Yamaha Motor Canada Presents The Monday Gate Drop

Good day and welcome to another edition of the Monday Gate Drop brought to you by Yamaha Motor Canada. With the month of August right around the corner, we’re almost at the time of the season when both pro and amateur championships are decided. With the ECAN being this week in Quebec, the Walton TransCan in two weeks, and the final round of the Rockstar Energy Triple Crown MXTour Series also taking place in a few weeks time, this is definitely the most exciting time of the year. We would like to wish all of the Yamaha Blu Cru riders good luck and safe racing in the next month.

This past weekend the 2019 MXTour series travelled to beautiful Moncton, NB for Round 6. After two very challenging sand tracks in a row, I’m sure the riders were happy to be back on a tacky and rutted track. Riverglade Raceway is always in great shape, and I have to really congratulate the track crew this year as they kept the track in amazing condition throughout the day on Saturday. With not a cloud in the sky for most of the day and temperatures around 28c, it was a beautiful east coast summer day in Moncton. However, the hot sun dried the track out quite quickly so the crew had to stay on top of things after each moto. As I said, they did a great job and I know the riders appreciated it very much.

The racing at Round 6 was pretty good in all classes and thankfully it lacked the drama that we witnessed in Sand Del Lee the week before. It appeared that every rider was on their best behaviour and I only witnessed one pass where a little contact was made. In the end, the GDR Honda Team once again came out on top as Dylan Wright won his third overall in a row in the 250 class and Mike Alessi went 1-1 to win the 450 class. Other than Dylan Wright’s charge to the front in Moto 1 and Colton Facciotti’s late second moto charge to the rear fender of the #800, there really weren’t many sustained battles on the track. After the heat and tough conditions of the previous two weekends, it was almost like the riders as a group were still trying to catch their breath. However, like always, there were a few interesting moments that took place during the motos, so let’s review those now.

As I mentioned last week, right now Dylan Wright is just a little better than everyone else in the 250 class. His riding and race craft are absolutely unbelievable, and because he’s now beaming with confidence, it doesn’t seem to matter where he sits on the opening lap, he’s going to the front. In both motos on Saturday the KTM duo of Jess Pettis and Tanner Ward spent time at the front of the pack, only to be reeled in and passed by Wright. Dylan has now won the last six motos and leads the 250 class by 39 points over Pettis. When we go back to the western rounds and look at Dylan’s motos (1-6 in Calgary, he would’ve gone 1-1 in Prince George if his sub-frame didn’t break, and he won in Manitoba but got docked for cutting the track, as did pretty much every other rider that day), I think it’s safe to say that so far 2019 has been Dylan Wright’s year! With four motos to go in the 250 class something very unlucky will have to happen for Dylan to not win the title. He has a little speed on everyone and most importantly I think he has the mental advantage over his competition. But, like I said last week, Jess Pettis is getting better each week and I expect him to win again before the series is over.

In the 450 class, the points are a little closer as Colton Facciotti’s lead over Mike Alessi is now only 21 points. Alessi made up a few ponits this weekend in Moncton with his 1-1 performance while Facciotti could only muster 3-2 moto scores. Facciotti actually got very lucky when Matt Goerke ran into bike issues on the final lap of the opening moto, which moved Colton to third. In Moto 2, Nicoletti fell while running in second, which allowed Facciotti to move to second. But you have to be good to be lucky and Facciotti looked to be riding very focused. In the 450 class, Alessi looks to have the most speed, Facciotti the most fitness, Nicoletti the most determination, Thompson the highest pain threshold, and Goerke the worst luck. At the final two races, it’s definitely going to be interesting to see how each rider handles the difficult tasks presented to them.

For Alessi, I don’t think he has to change a thing as he’s been getting good starts and winning motos in recent weeks. His speed is good and he looks very comfortable. For Facciotti, he’s going to have to win a moto or two in the final two weekends, or at least finish in front of his teammate if he wants to win his sixth 450 title. He’s been great this summer at playing it smart and doing just enough to keep the red plate each weekend, but it’s going to take one more big push to get this title wrapped up. In the past, Colton’s done very well in Deschambault so this could be his weekend. This past weekend during the late stages of Moto 2, Thompson caught Facciotti and looked to be faster, but moments after Thompson showed him a wheel and Colton saw who it was, he put the hammer down and did three of his fastest laps of the day to hold on to second. With Thompson still battling back issues, he had done well to get into third and have a chance at second, but at that point I don’t think he had enough in him to stay with Facciotti. Actually, Facciotti’s pace in those final few laps was so fast that he reeled in a cautious riding Alessi and was right on him at the finish. The final four motos between these two Honda riders is going to be interesting, and Team Manager Derek Schuster is going to have his hands full, for sure. Finally, in case you’re wondering, there were no incidents this weekend between Alessi and Nicoletti. In both motos Nicoletti got into second and could see Alessi a few bike lengths ahead but he was unable to reel in Alessi. It was anti-climatic to say the least.

