Yamaha Motor Canada Presents The Monday Gate Drop

Good day and welcome to another edition of the Yamaha Motor Canada Monday Gate Drop. We are now less than two weeks until Christmas so there’s still plenty of time to purchase some quality Yamaha products. Head out to your local Yamaha dealer or go to www.yamaha-motor.ca to see the last minute deals.

After the excitement of having Dylan Wright racing in Geneva last weekend, this past weekend was definitely a lot slower. With Christmas and the new year almost upon us, all of our focus is now on family, and of course waiting for Anaheim 1. Yes, 2019 is about to come to an end, and then we can take a quick breath and do it all over again next year. For the motocross fraternity, the opening round of the Monster Energy Supercross Series is really our official kick-off to the new year. Basically, New York City features the ball dropping in Time Square, while Anaheim features the gate dropping inside Anaheim Stadium. As with the beginning of every new season there is always an endless amount of optimism surrounding which athletes, or riders in this case, are going to step up and be the cream of the crop. However, just like the first game of a long season, the opening round at Anaheim rarely gives us a glimpse of which rider will be standing on top of the podium at the end of the 17 Round series. Last year it was Justin Barcia who outlasted everyone else in the muddy conditions, and the year before it was Marvin Musquin who took the victory at the opening round. Of course, neither would go on to win the SX title so I think it’s pretty safe to say that picking the winner of Anaheim 1 is a crap shoot. But honestly, part of the fun of the next two weeks is trying to decipher who the winner is going to be. I could be going out on a limb here but Ken Roczen, Eli Tomac, Jason Anderson, rookie Adam Cianciarulo, and defending SX Champion Cooper Webb might safe picks in your fantasy pools.

The track for the opening round in Anaheim looks surprisingly technical for the first design of the series.

One rider that we spoke about last week was Chad Reed. At this time last week there was some serious speculation that he might sign with the Red Bull KTM Team and fill in for Marvin Musquin. However, after multiple days of Social Media silence, Reed finally posted something at the end of the week showing he and his new Mountain Motorsports Boost Mobile Arma Honda Team feverishly building bikes. With so many personal sponsors already on board for his 2020 farewell tour, dropping everything to take a fill-in roll at KTM did seem like a long shot. So, Reed will race his final season of Supercross as a full-fledged privateer, although I do find it hard to believe that at some point during the series he won’t get some backdoor help from HRC. With his plans all set for the 2020 Monster Energy Supercross Series, all Reed needs to do is get in tip-top shape, and find a way to improve his starts. It will definitely be interesting watching Reed race in his final season in 2020. Hopefully he’ll be able to get some momentum early and challenge for some podiums in the second half of the series. He has always been a rider capable of rising to the occasion and I don’t see why he won’t again, especially with it being his last year racing this series. As we witnessed this past summer in Canada with Colton Facciotti, champions just find a way to succeed.

It’s official, Chad Reed will be racing the 2020 Monster Energy Supercross Series aboard a Mountain Motorsports Honda. Photo by JSR Media.

Sadly, we won’t be seeing Jess Pettis lining up at A1 like he did in 2019. While Jess’s surgically repaired knee is doing very well, he won’t be back on a bike until early March. I’d love to see Pettis race some late season SX races, but I doubt you’ll see him on a racetrack until the opening round of the 2020 Rockstar Energy Triple Crown MXTour Series in Calgary. As the 2018 250 MXTour Champion, Pettis is most certainly one of, if not THE favourite to win this title again next year. Regardless of when we see him back, I’m just happy to see that he’s doing well and that his knee is recovering nicely. Jess is still young, and I believe that his best days are still ahead of him. But I’m quite sure that I speak for all Canadians when I say that I’m going to miss the excitement of having a top Canadian rider to cheer for in the early rounds of SX. Pettis had this entire country cheering for him a year ago. That excitement may come back, though, as Cole Thompson could be lining up in the 450 class in Atlanta and Daytona. I received a text from Cole last week saying that the plan is to line up at both Atlanta and Daytona in 2020. Hopefully this happens as I’d love to see Cole behind the gate in the 450 class at these races, and I think he’d finish quite well.

Last year we had Jess Pettis to cheer for in the 250SX West series, in 2020 we may have his teammate Cole Thompson to cheer for in Atlanta and Daytona. Photo by James Lissimore

In other news, late last week Eve Brodeur posted on her Social Media feed that she had signed with FXR Racing for 2020. This was good to hear as Eve seems like the perfect fit with this ever-growing brand, not to mention that, as Eve said in her interview with me on Friday, her dad and Andy White are very good friends. This is definitely a good match and we look forward to seeing Eve on the track wearing the new FXR Racing gear at the opening round of the Western Canadian Women’s series in Calgary. Until then, Eve is enjoying her new status as a College graduate, and she told me that in January she’s headed to Sri Lanka for a few weeks. She’s not going there to race, just to travel and see the world. It sounds as though 2020 is going to be a very exciting year for Eve Brodeur!

Eve Brodeur has signed with FXR Racing for 2020.

Well, that is it for me this week. I hope everyone has a safe, final week before Christmas. On Wednesday my family and I are headed down to South Carolina for a week. Like I did last year, I’m going to swing by the JGR Suzuki Race Shop for a visit and then on the weekend we’re going riding at ClubMX. It’s going to be a short but fun visit with our friends in Fort Mill, SC. Have a great week and thanks for reading. I’ll talk to you next week from South Carolina.

I’m looking forward to see our old buddy Jimmy Decotis this week in Charlotte.