“The greatest mistake you can make in life is to continually fear that you will make one.” – Elbert Hubbard. I believe this quote rings in pretty good for this weekend coming because I plan to make a ton of mistakes. Hahha Guess that means I’m not scared to roll with the #NFG approach. LOL. Round 12 of the Monster Energy Supercross season comes to our hood this weekend. The very best racers in the world come to play in our back yard. It really is the igniter to our Motocross season in Canada. The weather gets a little warmer, seeing racing this amazing gets our blood flowing to get out and moto as soon as possible, and lastly it sort of marks the end of winter. I suppose we could call this the Royal Distributing Holeshot of Canadian moto, it’s the start of our crazy race we’re all on the gate from now till the fall of 2013. It’s a special time of year for so many reasons. Hopefully I will see a ton of great people this weekend enjoying the sport that brings us all together.
So before get into my rants or recaps, I want to give away 6 sets of tickets to some lucky readers for this weekend’s Monster Energy Supercross in Toronto at the Rogers Centre. I am going to run 6 different contests that will run till Thursday of this week. The Winners will be announced in our “Mail It In Friday” blog and the names will be put on the Will Call list on Friday down at the media office at the Rogers Centre. Read below to find out for your chance to win.
Big thanks to THOR for presenting us with these tickets for the contests.
First Contest will be through this column and the only way to win is e-mail gauldy@mxpmag.com your full name, and the answers to these questions below for a chance to win a pair of tickets:
- What year was the very first Monster Energy Supercross in Toronto?
- Name the only Canadian rider that made the main event in 2008 in the Supercross class?
Our Second contest will run through our twitter page @mxpmagazine. You must tweet us the answer to these questions, plus tag that riders twitter address in the tweet. If you don’t know how to use twitter, figure it out for your chance to win. The answers must come via twitter and directed to us along with the answers twitter address placed in the tweet. You also must be following MXP on twitter to win. Here we go:
- Name the only Canadian rider to ever podium at the Canadian rounds of the World FIM rounds held in Toronto or Vancouver? (Hint: he placed 3rd on this night)
- Name two Canadians that will be racing at the 2013 Toronto Supercross?
The tweet should look something like: Hey @mxpmagazine. Answer to #MondayManaic11 question 1 is or question two is…..
The last of Contest will run through our Facebook page MXPMagazine Facebook the link to the contest is below. You must answer on that feed for your chance to win. Here’s the link:
* This contest has been won already. Thanks for playing along readers.
The first person with correct answers to any of these contests will win a pair of tickets to this weekend’s race in Toronto.
This past weekend the series stop in Indianapolis inside the Lucas Oil Stadium. It was a jammed packed house full of crazy race fans, and they were not let down at all. Quite a bit of drama went down from heat races and right into the main events. The biggest news from the weekend is Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki top gun Dean Wilson going down in his heat race likely taking him out of this title chase, and maybe the Motocross nationals this summer. He suffered a list of bad injuries so it will be tough to say if he can come back and race this year after this crash. The other bad news out of this whole deal is the old saying of “you’re only as good as your last race.” Dean’s last race in 2013 may be Daytona where he faded back to 4th at the checkers after battling for the lead. It’s way too early to speculate but that’s how this sport goes sometimes. The story of his recovery and what could be next for Dean could make for a very interesting summer for the friendly Scotsman/Canadian/American.
Poor Dean Wilson wasn’t able to rebound after this crash. Now we will wonder if he will be able to race at all in 2013. Photo by Matt Wellumson
How about our boy Cole Thompson? Once again he’s showing us speed that gets him to the podium, but can close the deal. He was in 3rd and closing on Peters for 2nd when he hit the dirt again during the main. It was almost a déjà vu of the opening round in the East when he did nearly the exact same thing. So speed doesn’t seem to be an issue for this young Canuck. But inconsistency is rearing its ugly head right now. Let’s hope the hometown crowd along with the close to home feeling of comfort will help put it all together for Cole and we see him hit the box this weekend in Toronto.
Cole Thompson was on the gas again this weekend and that break out finish is close. Maybe Toronto will be the spot?
Photo by Matt Wellumson
So many times in life you will ask yourself, “Can I have that moment back?” Well, I’m betting that sentence will go through Blake Wharton’s mind a millions times this week alone. I feel bad for the kid as he was in total control of the 250 class victory when on the last lap he threw it away. Embarrassing moments happen to the best of us and Blake proved that live on Speed this past Saturday night. Chin up Blake. But not even ten minutes later another Suzuki pilot by the name of James Stewart was in the lead and in control of the win, when he tipped over and stalled the bike. It was crazy to see, once again showing all of us that even the best make mistakes on the biggest stage. So it can happen to any of us. It’s how you rebound which makes you who you are. Keep an eye on both these guys this weekend in Toronto. I’m betting they both take the win in their respective classes.
Another Canuck coming home is Nicky Beatty. He’s yet to make a night show on this east coast swing of the series but the kid is super positive and gaining experience that you just can’t buy. Let’s hope all the cards fall for him this weekend so we beer guzzling Canadian moto addicts will have the #961 to cheer for when the night show begins. Let’s Go Nicky!!!
Nicky Beatty has embarked on a great journey so far in 2013. Let’s hope Toronto is the spot for him to show us skills in the night show.
Photo by Matt Wellumson
Ok, Transponders are taking over in Ontario no matter what series you race. Here is all the latest information to get yours in the coming weeks:
Last 4 Transponder Dates and locations to be prepared for the 2013 motocross season are closing quickly!
We will be at the Houston Avenue Bar and Grill on Saturday, March 23rd from 11:00am to 2:00pm. There will be Transponders pick up for anybody wanting to stop in, and bench race before the night race!
*Houstons Resturant*
33 Yonge Street, Toronto.
http://yongedowntown.houstonresto.com/
Make sure make *Houstons* the place to hit both Friday and Saturday as *Directmotocross.com *host the Supercross Pre and Post parties.
On Sunday March the 24th from 1:00-3:00pm we will be at *Royal
Distributing* in both Guelph and in Innisfill. Come out and see us at one of these locations to pick up your AMB Transponder .While you are there, look around and pick up some supplies for this coming race season. Check out Royal on line at http://www.royaldistributing.com
The last opportunity before the Gopher Dunes Open Practice is on March 30th at *Machine Racing* in Newmarket. We will be onsite from 11:00am to 2:00pm. Visit Machine Racing for what is sure to be a fun day of stories and fun.
*RIDERS MUST HAVE ACTIVATED TRANSPONDERS BEFORE THE FIRST EVENT.
That’s all I have for this week folks. Thanks for tuning in and get on those Toronto SX tickets for your chance to see a great event this weekend.