Greetings! Welcome to this mid-January edition of the Monday Gate Drop Column, which is once again brought to you by the fine people at Yamaha Motor Canada. This past weekend at the Vancouver Motorcycle Show, Yamaha released their all-new 2026 Tenere 700 World Raid Adventure bike. This new bike looks amazing and will be in dealerships in the coming months as we get ready for the riding season. For more information, please visit: Homepage – Yamaha Motor Canada
Well, on Saturday night we watched yet another round of the Monster Energy Supercross Series head into the history books as the gate dropped on the 2026 San Diego Supercross. Just like the opening round last weekend in Anaheim, Round 2 was an exciting race with multiple lead changes in the 450SX main event, and to no one’s surprise, more Haiden Deegan drama in the 250SX West main event. So far, this Monster Energy Supercross Series is shaping up to be one of the most entertaining series we’ve witnessed in some time, as the level of riding at the front of the pack has been just unreal. After watching the 450SX main event in its entirety, I went back and rewatched the opening 5-6 laps, simply because I was so impressed with the intensity from the top riders. Even Chase Sexton, who the cameras didn’t show in the opening laps, was on fire as he went from getting stuck in the gate (such a Sexton move) on the start, to 8th on lap three. Now, I know some of the riders who were running outside of the top ten on those opening laps weren’t exactly championship contenders, but Sexton’s pace in these early laps was extremely impressive. If he can eliminate some of these dumb mistakes, then I believe Sexton will be the next 450SX rider to win a main event. But that is a big “If”, so far in the first two races of 2026, we’ve witnessed multiple errors from Sexton. Not to keep piling it on Chase, but sometimes mentally, he appears to be so far out in left-field. I’ve said this before, but his issue has always been that he gets ahead of himself mentally and doesn’t just stay in the moment. Even in Chase’s post-race interview with Lewis Phillips, he’s all over the map, so much so that it’s hard to even listen to and follow him. Anyway, despite all of that, he’s still going to win races in 2026, but I’m not sure if he’ll be able to find the consistency to be in contention for the 450SX title.
One 450SX rider who is locked in both physically and mentally is obviously Eli Tomac. Going two for two in the opening rounds is amazing, and I like that it hasn’t exactly been easy for Tomac in the main events. In Anaheim, he was chased to the finish line by Ken Roczen, and then this past weekend, he not only had to come from behind, but even when he passed Roczen to take the lead, Kenny fought back and took the lead again. At that point, Tomac had to regroup, find his flow again, and then make another attack on Roczen. Tomac made the pass stick on his second attempt, but then had to deal with a fast-closing Hunter Lawrence in the final few laps. My point is that if these wins were coming easy to Tomac, then we might see him get a little complacent in the coming weeks. However, since he’s had to work for every inch of success in the opening two rounds, I’m sure he’s heading to the test track this week with the mindset that he can still be better. I’m sure everyone will agree that at the moment, Tomac looks completely at one with his factory KTM. His starts have been great, his corner speed is unreal, his bike looks great, whether he’s sprinting or just putting in laps, it just looks as though everything is in sync right now. With similar track conditions in the next three rounds (Anaheim, Houston, Glendale) the riders won’t see a soft and rutted track until Seattle; a month from now. Tomac could conceivably have a sizeable points lead by then if things don’t change. We shall see, as riders like Roczen, Lawrence, and Sexton haven’t been too far off Tomac. With more solid weather forecasted for this coming weekend in Anaheim, we’re no doubt going to see another exciting main event in the 450SX class.
Moving over to the 250SX West class and that is where our three Canadian riders are competing, as well as some more Haiden Deegan controversy. Let’s begin with our talented Canadian riders. Of the three, Preston Masciangelo has shown the most speed and consistency, so it was no surprise to see him qualify for the 250SX West main event in San Diego. So far in his SX career, speed has never been Preston’s issue, but staying healthy and building momentum has been a struggle for the Ontario rider. However, this year, Preston looks like a rider who has learned from his mistakes and he’s using his experience to race to his full potential. I like where he’s at and I feel like Preston has a top twelve, or even a top ten finish in him if all goes well in the coming weeks. Unfortunately, Blake Davies had a hard crash during qualifying, and that forced the teenager to head into the night show with an injured shoulder. Blake would go on to ride in his heat race, as well as the LCQ, but he still lacked the speed needed to qualify for the main event on his AVL Husqvarna. Of our three Canadian riders, the one who has surprised me the most (not in a good way) is Tyler Gibbs, as his overall speed is not where I expected it to be. Tyler is one of the most talented SX riders that we have in Canada, but for whatever reason, he has struggled in the opening two rounds of the series. In San Diego, he almost missed the night show, which would’ve been devastating in my opinion after spending the better part of two months training in California at the Yamaha SX test track. Hopefully, after another solid week of riding, Tyler can head back to the familiar confines of Angel Stadium and have a solid night of racing. But regardless of results, it’s still good to see our Canadian riders living out their SX dreams in the 250SX West Series. It’s looking as though Cole Thompson will join them in the Monster Energy Supercross Series in Glendale, when he’s expected to make his debut in the 450SX class.
Finally, as for Deegan taking out his teammate, Max Anstie to win the main event this past weekend. It certainly wasn’t as bad as when he pushed Cole Davies off the track to win the title last year. But, it was still an unnecessary move considering it’s still early in the series and it was obvious to everyone inside Angel Stadium that Deegs was faster and would eventually find a way around Max. This is the pattern we’ve seen from Deegan when he feels threatened (speed-wise) by another rider. He feels the need to make an overly aggressive pass in order to assert his perceived dominance. Last fall in the SMX Playoffs, we saw Levi Kitchen take matters into his own hands and put Deegan on the ground, and now it’s up to Max Anstie to respond. Does he need to take Deegan out? Of course not. However, he does need to find a way to reaffirm that he is the rider to beat in the 250SX West Series, and then let Deegan have another mental meltdown as we saw in Las Vegas last year. Looking ahead, how is Deegan going to handle racing in the 450SX class when he’s not even close to being the fastest rider? For a rider as talented and as fast as Deegan is, at times he appears to be so mentally immature and so utterly oblivious to that immaturity. This will be interesting to watch in the coming weeks as Max is now the fan favourite, and Deegan is once again enemy #1 with the fans!
Well, that is it for me this week. I hope everyone has a safe and successful final two weeks of January. Next to maybe November, this is the most depressing month of the year in my opinion. It’s cold, dark, snowy, and long. However, next month is the shortest month of the year, and then we’ll hopefully begin to see signs of spring. In closing, my pick for the Motovan Canada Rider of the Week is Preston Masciangleo. As I mentioned above, he rode brilliantly in San Diego to qualify for his first 250SX West main event of 2026. Thank you for reading and if you have any questions or comments, please email me at editor@mxpmag.com.
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