Honda Racing Canada Presents the Monday Gate Drop

Good day and welcome to the Honda Canada Racing Monday Gate Drop. Like each and every year, 2018 is already moving along quickly as we’ve now reached the mid-way point of January. This means that it’s time for the GDR Fox Honda Team to head south to begin their official preparation for the upcoming season. Both Dylan Wright and Colton Facciotti left last week for GPF in Cairo, GA, where they will spend the next three months riding and training. Both riders are championship favourites for 2018, and Honda Canada Racing is very excited to see their red riders in action later this summer.

How is everyone today? I hope you had a great weekend and I hope that 2018 is treating you well thus far. Before I get to what went on this past weekend in Houston, TX, let me first start off by congratulating 250SX rider Brock Leitner and KJSC rider Danny Robinson on their performances in the Lone Star State. For Leitner, Houston marked the first time that he has made it through the challenging afternoon qualifying sessions and into the evening race program. These days, this is a lot more difficult than it looks and even though he came up a little short of making the 250SX main event, this was a major breakthrough for Leitner and his program. The 250SX West class is absolutely stacked with talent and it was good to see Leitner, who really isn’t a natural SX rider in my opinion, out there doing battle with some of the sport’s best SX athletes. As he and his family make the long drive back to California for Round 3 in Anaheim, I’m sure their smiles are big and their confidence is at an all time high. Good luck in Anaheim Brock, Canada will be once again watching.

The Houston track was soft and very challenging for the riders at Round 2. Photo by Matt Wellumson

Now, before we get into another debate about why there aren’t more Canadian riders down there racing SX, and what is wrong with our current crop of riders. I even saw one uneducated social media post asking why more Canadian riders don’t have the same ‘Cojones’ as Leitner does? Can we just applaud Brock Leitner and what he is trying to do, and also, can we keep in perspective just how difficult the sport of Supercross is? Not to mention the cost of spending two months preparing to race the Monster Energy Supercross Series, and then the cost of actually following even just a few rounds of the series. This isn’t the 1980s, the 1990s or the early part of 2000, a rider cannot just ride for a few weeks at a local SX track and then expect to not just find success at a pro SX but get through it in one piece. As we’ve witnessed so far in the first two rounds, even some of the top riders can’t stay on two wheels. Yes, you could argue that the top riders are going very fast and pushing their limits and that is why they’re crashing, but it’s all relative throughout the field as every rider is out there riding on the edge.

Congrats to Alberta 50cc rider Danny Robertson on his big win in the first KJSC race of 2018. Photo by Matt Wellumson

Being a good SX rider is something that has to begin to take shape at a very young age. The timing, the proper thought process, the ability to make multiple decisions in a very short period of time takes years to perfect. It is a specific skill set that not every rider is born with, and it’s very difficult to learn it after you have already built speed into your riding. Basically, you have to start practising SX at a young age, and then let those skills take shape as you get faster and more experienced. If you compare it to say swimming, you don’t just jump into the ocean and expect to survive if you haven’t spent many, many years learning to swim in your local pool. Anyway, it’s good to see Leitner out there, and by the sounds of it we’re going to see Jess Pettis at one or two rounds in the next month as he returns from injury and prepares for the opening round of the 2018 Rockstar Energy Triple Crown Series on February 24^th. Our current Canadian pro riders are very talented and they have a series coming up in just over a month where they have the opportunity to win $100,000. I’m not so sure if racing SX should be on their priority list.

With so many top riders in the 450SX class out with injuries, the 250SX West class has so far provided the most exciting racing of 2018. Photo by Matt Wellumson

Now, onto to what went down on Saturday night in Houston. First off, it was heartbreaking to see riders like Dean Wilson and Eli Tomac not be able to take part in the racing due to the shoulder injuries they suffered at the opening round. Both riders made huge mistakes in Anaheim and now need even more time to heal. Then, during his heat race, points leader Marvin Musquin crashed while trying to jump his way through the rutted whoop section and dislocated his shoulder. All of a sudden, before the 2018 series was even two full rounds old, three of the top riders were out with shoulder injuries. And all because of completely avoidable crashes. For Musquin, his whoop section struggles go back a long time as he has never really had much confidence in them. I must admit that I had never really watched Musquin ride very closely over the past few years. That was until last month when I was fortunate enough to watch Musquin ride up close at the new KTM SX test track in Menifee, CA. When you watch him ride in person and study his technique, you’re able to see both his incredible speed and smoothness on the motorcycle, but it also doesn’t take long to spot his flaws. Unlike almost every top rider in the 450SX class, Musquin doesn’t do a great job of squeezing the bike with his knees when he’s standing up. I believe that this is exactly why he’s always found it difficult to commit and to blitz through a set of deep SX whoops. To get through a SX whoop section quickly and in one piece, the first thing you do as you enter the section is to make sure you’re squeezing the bike with your knees. This will help keep the bike straight and maximize your control. Either way, Musquin’s issues don’t appear to slow him down on any other part of the track so I guess it’s a trade off. However, to see him crash on Saturday while he was just jumping through the whoops was very strange, and it was certainly a massive mental error.

In one of the best races of his young career, Aaron Plessinger came from a tenth place start to win the 250SX West main event. Photo by Matt Wellumson

As I said earlier, even though we are just two rounds into the 2018 Monster Energy Supercross Series, the racing is lacking some serious star power. Other than the unreal riding of Jason Anderson and the feel good story of Ken Roczen, there hasn’t been to much to get excited about. Compared to years past, the 2018 series has some serious work to do if it’s going to garner the same interest as it did in 2017. Let’s compare the top ten results from Saturday night in Houston to the results from Round 2 last year in Phoenix. Yes, some of the names remain the same, but there are some very big names missing from Round 2 in 2018. Obviously, Ryan Dungey is retired and Chad Reed is currently riding injured, but there is also no Davi Millsaps, Cooper Webb is a mystery, Marvin Musquin is now out for an undetermined time, and although Eli Tomac had a bad race last year in Phoenix, he is also now injured and so far out of the points chase that it’s going to take a miracle for him to win the 2018 SX title. We need everyone to first get healthy and then remain healthy for this series to get interesting. Thankfully for fans, Anaheim 2 is the first Triple Crown race of the series. This will no doubt add some much needed excitement to the program on Saturday night in Anaheim as the new three main event format will be fun to watch

2018 Round 2 Results (Houston, TX.)

1. Jason Anderson
2. Ken Roczen
3. Justin Barcia
4. Cole Seely
5. Weston Peick
6. Justin Brayton
7. Blake Baggett
8. Broc Tickle
9. Joshua Grant
10. Jeremy Martin

So far in 2018, Jason Anderson has been the best 450SX rider and after two rounds he now leads the series point standings. Photo by Matt Wellumson

Anyway, this weekend is a new race and hopefully every rider can remain healthy and put on a great show. It was amazing to see Ken Roczen take yet another step in his impressive comeback and finish second in Houston. Although he didn’t have anything for Jason Anderson in the second half of Saturday’s main event, he rode incredible on the challenging Houston track. So, between Jason Anderson, Ken Roczen, Brock Leitner and young KJSC rider Danny Robinson, those are my top performers from Round 2. Add in that Tanner Ward just missed the Lites main event at the Worchester AX, and it’s clear that a few of our favourite riders had a pretty good weekend.

Well, that is it for me this week. I hope that everyone has a great week and of course a safe week. We are entering what is known as the dog days of winter when it appears like there’s no end in sight. This is the time to get out and try to enjoy it. Winter is what you make of it, so get outside and try and have some fun!