Yamaha Motor Canada Presents The Monday Gate Drop

Good day and welcome to another edition of the Yamaha Motor Canada Monday Gate Drop. This past weekend was definitely a successful one for the Blu Cru. Not only did MX101 Yamaha rider Luke Renzland win the 2019 SXTour title on Saturday in Hamilton, but OTSFF Yamaha rider Phil Nicoletti took home the big prize, the Rockstar Energy Triple Crown Series Championship. Renzland also won the series’ Hard Charger Award and Nicoletti won the Most Consistent Rider Award. It was most certainly a great weekend for Yamaha as well as a very successful weekend for the Blu Cru.

That’s a wrap, as they say in Hollywood! After months of intense racing right across this great country of ours, another season of Canadian pro motocross has come to an end. The final round went down on Saturday in very interesting downtown Hamilton. As I’ve mentioned numerous times, First Ontario Centre (formerly Copps Coliseum) has a long history of hosting indoor motocross. With its spacious paddock area, which even allowed Jetwerx to run a decent portion of the track under the stands and through a corner of the pits, the building is perfect for the Triple Crown Series. The only issue I see with it is that it’s located in a downtown area that is very sketchy to say the least. When you’re walking around outside the arena, even during the day, there are times when you simply keep your head down and try to not make eye contact with certain individuals. However, once inside the First Ontario Centre, the seats are comfortable and the energy is always good.

Since Nicoletti came into the final round with a large points lead, all he really had to do was make it through practice and into the night show. I must admit that Phil rode all day like a seasoned veteran and kept the balance perfectly between riding safely while still remaining aggressive. When the gate dropped for the 450 main event Phil tucked in right behind Cole Thompson and stayed there until Cole got tangled up with a lapper and went down. At that point, Phil took the lead for a few laps, but when a very aggressive Matt Goerke showed him a wheel, Phil did the wise thing and let him go. Obviously, with a very large cheque coming his way, it was better to win the war and not the battle in this case. So, Matt Goerke won the final main event of the year while Phil Nicoletti took home the 450 Triple Crown Championship. It was an entertaining final round in every class in Hamilton; even the Amateur classses had the crowd on their feet during the night program.

This is a huge moment for Phil Nicoletti and his Rockstar Energy OTSFF Yamaha Team. Team Manager Steve Simms and his crew have been working very hard for this and I think everyone in the paddock is happy for them. For those of you who don’t know, Steve and I are practically neighbours as he and his family moved to my neck of the woods a few years ago. Steve’s house actually backs on to my parents’ farm just outside of Shelburne, ON, and we ride together sometimes. I’m not sure if it’s the fact that we now share the same air in our neighbourhood that has brought us closer in the past few years, or maybe it’s the common goal we share of trying to make this sport better, but whatever it is I couldn’t be happier for my friend Steve as he’s definitely earned the success he’s enjoying right now. You have to respect someone who, first of all, treats you with the same amount of respect that you give him, but also tells you not only when he thinks you’re doing a good job but also when he strongly disagrees with you. Over the years, I’ve had a few ‘well done’ texts from Steve, and of course, a few ‘I simply don’t agree with what you said’ texts. As I said, honesty and respect are really all you can ask from someone. Congratulations to Steve Simms and the entire OTSFF Yamaha Team on an incredible 2019 season.

Yesterday at the host hotel right next to the arena, the Triple Crown Series held their year-end banquet in one of the ballrooms. There was food, drinks, awards, and of course a lot of bench racing before everyone went their separate ways for another season. There were also some hints dropped about what we might see next year as far as the Triple Crown Series goes. Early indications are the AXTour will begin in the east in 2020 and then head west. The plan is to have the final AXTour round in Calgary in mid-May and then have the MXTour begin just down the street two weeks later. There will be four western rounds in the MXTour, and although it wasn’t mentioned yesterday, I’m hearing that Kamloops will most likely be back on the schedule. There will be five rounds in the east, ending of course at Walton Raceway. So, a nine round MXTour is what everyone wants; eight is too short, in my opinion, and ten may prove to be too costly for most riders. There will the SXTour again in the fall so the Triple Crown format will remain unchanged next year. As far as rules go, yesterday they announced that they’re doing away with the 96-hour rule, which states that riders cannot practice on a national track 96 hours prior to the race there. This will allow tracks to hold open practice even as late as the Thursday before the race on Saturday. I was hoping to hear that they would adopt the USA practice of holding a full press day on the Friday for any rider that wants to attend, to maybe get some local media out to observe and then try to build some hype locally for the following day’s race. Anyway, opening the tracks for practice during the week is a step in the right direction for the privateer riders that are there all week and are looking for a place to ride. The final item that was mentioned yesterday was that the full Triple Crown schedule would be out by December 1^st. Finally, here are the award winners from yesterday’s season ending awards banquet:

Total Dedication Award: Andrew White

Most Sportsmen Award: Cade Clason

Mechanic of the Year: Steve Beattie

Most Improved Rider: Quinn Amyotte

Rookie of the Year: Sam Gaynor

Team Manager of the Year: Derek Schuster

Most Consistent Rider: Phil Nicoletti

Best Team Set-Up: Rockstar Energy OTSFF Yamaha Team

Hard Charger Award: Luke Renzland

Team of the Year: Honda Racing GDR Fox Team

Rider of the Year: Dylan Wright

Total Devotion Award: Ryan Gauld

Well, that is it for me this week. I hope everyone has a great week, and I hope the weather remains decent for at least a few more weeks. I also want to send a big get well out to Blu Cru riders Shawn Maffenbeier and Ben Kongmany who were both injured on Saturday evening. Heal up quick boys and we’ll see you in 2020. In closing, I want to send my condolences to Jeff McConkey’s family during this awful time. As you know, Jeff took his own life last week and he will be missed by all of us in the moto community. I didn’t know Jeff that well, we would only talk briefly at either races or at events. However, I can say that he was always nice and always treated me and my family with the utmost respect. He would even take a few moments to talk to my son about how his races were going. RIP Jeff, I hope that where ever you are now the track is perfectly groomed and your bike is in mint condition.