Honda Canada Racing Presents the Monday Gate Drop

Good day and welcome to another edition of the Honda Canada Racing Monday Gate Drop. With spring-like weather all over this great country of ours, the 2019 riding season is finally underway. In the past few days I’ve witnessed some Social Media posts from tracks like Gopher Dunes, Moto Park, and even Wild Rose in Calgary with our happy Canadian riders out spinning laps. As the ground dries up and the surrounding wilderness begins to come back to life, this next month produces some of the best riding conditions of the season.

I will get this column underway by talking about the opening round of 2019 Rockstar Energy Triple Crown AXTour in Abbotsford, BC. As you all recall, last year this first race of the series was in late February and took place during a rare winter storm in BC. Outside the roads were snow covered and driving was treacherous. Inside the Abbotsford Event Centre, the track was equally as difficult to get around. It was without a doubt one of the most challenging indoor races ever in Canada. Fast forward to 2019 and thankfully this opening round was moved to a month later in the year, and although it wasn’t warm and sunny outside, the temperatures were still very mild in the Abbotsford area. And how was the track you ask? By all accounts it was still on the soft side, but night and day better than last year.

Now, I should say that I wasn’t in Abbotsford and sadly I will not be in Calgary this coming weekend either. You see, when the original AXTour schedule was released to us back in early December, these two weekends we’re supposed to be the break between the west and the east rounds. So with that in mind, my family booked a week long Mexican vacation, thinking that these were going to be free weekends. Obviously the schedule changed and here I am soaking up the sun in Mexico while the 2019 AXTour is kicking off back home. Trust me, I’m not complaining at all, I’m just saying that I can only comment on what I saw and heard about the night of racing at Round 1. Here are some of those things:

Live Television:

I received a few messages from people on Saturday night who were watching the live broadcast from Abbotsford and they said it was entertaining. Kyle Thompson and Ryan Gauld were doing a good job in the booth, and Zeb Dennis was doing a good job on the floor. Having these Triple Crown Series races on Fox Sports is a great thing for Canadian motocross and hopefully the viewers embrace this series live. I have to see one of these shows live before I judge for myself, but knowing all the people involved I’m sure the show was fun to watch.

The Track:

As I mentioned above the track was ten times better than it was last year. Again, I wasn’t there so I’m only getting second hand reports about what the conditions were like. From the photos I saw, the track still looked really soft and there were still ruts all over the place. However, it just looked sticky and soft and not muddy like last year. I’ve raced a few of these soft and rutted AX events in my day and I can tell you that they were some of the most difficult races of my career. You basically start riding in the middle of the track until those ruts get too deep, then you move to more outside lines until those ruts get really deep. At that point you usually move back to your original line as those ruts are all of a sudden a better option. On a really soft track like we saw on Saturday, this can all happen in a 20 lap main event.

The Racing:

This is definitely something I cannot comment on as I didn’t get to see one lap of the opening round. However, from the messages I received it sounded like the racing was as good as it always is in one of these indoor events;. There was some bumping and banging, some crashes, some chirping after the races between some of the riders who came together on the track; it had just about everything you’d expect. This is the charm of AX racing and why it’s just so popular. From the moment the arena lights dim and the announcer asks the crowd if they’re ready for some AX, the next few hours involve non-stop action! Like I mentioned above, I’ve probably raced 100 AX events in my lifetime and I can tell you unequivocally that these race are as exciting for the riders as they are for the fans. To hear that there was some aggressive racing in Abbotsford brought a smile to my face here in Mexico, I hope it lasts all season long. Sometimes the riders are just too nice to each other these days. Although I must also say that maybe we’re just picking up where we left off last year.

Cole Thompson:

Is this guy good at indoor racing or what? Each year Cole appears to get better and better at racing these AX events. Other than the Montreal SX last fall, you have to go back to the opening round last year in Abbotsford to see the last time Cole got beat indoors. His technique, throttle control, and confidence is just far superior to most of his competition. In 2018, we saw Colton Facciotti match Cole’s speed at times during these indoor races, but Colton wasn’t able to get the starts he needed to in order to beat Cole when it mattered most. Cole is just an indoor machine and from what I’m told everyone got to see it again on Saturday night in Abbotsford. I spoke to Cole two weeks ago about this upcoming season and he just sounded confident and ready to race this season. I know it’s hard to do, but if you look beyond what happened in the final corner of Quebec City SX main event last November, I think that race was a big moment for Cole. When he came from dead last and reeled in Colton, someone who he looks up to and has kind of always been in his shadow, when Cole did that and was able to win that race, it lifted a big weight of his shoulders. Here is an interesting quote from an interview I did with Cole last year moments after he won the Triple Crown title in Hamilton, “He [Facciotti] is a rider that I’ve always looked up to and hoped that one day I would enjoy the same success that he has had over the years. Honestly, after Walton when I got back to training for these final SXTour events, each day at my practice track I would always have a picture of Colton celebrating at Walton in my head. I would always think that if he was there, he would probably be going a little faster and doing longer motos. I would think that and then push a little bit harder each day. That definitely helped elevate my riding to where it’s at right now.”

The AXTour Series:

After a long winter of talking about last year’s Triple Crown Series and what things needed to be changed for 2019, I’m sure everyone is happy that the racing has finally begun. You can only talk so much before you just have to go out and do it. The off-season is officially over and now everyone can focus on the season ahead. I haven’t heard what the attendance was in Abbotsford but I’m sure it was close to what we saw last year. Those who were there witnessed some very high energy racing and I’m sure the same will happen this coming weekend in Calgary. Everyone involved in this series from the riders, the teams, and the people running the show now have a week to assess what happened at the opening round and then try to improve things for Round 2.

A Few Rider Quotes:

Tyler Medaglia:

“It was a good night for me and my team, actually. I was the fastest in both of my practices and I felt great on my Kawasaki. I was debating about making a gearing change, however I held off as I figured the track would melo out a bit for the night program. My heat race was okay and then in the main event I had a so-so start. From there, I just stayed relaxed and kept pushing forward until got into second. Considering the conditions and the fact that it’s the first race, I’ll take it and move onto Calgary.

Cole Thompson:

“The track was very difficult on Saturday night, not as tough as last year but you still had to ride it a certain way. I just really tried hard to limit my mistakes and keep my KTM on two-wheels. Coming in my goal was to win the Clash for Cash as well as the main event so I was really happy with my night.”

Matt Goerke:

“Coming into Abbotsford I felt great and my bike had been incredible during all of our off-season testing. I think I was a little too fired up when the gate dropped because when I came into Turn 2 I was going a little too fast and I ended up hitting Phil [Nicholetti]. In the following corner he came back at me and when he hit me it broke my front brake lever off. After that I think I was in sixth or something. I just kept charging until I began to have some clutch issues. I ended up going down and eventually finishing in second. It ended being a good night for our team and we cannot wait until Calgary.”

I don’t know about all of you, but this makes me very excited for the MXTour as it’s the next time we will see Cole and Colton racing head to head. Don’t forget, Colton has the same amount of confidence on our outdoor tracks as Cole does racing indoors. Oh, this summer is going to be incredible. Also, let’s not forget Matt Goerke, Phil Nicholetti, Shawn Maffenbeier and whatever other riders head north this summer. I’d love to see Broc Tickle come to Canada this summer as his career in the USA has grinded to a halt. His situation is very bleak and it doesn’t appear like anything is going to get sorted out with WADA anytime soon.

Well, that is it for me this week as I have to get back to the beach. I hope everyone has a great week and thank-you for reading this week’s Honda Canada Racing Monday Gate Drop, coming to you all the way from Tulum, Mexico.