Greetings! Even though March 17th was yesterday, I want to take a moment and wish everyone a Happy St Patrick’s Day! Whether you’re Irish or not, this day has taken on a life of its own and it seems like everyone becomes Irish for the day just to celebrate it. I have several good Irish friends, so I hope they all had a good time yesterday celebrating this glorious day.
This past weekend the 2024 Monster Energy Supercross Series made its way to the mid-west and the beautiful Lucas Oil Stadium. This race has turned into one of the biggest of the series, and on Saturday evening the stadium was sold out. Indianapolis is a great location as it’s not far from a good Supercross population base in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, and Missouri, but the downtown area of Indy is a great area to spend the weekend. It’s safe, there are a ton of hotels and restaurants, and Lucas Oil Stadium is a short walk from pretty much everywhere. The only item that needs improvement is the dirt they use to build the track, as every year, regardless of the type of winter the Indy area has had, the track is very soft. I was hoping that due to the milder than normal temps the past few months, that the dirt might actually be dryer and firmer than in years past. However, that was not the case as the dirt was as soft and rutted as it always is. This race was also a Triple Crown event, and looking back now, I’m not sure if this was the best venue to do it in. The track crew did do their absolute best to make the track raceable prior to the start of each main event, but some sections (like the whoops) didn’t get touched at all. For the fans, the ruts and soft conditions take away from some of the action that we see each week in the series, and for the riders, the races end up being more about survival than trying to do well. Also, overall I like the Triple Crown format as it provides us with three exciting main events to watch. But, I feel like the series should go back to just having one per season, and have it be something special. The riders don’t like the Triple Crown formatted events, after this past weekend, they dislike them even more. The final Triple Crown race is coming up in a few weeks in St Louis, and thankfully it’s the race that historically has had the best dirt of the series.
As I mentioned, as a fan I do like the Triple Crown format as it gives us more opportunity to see the top riders on the track. On Saturday evening, Jett Lawrence once again put on a riding clinic for the ages. Like we witnessed two weeks ago in Daytona, Jett appears to excel when the conditions are extremely challenging. In fact, the worse the track gets, the better he is, and the more he’s able to separate himself from the rest of the field. Yes, Roczen and Sexton kept him close on Saturday evening, and to their credit, they were riding exceptional as well. But, it’s just some of the little things that Jett does that makes him so good. Jumping into the whoops, especially in the final main event was one of Jett’s memorable lines without a doubt. You know a section is tough when some of the top riders either struggle with it, or don’t bother trying it at all. In the third main event, Jett started jumping into the whoops on the left hand side, and even when he took the lead and allowed Roczen and Sexton to see what he was doing, they still didn’t try it. Jett has now won three races in a row, and in the process he has certainly solidified himself as the rider to beat in 2024. Roczen has been good, Sexton appears to be getting his KTM sorted out, so I can see him winning a main event soon, Webb has been fast, but inconsistent, and Eli Tomac appears to have had enough of riding out of his comfort zone to try and win races. I say that with all due respect as Tomac has been there and done it all. He has nothing left to prove in my opinion, as returning from the serious injury he suffered last year could be his final triumph. Next up is the Seattle SX where you guessed it, rain and cool temperatures are in the forecast so we may be looking at another wet and muddy SX race. I know, what a shocker for mid-March in the Pacific Northwest.
Well, our whirlwind trip to Florida is officially over as we’re now back home in chilly Southern Ontario. We had a great two week trip that was filled with riding, training, pickle ball, as well as attending the iconic Daytona SX. Obviously, the Daytona SX was a highlight for me as it had been 26 years since I competed there. But, honestly it was the time I spent at various tracks watching my son ride that was my favourite. We spent two days at Waldo MX Park, one day at both Croom and Bostwick Creek MX, and then we finished up with two days at the GPF Practice Facility in Georgia. All of these tracks (with exception of Croom) looked fun to ride and my son had a blast. However, his favourite to ride, and my favourite to spend time at was by far GPF, located just outside Cairo, GA. This facility is owned by former Canadian Champion and Michigan native, Josh Woods and his family. And although it share a fence line with MTF, the two properties and main tracks couldn’t be more different. MTF looks like a barren landscape without a tree or elevation change in sight. While GPF, with its rolling landscape and numerous pine trees, looks more like a KOA Campground than a motocross track. Whether you’re on the track or hanging out in the paddock, GPF is just a nice place to be. I don’t even like camping, but GPF felt like a place that I might even travel to one day just to hang out, bikes or no bikes. All the beauty aside, GPF is also a place where work gets done, and over the years it has been the training grounds for a multitude of Canadian Champions. JSR trained there years ago on route to his five 450 titles, Colton Facciotti made GPF his track of choice while he won all of his 450 Championships, Tyler Medaglia has spent time there, Dylan Wright, Jess Pettis, Ryder McNabb, the list of Canadian Champions goes on. Over the past two decades GPF has been connected to 18 Canadian Titles, certainly more than any other facility in the USA. So if you’re looking for a great track and a great facility to spend a day, a week, or even longer, next winter I highly recommend GPF.
As expected, we ran into several Canadian’s while at GPF, including the Wallis family, the Watson’s, and Adam’s, Tanner Scott, Tanner Ward, as well as the entire KTM Canada Factory Team. While the amateur riders were busy shaking off the rust of a long winter, the Canadian pro riders and teams were busy training and testing for the upcoming Triple Crown Series. It was great to see several of our top riders, including Ward, Pettis, Benoit, and Natzke putting in some fast laps on the very challenging GPF track. There is a lot of work to be done in the coming weeks and months, so it was great to see these guys hard at work. It also presented a great opportunity for our amateur riders, including my son, to witness in person just how hard our pro riders are working during this stage of the season. Multiple motos and test sessions were followed by long bicycle rides and gym sessions. My son was working out in the gym, and in walked Jess Pettis. The two had a good workout, as well as some good bench racing chatter. Jess even shared some of his work out tips, so my son thought that was very cool. Our top pro riders are a dedicated group that put in a lot of work away from the track. Another example that I thought was cool was hearing Tanner Ward turn down an opportunity to go into town and hang out with everyone at the famous pizza restaurant in Cairo. Tanner declined the invite because he knew if he went then he’d end up eating pizza for dinner, instead of his usual healthy option. It was a great few days, and honestly, it was sad to leave and head back to Ontario. Although, we did head to Gopher Dunes on Saturday to ride, and the track conditions there were perfect. Yes, our 2024 riding season is officially underway. For me, it’s my 46th season of riding and as always this time of the year is an exciting one.
That is it for me this week. I hope everyone has a great week, and a safe time riding. In a few other news items, Sebastien Racine won the 250 Pro Sport class at the LLQ at Budds Creek on the weekend. Tyler Gibbs had a tough time in Indy, and did not qualify for the LCQ to even get into the night show. Young Jack Robidoux from Quebec rode great in the Indianapolis KJSC race and finished up in 7th overall. As I mentioned above, the Monster Energy Supercross Series heads to Seattle this weekend for what is looking like a wet and cold weekend. Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please email me at editor@mxpmag.com.
