Monday Gate Drop

All the kids enjoyed the Moto Park Cup and getting interviewed by Skip Pym.

Welcome to MXP’s Monday Gate Drop for this second last Monday of May. I hope everyone is having a great long weekend in Canada whatever you chose to do. I know obviously a lot of families went racing, but I’m sure some of you opted for a nice, quiet weekend doing something else.

If you are a racer and you live in Ontario, the famous Moto Park was the place to be for rounds one and two of the increasingly popular New Era Moto Park Cup. This event definitely keeps growing each year as racers seem to be gravitating to events where they can spend multiple days racing, camping and just generally having a good time. I think people also enjoy going to Moto Park because of the infrastructure and facilities that are in place, the Moto Park Café, camp sites with full hook ups, a race shop and of course real washrooms. So when you add all of this up it wasn’t a surprise to see over 1000 entries for the opening weekend of the Moto Park Cup.

Bobby Kiniry was looking fast and smooth at Moto Park this past weekend.

Of course when you have this many entries you’re bound to have some great racing and that’s exactly what we witnessed this past weekend. Whether it was on the mini track or on the main track, the conditions were great both days and the racing was intense. Moto Park proprietor and Rockstar Energy Drink OTSFF Yamaha Team Manager Iain Hayden brought Bobby Kiniry and Shawn Maffenbeier out to race and the fans loved it. Bobby Kiniry dominated the Pro Class but it wasn’t without some resistance from his teammate Maffenbeier, Liam O’Farrell and Zeb Dennis. All of these riders spent some time at the front of the pack but couldn’t hold off the hard charging Kiniry. If this weekend was any indication, Bobby K is refreshed and ready for the summer. After the racing yesterday I caught up with Bobby and asked him how he was feeling? He had this to say, “To be honest, I don’t think I’ve felt better, Obviously without racing Supercross this year I feel a lot fresher. That is such a tough series and staying healthy when you’re racing every weekend is impossible. So for the last few months all I’ve had to do was focus on the outdoors so I think I’ve prepared better than ever. I guess we’ll see in a few weeks!”

Shawn Maffenbeier told me that he loves his 2014 YZF250 and is ready to go after his first MX2 Championship. He also looked great on the weekend.

So that is a wrap on the first weekend of the 2014 Moto Park Cup Series. I know I speak for everyone in attendance when I pass along a big thank you to Iain Hayden, Mikey Walker and the entire Moto Park crew, including Michelle Sullivan who helped make the racing on the mini track run smooth all weekend. Also, thank you to head referee and the voice of reason Paul Kingsley for doing such a good job all weekend. Since Kingsley is the referee for the upcoming 2014 Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals, these past few weekends were kind of pre-season training and I can say that he’s in fine form. Also, big thanks to Skip Pym for coming out of semi-retirement to help Kingsley out in making sure everything ran smooth. Basically, thanks to everyone who helped make the weekend great and we’ll see you in a month.

With just over a week until the 2014 Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals kick off in beautiful Nanaimo, BC, all the pieces seem to be in place as far as the riders are concerned. The final piece fell into place on Friday afternoon as the Monster Energy Thor Kawasaki Team signed Jeremy Medaglia to help them secure a MX2 Championship this summer. Fresh off his departure from the Moto Concepts Team, Jeremy needed a ride and thankfully for him, the most successful team, currently in Canada, has taken a chance. Not that it’s a chance as far as results go as Jeremy now becomes an instant MX2 title favourite, but when any team brings in a high profile, strong personality such as Jeremy Medaglia, they run the risk of blowing up team chemistry and segregating things under the tent. If you’re Austin Politelli then you can’t be too happy that his team went out and signed Jeremy to race against him, but at the end of the day this is a business and the main goal for everyone is to win races. The way I see it is that this can go one of two ways. Either Jeremy and Austin will push each other to new heights and combined they win every MX2 moto this summer, or by Regina they’ll be sitting at separate ends of the truck throwing cans of Monster at each other and the teams Championship hope Chernobyl . Whatever happens, it’s going to make for a very interesting summer in Canadian motocross as the racing is going to be incredible.

After two days of racing and four moto wins I actually feel pretty good thanks to these fine products.

As I said earlier, I hope everyone had a great weekend. I know the Pomeroy family did. Of course, Moto Park wasn’t the only race this past weekend. There was a big event in Kelowna, BC and Canadian Moto Show front man Brent Worrall was there and filed this report that he prepared especially for MXP. I will leave you this week with Brent’s race report and special well wishes to two of Canada’s special Women racers. Both Maddison Alcock and Rachel Springman had rough weekends and we hope they heal up fast and can return to the track soon. Get Well girls!! Here is Brent’s Kelowna race report. I hope everyone has a great week.

Brent Worrall brings us the action from Kelowna this past weekend.

Round 5 of the Kawasaki BC Championship was held in Kelowna this weekend with great support in all classes. With only a couple short weeks until gate drop in Nanaimo for the Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals, a lot eyes and focus were on the newly added three moto formatted Pro Open. There were a total of 15 entries behind the gate when it would drop for the first of three motos. The first moto would go to a man that probably has as much seat time and experience as any who will contest this year’s first couple of rounds of the series come the 31st of May. Maple Ridge Motorsports’ Ryan Lockhart would score moto one in gate to wire fashion followed by another 450 Kawasaki rider named Todd Minnie who would grab 2nd. Todd is back on the scene after a lot of years away from racing and has made a concerted effort, and also persevered through some off track adversity, and currently has good speed and fitness. Tylar Craig, rocking a YZ-250 two-stroker, was a solid 3rd in the opening moto. The second moto would see Leading Edge Kawasaki rider Jess Pettis grab the holeshot and at moto’s end finish a solid 2nd to Lockhart, relegating Minnie to 3rd followed by Craig and Chase Vanburen. The final moto of the day in this class would see Minnie edge Lockhart out for the holeshot and set up an epic battle between the two that would last until the final lap. Lockhart tried to execute a block pass on Minnie on the inside of a left hand hairpin and almost had it stamped until he got a little loose allowing Todd to take the final moto win. Lockhart had a moment that went a little sideways shortly after his failed pass attempt, which saw him skirt off the left side of a jump face and narrowly escape some unscheduled rear wheel contact with a track marker. His efforts would allow him the overall and Minnie would earn a well-deserved 2nd overall. According to my math that gave Jess Pettis 3rd, Tylar Craig 4th, and Van Burnen 5th for the day.

The Super Mini class was won by Kelowna Yamaha’s Casey Keast who also won the 250 Junior overall and looked very good on his home circuit. He will be a contender at any of the Amateur Nationals he lines up at. The BC Legends class also saw two epic moto battles between Todd Minnie and Ryan Lockhart where the two traded moto wins; Minnie taking the latter giving him the overall win. The 250 Intermediate winner was Jonah Brittons on a KTM 250 two-stroke followed by a couple of solid motos by GA Checkpoint RMR Suspension rider Kyle Maskall. The Ladies class in BC the last few years has been dominated by Rachel Springman and she has been riding extremely well and looking forward to bettering her National #3. Unfortunately, Rachel was literally a corner away from victory in moto two and was slowing to avoid some slower riders in her path and was landed on and has a fractured radius which will see her require surgery. Super bummed for Rachel and as a race fan I can say it will not be the same come gate drop in Nanaimo not having her on the line. Get well soon Rach!

We in the west get to go at it one more time next weekend in Kamloops at Whispering Pines Raceway before the start of the Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals in Nanaimo. May 31st. See you all there!

Everyone loves getting their photo taken with Ryan Lockhart, the people’s champion!