Greetings, and welcome to this Family Day edition of the Monday Gate Drop Column, once again presented by Yamaha Motor Canada. Family Day is one of the newest holiday’s brought forward in Canada, and while the origins behind it are somewhat of a mystery, it’s still nice for most people to have an extra day off during the second half of February. Hopefully, this day will mark the time on the calendar when winter decides to start its retreat and milder weather is headed our way. At least here in Ontario, we are experiencing more of an old fashioned winter this year as it just doesn’t want to stop snowing. Even as I sit here on a Monday morning, it’s still snowing!!
Anyway, out in Alberta, where they’re also experiencing a colder than normal winter, the final two rounds of the Rimbey AX took place. Heading into the final weekend of racing Blake Davies was the points leader and the rider to beat in the Pro Class. With fast pro riders like Tyler Gibbs, Tiger Wood, Quinn Amyotte, and his Triumph teammate Julien Benek chasing him, bringing home the 2025 Rimbey AX Championship wasn’t going to be easy. However, despite not winning either night in Rimbey this past weekend, Blake was still able to remain the champion and bring home Triumph’s first-ever Pro Class title, not just in Canada, but in the World. Behind Davies in the final points standings was Tyler Gibbs, who was fast this weekend, but just a little off of the leaders pace on both nights of racing. In third place overall was the young speedster Tiger Wood, who was a last minute Honda mounted replacement after Ryder McNabb pulled out of the event. Tiger proved to be a fast learner, before coming into Rimbey, his AX experience was minimal. I like Tiger Wood both as a rider, as well as a person. He’s fast and hard working on the bike, but also humble and polite off of the bike. I’m not sure what his plans are for the remainder of the year, but I’m assuming he’s racing a few of the upcoming SX events that take place on the Eastern side of the USA. After that, I hope Tiger can find a way to make it back to Canada to race at least a few rounds of the 2025 Triple Crown Series. Anyway, congratulations to Blake Davies on winning the 2025 Rimbey AX title, and also to the organizers who once again worked hard to make this event a successful one.
From cold Alberta to a cold and snowy Motor City and Round 6 of the 2025 Monster Energy Supercross Series. I’m not sure how, but over the past several years the Detroit SX has become one of the best attended races on the Monster Energy Supercross Series schedule. I mean, I’m sure this race gets a solid influx of Canadian fans who make the relatively short trek across the border to Ford Field. How many Canadians actually travel to Detroit? I have no idea, but other than Seattle this is the closet race for us die hard SX fans to see live. Due to being pretty much snowed in all weekend, I did not make the drive to Detroit, in fact, the roads were so bad here all weekend that I didn’t even make it to the Toronto Motorcycle Show. However, I did watch every moment of the Detroit SX on the SMX Video Pass and I admit, it was one of the more entertaining races of the year thus far.
Let’s talk about the 250SX East main event first, and in particular the final three laps. Up until Cameron McAdoo decided to lawn dart himself at the end of the whoop section, causing a red flag situation with just seven seconds remaining on the race clock. This means there was just over a lap remaining in the race, and since Max Anstie had a six second lead, the win was surely his. However, with the medics struggling to get McAdoo off the track and to a safe location, they needed the race to stop so they could safely make that happen. It’s easy to sit back and arm chair quarterback and think why didn’t they just go full red cross flags through the whoops, slow the riders down to a crawl, and finish out the final moments of the main event? In hindsight, this probably could’ve and should’ve been done. But, in the moment safety always comes first and really what they did was the safest thing they could’ve done. McAdoo looked to be in rough shape, and getting him off of the track and to safety was the most important thing. At the time, most of us thought that since the race was well past halfway that the AMA would simply let the results stand in the order that the riders crossed the finish line on the previous lap. But, that wasn’t the case as last year the rule was changed and regardless of how much time is remaining, the riders would be made to finish out the rest of the laps. In this particular situation, the riders would line up in a staggered start formation, and once it was deemed safe to do so, there would be a three lap race to the checkered flag. For everyone inside Ford Field, with the exception of Anstie and his Star Racing Yamaha Team, this was a good thing. In the end, Anstie did his best in those final three sprint laps, but Levi Kitchen was just too sneaky and he was able to find a way around the Englishman and took