Greetings! I hope everyone had a great weekend and I hope that November is treating you well so far. The weather in Southern Ontario has been decent during the past few weeks so, this weekend we were able to put in some laps on our home track. So, between track time and time spent in a hockey arena, my weekend was full of watching my son participate in the sports he loves. And speaking of my son, this weekend he was happy to get his 2025 racing plans finalized by signing a deal with the new Guaranteed Comfort Hanover Motorsports Honda Racing Team. After a great 2024 season riding Kawasaki’s and receiving some solid support from the WLTN Kawasaki Team, we got a call from this new Honda Team in September and the rest as they say, is history. Ayrton will be racing in the Intermediate class in 2025, and his teammates will be Zach Ufimzeff and Tyler Shewchyk racing in the 250 and 450 pro classes. It should be a great season ahead and Ayrton is very much looking forward to riding red in 2025.
Speaking of Honda and its team of red riders. Cole Thompson was racing this past weekend in Australia at Round 4 of the Australian SX Championships. Cole came into Round 4 sitting second in the SX2 points standings behind his teammate Shane McElrath, and he needed a win in order to remain in the title fight. Unfortunately, Cole would have one poor main event this weekend and that not only cost him the win, but also pushed him back to third in the series points. With one more round to go in two weeks Cole needs a big win at the final race in Melbourne. However, before that race takes place, Cole and his fellow WSX riders will be in Perth this coming weekend for the second round of the 2025 WSX Championships. Cole had a great opening round in Vancouver a few weeks ago, so we expect him to be in the hunt for the win this weekend. This weekend we will also see top riders like Eli Tomac and Ken Roczen make the long trek to Perth, in what should be a great race on the West Coast of Australia. This has been an entertaining off-season of racing. So far we’ve seen great racing in Vancouver, this past weekend in Paris, and I’m sure Perth, Melbourne, and Abu Dhabi will also be fun to watch. Let’s not forget that the Lawrence Brother’s will be making this first trip back to Australia to compete in the Melbourne SX since becoming superstars in the USA. It’s amazing to see a few of the sports top riders packing their gear bags and racing some of these big off-season events. Anyway, good luck to Cole Thompson this weekend, and also in his remaining events this year.
There will also be racing in Canada this coming weekend as the opening rounds of the 2024 AMO AX Series kicks off in Chilliwack, BC. This long running and exciting indoor series should be an entertaining one this year as I know they’re expecting a solid pro turn out. Names like Davies, Amyotte, and Gibbs, will be on the starting line ready to battle inside the most famous arena in Canada. As always, the amateur classes will also be busy as riders from BC and Alberta have for years, embraced this awesome indoor series. With back-to-back weekends, this four round series will be one to watch, and a great way to close out what has been an incredible 2024 racing season in Canada. The racing kicks off this Friday in Chilliwack so, keep an eye on this web site as well as our Social Media platforms for all the updates.
Last week, I was one lucky guy as I was invited down to Georgia to test ride the all new Triumph TF 450-RC Edition. I flew to Atlanta on Wednesday afternoon and then was picked up and driven to the new Triumph Racing Training Facility, located about 20 minutes from the small town of Forsyth, GA. It’s been a big year for Triumph as in just ten months they’ve released their new TF-250-X, got on the podium at one of the rounds of the Monster Energy Supercross Series, signed Austin Forkner and Jordon Smith for 2025, and then last week unveiled their all-new TF 450-RC Edition. On Wednesday evening, we received the full presentation on this new bike from Ricky Carmichael himself, as well as from a couple of the Triumph technicians. With this new 450 being the RC Edition, Ricky is obviously extremely proud of it, and you could hear the excitement in his voice as he spoke about the development and testing process. After the presentation, it was time for dinner, and then it was time for some sleep. Unfortunately, when we woke up on Thursday the rain was coming down hard and the two outdoor tracks were a muddy mess. We were supposed to be riding by 9am, but with the rain still falling we weren’t able to hit the track until 11am. The new Triumph Training Facility used to be Matt Walker’s Moto X Training Compound so thankfully Matt is still around maintaining the outdoor tracks, as well as the two SX tracks. Once the rain stopped, Matt hopped on his equipment and within an hour, one of the tracks was not only rideable, but quite decent. Our first riding session lasted 90 minutes, then we had some lunch before riding again all afternoon. The conditions did gradually improve as the day went on, but without any sunshine the track never dried out all the way. The red clay that Georgia is famous for sure is tough to navigate when its muddy, so riding was challenging all day long. However, we had a great day riding the new TF 450-RC Edition, and the Triumph crew was incredible to work with. I did feel bad though for the poor mechanics who had the task of washing the bikes and getting them ready for the final media group that was slated to ride on Friday. This new Triumph 450 is fun to ride, and like the new TF 250-X, it handles great and is easy to go fast on. Look for the complete story on the new 450 tomorrow right here on mxpmag.com.
In some Canadian Triumph news, two weeks ago the Sky Racing Team announced that their two talented riders, Julien Benek and Blake Davies, have switched from Husqvarna to Triumph for the 2025 season. Both riders had been training with the US Factory Team in Georgia for the past week, but unfortunately, Benek had a big crash at the start of last week and broke his wrist in three spots and bruised one of his lungs. This is devastating for Benek as he was training hard and riding very well in recent months. His future plans included racing the AMO AX Series, as well as the 250SX West Series in the 2025 Monster Energy Supercross Series. Hopefully, he can heal up as fast as possible and return to riding early in the new year. As for Blake, he is having a blast riding at the Triumph test track and is planning on returning to BC this week to get ready for Chilliwack.
Well, that is it for me this week. I hope everyone has a great week as we inch closer and closer to December. Finally, I want to send my congratulations to KTM rider Trystan Hart as he clinched yet another AMA Endurocross Championship this past weekend. Hart has been on quite a run in recent years, and he just keeps getting better and better. Thank you for reading and if you have any questions or comments please email me at editor@mxpmag.com.
