Honda Canada Racing Presents The Monday Gate Drop

Good day and welcome to this week’s edition of the Honda Canada Racing Monday Gate Drop. With this being the first day of October, we’ve now entered what is most likely our final month of the 2018 riding season. At least where I live in Ontario, it’s getting cool at night, and as the sun slowly sinks south, the days are cooler and sadly shorter. I love the Fall season, but as with most riders, I cringe at what’s to come. Anyway, get out and enjoy it while you can.

I hope everyone had a great weekend regardless of what you were doing. My weekend was pretty cool as it was my son’s birthday weekend. On Friday, he turned 11 and he definitely has us wondering where all the time has gone. After spending Friday and Saturday at the arena for hockey, yesterday we made our way down to the Scotiabank Centre (formerly the Air Canada Centre) for the all-new Nitro Circus show. With five Canadian stops on the “You Got This” tour, there are plenty of chances for us to see this entertaining show. If you’ve never been to a Nitro Circus Show then you’re definitely missing out. What happens during these two-hour shows is hard to describe, however they certainly do a great job of keeping fans of all ages on the edge of their seats. Whether it’s the FMX riders (including Canadian Kyle Demelo), the amazing Bruce Cook doing his thing, or all of the other athletes, the Nitro Circus show is non-stop excitement.

I think its safe to say that my son had a pretty amazing 11th birthday.

Last week I did a very cool interview with the first rider to ever complete a triple backflip on a dirt bike, Australian Josh Sheehan. In return for helping out with some pre-show publicity, the Nitro Circus crew allowed us to come to the Toronto show a little early and receive a very detailed back stage tour. During yesterday’s guided tour we were able to meet some of the athletes, including the man behind all of this craziness, Travis Pastrana. Travis wasn’t performing at either show this weekend as he’s busy prepping for this coming weekend’s MXoN’s in Red Bud. After exchanging pleasantries with Travis and hearing about how banged up his body currently is from all of his MXoN preparation, he asked my son and his friend if they wanted to climb up to the top of the “Giganta” ramp and then slide down it on a large blanket. Although my son and his friend didn’t hesitate at Travis’s request, as his dad I was wondering just how good of an idea this was. A few of the Nitro Circus athletes assured us that it was pretty safe, so up the 92 flights of stairs my son, his friend and Travis went to climb to the top of the five-story ramp. Then, after a some more reassurance from Travis, they got wrapped up in a large blanket and sent down the ramp screaming and laughing. They of course survived and were left with a very cool story to tell all of their friends. As parents we were left standing there in complete shock that we actually allowed Travis Pastrana to babysit our son for ten minutes. I asked our son what Travis said to them just before they went down the ramp. He said Travis just looked at them and said, “You got this, boys!” I thought that was fitting advice seeing as that is the name of this new Nitro Circus Tour. Anyway, the show was great, and if you are near Saskatoon, Edmonton or Vancouver in the coming weeks, you should go to check it out. Here is the website with all of the information: www.nitrocircus.com

So that was my weekend and why I wasn’t able to make it up to Moto Park for the annual Vet National on Saturday and then the AMO race yesterday. I heard both events were a lot of fun. We’re now down to just one more race at Gopher Dunes in two weeks time. However, before that happens, all eyes will be on Red Bud this coming weekend for the 2018 MXoN’s. Our Canadian Team is currently making final preparations to travel to Red Bud to get this very important weekend started. This is without a doubt going to be the largest motocross event on North American soil probably since Unadilla in 1987. I know there have been two MXoN’s held in the US since 1987, but I still feel that Unadilla was on a level that we’ve never seen since. I’m sure that will all change this weekend at Red Bud! As of right now the weather forecast doesn’t look very favourable for the area, so a mud race is possible on Saturday and Sunday. We’re still five days out, though, so with any luck all of that will change as no one wants a mud race, or any rain for that matter.

Colton Facciotti’s GDR Fox Honda is ready for Red Bud this weekend. Photo by James Lissimore

Our talented team of Jess Pettis, Colton Facciotti and Tyler Medaglia are ready to go and I really feel that barring any last-minute issues, all three are going to have a great day. Jess Pettis appears poised to have his first International breakout ride, Facciotti is riding better than he ever has, in my opinion, and Medaglia has to be beaming with confidence after his incredible ride at Ironman Raceway back in late August. If all three riders can get off the starting gate well both on Saturday and then again on Sunday, their speed is definitely good enough to run with the leaders. As we’ve seen in the past at this event, or anytime you go up against a talented field of riders, a good start is almost a must. Two years ago in Italy, Kaven Benoit got off to an incredible start in one moto and was able to run up front for the entire race. As I’ve said a few times, I like our chances this weekend as I’m sure our riders will be feeling very comfortable racing on North American soil. It all gets underway with qualifying on Saturday.

As we entered into the off-season Dean Wilson will once again have to find a ride for 2019.

Well, that is it for me this week. In closing, I’m sure everyone by now has heard the news about Dean Wilson and him not getting resigned by Husqvarna for 2019. Like a lot of people, including Dean, I heard that this deal was done and that he was going to get one more chance to stay healthy to show what he’s capable of. I guess with Dean’s recent history of knee injuries, Husqvarna decided to go a different direction. So, what does he do now? His options are limited at this point as none of the factory teams are currently looking for any 450 riders, and Dean hasn’t even started riding yet after his latest knee injury. As of right now, I think his best option is obviously to first get back into riding shape, then maybe take advantage of as many overseas SX events as possible to both make some money and to work on his race craft. At that point he could race the 2019 Monster Energy SX Series as a privateer again and wait for an injury and for a fill-in spot to open up on a team. As awful as that sounds, it’s a reality in our sport today. Finally, does this open up a possibility of Dean coming to Canada to race in 2019? At this point I’m sure anything is possible as I can see the Monster Energy Kawasaki Team and maybe the GDR Fox Honda Team being interested in him. In talking to Dean at Walton last month, he seemed pretty set that he still wanted to race in the USA again in 2019. However, that was obviously prior to finding out that he didn’t have a ride with the Husqvarna Team. I’m sure it will all play out in the coming months.

I hope everyone has a great week and also a happy Thanksgiving this weekend. Turkey and watching Team Canada at the MXoN’s, it doesn’t get any better than that. Good luck to Team Canada this weekend! See you all at Red Bud!