Greetings! Welcome to this week’s Monday Gate Drop Column which is once again presented by the awesome crew at Yamaha Motor Canada. I hope everyone had a great weekend as we appear to be in the dog days of winter right across the country. In Ontario, we are in the midst of a Polar Vortex right now and it is cold!!! In fact, it’s cold right now everywhere along the eastern seaboard and down into Florida. So, bundle up and do your best to get through it because the days are getting longer and spring is only a couple of months away.
Let’s begin with a few stories from Round 2 of the Monster Energy Supercross Series down in San Diego, CA. It was a clear but cool day in Southern California, and the evening temperatures dipped down into the single digits on the Celsius scale. This no doubt made it challenging for the riders to stay warm, especially on the starting line while waiting for the gate to drop. However, the cool temps didn’t stop the riders from turning up the heat once they got onto the track. In the 450SX main event, Eli Tomac and Jett Lawrence put on a show for the ages as they battled tooth and nail for the San Diego win. Even though Tomac and Jett didn’t go back and forth with passes, I still consider this main event to be one of best we’ve seen in a long time. I say this because the level of riding was so high between these two champions for 20 minutes, that it made it extremely entertaining to watch. With an age gap that spans more than a decade between these two riders, Tomac and Jett demonstrated that it doesn’t matter how old you are, it’s about determination and how good your race craft is on any particular night. Let’s take a moment and break down their incredible battle on Saturday night.
When Cooper Webb got out front early in the main event, I was pretty sure his time at the front was going to be short lived. I thought this because first, I didn’t think that San Diego, with it’s hard and slick dirt was Webb’s type of track. Secondly, the two 180 degree high speed bowl corners after the mechanics area weren’t Webb’s cup of tea, as in the past his skill set has usually favour slower rutted corners. Finally, Webb is a rider that loves to come from behind and shine in the late part of the race, when everyone else is getting a little tired. He does not seem like the type that likes to lead and set the pace early in a main event. Anyway, as Webb lead early, once Tomac started finding his flow and moving up after his somewhat mediocre start, I think everyone knew he was headed to the front. But, what did come as a surprise was how Jett was able to latch on to Tomac and pretty much ride in his wake as they made their way to the front. With Tomac and Jett now running one-two, at that point I was expecting Jett to turn up the heat the way he’s done in the past, and simply find his way around Tomac and ride off with the win. At that point in the race, Tomac was still stuck to the same lines that he had used to make his way to the front a few laps earlier. And while most lines were still working well, one in particular wasn’t and that was through the sand section. Tomac was going outside in the sand section early in the race, and he used that line to pass, or gain time on multiple riders. However, as the riders approached the five minute mark of the main event, Tomac was still going outside but, it was becoming the slower of the two lines with each passing lap. Jett appeared to be sensing this and you could see him getting ready (in my opinion), to set Tomac up and go for the pass by using the inside line in the sand section. However, just as this was beginning to unfold, a lapper (I believe it was Kevin Morenz), forced Tomac to change up his line and he had to go inside in the sand section. Once Tomac did that he realized that the inside had become the far superior line and he took it for the remainder of the main event. If Jett had any chance of making a pass, I believe that was it and from there he had nothing for Tomac. For the final ten minutes, Tomac didn’t put one wheel wrong, nor did Jett. The two riders raced at their absolute limit while waiting for the other to make a mistake. No mistakes would come from either rider and that is why I think this was such a great race. To be able to watch two of the best, race at that level, was truly inspiring. If Anaheim 2 remains dry (forecast is calling for a chance of rain), it’s going to be interesting to watch these two riders again. Tomac has to be feeling confident after two great races; one where he beat Jett straight up, and Jett has to be feeling better about his riding and his bike set up. Throw in Chase Sexton, who went down on the opening lap, and then charged hard to finish 6th, and Round 3 is looking pretty exciting right now.
Our Canadian riders had mixed results at Round 2, as some fared okay, and some had their day end early. I’ll begin with the good news as young Blake Davies not only made the night show but, he also finished 14th in the LCQ. What a difference a week made for Blake, just as many of us predicted, he was much better and much more comfortable on Saturday. Congratulations to Blake, his team, and his family on a memorable Saturday in San Diego. Now, the goal is once again to try and be just a little better this weekend in Anaheim. That task was an easy one going into Round 2, but moving forward it gets a little more challenging. Cole Thompson had another solid evening in the 250SX West class as he finish up in 12th. However, I don’t think he was happy with going backwards in the main event after a pretty good start. But, the riders who did pass him are very good so hopefully Cole isn’t too disappointed. Preston Masciangelo had a solid night going until a hard crash in the LCQ caused him to DNF and take a trip to the Alpinestars Medial Unit. I’m not sure why this keeps happening to Preston, but, trying to remain healthy seems to be his biggest challenge. He is fast, he works hard, but he keeps having these types of setbacks. Hopefully, he’s not too banged up and will be 100% for Anaheim 2. Noah Viney had an unfortunate crash in practice when he came up short on the massive quad. He announced in a Social Media post that he dislocated his shoulder in that crash, so we’ll have to see how he is, moving forward. Noah qualified for the main event last weekend in Anaheim and was looking to do the same in San Diego before his crash. That quad looked massive on television, and it must have been hard to get over consistently on a 250. Guillaume St-Cyr tried to ride practice but was unable to continue due to the soreness he was feeling from his crash last weekend. A Canadian won the prestigious KJSC race. Sawyer Saunders not only won the three lap KTM JR SX main event, but he dominated it with an eight second lead and had the fastest lap time that was two seconds better than anyone else. Congratulations to young Sawyer and his family on this incredible result! So, as I said, a mixed bag for our Canadian riders, but there is always next weekend!
In other Canadian news, over the weekend it was announced that Ryder McNabb will be racing next month at the Rimbey Alberta AX. This event has been steadily growing since it’s inception a few years ago, and now with its growing purse more and more pro riders are wanting to go. It’s been several years since Ryder has competed in an AX so it’s going to be good to see him racing in Rimbey. Hopefully he’s ready for the high level of aggression that Tyler Gibbs and the boys will be bringing to the tight confines of the Rimbey Arena.
Well, that is it for me this week. As I mentioned at the beginning of this column, please remain warm and safe during this miserable cold snap. Finally, my pick for Rider of the Week is Blake Davies. After a decent opening round in Anaheim, Blake rebounded in San Diego, qualified for the night show, and then finished up with a solid 14th in the LCQ. Thank you for reading and if you have any questions or comments, please email me at editor@mxpmag.com.
