Monday Gate Drop

As I write this I am on a flight home from Calgary after a great weekend at round three of the Monster Energy Motocross Nationals. I flew out a day early to hang out with my brother and if you follow me on Twitter (@palmsmx) you would have read that on Friday we went golfing. Well, in the four hours that it took to play 18 holes, the weather changed five times. I guess that is a normal occurrence this time of year in Alberta’s biggest city.

View of the Calgary skyline from the golf course on Friday.

The rate at which the weather was changing made me worried about what it was going to be for Sunday’s race at the Wild Rose Motocross Park. As it turned out, even after heavy rain on Friday and Saturday afternoon, the track was in the best shape it probably ever has been. The dirt was tiled very deep, saw dust was added to soak up and hold in the moisture, and the jumps were big but safe. When all was said and done, the racing on Sunday was amazing as Austin Politelli and Brett Metcalfe took the overall victories in the MX2 and MX1 classes. For the lucky fans that were in attendance in Calgary, they got to witness one of the best motos we’ve seen in a while. For this instalment of Gate Drop I’d like to recap the second moto of the MX1 class. Here is the anatomy of a great moto.

When the gate dropped for the second MX1 moto it was Cycle North Honda rider Ross Johnson with his second Royal Distributing Holeshot of the day. Ross’ lead however was very short lived as Bobby Kiniry made quick work of him and moved into the lead. Behind Kiniry, Tyler Medaglia went down and in the process collected first moto winner Brett Metcalfe. Although he didn’t go down, by the time Metcalfe got going he was well outside the top ten. With Kiniry out front, Jeremy Medaglia in second, Morgan Burger in third and Metcalfe eating roost in 13th, you just knew this had the makings of an awesome race.

Look at these ruts heading into the corner after the giant step up.

It took four laps before Metcalfe got some clear track and he instantly began dropping his lap times. First he did a few 2:07’s, and then once he got really warmed up he reduced his lap time to a staggering 2:06. All of this was on a track that was very rough, and full of deep ruts that went every which way. There were good lines out there, but you needed a map to find them.

At the halfway point, Kiniry was still leading, Jeremy Medaglia had slipped out and Maier and Metcalfe found their way past Burger, who was riding as good as we’ve seen him. Metcalfe then wasted no time in getting around his teammate Maier and quickly set his sets on Kiniry. It took only a few laps for Metcalfe to catch and pass Kiniry. Many (including myself) then thought that the battle would be over, but boy were we all wrong. You see, when Metcalfe got in front of Kiniry, he gave Kiniry a front row seat to the same good lines that he used to catch him just a few laps before, and Metcalfe’s lines were a thing of beauty.

This is the entrance into the corner where Metcalfe had his slick inside line.

On the Wild Rose track, Metcalfe had two really fast lines that he was using that Kiniry was not. The first one was right before the finish line tabletop. There was an inside hump that he was using to jump into a set of rollers. In the same section, Kiniry was going wide and missing the hump and then he would hit the rollers. It was slow and he was losing time. Metcalfe’s second fast line (and my favourite) was in the tight right corner right before the big dragon back, step off in the middle of the top section of the track. Although it took some work to fight through the massive breaking bumps, Metcalfe was hitting a slick inside rut that no one else was. It was fast, smooth and saved a lot of time. Metcalfe was also using the age old riding trick of braking before the large braking bumps, and then accelerating through them; he would even sometimes wheel tap the bumps. That’s how big some of these were. It was riding like this that made his past decade of international racing experience very evident.

That inside rut was the one Metcalfe used to make up time on the field. It was hard to get to but it worked so well.

So with five laps to go, Metcalfe led, a reenergized Bobby Kiniry was right behind him, but so was Teddy Maier who was shadowing the lead two hoping for a mistake. It was an awesome battle that brought the fans to their feet. On the deteriorating track at 3600 feet elevation, the top three were leaving everything out there.

To show how fit these guys are and how hard they were battling, on the second to last lap, both Kiniry and Maier posted their fastest lap time of the moto trying to find a way around Metcalfe. In the end Metcalfe held on for the moto win and the overall, Kiniry and Maier rounded out the top three, and Jeremy Medaglia worked his way back up to fourth after his fall. It was an amazing moto. On the podium after the race, all three riders were gassed. It was a fitting end to a great day of racing. I can’t wait until this airs on Sportsnet later this summer. I would suggest you check it out as well.

The boys were feeling the elevation and the tough track after moto two.

So that was the final MX1 moto from Calgary. On this day that we got to watch some great racing, we also celebrated one of the special days of the year, Father’s Day. Almost every rider out there owes their Dad a debt of gratitude for helping them at some point in their racing career. I know I do. As I leave you this week, I want to wish every Dad out there a Happy Father’s Day! You guys are the best and you deserve a big thank you from your children.