Monday Gate Drop

Good Morning and Happy Monday. I hope everyone had a great weekend right across this amazing country. With social media avenues like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, you get to see what everyone is doing on the weekends. From all of the photos I saw it certainly looked like a lot of people spent some time at a dirt bike track. I did as well but it wasn’t on a bike, it was sitting on a bulldozer redoing my tracks. I love when I get to have a dozer to play with but sitting on one for 16 hours is not the most fun that I’ve had. It all serves a purpose though, now the Pomeroy boys have some fresh tracks to ride to prepare for the Parts Canada TransCan in just over a month. Yes, I did just say that, it’s just over a month until Walton.

This event will be here before we know it!

Speaking of Social Media, it was cool to see photos this past week of Mike Alessi out riding some of the upcoming tracks that he’ll be seeing in the next few weeks. This past weekend, Mike was out at Walton Raceway putting in some laps and by all accounts he looked great. Even though Mike and his team have had their share of drama through the first four rounds of the series, the team’s attention to detail is pretty on point. They seem to be leaving no rock unturned on their quest for this MX1 Championship and it’s great to see the effort they’re putting in.

So the break in the 2014 Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals is almost over as in a few days the teams will be arriving at Gopher Dunes to begin three straight weekends of playing in the sand. As of now the weather forecast for Saturday looks great, sunny and warm but not crazy hot like last year. Gopher will no doubt be one of the toughest tests of the series for the riders as it kicks off the eastern rounds of the series. Heading into this weekend there are obviously a few questions surrounding both classes.

In the MX1 class I think the biggest question is, can Mike Alessi ride sand as well as he rides harder packed tracks? In Mike’s last few visits to Southwick he’s hovered just outside the top five so obviously he knows a little about riding in the sand, but as any American rider who has made the trek to Gopher in the last ten years will tell you, it’s a lot tougher than Southwick. All I know is that it will be fun watching him go for it on Saturday.

Not quite in this order, but these are your top three MX1 riders heading into Gopher Dunes.

Another question is, can Kyle Keast bring the Gopher fans to their feet once again in 2014. Over the years Gopher has been Kyle’s playground; although he hasn’t won, he’s come so close on so many occasions. Will this year be Kyle Keast’s year? So far from the races I’ve seen him do this year in Ontario I’d say no. However, this is Kyle Keast we’re talking about and at Gopher Dunes anything is possible. As with Alessi, watching Keast muscle his Yamaha through the sand on Saturday is going to be fun! As I sit here now I can picture a three-way battle between Alessi, Keast and Facciotti, for one moto at least.

In the MX2 class the biggest question is, will the sand produce the battles that we saw out west? Right now there are about five riders capable of winning motos at any given time. So far in every moto we’ve seen great battles as there hasn’t been any love lost between the top riders. If you remember last year at Gopher Dunes it was Topher Ingalls who grabbed the win. This year he’s on a two-stroke, which I think gives him a slight advantage. Dylan Wright rode well last year at Gopher, Jesse Wentland also had a great day, and current points leader Kaven Benoit has bravely traded his 250F in for a 250 two-stroke. With all of this action, the final six rounds are going to be very entertaining in this class. Here are the current points standings in both classes.

MX1:

1. Colton Facciotti 159
2. Mike Alessi 150
3. Tyler Medaglia 125
4. Teddy Maier 119
5. Josh Hill 116

MX2:

1. Kaven Benoit 130
2. Shawn Maffenbeier 121
3. Vince Friese 121
4. Austin Politelli 110
5. Jesse Wentland 110.

Also, if you’re headed to Gopher on Saturday don’t forget about the concert on Saturday night with USS as the headliner along with Hollerado and Poor Young Things, plus Round 2 of the 2014 Rockstar Energy Drink Ontario Provincial Series on Sunday. It’s going to be a great weekend at the Dunes! Finally, in case you missed it over the weekend, here is the opening round of the 2014 Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals from Nanaimo. Check out all the action from the Wastelands in these videos and then come and see it live this weekend. I hope everyone has a great week!