Greetings, and welcome to another edition of the Yamaha Motor Canada Monday Gate Drop Column. I hope everyone had a great final weekend of January. In five days we welcome in February, which thankfully is the shortest month of the year, After that we’re into March, and hopefully spring. Winter isn’t over just yet but, the days are getting longer and soon the weather will be improving.
This past weekend the 2025 Monster Energy Supercross Series made its way back to Angel Stadium in Anaheim for Round 3. Through the opening two rounds we’ve witnessed different winners in both 250SX West class, as well as the 450SX class. For fans, it has been a dream start to the series, and heading into Anaheim 2, there was no reason to think that it wasn’t going to be another exciting round of Supercross. With a record number of fans and viewership on the SX Live Streaming site so far in 2025, the series has gotten off to a solid start. Even Mother Nature couldn’t put a damper on Saturday night as only a limited amount of rain fell during the 250SX West main event. The track got a little slippery, but by the time the gate dropped for the 450SX main event most the traction was back.
Our Canadian contingent of riders had yet another strong showing in Anaheim with one rider qualifying for the main event, and the remaining four doing the absolute best they could. Preston Masciangelo had the stand out ride on Saturday and he holeshotted the LCQ, and eventually finished up in third. That gave Preston a spot in the 250SX West main event, his first-ever SX main event BTW. This was a massive improvement for Preston from the opening two rounds, when he failed to qualify at A1, and then crashed out of the LCQ last week in San Diego. Preston has always had the speed and fitness to do what he did on Saturday evening, but in recent years he’s always been battling back from injuries. Hopefully, this is a sign of things to come for Preston as he has one more chance this coming weekend in Glendale to not only qualify for the main event again, but also improve on his 21st place overall finish. Blake Davies had another great qualifying session, and ended up finishing 10th in the LCQ. This was an improvement from Round 2, and right now that is exactly what Blake should be focusing on. His Triumph teammate Julien Benek made his 2025 SX debut this weekend, and he rode strong to finish one spot in front of Davies in the 250SX West LCQ. Benek has a lot of speed and fitness and is capable of qualifying for the main event and finishing well. He’s been off with injuries since November so, he just needs gate drops to get back into the swing of things. Unfortunately, Cole Thompson, who so far has been riding great in 2025, came into A2 very sick and was unable to ride to his full potential. Cole gave it everything he had throughout the day and evening, but once the gate dropped on the LCQ, he had little strength and energy left. He did finish the 250SX West LCQ so he was able to earn a little money, but he was well back. I spoke to Cole late last night, and he said that he should be feeling better in a few days. Finally, Guillaume St-Cyr tried to ride again on Saturday, but he’s still feeling the effects of his Anaheim 1 crash, and wasn’t able to advance to the night show. As I mentioned, overall it was a good night for our Canadian riders, but this coming weekend in Glendale, with its Triple Crown format, is going to be the most challenging round thus far.
It was good to see Jett Lawrence get back on track with a win at Round 3. Jett looked comfortable all day long, and in the 450SX main event he was able to start inside the top three, and then go to work from there. Jett made quick work of Justin Cooper to get into second, and then after following Jason Anderson for several laps, he made his past and never looked back. Eli Tomac, didn’t do himself any favours as he got off to a horrible start in the main event, and could only charge back to 7th overall. I think Tomac would’ve got into the top five however, he got stuck behind his teammate Cooper Webb for a long time. Still, it was solid finish for Tomac, and after three rounds he sits tied for third overall in the 450SX points standings. Chase Sexton, who has also been very fast so far in 2025, came into Round 3 not feeling well, so he could only find the energy to finish fourth overall. There has been a lot of sickness going around the paddock in these opening weeks of SX as the riders just seem to be passing it around. Hopefully, whatever virus has been going around has made its way through everyone and the riders affected by it can get healthy again. Anyway, after three rounds Ken Roczen is your 450SX points leader as he finished on the podium twice, and just off of it once. Ken’s consistency has given him a three point lead over Sexton, Lawrence and Tomac (Tomac and Lawrence are tied). This close racing is exactly what we want, and with this coming weekend being a Triple Crown format event, it feels like things are going to get even more exciting. If you’re Roczen, you have to feel really good about your start to the series. Even though he hasn’t been the fastest rider at any of the opening three rounds, he’s obviously been the most consistent. For Sexton, he’s been one of, if not, the fastest rider so far, he just needs a little more luck, and obviously to feel better. For Tomac, he has to be disappointed with his finish at Anaheim 2. But, that is what happens when you can’t get off the gate well in the main event. Tomac has looked great so far in 2025, and we all know that he loves races that feature the Triple Crown format, so he should be really good this weekend in Glendale. Finally, Jett Lawrence is the rider to watch right now. The HRC Honda Team appear to be quickly figuring out his 2025 CRF450R, and Jett appears to be getting more confident by the lap. These next three races (Glendale, Tampa, Detroit) are very important for all of the riders I just mentioned. If Jett goes on a run here in the next few weeks, it’s going to be very challenging for the others to reel him back in.
In the 250SX West class, it was Haiden Deegan who took a dominating win and his first of 2025. Will this be the start of Deegan winning multiple rounds? Well, only time will tell. I honestly don’t like Deegan’s chances of winning the overall this coming weekend in Glendale. The three main events are shorter than normal, and other than this weekend in Anaheim, his starts haven’t been great. Round 4 is an important one for riders like Julien Beaumer, Jordon Smith, and even Jo Shimoda. They cannot let Deegan win this weekend and gain the confidence of knowing that he’s the best 250SX West rider as the series heads into a long break. I mean, I’m sure that Deegan thinks he’s the best rider already, but thinking and really knowing it are two different things. Honestly, other than watching and cheering for our Canadian riders, and the riding of Julien Beaumer, the 250SX West Series hasn’t been that exciting. At this point, I’m excited for the 250SX East Series to begin in Tampa on February 8th, as it seems like a stacked 250SX class for 2025.
In other news, Trystan Hart won the Monster Energy “King of the Motos” event this past weekend for the third time. Trystan has been getting better and better each year and 2025 could be his best season yet. AMO Racing has confirmed that they’ve add Moto Park to their 2025 race schedule. MP used to be part of the AMO schedule but, for the past few season they’ve opted out of holding AMO events. The first Moto Park race is schedule for the June 14/15 weekend. Also, Future West Moto announced their 2025 race schedule, it will kick-off in April at the track in Kelowna, BC. Dylan Wright is heading to Florida this week to begin his 2025 Triple Crown Series preparation. We are approaching the time of year that a lot of our top pro riders begin to head south, so look for more to follow soon. Dylan will spend a few weeks getting back into riding shape before returning home for the Toronto and Montreal Motorcycles Show in late February. In the past, I’ve always found that January is a slow month in our industry, but once February hits everyone begins to get excited for the upcoming riding season.
Well, that is it for me this week. I hope everyone enjoys the final few days of January. So far, we’ve certainly been experiencing a ‘normal’ winter in most parts of Canada. Here in Ontario, there is plenty of snow, and still more to come in the near future. I’m not a winter person, but it’s great to see people out snowmobiling and enjoying all that winter has to offer. In closing, my pick for Rider of the Week is Preston Masciangelo, who qualified for this first-ever Monster Energy Supercross Series main event on Saturday evening in Anaheim. Congratulations Preston and keep up the great riding. Thank you for reading and if you have any questions or comments please email me at editor@mxpmag.com.