So, before I go, I want to touch on the appeals that were heard last week regarding the Alessi/ Nicoletti incident at Sand Del Lee. As most of you have heard by now, Nicoletti’s penalty of being DQ’d from the entire day was reversed and he, along with Alessi, was given a five-position penalty, fined and put on probation for the rest of the series. We don’t need to go over what happened as it’s been covered 100 times by everyone. I am a little curious at how the MCC Rules Committee came up with community service and having both riders have to make a video. I guess it’s outside of the box thinking and that is never a bad thing, but moving forward it has definitely set a precedent. When I heard the part of the ruling about community service, I immediately thought back to 1987 when Ross Pederson was given the penalty of having to be an Assistant Referee for a day after he got into trouble for ignoring an official. I was at Moto Park that day when Ross had to serve his penalty and it was pretty funny to see Ross standing there at riders meeting in a white referee’s shirt. Ross told me years later that it was not his finest moment by any means but that it wasn’t all bad as he got to pick the race that he had to serve his penalty. He picked Moto Park because it was the day after the Hamilton AX, so the CMA actually paid for his travel from Alberta to Ontario. This allowed him to keep all of his start money that he received for the Hamilton AX so he was at least happy about that. Anyway, after hearing about this recent penalty of community service, I reached out to Ross on Friday to get his thoughts on the day he was a CMA official. Here is what Ross said:

“On with the topic at hand, my experience as a referee … like all incidents, there are a series of events that contribute to the end result. It started off with Yamaha Canada’s introduction of the new refined YZ 250 at their dealer show and of course the ride day at Shannonville Raceway, which also happened to be a local Ontario race. All the dealers were there to see these new machines perform on the track and I was the rider demonstrating this new bike. The week before I just had my knee rebuilt and was invited over to Italy for the Masters of Motocross at Maggiora, Italy. I wanted to get as much time on the bike before I left for Europe the following week, so I wanted to get this local Ontario race under my belt and some race time on the new 1987 YZ 250 that I would be riding in Italy. Conditions for that day were mud and rain and I got there late for practice, so I snuck out, or so I thought I did, for a late practice with a group of riders that I wasn’t assigned to and I was surprised when I got black flagged after just one lap. As you are aware, one lap of practice is not enough to learn a track you have never ridden before, let alone walked, so I proceeded to continue my practice (ignoring the referee) wanting to put on a good show for the dealers…so I put in a few extra laps. When I finally did stop to chat with the referee, I didn’t really like what he had to say so I rode off quickly, and in the process, I might have roosted him a little.

After the adrenaline stopped flowing back in the pits, I realized I should have handled the situation much differently. The story continues with me not riding that day (rightfully so) as I was faced with a full disqualification and a life learning lesson. Referees have a tough enough time keeping the day running safely and smoothly without the # 1 rider acting like a Jackass. The punishment for me was to referee a race and experience what a referee goes through in a day at the races. It started off as punishment, so I thought … however it was a life experience that every racer should go through, just so they can appreciate what these folks go through in a day. I can tell you now that I was feeling very uncomfortable tackling the referee job at Moto Park. I never imagined, and frankly took it for granted, what a referee puts in during a day. From that day on it was thumbs up whenever I crossed paths with one of our heroes of the sport that don’t get the recognition they deserve. Every rider should experience the ‘day of a referee,’ because I can assure you, every rider that has experienced that day would ALWAYS give his referee the thumbs up he rightfully deserves.”

Well, that is it for me this week, as how can I possibly top words by Ross Pederson, the greatest rider this country has ever produced. I hope everyone has a great, safe week. I’m off to Deschambault tomorrow for the ECAN so look for reports from this great event all week long. Have a great week and thanks for reading!