his first win of the season. Even if you’re not an Anstie fan you still had to feel bad for him as the win and bonus money was in bag prior to the red flag coming out. This is certainly a more NASCAR way of doing things as that sport is constantly reshuffling the deck whenever a caution flag appears. Do I like this new rule? If I’m in Anstie’s position and I just worked my ass off for 15 minutes to build up a lead, and then have it stripped away from me within sight of the checkered flag, then I hate it. However, if I’m everyone else inside Ford Field and watching at home, I absolutely love it! At the end of the day, Supercross is racing and in many ways it should remain pure, but it’s also entertainment and I guarantee that everyone was entertained with those exciting final three laps. As I mentioned, I wasn’t there in person, but I’m guessing that every single person in attendance was either standing or on the edge of their seat when that green flag was waved. That is what not only brings fans back for another race, but also attracts new fans to the sport. Unfortunately, lost in all of this is the question “Why does McAdoo continue to crash and throw away any chance he has at winning a 250SX Championship?” He was already racing with a torn ACL, which he injured just before Tampa, so he does deserve some credit for trying to tough it out. But, why can’t he just bring home what would’ve been a solid top five finish on Saturday afternoon. I know crashes happen in our sport and these riders are pushing the limit all of the time, but why do certain riders seem to crash more than others?
The 450SX main event also had an exciting conclusion as Cooper Webb, who pretty much stalked Ken Roczen for the entire race, made the pass for the lead with just a few laps remaining. It’s obviously not easy physically or mentally leading a SX main event (or any race for that matter), while having another rider right on your rear wheel. In my own experience races like this go in stages. In the opening few laps when you realize that you’re not increasing your lead, it can be frustrating and you fall into a pattern of making small mistakes. Simply because you’re thinking about the rider behind you too much and not focusing on the track and the task at hand. Then, after a few laps you get used to the pressure and you just start riding the track. From that point on, everything runs smooth until you begin to get into lapped riders. Having a small lead and being the first rider to reach the back markers is a stressful thing as you go from focusing on the track and your riding, to looking ahead and calculating when and where you might get caught up with a lapper. In most instances, lappers will see you coming and move over accordingly. However, there are always a few who either don’t see you coming, or are so embroiled in their own battles, that they simply can’t afford to give way. Regardless, it’s a tough situation and one that max’s out your heart rate, and plays right into the hands of the rider behind you. This is what happened to Roczen as he lost his two second cushion with several laps to go, and then was forced to change up some of his lines in key corners, allowing Webb to set up a well thought out pass. There is no denying Webb’s prowess in the closing laps of these main events. Since his KTM days he’s been an absolute beast in the late stages of races, and no one knows this better than his competition. Roczen really needed to go into beast mode and do everything he could to hold Webb off. I’m sure as he watches the race back on film he’ll see that he didn’t really need to change up his lines. While Webb had moved down in most of the corners to stay out of the ruts, Roczen had found some smoother high lines that he was using to maintain momentum. Unfortunately, sensing Webb in close proximity in the final few laps, Roczen quit taking those high fast lines, giving up any advantage that he had. Thankfully, Roczen was still happy with his ride and that only means good things for him moving forward.
Well, that is it for me this week. I hope everyone has a safe and happy Family Day, as well as a great week ahead. For this week, my pick for Rider of the Week goes to Chase Sexton who on Saturday, went from dead last to third in the 450SX main event. It was an incredible ride and one that saved him from losing the 450SX class points lead heading into Round 7 in Arlington. Chase needs to limit his mistakes moving forward and keep Webb behind him in these next few races. With Jett and now Eli out, this 2025 SX title is up for grabs! Finally, congratulations to Tanner Ward and his better half Montanna as they welcomed their first child to the world this weekend. Hudson James Jeffrey Ward arrived at 20:51 on Saturday evening and could be the cutest baby we’ve ever seen. I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say that I can’t wait to see this little guy hanging around the track this summer. Thank you for reading and if you have any questions or comments, please email me at editor@mxpmag.com.
