Honda Canada Racing Presents the Monday Gate Drop

Good morning and welcome to the August long weekend edition of the Honda Canada Monday Gate Drop. If you go by the school calendar then we now have just one month remaining in the summer of 2018. If you haven’t been already, now is the time to get out and go riding. We have so many great riding areas right across Canada so it should be easy to find a place to rip.

As I sit here on this Monday morning I can honestly admit that I’m just a little fatigued. For the past five years, whenever I’ve attended the Deschambault national all I’ve had to do after the final 450 moto was conduct a few interviews and then make the quick 35 minute drive to the airport to fly back to Toronto. Usually, if there aren’t any flight delays I’m all tucked into bed by midnight and my Quebec weekend is over. Well, things were a little different this year as my family and I all jumped into our truck, drove to Quebec on Wednesday morning and spent all week racing the 2018 ECAN. From Wednesday afternoon until Saturday afternoon I was in full mini dad mode while my son competed in his first ever ECAN. Then on Sunday morning, I switched hats and shirts and spent yesterday doing my normal job as a media guy at Round 8 of the Rockstar Energy Triple Crown MXTour Series. Both jobs were tiring this past week, but also very enjoyable in their own right. Anyway, last night there was no airport, no short hour long flight back to Toronto, no home and in bed by midnight. Like so many of us yesterday, it was a long eight hour kamikaze journey along the 401 highway back home. We actually made good time and we were all in bed by 2am. Yes, this past week was definitely an adventure.

Obviously, we weren’t the only Ontario family who had to make the long drive home last night from Deschambault as strangely Ontario riders made up about 30% of the ECAN entries. For whatever reason or reasons, this year’s ECAN was way down with regards to entries than in the past. For the last few seasons this event has been trending upwards as far as participation and excitement. I even remember speaking to a few Ontario families after last year and they couldn’t wait to return to Deschambault in 2018. Well, judging by the entries in all of the classes, as well as the many familiar faces in the pits this week, Ontario was very well represented at the 2018 ECAN. What was missing were a lot of local Quebec riders who, for whatever reason,  chose to stay away from their own province’s largest motocross event. Obviously, there are some regional politics at play here, some of which are no doubt hurting the sport of motocross in Quebec. I mean, when you have a large race like the ECAN, at a track and facility that in the past few years has turned into one of the most beautiful in the country, and then a large group of local riders chose not to come? Something is definitely wrong with this picture. Anyway, thankfully the spectator turn out for the pro national yesterday was great as usual so that made up for the lack of people there all week.

Despite the lack of entries for the ECAN, it didn’t take away from the quality of racing all week long. Every rider this week got the full taste of motocross as the track and the weather were ever changing. On Thursday, while my son’s 65 Open moto was waiting on the starting line, the skies opened up for about 45 minutes of heavy rain. When the gate dropped for his moto, a pack of 65cc machines disappeared down the Deschambault start into a wall of rain and mud. After two laps, none of the kids had goggles and the best they could do was just paddle through the water and mud. As much as you always hope for no rain during racedays, this was a pretty cool experience for these kids as how often do our young riders get to go out and play in the mud. Thankfully, the track dried up quickly and the rain stayed away for the rest of the week. We had a great time at the ECAN and I will certainly remember the great racing, the awesome track, and the hot temperatures that everyone had to deal with all week long. Also, seeing as I spent so much time racing there throughout the 1990s, I always love going back there and seeing all of my Quebec friends. Congratulations to all of the riders who braved the challenging conditions this past week at Deschambault. There were definitely a ton of memorable performances.

As I mentioned above, once the ECAN was over it was time for the pros to take to the track on Sunday. As a kid I used to love watching the pros ride. I remember my dad taking me to some pro races and I would just sit on the sidelines and study them, and then I would come home and pretend I was them when I was riding. This is one reason why I think events like the ECAN or the upcoming Walton TransCan are so important for our young riders. I saw so many kids yesterday that had raced all week just hanging out watching the pros race on the exact same track as they did. I know my own son was thrilled to see Colton Facciotti or Jess Pettis try to master the same rut that he did the day before. I guarantee that some of our young riders left Deschambault last night much better riders then when they arrived.

As it’s been all summer long, the racing at Round 8 was superb in all classes. In the 250 class it was once again Joey Crown who took the overall win, his second win in as many weeks. Crown had a massive crash during the first practice session so he started the day off very sore. In Moto 1, Crown was up front early but appeared to be struggling to keep pace with the leaders. He would fight hard to finish third and only lost a couple points to Jess Pettis. In Moto 2, Crown took the early lead from Tanner Ward and never looked back. His 3-1 moto score gave him the overall win and he also made up three points on Pettis for the 250 championship. Now with just one round remaining there are only three points separating Jess Pettis and Joey Crown. This is definitely going to be an incredible final round at Walton Raceway. Another rider who was on the gas yesterday was GDR Fox Honda rider Dylan Wright. In Moto 1, Wright took off and grabbed his first moto win since Round 3 at Prince George. In Moto 2, Wright would go down on the opening lap and dropped back to dead last. From there he put on one the best rides of his career and charged all the way up to fifth by the final lap. The Top 3 overall were Crown, Pettis and Wright.

In the 450 class, we also had a repeat winner from a week ago as Cole Thompson was able to take the overall win. Like last weekend, Thompson was able to win the overall despite not winning a moto. Those honours went to Kaven Benoit, who came from behind to win the opening moto in front of his home fans. Then in Moto 2, Colton Facciotti, who finished sixth in Moto 1 after a crash, took his frustrations out on the field and lead pretty much wire to wire. So now with one round to go Facciotti has a 22 point lead over Cole Thompson and a 27 point lead over Kaven Benoit. It’s pretty exciting that both the 250 and 450 series is going down to the final round at Walton Raceway. Last season was pretty much the same scenario and it made for some very interesting racing at the final round. I know I cannot wait for the Walton TransCan in a week’s time, hopefully Mother Nature is in a good mood next week. I guess in one week’s time we’ll be making the drive over to Walton for the move in and set up day.

So now the stage is set for the final big outdoor race of 2018. Champions in all classes will be crowned next week and then it will be time to celebrate. I hope everyone is ready and I hope everyone who was in Quebec this past week had a great time. Thank-you to the entire crew at Motocross Deschambault for your hospitality and hard work. We’ll see you again in 2019. Also, our thoughts and prayers are with Hayden Halstead and his family after his massive crash yesterday in practice. Halstead came up short on the big 130 foot double and crashed very hard. Thankfully, he should make a full recovery and I’m sure he will be at Walton Raceway will a big smile on his face while he cheers on his teammates. Hayden, you’re one of the good guys in this sport, I hope you heal up quick. Finally, awesome job to all of our Canadian riders that competed this past week at the Loretta Lynn’s Amateur National in Tennessee. Everyone is Canada was cheering for you all week so congratulations. I hope everyone has a great week and we will see you all at Walton Raceway in just seven days.