Motocross Performance Magazine Canadian Motocross news leader
Good day, I hope everyone is enjoying their final few days of February. In 48 hours, we will welcome March in and soon it will be spring. I know everyone is waiting impatiently for those milder days when you can simply load up your bike and head to your favourite track, or at very least any track that is rideable in March. If you recall, our shy groundhog from Wiarton, Ontario predicted an early spring a few weeks ago, so I’m definitely holding him to his word.
While we wait for nicer weather in Canada, down in Texas it was hot and heavy with action inside the spacious home of the Dallas Cowboys. We had several Canadians competing in all of the classes right from the KJSC to the 450SX class, so there was a lot to be proud of on Saturday night. Let’s take a close look at how each of our talented Canadians finished in Arlington.
KJSC- Meston Lockhart (10th Overall)
Let me begin by saying that the results in this class really don’t matter as the important thing is the experience that the KJSC event provides the riders and their families. It truly is, a once in a lifetime opportunity for these kids and good on KTM for making the KJSC happen for so many years. For most of our Canadian kids who head down to this race, it takes them a little extra time to get comfortable and to ignore the awe-factor of riding a real SX track, as well as just generally being in the environment of Monster Energy Supercross. So, in most cases their best laps and best riding come in the final moments of the main event in the evening. This appeared to be the case for young Meston Lockhart as he got off to a bad start and was forced to play catch-up. In the final two laps, Meston found his groove and made several late race passes to eventually finish 10th overall. It was a solid ride and I’m betting that he had a big smile on his face after the race and I’m also quite certain that he slept like a baby that night.
SX Futures- Preston Masciangelo (11th Overall)
This was Preston’s first ever SX Futures race and although he came into Arlington with not a lot of seat time, due to injuries suffered to both wrists back in December, I thought he rode great on Saturday night. This is a tough class with not only a solid number of fast kids on good equipment, but also with the inexperience of most of these young riders, staying out of trouble isn’t always easy. I’m sure Preston would have liked to finish inside the top ten in Arlington, but considering he broke and dislocated both wrists back in early December I think he should be proud. He’s only going to get better and stronger in the coming weeks and months.
250SX East- Quinn Amyotte (10th in LCQ)
Coming off his solid performance a few weeks ago in Tampa, I’m sure that Quinn came into Arlington with high hopes of qualifying for the 250SX East main event. However, with Saturday being a Triple Crown formatted event qualifying for the night show is more challenging than it normally is. With an LCQ required just to make it into the night show, a lot of good riders, including Quinn were left having to pack up before the national anthem was being played. As Quinn is surely finding out these LCQ races are nuts and if you’re not near the front on lap one the chances of getting into a qualifying position is next to impossible. The positive thing is that Quinn looks to be riding great and if he can pull off a start this weekend in Daytona, he should be able to get that much closer to a spot in the main event.
450SX- Guillaume St-Cyr (46th in Qualifying)
St-Cyr was riding solid like he always does in SX but he just wasn’t able to put in that one fast lap that would get him into the 450SX LCQ. Obviously, I wasn’t there to see where St-Cyr could’ve made up the time he needed to, but either way I’m sure he was happy just to be on the track and racing in the most prestigious series on the planet. I would expect St-Cyr to be a little better this weekend in Daytona where the track is a little more of a hybrid SX track.
450SX- Julien Benek (22nd in 450SX LCQ)
Julien Benek has been riding well lately, and last weekend in Oakland we saw him qualify for his first main event of 2023. With this being a 250SX East event Benek moved up to the 450SX class simply for the opportunity to keep racing. Benek looked good early in the day and was showing some pretty decent speed on the challenging Arlington track. Unfortunately, a crash in the opening few laps of the LCQ cost Benek any chance of qualifying for the night show. Hopefully, he’s going to line up again this weekend in Daytona and give the 450SX class another go.
