Yamaha Motor Canada Presents The Monday Gate Drop

Good day and welcome to another edition of the Yamaha Motor Canada Monday Gate Drop. Even though winter in now upon us and dirt bikes might not be at the top of your to-do list, Yamaha still has a full line-up of products that you might need during the next few months. Whether it’s a snowblower, generator or even a snowmobile, Yamaha Motor Canada has it all. For information on all of their products, please visit https://www.yamaha-motor.ca/.

The biggest news from this past weekend was the opening rounds of the Future West AX Championships in Chilliwack, BC. This long-standing series has always been a favourite out west, and even though it’s changed promoters and venues a few times over the years, this series goes back to the 1990s and has produced riders like Colton Facciotti, Darcy Lange, Dusty Klatt and Kyle Beaton. With the spacious Chilliwack Heritage Park Arena as its backdrop, the series has always been one to look forward to. In each class this series has always provided great racing, and judging by the opening weekend, this year is going to be much of the same.

The opening round of the Future West AX Championships in Chilliwack belonged to Cycle North Kawasaki rider Colin Jurin. Photo by Darin Marr

With classes ranging from Pee Wee Beginner right up to the Pro class, this series has something for everyone. This past weekend both the Pro Lites Class as well as the Pro Open Class belonged to Cycle North Kawasaki rider Colin Jurin. The Washington State native dominated every aspect of the Chilliwack track, leaving little doubt that he’ll be the rider to beat in this year’s series. Also riding well this weekend in the Pro class were Keylan Meston, Nick Collins, Jacob Piccolo and Kade Walker. It was great a kick-off to the series, and I’m sure everyone is looking forward to Rounds 3 and 4 this weekend.

Even the little kids enjoyed the spacious Chilliwack track. Photo by Darin Marr

If you’re a rider from outside of BC and you’ve never been to at least one round of this series, you should really try to go. It would even be interesting if Future West could work with the MRC to try to ship some eastern riders’ bikes out so that all a family would have to do is get themselves out to Chilliwack. I know there are a few Ontario racers that would jump at the chance to go. Back in 2013 I travelled out to one of the rounds to race the “Legends” class on Ryan Lockhart’s Maple Ridge Motorsports KX450. I recall that the cheapest flight I could get left early on Friday morning from Toronto. So, by the time I flew to Vancouver and drove to Chilliwack, I ended up arriving just prior to my scheduled practice session. As I pulled into the parking lot I ran into Ryan as he had just finished doing one of his well attended morning riding schools. He told me that his bike was ready to go, have fun, and don’t crash and bend it up. Those instructions seemed simple enough, so I went inside the Heritage Arena and into the warm and massive indoor paddock area where I found Newf’s bike and started to get dressed. Up until that point I hadn’t even seen the track as I’d only been in the sign-up room and paddock. After I got dressed and asked Newf’s Maple Ridge Kawasaki boss Troy Smith if I could move the bars up a little (Newf handlebar set-up doesn’t fit with my raised elbows), I headed out to the building, or buildings I should say, that housed the impressive track.

This is perhaps the biggest reason why this event is a must-attend: the track is massive compared to most AX tracks. With multiple lanes and obstacles, the Chilliwack track was the best indoor track I had ever ridden. That weekend I was fortunate enough to win both nights of the “Legends” class, and I had a blast doing it. However, more importantly I didn’t crash and returned Newf’s bike to him each time in perfect condition. Although, he did wonder why his bars were so high. Anyway, if you get a chance to race one of these events I think you’re going to find it a lot of fun. For all of the results from this past weekend as well as any information you might need, here is the event website: https://futurewestmoto.ca/

I had a great time racing the Chilliwack AX in 2013 and I’m still grateful to Ryan Lockhart and Troy Smith for letting me ride their bike. Photo by James Lissimore

From Canada we move down under and to one of the biggest SX events on the planet. This coming weekend the final round of the 2019 Australian Supercross Series will take place in Melbourne and the massive Marvel Stadium. This is a new venue for this race as in the past few years the final round has taken place in Sydney. With riders like Jason Anderson, Joey Savatgy, Josh Hill, Justin Brayton, Jett Lawrence and Chad Reed all scheduled to compete this weekend, this race is going to be epic. Over the past few years this event has grown to be one of the largest sporting events in Australia. With strong support from Monster Energy, Boost Mobile as well as Tourism Australia, the organizers were able to bring in these top athletes and not cut corners on any aspect of the event. This will also be Chad Reed’s final time racing as a full-time professional rider, so his Australian fans are in for a very memorable evening. Reed will enter this weekend a little banged up as his broken ribs are still healing from his Paris SX crash three weeks ago. But as Ricky Carmichael has stated on numerous occasions, “Never count Chad Reed out.” Over the years he’s proven time and time again that just when you think he’s down and out, he comes back and does the impossible. Heading into his final race in front of his home fans, it wouldn’t surprise me if he digs deep and finds a way to win and create a storybook ending to his career. The racing gets underway this Saturday in Australia, and our man down under, JSR Media, will be there reporting.

The track map for this weekend’s Aus-X Open SX in Australia is looking good.

Well, that is it for me this week. I hope everyone has a great week and Happy Thanksgiving to all of our American friends. Finally, we have a good group of Canadian riders down south competing at the 2019 Thor Winter Olympics at Gatorback Park in Florida. Good luck and we’ll be cheering for you. Here is the link for all of the results from Gatorback: http://resultsmx.com/minio/class.asp?c=&e=163&s=