Yamaha Motor Canada Presents The Monday Gate Drop

Good day, and welcome to another edition of the Yamaha Motor Canada Monday Gate Drop. After months of waiting, we finally were able to test ride the new 2022 YZ two-stroke lineup last week at Moto Park. This included the redesigned YZ125 and YZ250, as well as the all-new YZ85LW. All three of these new bikes were incredible to ride and they will no doubt find their way onto the podium in 2022.

As I mentioned above, on Wednesday last week a few of us were invited up to Moto Park to ride a few of the new 2022 YZ’s. The fine folks from Yamaha Motor Canada were kind enough to bring their complete 2022 motocross line-up out for us to spend the day riding. The weather was perfect and the crew at Moto Park had the track in pristine condition. It was one of those days that made you happy to just be alive and able to ride dirt bikes. I was also able to bring my son Ayrton with me as Yamaha wanted someone to ride the new YZ85LW. We all had a great day and thank you to everyone who helped to make it possible. Look for a test report this week on all of the new YZ’s. If you have any personal questions about the new Yamaha’s please email me at chris@mxpmag.com and I’ll do my best to answer them.

With the Yamaha ride day in the books, I turned my attention to the weekend where there were two fun events to choose from. The first was Frank Schuster’s annual Vet and Vintage race on the backtrack at Gopher Dunes. This fun race was on Saturday and although I couldn’t make it I heard it was a blast. The weather in Southern Ontario on Saturday was perfect for riding and I’m sure that there was a thick haze of old vintage two-stroke smoke hanging in the cool fall air over Gopher Dunes. I watched a few Go Pro videos from Saturday and the track looked in absolutely perfect condition. Frank and the Gopher Dunes crew should be commended on their effort once again as this event keeps getting bigger and better each year. I’m sure there are a lot of sore Vet riders this morning and a ton of A535 being massaged into some old muscles.

The other cool event that took place in Ontario on Saturday was literally five minutes from my house and that was the annual Scumfest Year-End ride day. Now, I’m sure you’re asking what the hell is Scumfest? Well, I wish I could tell you exactly what it is or how it came to be but sadly I can’t. All I know is that back in the 1990s a group of riders from my area (Dufferin County) started a Wednesday ride group and in no time it became a regular deal. Soon they decided to celebrate with one final late fall ride at one of the local tracks they used throughout the year. As with so many things in our sport Scumfest has evolved over the years with older riders being replaced with a younger group as well as the events of the day being tamed down a little. For instance, on Saturday there were no cars being lit on fire or makeshift cannons or potato guns being fired off into the night air. However, what has stood the test of time is a group of riders who still get together almost every Wednesday night to ride dirt bikes, share a few laughs, and enjoy everything that riding has to offer. And that is what was once again celebrated on Saturday at the farm of the 2021 Walton TransCan 30B Champion Devin Train. It was a great day of riding with a pretty cool group of people and not only does the Train Family deserve a ton of thanks for welcoming us with open arms to their property, but also Steve Simms for pretty much-organizing everything from the riding to the pig roast and fire at the end of the day. Even though I grew up in the country I’ve never honestly been to a pig roast before so it was all new to me. As you can imagine this day was fun for everyone in attendance and I’m glad my family and I were able to be a part of it.

Well, that brings us to the big news from this past weekend and that was Dylan Wright racing in his first-ever MXGP in Italy. When I was speaking to Ryan Lockhart last week he told me that he thought this was even bigger news than when our Canadian riders head to the USA to race SX. Well, I’m not sure about that but I will say that having our Canadian 450 Champion on the starting line at the MXGP of Trentino was very cool. This is a great opportunity for not only Dylan but also for our entire country to have a rider competing in this iconic series. It’s been over 30 years since we had a Canadian rider on the starting line for an MXGP so this most certainly was a moment to celebrate for all of us. Perhaps Newf was correct when he said that this was huge news! Anyway, after a challenging qualifying session on Sunday morning, Dylan ended up going 13-21 for 19th overall in Italy, a result that he definitely worked hard for. After having to change his suspension set-up considerably after practice, Dylan also had to go to a lighter moose in his rear wheel to try and find more grip on the slippery Trentino circuit. His first race weekend in Europe was a little trial by fire but I think coming in Dylan knew it would be. With his race next being in less than 48 hours, I can’t help but think that Dylan will be much better on Wednesday when the series races at the same venue. Here is what Dylan had to say after his race yesterday:

“I was a decent day today. In the opening moto, I felt good and finished pretty well. I struggled with my bike set up for the track this morning so I wasn’t able to qualify very well. However, we found a good set-up and we will keep making improvements. I would like to have the second moto back for sure as I got cleaned out on Lap 2 which set the tone for the race. But the good news is we race again on Wednesday and I know I will be much more comfortable. The goal is to get inside the Top 10 in both motos.”

I’m sure we will all be paying close attention to what happens on Wednesday when Dylan and his fellow MXGP riders go at it again. Looking ahead to this coming weekend at Gopher Dunes. The long-awaited final round of the 2021 AMO Racing True North OPC Series takes place on Friday and Saturday. Also, once the racing is done on Saturday there is a dinner and awards presentation to help celebrate what has been another amazing year in Ontario motocross. Over the past five months, we’ve witnessed great racing in all of the classes, record entries at almost all of the AMO Racing events, and just a general feeling of good clean motocross fun had by all. With restrictions, mandates, and bad news being shoved down our throats daily, the motocross track and for us in Ontario these AMO Racing events have been the closest thing to ‘normal’ that we’ve had in our lives. Thankfully, we get to do it one more time this weekend at Gopher Dunes. On that note, thank you for reading, and please have a good final week of October. Happy Halloween everyone!