Motocross Performance Magazine Canadian Motocross news leader
Racing Supercross at any time is difficult, regardless of your age and or skill level. On a short track that is filled with jumps, things can happen pretty fast and as a rider, you have to be ready. Also, unlike outdoor motocross where you basically ride as fast as you can, in SX you have to limit your throttle response and not only jump through the air but also land in a specific spot. As they say, timing is everything!
As we’ve seen time and time again in this sport, riding SX comes easy to some and not to others. To use Cole Thompson as an example, his SX skills are at a very high level and at times Cole looks like he could navigate his way around an SX track with his eyes close. For some of our other top riders, SX doesn’t come quite as easy and they have to work at it. Heading into the 2020 Rockstar Energy Triple Crown SXTour, the adequate practice was something that our riders didn’t get. With the MXTour ending on Labour Day Weekend, and the opening round of the SXTour beginning two weeks later, there wasn’t a lot of time to prepare. It was no one’s fault as for this particular year that is just the way the schedule fell into place. However, I think this lack of SX practice contributed to why we witnessed so many crashes, especially in the opening round. With the track designs for both weekends of the SXTour being technical, you needed practice and a decent set of SX Suspension.
Even though not all of the riders are accustom to racing SX or AX, I believe that they must do it once in a while. I think it makes any rider a better rider by getting out of their comfort zone and riding some laps around a tight SX type track. Regardless of a rider’s age or skill level, riding an SX or AX track will make you a better rider. Two riders that we saw progress extremely fast during the SXTour were Keylan Meston and Ryan Derry. Other riders did as well, but for now, I’m just going to focus on these two.
For Meston, he’s proven in the past that he can ride anything as I witnessed him race the Red Bull Outliers event a year ago and do quite well in the Pro Class. During the 2020 SXTour Meston got better and better with each lap that he completed, and if it wasn’t for a first turn crash at Round 3, he would’ve been a consistent Top 5 guy. At the final round last weekend, Meston was at this best and looked as good as any one of the tight and technical track. In fact, Meston was so excited about his riding that he wished there were two more rounds. Without a doubt, the confidence that Meston took from his performances in the SXTour will make him a better rider as he prepares for the 2021 season.
For Ryan Derry, he came into the 2020 SXTour Series with some momentum as he had just completed his best season to date in the MXTour Series. Ryan is a hard-working rider who loves to race. Over the past few seasons, he’s been getting faster and faster and more comfortable racing at this level. As a father myself who has a child who races, I love seeing Ryan still going to the races with his dad. The two make a pretty good team at the track and their love for the sport is obvious. Like most of the riders, Ryan’s SX skills improved dramatically over the past two weekends and as I watched him tackle the difficult rhythm section at Rounds 3 and 4, you could see that he was getting more comfortable. His 7th overall finishes in the final two rounds of the SXTour was evidence of this progression. As I said, Ryan works hard and loves racing, so hopefully, we see him and his dad back next year.
With more and more private SX type tracks popping up in Canada, it’s getting easier and easier for riders to head out and get some practice. As they say, practice makes perfect and we’ve seen that over the years with riders from BC. They’ve had an indoor series since I can remember and that series has made some of our Western riders very good at SX. In fact, the 2020 Future West AX Championship begins in a few weeks so these races will be exciting to watch. Thank you for reading and thank you to Yamaha Motor Canada for supporting this Style Check column.
