MXP: Hey Newf, we hope you had a good weekend off. What are your plans for this coming weekend?
RL: Yes was a great weekend at home with the family that’s for sure. I’m headed to Gopher Dunes this weekend as this one is always a busy weekend for the GDR team. With it being the home race there are always a lot of sponsors and family kicking around. Derek Schuster is also the promoter of the event so his hands are kind of tied up with track stuff so it works out well for Colton and me to step in on the team side of things. Dylan will be fine but we need to start chipping away at these 20 points in the 250 class starting now.
MXP: You watch Round 4 on the RydeTV app. What were your thoughts on the final 250 moto and the battle between Harrison, Piccolo, and McNabb?
RL: As a fan of the sport that was a world-class battle. The only thing that would have made it better was if Natzke was in it. I was overly impressed with Harrison’s experience and how he managed the moto with his line choice and how the pressure didn’t bother him. He only turned the 4th fastest lap time of the moto and still hung on for the win with all that pressure. It was great to see the fight McNabb had in him after going back and forth with Piccolo a bunch of times and he was trying everything to get by Harrison but just couldn’t make anything work. Unfortunately, he ended up making a mistake and going down. I feel like if Ryder could’ve got into the lead he would have pulled away as he was the fastest of the three. Piccolo just kind of chilled back there and put pressure on when he felt he could, but at the same time didn’t push the issue which I thought he would after the issues in moto 2. It was really fun to watch.
MXP: Looking ahead to Sunday and what is going to be a warm and challenging day of racing at Gopher Dunes. Are we going to see some more battles in the 250 class and which riders are going to be good in the sand?
RL: You’re right it looks like it’s going to be a hot one and I’m sure the track will be tough like always. Maybe not as tough as last year as that was just crazy, but either way, the boys will have to dig deep. I really think the battle with McNabb, Piccolo, Natzke, and Harrison will continue the rest of the season and we have to throw Cannella in there this weekend as well as he’s really good at Gopher. Natzke and Cannella are now playing the role of point stealer to the other three so this is going to get real interesting. Quinn Amyotte is really good in the sand as well. My top 3 for the weekend are McNabb, Harrison, and Piccolo. So let’s see what happens.