Motocross Performance Magazine Canadian Motocross news leader
Good day and welcome to the final Honda Canada Racing Gate Drop of October 2018. This week we celebrate one of the scariest days of the year with Halloween on Wednesday. I know this day is built around our kids dressing up and Trick or Treating around the neighbourhood for candy, but in recent years it seems like adults are enjoying Halloween just as much. I know that in my town there was a big Halloween party on Saturday evening where adults dressed up and had a great time. Maybe October 31st might be just for the kids, but the Saturday night prior is now for us big kids.
After celebrating Halloween on Wednesday, some of us will be heading to Quebec City this coming weekend for Round 3 of the Rockstar Energy Triple Crown SXTour Series. Other than the Montreal SX last month, I believe this will be the biggest race spectator-wise of the series as Quebec City is no stranger to indoor racing. Back in the late 1980s and the early 1990s there used to be at least one big AX each year in Quebec City. In those days the race was held at the old Colisee Arena where the Quebec Nordiques NHL team played until 1995, before relocating to Colorado. I raced the Quebec City AX in 1990, ‘91, ‘92, ‘93 and again in 1994 when the race moved across town to the outdoor Municipal Stadium. Ironically, that year the race was also part of a new national series.
In 1994, the racing landscape in Canada was beginning to change rapidly. A year prior, the CMA held its final true national series with rounds stretching from Quebec to Vancouver Island. With very little purse money or much excitement in the series from the riders and the Canadian OEMs, the door was left wide open for another sanctioning body to take over. In 1994, the first ever CMC (later called the CMRC) series took place with rounds in Ontario and Quebec. One of these rounds was an outdoor SX type event at a small baseball stadium in Quebec City. With riders like Carl Vaillancourt, JSR, Mike Jones and even Tim Ferry, the gate dropped in front of a capacity crowd. I remember the track being very technical as it wound through the infield in front of the stands and then made its way around the outfield. The whoops were deep, the finish line jump was big, and the competition was fierce that evening. Although there were a few fast, western riders missing, every top Canadian rider at the time was there to battle the visiting Americans. It was a very interesting evening of racing, to say the least, and one that, for a few reasons, I have not forgotten.
I had a great time on Thursday test riding Colton Facciotti’s championship winning Honda CRF450.
Other than the racing that took place that weekend in Quebec City, two other events took place that weekend. One was the famous white bronco OJ Simpson car chase through Los Angeles. When we arrived at our hotel on the Friday before the race, we turned on the television and every channel was showing the car chase live. At the time we didn’t know what OJ was doing or why he was driving around. I think it just confirmed what we had all thought anyway, that he was a guilty man. Anyway, that definitely was one of those “Remember where you were” moments from history. The next event that I will never forget from that weekend was that on the way home from the race in the middle of the night on the 401 highway, while I was fast asleep, my mechanic at the time mistakenly fell asleep and we went off the road, through the median ditch, caught a little air and ended up on the other side of the highway facing the wrong way. We both woke up when we hit the ditch. Thankfully, he grabbed the wheel and was able to regain some control before anything else happened. With it being really late at night there were no other cars on the road so we didn’t hit anyone and both of us were alright. Obviously, we were both wide awake at that point; I don’t think either of us blinked for the rest of the drive home. I’m sure this coming weekend will be a lot less exciting off of the track, but I’m definitely excited to see the racing on the track as supercross returns to Quebec City.
Dylan Wright flies through the air on his GDR Fox Honda Racing CRF450. Dylan looked great on the 450 and will race it this weekend in Quebec City.
With two more rounds remaining on the 2018 race calendar, all of the riders are forced to continue training and riding. On Thursday, I made my way down to Gopher Dunes for my long-awaited test ride on Colton Facciotti’s championship winning Honda CRF450. This planned test ride has been in the works for some time and last week it was finally time to throw my leg over the Champ’s bike. While I was there, Colton, Dylan Wright, Tanner Ward and Marco Cannella were out at the Gopher Dunes AX track riding lap after lap, preparing for these final two rounds. At the moment, the AX track at Gopher Dunes is in ‘Pro level only’ condition with steep transitions and technical timing sections. In between my test rides on Colton’s outdoor 450, I was able to sit back and watch these guys pound lap after lap. I know I’ve said this a few times this year, but I think having to train on these types of tracks have made our top riders even better in 2018. A rider’s timing, reflexes, control of the bike, raw speed and technique can all be improved by at least practicing on tight SX-type tracks. I still believe that a healthy and long outdoor series is a must in Canada, but I do like that there continue to be indoor events that our top riders have to race…just like in 1994! Here are the current Rockstar Energy Triple Crown SXTour point standings.
450 Class:
250 Pro/AM class:
Well, that is it for me this week. I hope everyone enjoys their Halloween this week, and if you want to email me some photos of our young riders dressed up in their costumes, please do and I will post them. You can email me at chris@mxpmag.com. Thanks for reading this week and please have a safe and fun Halloween!
