goggle choice, it’s safe to say that the riders’ and teams’ hands were full in the early hours of Round 3. In the end, I believe most of the top riders didn’t go with the full sand tire and opted for a soft terrain tire. This still gave them adequate traction in the deep sand, but also aided their traction off the cement start, as well as gave them a better feel while braking on the steep downhills.

After a difficult start to the series, Dylan Wright came alive in Prince George and won both motos in the 250 Pro/Am class. Photo by James Lissimore

During the first two rounds of this series, Jess Pettis has been the dominant rider in the Pro/Am class. With three of four motos wins under his belt coming into Prince George (also Pettis’ hometown) very few people in the paddock thought the outcome of Round 3 would change from the opening two rounds. Even as the 250 Pro/Am riders wrapped up their wet and muddy practice sessions, Jess Pettis and Shawn Maffenbeier were on top of the leaderboard and appeared poised to once again battle for moto wins. As we are all aware, though, this is outdoor motocross and anything can happen, With the adverse conditions the riders’ trusted machines took a beating and quickly became unpredictable. With the wet sand plugging the cooling slots for the radiators, and the long power robbing hills of the Blackwater track, the bikes were running hot and out of their comfort zone. This was none more evident than on the final lap of the opening 250 Pro/ Am moto; points leader and local fan favourite Jess Pettis had his Yamaha completely Chernobyl in a cloud of white smoke, only a few turns from the finish line. At the time Pettis was running in second place and about to gain even more points on his arch rival Maffenbeier. Pettis would of course DNF the first moto and leave his mechanic a ton of extra work between races. Thankfully, this week the second West Women’s moto was inserted into the schedule in between the first 450 moto and the second 250 moto, so the MX101 Yamaha Team had a little more time to repair Pettis’s bike than they would’ve last week. As it turned out, Pettis not only made it to the starting line for Moto 2, but he would go on to finish in a solid second place and at least salvage some points on the day.

With Pettis suffering some bad luck and Maffenbeier struggling in both motos, the day belonged to GDR Fox Honda rider Dylan Wright as he grabbed both moto wins in Prince George. As we’ve witnessed during the first two rounds, Wright has been very fast and very confident, but due to some mechanical issues, he has already DNF’d two of the first four motos. Obviously, this is not how you win a championship, and coming into Round 3, Wright was already way back in the points race. However, credit to his team, his mechanic, Kyle Ward, and his deep self belief, Wright rode like a potential champion on Saturday and won his first overall of 2018. Behind Wright was his least favourite fan Josh Osby in second, and Osby’s Redemption KTM teammate Joey Crown in third. I have been very impressed with Crown so far in this series as he’s been one of the most consistent riders in the 250 Pro/Am class. Think about this, Crown has ridden Kawasaki’s almost his entire life; this is also his first season as a full-time pro rider, and he has never raced on any of these western tracks before. This kid has always been a very cerebral rider and I’ve been impressed with how he’s been using these skills to finish on the podium in the 250 class. In Prince George, Crown actually led the opening moto for 15 minutes before getting passed by Dylan Wright and Jess Pettis, so I think a race win is definitely in this kid’s near future.

After a very difficult 2017 season which saw him miss most of it with injuries, Kaven Benoit has bounced back in 2018 and won the overall this weekend in the 450 class. Photo by James Lissimore

After the unpredictable opening moto of the 250 Pro/Am class moto at Round 3, most in attendance figured that we would see the same shake-up in the 450 class. As we’ve seen through the opening two rounds of this series, Colton Facciotti has had things pretty much his way. Three dominant motos wins in the first four motos had definitely gotten Facciotti to a good start and a solid points lead. However, for whatever reason, at Round 3 Colton just appeared off. His times were decent in practice and he put himself in good position off the start in both 450 motos, but crashes and tight riding hampered his results all day long. At the end of the day, he was battered and bruised, but still was able to hold on to the red plate. With Facciotti struggling, this opened the door for Matt Goerke to take the first moto win of the day on the still sloppy race track. Then in Moto 2, Kaven Benoit rode with the heart of a lion from start to finish while holding off a hard charging Tyler Medaglia to take the moto win, as well as the overall win. It was Benoit’s first win since 2016 and he was so excited after the race. It’s great to see these riders come back from injury and win again. I must add that for the final 450 moto  the Blackwater track dried up considerably and turned into full on miserable old school motocross track. It was rough, rutted, and very difficult for the riders. It was basically everything that a pro national should be for the final moto of the day, and almost every rider I spoke to after the race agreed with me.

Everyone loves a comeback story and Benoit’s success on Saturday certainly bodes well for the rest of the 450 series. With Facciotti and Goerke already proving that they can win races, now we also have Benoit finding his groove. With just one round remaining in the western half of this series, I’m sure all of the riders are just trying to get through this coming weekend safe before heading to the ultra-challenging eastern rounds. Now the MXTour packs up and moves to Manitoba for Round 4. If their Social Media posts are anything to go by, the McNabb Family have been very hard at work for the past month getting one of the series newest tracks ready. If the weather co-operates, this event should be one of the best of the 2018 Rockstar Energy Triple Crown MXTour Series.

Even after two big moto wins in Prince George, Dylan Wright’s hair still looked good. Photo by James Lissimore

These next few weeks are very busy for me as tomorrow I head to California for my first media launch of 2018. Kawasaki has invited me to Pala Raceway on Wednesday to ride the 2019 KX450F so I’m obviously very excited. With rumours of an electric start, a hydraulic clutch, and a few other new items, this new green machine should be an awesome bike. I’m home on Thursday, head to Manitoba on Friday, and then next week I’m off to Florida to the famous Baker’s Factory for the 2019 Husqvarna Media Launch. It’s a good thing I love travelling, seeing new places, and that I still enjoy riding dirt bikes. I hope everyone has a great week and a safe week riding. Keep an eye on our Social Media channels for updates all week long. Twitter (@mxpmagazine), Instagram (@mxpmag).