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Yamaha Motor Canada Presents The Monday Gate Drop

Good day and welcome to another edition of the Yamaha Motor Canada Monday Gate Drop. In a few weeks Yamaha will be hosting their annual Blu Cru Yamaha Appreciation Ride Days at three different tracks across Canada. The first one will be at Moto Park in Chatsworth, ON, September 14th. The following Blu Cru Ride Day will be in Quebec on September 28th at the Sanier MX Track. The final one will be in BC on a soon to be announced date and location. On these ride days all Yamaha riders will receive free track entry as well as a healthy lunch to enjoy. We will be updating everyone as soon as we know more details.

So, with the Canadian Pro Nationals wrapping up last weekend at Walton Raceway, this weekend it was time for the twelve round Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Nationals to finish up at Ironman Raceway in Indiana. With Eli Tomac sealing up his 450 title a week ago at Budds Creek, on Saturday it was fellow Kawasaki rider Adam Cianciarulo’s turn to win his first ever pro championship. After throwing away the 250 SX title in Las Vegas a few months ago, Cianciarulo came into Round 12 determined not to make the same mistake twice. All summer he, Dylan Ferrnadis and Justin Cooper have battled for the 250 Championship, and finally, Cianciarulo’s second place finish in the opening moto at Ironman Raceway was enough to clinch his first ever pro title. It was definitely an amazing season for Cianciarulo and his Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki Team, and now he graduates to the factory Kawasaki Team and the 450 class. It will be very interesting to see what kind of 450 rider Cianciarulo will be in 2020 and beyond. With his ever-improving fitness and strength, his height and smooth style, I think he’s going to be a great 450 rider. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

It’s definitely been a great outdoor season for Kawasaki as they took home both the 250 and 450 titles in the USA. Photo by Frank Hoppen

Also lining up this past weekend at Ironman Raceway was our new 2019 Rockstar Energy Triple Crown MXTour 250 Champion Dylan Wright. As you all know, Dylan has pretty much been unbeatable up here since about mid-April and I was excited and proud of him for rolling the dice and heading south this weekend. As so many top Canadian and GP riders have proven in the past, regardless of how you’ve finished in your championship, joining the US series is never an easy task, especially on a track as challenging as Ironman Raceway. After watching the amazing highlight video that the series releases hours after each race, you can really see how deep and gnarly some of the ruts are. These videos also give you an idea and how fast some of the top US Series riders go through the rutted corners. Even after racing our most rutted national track (Walton Raceway) the week before, it’s still hard to head south 7 days later and compete. Heading into Saturday, I received a few text messages asking how I thought Dylan Wright would racing against our friends to the south. My pick was that Dylan would probably go around 12-7 in the 250 class. I figured that his first moto would be about finding a comfort level and fitting in against riders that have been racing each other for months. Then in Moto 2, Dylan would feel a lot better and show everyone just how fast our 250 Champ is. Unfortunately, a hard crash early in the opening moto while running tenth left Dylan with a concussion and a premature end to his day. It was definitely not the day Dylan was looking for as everything has pretty much gone his way this summer. I’m sure Dylan will be okay by the Montreal SX as he has the 2019 Triple Crown title to think about.

Dylan Wright took his speed and style to Ironman Raceway this past weekend. Unfortunately a crash in the opening moto left him sidelined for the rest of the day. Photo by James Lissimore

With the outdoor series now in the rear view mirror it’s time for Dylan and his fellow pro riders to start thinking about SX. Other than the obvious Triple Crown title chases in both classes, there’s also a lot of bragging rights on the line as this will be the final three races of 2019. In the 250 class, Dylan is most certainly going to have his hands full with Jess Pettis. Pettis, who had us on the edge of our seats earlier this year in the Monster Energy SX Series, will be looking for redemption after having to hand over the #1 MXTour plate to Wright. I spoke to Pettis a few days ago for a story in the upcoming issue of MXP Magazine. Although he was obviously disappointed with his overall finish in the MXTour Series, he was really happy with how he battled hard all summer long. With the SXTour on the horizon and then hopefully the 2020 Monster Energy Supercross Series, Pettis is ready to switch gears and think about indoor racing. I think the impending SXTour battle between Pettis and Wright is going to be very exciting to watch.

The impending SXTour battle between Jess Pettis and Dylan Wright is going to be something special. Photo by James Lissimore

Last week I also spoke to our new 6-time 450 National Champion Colton Facciotti. Thankfully he took a few moments away from his grass cutting and other household duties to chat with me for a few minutes. We spoke about a number of things for his upcoming cover story in MXP Magazine. Even though we’re just a week past his big win in Walton, he did sound at peace with his decision to retire from professional racing. As Colton knew coming into the 2019 MXTour Series, this championship was both his most difficult as well as the most gratifying of the previous five. All summer he battled a number of things, including some aches and pains, stiff competition, as well as the mental strain of knowing that this was his final summer of racing. I obviously want to keep the story under wraps until this next issue comes out in two weeks, but here is an except where Colton talks about how difficult the series was from the opening round on.

Coming into this summer I knew that this was going to be my toughest title to win. We had a good off-season of testing but it took a long time to get the bike just right. Even after I won the opening moto of the series in Calgary, I questioned whether or not I had made the correct decision in coming back for one more year. Honestly, from that first moto in Calgary I just started to count down each moto – 15 more to go, 14 more, and etc. Except for some neck and wrist issues halfway through the series, I felt pretty good all summer long. I think at most of the rounds I struggled with how hard I really wanted to push. However, I think I did a great job of just being smart and taking each moto as it came. Even during the final moto at Walton, I really wanted to win that moto and finish off with a victory, but experience told me to back it down and do what I needed to win the title.”

With Colton Facciotti retiring, Phil Nicoletti will most certainly be one of the favourites to win the 2020 450 MXTour Series. Photo by James Lissimore

So, with Colton Facciotti retired from racing now, what will the 450 class look like in 2020? Obviously, with Phil Nicoletti, Cole Thompson and Matt Goerke also winning races this past summer, they will be the favourites to win the 450 title in 2020. It doesn’t sound as though Mike Alessi will be returning next year so you can cross his name off of the list. Shawn Maffenbeier will be better, Cade Clason will be better, and I’m sure that rookie sensation Sam Gaynor will be better. However, will there be a new rider to join our Canadian Series next year? Broc Tickle perhaps? Will Dylan Wright move up to the 450 class next year? That’s a great question, and I can think of reasons why he should and why he shouldn’t. There was also talk during the past month that the Smart Top/ Moto Concepts Honda Team wanted Dylan to head south this fall for some SX training and then race the Monster Energy Supercross Series next year in the 250 class for them. With Dylan under contract in Canada, that would be something that would have to be worked out. It would be a big gamble for the GDR Fox Honda Team to clear Dylan to go and race SX in the United States. Anyway, all of this definitely makes for some very interesting talk in the coming weeks and it will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

This weekend is the infamous Baja Brawl in Michigan!

Well, that is it for me this week. I hope everyone has a great long weekend and I hope you all enjoy the unofficial final weekend of summer. We are off to Baja Acres this weekend for the annual Monster Energy Baja Brawl. This race is always a lot of fun and each year it’s attended by multiple Canadian families. Have a safe week and thank-you for reading!

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