Greetings! I hope everyone had a great first Monday of my favourite month of the year. Now, before I get into the news of the week let me take this opportunity to wish all of our incredible Moto Moms a Happy Mother’s Day this coming Sunday. None of us would be here (literally) without our Mama Bear’s, and at the track they’re such an important part of what we do. Team work makes the dreams work, and thank you to every mom out there for being part of our team. We love you and we hope you have a great Mother’s Day weekend!
With Spring and race season now fully underway right across Canada, this past weekend my family and I spent two days at Auburn Hills Raceway, located not too far from Walton, On. This natural terrain beauty of a track has been around since the mid-90s. The track did take a long hiatus from hosting events, but now it’s back and this past weekend the crew from AMO racing took full advantage of it. The Auburn Hills track has always been an interesting one, with it’s high speed and big elevation changes. For spectators, it’s an incredible track as you can stand on top of the main hill and see pretty much 80% of the circuit. This is great for us parents as we’re able to keep a close eye of our favourite rider, or riders, for most of their motos. For riders, the Auburn Hills track can at times be a wolf in sheep’s clothing, as it’s fast, choppy, and in certain spots, rocky. Also, like most track during this time of the year, a lot of how it is on raceday is determined by how the weather patterns have been leading up to the weekend. Even for early May, there didn’t seem to be an abundance of moisture in the soil this weekend. On Saturday, the track crew worked hard, but with the sun shinning all day, the final motos the track was dry and dusty. Thankfully, Mother Nature helped out with some steady drizzle for part of the morning yesterday, and that gave the track the moisture it needed to remain good all day long. Practice started at 7:30 sharp yesterday and then the opening moto soon after. Even with a lot of classes and entries, three Pro/AM motos, two added LCQ’s in the Junior classes, and several breaks for track maintenance, the final moto of the day concluded around 4:15. I’m not completely sure, but that could be a record for a busy Spring race. My son was the final of the day so this well run schedule was certainly well received by every Open Junior class family.
Yesterday also saw another solid turn out in the Pro/AM as several of our top riders were there attempting to get some final gate drops in before the opening round of the 2024 Triple Crown Series. Tanner Ward, Chris Blackmer, Sebastien Racine, Austin Jones, Quinn Amyotte, Tiger Wood, and Tanner Scott (just to name a few). The racing was great in all three motos, and with the track being as high speed as it was, the top riders were really moving. Racine won the opening moto, Blackmer won moto two, and then in the final moto, Ward just wouldn’t be denied as he made a mid-moto pass on Blackmer, and took off. I liked what I saw from our top riders yesterday as each one appears to be in a really good place. Obviously, riders like Amyotte, Jones, and Wood were at a big disadvantage since they were riding 250F’s, but they all charged hard and ate a lot of roost to finish well in their motos. In end, Blackmer took the overall win with a 2-1-2 moto score. I’ve always loved the Auburn Hills track, and over the past two years they’ve put a lot of work into not just the racing circuit, but the paddock as well. However, it needs to get slowed down in some way shape or form. Not with jumps, maybe just with some switchback sections in the back, and return to making some of turns more pronounced, rather than just high-speed sweepers. But, overall it was a solid weekend, and now the AMO Racing Series moves east to Sand Del Lee in two weeks.
Speaking of SDL and the MX101 Yamaha Team. After a long, long search, they finally announced on Friday that they have signed American Preston Kilroy as their 450 rider for 2024. Over the past two seasons, Kilroy has been a solid Top 15-20 rider in the USA and he certainly brings some good speed and technique with him to Canada. Overall, he’ll be a nice fit for the MX101 Yamaha Team as I’m sure his results will be solid all summer long. Does he have the speed and endurance on a 450 to run with and beat riders like Dylan Wright and Jess Pettis? The can only be answer when the gate drops next month. My feeling is that although he may not begin the Triple Crown Series near the front of the 450 pack, but once he gets comfortable, and a little confident, we could see some special things from him in the second half of the series. Either way, this is a great signing by the Blu Cru and Kilroy should fit in nicely in Canada.
South of the border, the Denver SX took place on Saturday night, and once again Jett Lawrence dominated the 450SX main event. Actually, the Honda HRC Team dominated the entire evening as the Lawrence Brothers went 1-2 in the 450SX main event, and Jo Shimoda won the 250SX West main event. With one round remaining this coming weekend in Salt Lake City, Jett appears to be in complete control of the 2024 450SX Championship. Also, with Cooper Webb now nursing an injured thumb, Jett has pretty much outlasted his final roadblock for this title. What an amazing run this kid is having right now. Hopefully he can remain healthy and keep the ball rolling. It would also be nice for him to now use his fame and laid back Aussie personality to help grow this sport in mainstream America. I know he’s done a solid job thus far within the sport, but there was talk two years ago and a video series, a SX Netflix Series, and just generally letting every American know who Jett Lawrence is, the same way that most know who Jeremy McGrath and Travis Pastrana are. Remember McGrath on the Tonight Show several times. That is what we need to see now from Jett as he is getting into his peak years of marketability right now! Also in Denver, we saw Cole Thompson have best ride of the series as he battled hard to finish 7th in the 250SX West main event. Cole had great speed all day, and in the main event he was able to get a decent start, and put in a solid race. Cole also told our own Matt Wellumson in a Social Media interview that he plans to race some USA Outdoor races this summer on a 450, and then return for at least one more season of SX on the Heartbeat Hot Sauce Solitaire Yamaha Team. Finally, in the KJSC race in Denver, young Hudson Turcotte rode the wheels off her KTM to finish 12th in the main event. What a night for Canada in Denver, as Thompson, Turcotte, and Julien Benek, were all on the gas.
Well, that is it for me this week. As I said at the top, I hope all of the Mom’s out there have a great Mother’s Day this weekend. The annual Motopark Cup takes place this coming weekend. For all details please visit www.motoparkracing.com. Thank you for reading this week, and as always, if you have any questions or comments, please email me at editor@mxpmag.com.
