Honda Canada Racing Presents the Monday Gate Drop

 

Good day and welcome to another edition of the Honda Canada Racing Monday Gate Drop. With a few weeks off between Rounds 4 and 5 of the Rockstar Energy Triple Crown MXTour Series, GDR Fox Honda riders Dylan Wright and Colton Facciotti are busy preparing for the most challenging stretch of the 2018 outdoor nationals. With multiple moto wins by both riders in the western rounds, they’re no doubt looking forward to hitting the difficult eastern tracks in the coming weeks.

As I mentioned above, the Triple Crown MXTour is currently on a two week break and will resume at Sand Del Lee on July 7th. The Sand Del Lee track has always provided great racing whenever the national series has visited there in the past, so this year should be no different. I have a sneaky suspicion that we’re going to have a very hot and humid July here in Ontario, so both the SDL round as well as the Gopher Dunes round the following week are going to be very difficult. I do like that there is a weekend off after Gopher Dunes before the riders travel east to Moncton for Round 7. This will give every rider a chance to recoup after two tough sand races and get ready for the final three races of the series. We’ve seen in the past that sometimes a rider can find it very hard to fullyrecover after a national at Gopher Dunes. If the conditions are just right, this race can be so tough on a rider’s system that it takes them weeks to feel normal again. By the time they’re back to 100%, the series is over and they’re left wondering what the heck happened. Hopefully the really high humidity avoids us and the conditions aren’t too bad for these races. So enjoy one more weekend off MXTour regulars, we all get back at it in less than two weeks.

Speaking of humidity and difficult conditions, last week I headed south for the 2019 Husqvarna Media Launch in Orlando, FL. Since this was considered a global launch, there was media there from all over the world, including Great Britain, Italy, Germany, France, America, and Australia. It’s always a little extra special when I get to hang out with journalists from overseas as they always seem to bring a different perspective on things. For most of these journalists, these trips to the USA are a once in a lifetime chance to ride a track, or visit a city that they’ve only dreamt about. Even with a language barrier, it’s easy to get a sense of their true excitement.

I must admit that for this media launch I was as excited as anyone in attendance as Husqvarna chose Aldon Baker’s famous training facility, ‘The Baker’s Factory’ to debut their brand new 2019 motocross line-up. On Tuesday morning at 7:30am we all boarded a bus and departed from our downtown Orlando hotel. From there, we made our way northwest through Clermont, FL, a town that has quickly become the home to most of today’s top riders who reside in Florida. Once past Clermont, we proceeded into the Florida wilderness until we came upon a large gate that simply had BF on it in large bold letters. After 45 long minutes of giddy anticipation we had finally arrived at the most well known motocross training facility on the planet, Bakers Factory, the place where champions are made.

I was as excited as a little kid heading through the gate of nearby Disney World as we drove into the track. My first thoughts were of the great champions that had driven through and continue to drive through this exact same gate on the way to their day of training. Ryan Villopoto, Ryan Dungey, Ken Roczen, Zach Osborne, Marvin Musquin and Jason Anderson (I know there are a few more but those are the names that stand out) all have made this drive from Clermont to the Baker’s Factory in search of motocross training perfection. I don’t think I was the only person on the bus to feel this as it was pretty quiet as we came to a stop in front of a large building.

Although I had seen this facility in a few videos and also on television, I really had no idea what to expect. After getting off of the bus the first thing we did was walk to a large building for a meet and greet with the man himself, Aldon Baker. While everyone listened intently, Aldon explained the thinking behind this awesome facility and how it was transformed from what it was to its current state. Today, Baker’s Factory is just over 100 acres of pure motocross joy. It’s separated into two compounds, one for the upcoming riders, and one for the top team riders of Anderson, Musquin, Tickle and Osborne. The ‘B’ side, where we rode all day, has a full shop and eating area, a bike wash bay, a full supercross track, and an amazing outdoor track. We rode on the outdoor track and I can tell you that it’s one of the best training tracks I have ever ridden on. It was rough, rutted, full of cool jumps, and its mixture of clay and loamy dark Florida sand made for perfect practice conditions. The other side of the property, the ‘A’ side, included a bigger shop complete with a space for bike work, as well as a full gym for off the bike training. This side also had a large outdoor track and two supercross tracks. One supercross track was designed for a baseball-type stadium with west coast dirt, while the other was designed for a football stadium with more east coast type soil. Like any world class training facility, the Baker’s Factory leaves nothing to chance and completely takes the guess work out of the riders’ training programs. It was amazing to get the full guided tour by the man who created it all in the first place.

After all of the introductions, including a welcome speech from Zach Osborne who was on hand to greet the journalists, we all suited up and hit the track for an amazing day of riding. With the temperatures soaring to 95F, with a sizeable amount of humidity, it was a very challenging day of riding. I won’t go into the new 2019 Husqvarnas too much as you’ll just have to wait until the story is released. However, I can say that right from the TC125 two-stroke all the way up to the FC450, these new Husqvarna bikes are just a joy to ride. The complete line-up of 2019 models are very rider friendly, and this attribute really came in handy on the rough Baker’s Factory track. It was a great day of riding at one of the most famous practice tracks on the planet. Although we were all extremely tired by the end of the day, everyone had a big smile on their face during the quiet bus ride back to our hotel.

As you can tell, I had a great few days in Florida. This past weekend we had planned to travel to Walton Raceway for the AMO race, but two things got in our way. First, since this was one of the only Saturdays I have off all summer long, it was time to do some much needed work around our house. We ended up putting in a hardwood floor in our living room on Saturday, and that took pretty much the entire day. Then, I looked at the weather for Sunday and decided against heading over to Walton to have my son and his only bike slop through the mud. With a summer full of big races coming up, the last thing his bike needed was a mud race. However, good job to everyone who braved the conditions yesterday and most likely had a little fun in the process.

This coming weekend we’re off to Moto Park for the final two rounds of the 2018 New Era MP Cup. These are always fun events as Moto Park does an excellent job. On Friday, we’re going to head up early to check out Moto Park’s new bicycle park. This new park has both a full BMX pump track, as well as a mountain bike trail system. You have to give the folks at MP credit for continuing to reinvent themselves and stay ahead of the curve. This bicycle park gives people yet another reason to travel there and it opens the facility up to a whole new market of people who love riding two wheels. For people like my son and I, who love to do both, now we can take our Marin mountain bikes as well and ride the trails in the morning, and then dirt bike in the afternoon. Sounds like a good day to me!

I hope everyone has a great week and a fun upcoming long Canada Day weekend! We are into summer now so stay hydrated and ride safe. These next two months always go by so fast, so get outside and make the most of our short summer. Happy Canada Day from all of us at MXP Magazine!