Good day and welcome to another edition of the Yamaha Motor Canada Monday Gate Drop. If you’re looking for a new Yamaha or any Yamaha accessories, today is their one day only Cyber Monday Sale. So head to your nearest Yamaha dealer to save some money or visit https://www.yamaha-motor.ca/ for more details.
Well, I hope everyone had a great weekend, and with winter definitely here, I hope you all stayed warm. My weekend was great as on Friday night my son’s hockey team had a parent vs kids game during their practice. I am the team’s goalie coach, and since one of our goalie’s wanted to play out on Friday night I dug out my goalie equipment and went between the pipes. As you can imagine it was a fun time had by all, and in case you were wondering, the Parents won 6-4. Then on Saturday night we made the two hour drive to Gopher Dunes for Colton Facciotti’s retirement party. The party took place in Frank Schuster’s massive shop and the turnout was incredible. Everyone from Joe Skidd to Bill Van Vugt were in attendance, even Jay Moore from Fox Racing Canada flew out from Calgary, and Colton’s famous trainer, Todd Schumlick, made the trek out from BC. It was a great night and a perfect way to honour Colton’s incredible career. I asked Colton what he’s been up to for the past few months and he said that he’s just been working around his house and hanging with his family. He also mentioned that this is what he’s usually doing this time of year so at the moment nothing is really different. The big change will come in late January when for the past decade or so Colton has headed south to the warm climate of GPF to begin his training. I asked him about his dislike of winter and how he was going to cope in the new year. He said that there is definitely a family vacation planned to get away from the cold in early 2020. As I said, it was a terrific evening and everyone in attendance had fun. From what I’ve been able to gather, Colton will be helping out the GDR Honda Team in 2020 with testing, mentoring, and will travel to the races to assist the team. This is great news as he will be a great help to the team.
Colton Facciotti’s parents made it out to Ontario for their son’s retirement party. Here they all stand in front of a very cool painting that Honda Canada Racing had made to celebrate Colton’s amazing career.
One rider who was obviously in attendance on Saturday evening was Dylan Wright. When I arrived, Dylan greeted me in my 1999 Fox Racing #8 jersey that I had given Derek Schuster a few years ago. Derek has a great collection of old race jerseys, and Dylan said that one was his favourite. After some jokes that the jersey probably wouldn’t fit me anymore, I told Dylan that he was welcome to wear it next weekend in Geneva. As we reported here a few weeks back, Dylan is headed over to Switzerland this week to compete in the Geneva SX. This is Dylan’s first big International SX so he’s obviously excited to head over and race against some fast Europeans. Joey Crown is also going over there so it will be cool to see some familiar faces racing each other. This will also be Dylan’s final race on a 250cc as he’s moving up the 450 class in 2020. I was also happy to hear that Dylan is doing this unique trip the right way. He’s flying over a day early to get acclimatized, and he’s taking a few days after the race to do some sightseeing and some Christmas shopping. Look for a feature story on Dylan’s Geneva race in our first issue of 2020. Good luck Dylan!!
In other news, the final round of the 2019 Australian SX Series took place this past weekend in Melbourne. The spacious Marvel Stadium was the host, and by the looks of things, this event was massive. With over 35,000 fans in attendance, Chad Reed, who was racing in his final Australian SX event, wowed everyone with his determined riding. Reed was still suffering the affects of two broken ribs he suffered in a crash three weeks ago in Paris, so he was not 100% when the gate dropped in Melbourne. However, in true Chad Reed fashion he found a way to compete in all three main events, even leading the opening main event for a short time. Prior to the event, Reed announced that 2020 will be his final season of full-time racing and that he plans to be on the starting line at Anaheim 1 in January aboard his Mountain Motorsports, CBD, Arma backed Honda. Hopefully Honda Racing USA is pumped to have Reed racing the Monster Energy Supercross Series on a red bike and provide him with a few factory parts. I would think that a factory engine, ECU, transmission and hydraulic clutch would most certainly help Reed’s effort in 2020. Podium finishes will be very difficult for Reed in 2020, but it will still be great to see him on the track next season.
Speaking of next season, today is the day that the 2020 Rockstar Energy Triple Crown Series schedule has been released to the public. Obviously there are a few very positive changes for next season. There will be a few new venues, as well as the MXTour events moving to Sunday from Saturday. There will be four rounds of AXTour, nine rounds of outdoor nationals, and two SXTour races. After watching the past two Supercross events in Australia I’d love to see the final SXTour events in Canada use the same Triple Crown format in 2020, with an added Super Pole race also in the program. This would allow the fans to see the top riders more, and the Super Pole races are uber exciting for everyone in the stands. Anyway, have a look at the schedule and make your plans for 2020.
My final bit of news today comes from Chilliwack, BC and the Future West AX Championships. Rounds 3 and 4 took place this past weekend at the Heritage Park Arena in beautiful Chilliwack. It was another great weekend of racing in all of the classes and especially for Keylan Meston and Jacob Piccolo. These two riders took the wins in the Pro-AM class and the Pro Open class on Friday night as well as on Saturday night. Unfortunately, Colin Jurin, who was the dominant pro rider last weekend, crashed hard and wasn’t able to race on Saturday night. Colin will see his doctor today to see exactly what his injuries are and how long he’ll be out for. This series now takes a long break until the new year. It’s definitely been an exciting start to the Future West AX Series and now we look forward to Rounds 5 and 6 in 2020.
Well, that is it for me this week. I hope everyone has a great week and once again, good luck to Dylan Wright this coming weekend in Geneva. Please be safe everyone and thanks for reading this week’s Yamaha Motor Canada Monday Gate Drop.