As you can see our Canadian riders represented well in Arlington and they should all be proud. Over in Florida yesterday a few of our top pro riders were competing in a local race that ended up paying some great money. Tyler Medaglia, Ryder McNabb, Jess Pettis, Cole Thompson, and Wyatt Kerr were all on the starting line, looking to make some valuable US Dollars. In the end, it was a full Canadian battle up front as Medaglia held off the KTM duo of McNabb and Pettis to take home the big prize on the day. I spoke to Tyler briefly this morning and he said that he’s feeling good and that the race yesterday was fun. With several races going on in the Sunshine State in the next few weeks, including the famous Daytona SX this coming weekend, this is the prime time to be riding and training in Florida. Good luck to all of our Canadian riders competing in the next few weeks down south.
The racing at the front of the pack on Saturday evening was once again exciting. In the 250SX East class, Nate Thrasher proved to be the most consistent rider in the class and took his first overall win of the season. Thrasher looked great all day, and in the three main events, he took advantage of some mistakes from points leader Hunter Lawrence. In the 450 class, things got even wilder as the slippery track took its toll on a few of the top riders. Points leader Eli Tomac probably should’ve won the overall, but a rare mistake while leading the night’s final race cost him any chance of winning. Chase Sexton then took over, and he looked like he was going to win both the third main event and the overall. Sadly, he got caught up with a lapper, opening the door for Cooper Webb, who continues excelling on each main event’s closing laps. The level of riding Webb is able to achieve late in each main event is incredible, and he’s proving so far this year that you cannot count him out in the second half of the race. I’d look for Tomac and Webb to have yet another epic Daytona battle this coming weekend, as both riders have been good there in the past, and both are riding so well right now. So is Sexton, but I’m unsure if he has the focus yet to win a 450SX main event on the series’s roughest and most challenging track. I was thinking after the race on Saturday that these three riders (Tomac, Sexton, Webb), and also add in Jason Anderson, who also has the speed to win every weekend, are riding at a pace that I don’t think we’ve seen since the days of RC, Stewart, and Reed. It’s incredible the pace their riding and how hard they appear to be pushing for the entire race. It’s fun to watch, and this weekend should be even more exciting.
So last week I spoke about the WLTN/Canadian Kawasaki/SevenMX Team finalizing their rider line up for 2023, then on Tuesday morning the TLD/GASGAS/SSR Team announced that they will be going with Tyler Gibbs and Daniel Elmore for this year. It’s great to see Gibbs back with the SSR Team for 2023 as I believe he learned a lot last year and with that in mind he should be better this summer. The 250 class is stacked with talent for 2023 so the margin for error is very small. Inconsistency and crashes hurt Gibbs last summer, so if he can find a way to finish every moto this summer, then I’m sure his confidence will grow and he will become that consistent top five and podium finisher. As for Daniel Elmore, well, this is just one of those feel-good stories and I’m happy for both Daniel and Steve Simms. Elmore will now get the extra support that he’s been working towards and Steve will get that solid, hardworking, low maintenance 450 rider he’s been looking for. I’m anxious to see how Elmore does this summer and if he can build on his results from last year. Right now, both riders are training hard at ClubMX in South Carolina, so look for them to be ready to go when the gate drops on the 2023 Triple Crown Series. So with this announcement that means that all of the main spots are now filled on our Canadian teams for 2023. As they say, the music has stopped and if you don’t have a chair then you’re sadly out of luck. I still cannot believe that we will not see Marco Cannella behind a starting gate this summer. We know he turned down a 250 deal from the WLTN/Canadian Kawasaki/SevenMX Team as well as a 450 deal from the TLD/GASGAS/SSR Team, so it’s not like he didn’t have opportunities to go racing in 2023. He told me on the phone a few weeks ago that he just didn’t feel comfortable taking either deal as he didn’t want to waste anyone’s time. I can respect that as in the past that hasn’t always been the case with a few of our riders, but I’m still going to miss Marco this summer as I’ve always enjoyed watching him ride as well as his cerebral approach to the sport.
In case you missed it here is a video we shot last weekend at the Toronto Motorcycle Show:
Well, that is it for me this week. I hope everyone has a great week and a solid beginning to March. Hopefully Mother Nature got Wiarton Willie’s memo and she can get spring rolling here soon. Thank you for reading and if you have any questions or comments, please email me at chris@mxpmag.com.
