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It’s always an exciting time when we welcome in a new year as it always provides us with new opportunities as well as a fresh start. Well, here we are in the early part of 2022 and we’re back with some more weekly questions for Ryan Lockhart. As you probably know, Ryan has been in the industry for over two decades and during that time he’s worn many hats. We believe it’s this experience as well as his fun-loving nature that makes his insight so valuable and so entertaining. So as we all guide our way through the first part of 2022 here is this week’s Matrix Concepts Canada 3 Q’s with Ryan Lockhart.
MXP: Hey Newf, let’s start with our brave and talented Canadian riders who travelled to Minneapolis last weekend to race the ultra-competitive 250SX East class. Tanner rode well and although he missed the main event by a few spots, I’m sure he learned a lot and will be better this weekend. Benek rode smart and got some valuable experience, and honestly, I’m not sure what happened to St-Cyr. What are your thoughts on how our boys did?
RL: It was great to finally see these guys give it a go. There is no question that the field is super stacked and man to be honest I just watched St-Cyr throw down a heater from the weekend on his Instagram and it’s unbelievable to me that he didn’t make it in. He looks great but it just goes to show how tough it is right now. Julian got some TV time during Raceday Live and he looked good as well. Tanner should go buy a lottery ticket considering that crash he had. I’m not even kidding when I say it was one of the scariest crashes I have ever seen. That could have been so bad, not only for him but for Jared Lesher (who caught it on GoPro) as well as the guys standing on the side of the track. All in all, I’m sure all of them feel like they could have done better but it looks like they gave it their best shot. They just need to stick with it and their time will come. Arlington this weekend won’t be a good gage as it’s a triple crown but it will allow them to get some more time to figure things out.
MXP: On Saturday we watched Chase Sexton ride flawlessly for almost the entire main event and then with three laps to go he made a big mistake and crashed. We’ve seen this happen before with Sexton. Do we just attribute these mistakes to Sexton’s youth and inexperience, or is there something more there?
Yes, it’s weird to me for sure that he can be almost perfect then have a huge mistake and you’re correct it’s not the first time this has happened. I think with him it’s a case of his speed being a little ahead of what his mental capacity can stand. These guys went like 28 laps in the main event on Saturday which is just absolutely crazy. That would be so mentally draining. I think a lot of the time we sit back and watch and feel like guys are fading because of a lack of endurance, but these top guys are in tip-top shape. I really believe it comes down to focus and mental fading and that’s what I think we see happen to Sexton. He is young and speed is not the issue, I think as long as he can make it through a full season with no major injuries 2023 will be the year of Chase Sexton.
MXP: When you were racing the Monster Energy Supercross Series back in 2006 and 2007 what do you remember most (good and bad) about going to some of these Eastern rounds?
The good, racing in Domes always has a unique feel for whatever reason. I think pitting indoors is always nice as well since most of the east coast rounds this time of year are cold. The tracks are shorter and a little on the tight side which makes the racing closer, more of an AX feel. The bad for me was that it was always a little harder to breathe and the air is really dry. There were some rumours from last weekend that some riders and other people who were inside US Bank Stadium were feeling sick from the fumes after the race. Sometimes you don’t even notice how bad it is until after the races are done.
