Motocross Performance Magazine Canadian Motocross news leader
Greetings MXP readers! I got to spend this past weekend at the hallowed grounds of the Daytona International Speedway for the AMA Pro Supercross on Saturday and the Ricky Carmichael Amateur Supercross on Sunday and Monday. Saturday night offered some spectacular racing with the MX and SX hybrid-type conditions. It really challenges the racers when it gets super rough, and those riders who shine outdoors usually rise above the rest. Daytona is really cool because it is the only Supercross race that you can actually watch trackside. This really brings it into perspective for the fans as you can see how incredibly huge the jumps and whoops are. Also, the speed these riders go past is unbelievable. The whoops by the infield were really aggressive and you could see that mostly every rider would check up before them except Weston Peick. He was the fastest of everyone through those. He would hold the gas on right from the landing of the triple all the way through the whoops…incredible!
As usual the 2015 Daytona SX track was rough and technical.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to race the Amateur Supercross myself, but I was there to watch my friends and keep tabs on our Canadian riders who were racing. This is a truly special event. I think everyone there would agree you could feel there was a certain vibe at this race, with the Pros racing the same track just the night before, to having the massive grandstands as your backdrop, pitting out of the NASCAR garages, and Ricky himself walking around the track. This race has definitely evolved into one of the premier Amateur Nationals to be at; all of the heavy hitters were there. The track had some very challenging sections including the rhythm sections and the whoops to dragon back section that unfortunately took down a lot of riders. The track crew was top notch and made changes; they even took out the dragon back. Although the competition was super stiff, all of our Canadians made it into main events.
Marco Canella had a very strong showing in the Schoolboy classes. It was very impressive to see he can run with the best American amateurs. Marco finished 6th in the Schoolboy 1 (12-16) main event and 11th in the Schoolboy 2 (13-16) Main event.
Marco hits one of the rutted wall jumps that have become a staple here at Daytona.
I saw Jeremy McKie preparing at Thundercross a couple weeks ago. He rode well making it into the 85 9-11 main event finishing 20th there amongst the other fast young guns.
Jeremy McKie had a great time in Daytona and looked great in his bright Seven Gear.
Austin Waitling has been riding down here in Florida at Bostwick MX putting in time for this event. He was also able to put himself into the main event with the other fast Schoolboy rippers.
He placed 20th in the Schoolboy 1 (12-16) main event.
Austin Waitling made the trip down to Florida from Ontario and looked great on his new Yamaha.
Yamaha’s Dylan Wright has been down here in Florida also riding and training for the upcoming Pro National season. He raced the Ricky Carmichael Amateur Supercross in the 250 A/Pro Sport and the 450 A/Pro Sport class.
The A classes at Daytona were deep with extremely fast riders preparing for their Pro careers here in the States. Dylan Placed 13th in the 450 A/Pro Sport main event and 17th in the 250 A/Pro Sport Main event. Daytona proved once again how important a good start is.
It was great to see Dylan Wright back on the race track.
Here Dylan and his MX101 Yamaha teammate Jesse Wentland battle on the rough Daytona track.
Tanner Ward got to race his fresh KTM Canada ride in his first major race of the season. Tanner was up against the always fast Super Mini riders and the bigger bikes in the Schoolboy class. He was on his new SX105, which was all stock and had some fuel issues due to pump gas that held him back in qualifying for Schoolboy. Tanner was running about sixth in the Super Mini main event with a decent start then got bumped around on the last lap but still managed 8th in the main event. He is capable of keeping the pace with the front runners but top 10 is awesome nonetheless.
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