Greetings! Welcome to this late January edition of the Monday Gate Drop Column. Which is once again presented by the incredible folks at Yamaha Motor Canada. After a plethora of success last year, the Blu Cru is looking for more race wins and championships in 2026. With a star studded line-up, which includes Jess Pettis and Preston Kilroy, the MX101 Yamaha Team is certainly in a great spot to dominate in 2026.
Last week, I spoke about the fast pace and intensity that we’ve had the pleasure of witnessing at the front of the 450SX so far in the 2026 Monster Energy Supercross Series. During the opening two rounds, there have been multiple lead changes as the top riders try to gain the early upper hand. In Anaheim, and again in San Diego, Eli Tomac was able to outlast everyone and take the win in front of sold-out crowds. Heading into Round 3 in Anaheim, all eyes were on the 32-year-old KTM rider to see if he could make it three in a row in the highly competitive 450SX class. Although Tomac looked good during qualifying on the soft and rutted Anaheim 2 track, there did appear to be something amiss; putting together a really fast lap wasn’t coming as easily as it had in the opening two rounds. At first, it looked as though Tomac was struggling with his KTM, but as qualifying rolled on, it looked as though the soft and relatively tight track was giving him fits. Even as the gate dropped on the main event, Tomac was still really good, but perhaps just a tick off the pace that we saw in the first two races of 2026. It wasn’t all negative though, as Tomac still fought hard to grab the final spot of the 450SX podium and will continue to possess the red plates heading into Round 4 in Houston. Now, I’m not sure how comfortable Tomac felt on the track, or with his bike on Saturday evening; however, I think it should be pointed out that sometimes 32-year-old athletes just have off days. Meaning, for no particular reason, at that age, you can just wake up and have a day where you’re simply just not at your best. Now, any athlete or any one of us can feel the same way on any given day, or at any age, but it certainly happens more frequently as you get to the other side of 30. For an athlete like Eli Tomac, the trick is to first recognize that it’s one of those “not at your best” days and adapt and proceed accordingly. ET3 did exactly that at Anaheim 2, riding very methodically to finish up in third place.
It was also great to see Hunter Lawrence continue his solid riding in the 450SX main event. For the second week in a row, the older Lawrence Brother kept the leader close and gained some valuable points. After two rounds, Hunter sits just eight points behind Tomac, and five points ahead of third-place rider Chase Sexton. Speaking of Sexton, he once again showed us on Saturday evening just how good he can be on a dirt bike. Over the years, Sexton has done this on multiple brands, and it was good to see him finally give Kawasaki a much-deserved win at Anaheim 2. I think we can all agree that when Chase Sexton in on, very few riders can touch him on a race track. The problem for Chase is that he’s either on or off, and there has never really been any middle ground for him. Yes, he’s a former champion, so he does have that pedigree in him; it’s just those mental blips that have cost him in the past. Even at A2 during qualifying, when everything appeared to be going well, Chase had a big get-off in the whoop section. Now, he was okay, but at that point in the day when the track is getting beat up, and you’ve already put a good lap time in, there is little or no reason for Chase to be pushing that hard. Anyway, he got away with that crash and then found a way to ride really well in the main event. Below is a quote from Sexton taken from the official Monster Energy Kawasaki Team PR:
“I finally had a feeling on the bike that I’ve been looking for, really since I got on it, and I felt freed up to push the pace. Even from press day, I just felt normal again and I feel like I could ride how I wanted. Obviously, my speed was good, but I wanted to win so bad that I was over-riding it a bit. Honestly for the main event, I told myself I was going to go out there, ride a good pace, get to a flow and see what happens. I knew my speed was good enough to be able to ride not at 100% and still win, so it was good. It was a tricky track, and when I got out front I just logged my laps, read the pit board, and just rode her in to take the win. This win really means a lot both to me and the team, so it’s extra special to get it done for them.”
It was also good to see Cole Thompson back racing SX this past weekend. Cole was racing in the 450SX class in Anaheim, and ended up just missing the main event with a 5th-place finish in the LCQ. Cole rode well all day long, looking much more comfortable than he did two weeks ago at the Toronto AX. With no AX round scheduled for this coming weekend, Cole should be back on the 450SX gate in Houston, and then with the next AX event taking place in Prescott Valley, Arizona on the Friday night before Round 5 in Glendale, Cole will be racing that round of SX as well. The 450SX is still stacked with talent, but I can see Cole being a main event rider in the coming weeks. As far as our other talented Canadians were concerned in Anaheim. Preston Masciangleo holeshotted the 250SX West LCQ, but unfortunately slipped back to 5th, missing out on the main event. Blake Davies again rode well (16th in the LCQ) and continues to show solid speed on his AVL Husqvarna. Tyler Gibbs unfortunately, suffered a practice crash during the week, injuring his elbow to the point where he wasn’t able to race on Saturday. Tyler is going to take this coming weekend off, and then hopefully return strong in Glendale.
In other news, as Ryan Lockhart stated on Friday in the MXP weekly Matrix Concepts Canada 3 Q’s feature, the Rimbey AX is fast approaching, and the 2026 version should be better than ever. The pro class line-up hasn’t been announced, but I would expect to see riders like Julien Benek, Liam Dodds, Tyler Gibbs, as well as GDR Honda rider Dylan Rempel all lining up in Rimbey. In other news, Jess Pettis has been training hard in Quebec and expects to head down south in mid-February. Jess will first head to WW, located near Jacksonville, Fla, and then most likely GPF for the second half of his trip. Jess’s MX101 Yamaha Team owner Kevin Tyler flew to Las Vegas yesterday and will appear on the PulpMX Show tonight along with Austin Jones. After that, KT and Austin will head to California to conduct some testing with their motor guy Al Brown, and 250 class rider Preston Kilroy. The MX101 Yamaha Team will also be announcing a second 250 class rider in the coming weeks. Finally, as you read two weeks ago in Dylan Wright’s monthly column, he’s heading to Nevada soon to start his 2026 training at Chance Hymas’ track. After spending a month or so there, Dylan will travel down to Florida and finish up his training back at the Dog Pound near Dade City. With February right around the corner, I’m sure a lot of Canadian riders will be packing up and heading south to begin riding and get out of the cold and snow.
Well, that is it for me this week. I hope everyone has a great last few days of January. This has been a long and cold month right across the Country, and thankfully it will be over soon. For this final Monday of January 2026, my pick for the Motovan Canada Rider of the Week is Tanner Ward. For the past month, Tanner has been doing what I feel like all of our top pros should’ve been doing, and that is racing every weekend in the 2026 Florida Winter AM Series. As you would expect, Tanner has been dominating the 450 A class, and with one round remaining, he has all but clinched the 450 A Championship. Now, you may not think this is a big deal, but when you think of all of the quality training he’s been doing, all of the important gate drops he’s been getting in, as well as the testing he’s been able to do on his 2026 Priority MX Thor GASGAS MC450, this means a lot for his program. Hopefully, Tanner can have one more successful race this coming weekend at the Orlando MX track. Thank you for reading, and if you have any questions or comments, please email me at editor@mxpmag.com.
