Greetings! Welcome to this Canada Day edition of the Monday Gate Drop, which is once again sponsored by the awesome people at Yamaha Motor Canada. I will get into this later in the column, but the MX101 FXR Yamaha Racing Team had an incredible day yesterday at Round 3 of the Triple Crown Series, as for the first time in their team’s history, they swept all four motos in the 250 Pro/Am and 450 classes. Both Jess Pettis and Preston Kilroy rode great in the challenging Ste Julie track, leading from start to finish in all of their motos. The Blu Cru is certainly rolling right now as they prepare for what is usually the toughest race of the series at Gopher Dunes.
I will begin this week with the very sad news that came out of Mammoth Mountain on Saturday. The young and talented Team Green rider Aiden Zingg passed away after a crash in one of his races. I’ve heard different stories about how he crashed and what his injuries were, but honestly, it doesn’t matter right now how or why; the fact is that the sport has lost one of the nicest kids you’ll ever meet, and a family lost a son and a brother. Although my only encounter with Aiden and his Father was brief, the kid made a lasting impression on me. Last October at the 2025 KX250 media launch at the beautiful Washougal MX track, Kawasaki had invited Aiden and his Dad to be part of the launch as he was Team Green’s newest rider and one of the kids that would be racing the new KX250 this year. It’s not uncommon for OEMs to invite their top amateur kids to be a part of their media launches, but I can say that at times it hasn’t always gone well. It honestly all depends on the kids and how they interact with everyone in that professional environment. Well, other than his smooth and fast riding on the Washougal track over two days, what left the biggest impression on me with Aiden was how well-spoken he was and how genuine he seemed when talking about life, moto, and family. Plain and simple, the kid (and his Father) were just nice people. I remember on Day 2 of the launch sitting around a table with Aiden talking about where he came from, his future plans, as well as what his thoughts were on the new 2025 KX250. After listening to Aiden talk about himself, to my surprise, he then took the time to ask me about my racing past, as well as if I had any kids who rode. We spoke for about 30 minutes, and I left that conversation thinking that this kid was going to go far in life, regardless of what the future held. Now, sadly, his life is over at just 16 years of age, and as you can tell by all of the Social Media posts, Aiden Zingg made a lasting impression on so many people in our sport, and everyone felt the same way as I did about Aiden Zingg. RIP Aiden, and thank you for that 30 minutes of your time last year at Washougal.
Now, onto what happened yesterday at Round 3 of the Triple Crown Series. It was an interesting day, to say the least, at Ste Julie, as the riders faced some very adverse track conditions right from the start of practice. I know that at the best of times, weather forecasts are not always accurate, even in this day and age. But, I have to say that the forecast for this past weekend in the Montreal area ended up being spot on, even as far out as Monday last week. This (from what I heard through other people) prompted AMO Racing CEO Ryan Gauld (who was scheduled to run Amateur racing on Saturday) to reach out to the Ste Julie promoter to recommend that they think about cancelling the Amateur races on Saturday to save on money, as well as to save the track for Sunday. In the end, they didn’t listen to Gauldy, and the 80 entry (in total) Amateur day went ahead as planned. But overnight and through Saturday, heavy rain fell, and the track deteriorated right before everyone’s eyes. Add in the fact that for some reason, there was zero track work done after the Amateur riders destroyed the track, and when everyone arrived on Sunday morning, the track was still a mess and needed a lot of work. There was some frustration among the teams and riders, and even the Jetwerx crew, as most expected the track to be attended to overnight, or at least in the early morning. Not much was done, and then it was a mad scramble to get the track rideable for the opening qualifying sessions. In the end, the qualifying sessions were pushed back to allow for track work, the 250 and 450 class qualifying sessions were cut from two to just one, and the first bikes to hit the muddy track were the Pre-Mix class and then the WMX class. It was a bit of a mess, and in hindsight, they probably should’ve cancelled the Amateur Day completely as Gauldy suggested and saved the track for Sunday. Live and Learn, I guess!
Once the racing did get underway, it was the MX101 FXR Racing Yamaha show as both Jess Pettis and Preston Kilroy dominated their motos from start to finish. KTM Canada rider Dylan Rempel kept Kilroy honest in both 250 Pro/Am motos, but was never a threat to pass for the lead. It was Rempel’s best ride of the season as he’s been getting better with each moto. Ryder McNabb, who is going through some health issues at the moment and admittedly didn’t ride much during the break, looked rusty and out of sorts yesterday. Hopefully, he can get some good practice this week and then come out swinging at his GDR Honda Team’s home track at Round 4. Heading into Gopher Dunes this weekend, Kilroy has an 18-point lead over McNabb in the 250 Pro/Am class. Dylan Walsh was sitting third overall in the points standings, but after a disastrous double-moto DNF yesterday, he dropped to 6th.
In the 450 class, Jess Pettis had little trouble yesterday as he holeshotted both 450 motos and never looked back. In the opening moto, Dylan Wright remained close for a few laps before dropping back. Wright’s elbow is still not healed, and even the average fan can see that he’s struggling to hold on. As I mentioned last week, the Ste Julie track with its tacky soil and elevation changes demands a lot out of a rider’s upper body. This was the worst-case scenario for Dylan as he just didn’t have the strength to ride at his full speed. Hopefully, with these next two weekends being sand tracks, he’ll be able to use his legs more and not rely so much on his arms. Regardless of Dylan’s injury, you cannot take anything away from Pettis right now as he and his Yamaha are in perfect sync. And like his teammate Kilroy, whatever he’s been doing, I would keep doing it and doing it again. Pettis is riding flawlessly, and you can see his confidence building with each lap and each moto. As I said, these next two weekends are going to be tough, as Dylan has historically been very good at Gopher Dunes and SDL. However, so has Pettis, and I believe that heading into this weekend, there is nothing JP wants more than to beat Wright straight up at Gopher Dunes. It’s going to be hot this weekend, it’s going to be rough as it always is this weekend, and it’s going to be everything that people love and hate about racing a pro-national at Gopher Dunes!
Well, that is it for me this week as the six-hour drive home late last night is catching up with me. I will have more from Round 3 tomorrow and Wednesday. My pick for Rider of the Week is KTM pre-mix rider Kaven Benoit. Watching him ride in the mud yesterday morning was truly remarkable, and it brought back fond memories of good mud riding on two-stroke bikes for me. The smooth throttle control, the line choice, and the carrying momentum, which was all on display yesterday in the deep, heavy mud of Ste Julie. Thank you for reading. If you have any questions or comments, please email me at editor@mxpmag.com.
