Well, that was one heck of a weekend! Not only did my son kick off his 22/23 hockey season with a tournament in London, ON, but we also spent two days at the Progressive Auto Sale Arena in Sarnia watching a few of our top pro riders bang bars and trade paint. It was a sports-filled weekend and thankfully Mother Nature cooperated and gave us some very nice fall weather in Southern Ontario. All in all, it was a solid opening weekend to October and with Thanksgiving coming up this weekend, October is most certainly starting with a bang!
I’m going to begin with the Triple Crown Series AXTour in Sarnia as I love AX racing and I could talk about it all day long. I love everything about them including the tight racing, the small technical tracks, indoor pit areas, the fans hanging over the glass, and even the smoke-filled arenas. When I was an amateur rider, AX racing was a big part of the program. My dad used to take me to all the local AX races in Ontario and some in Michigan and Ohio. Once I transitioned to the pro class, indoor racing became an even bigger part of my program as one of the few ways to make money as a pro in the 1990s was to travel to Quebec and race every AX you could. Victoriaville, St Tite, Chicoutimi, and Riviere du Loup were all regular AX stops for me from 1990-2000. Racing those events while trying to make a living were some of the most challenging races of my life without a doubt. Not so much because of the physical challenge but mostly due to the mental strain that a rider has to go through in the short 5-6 minute AX races. The number of decisions that a rider must make in an AX race is astronomical. Just getting your mind to operate that fast is hard and that is one of the reasons why we see that certain riders are just plain better at AX than others. For some, it comes naturally, or they’ve practiced it a lot as a kid, for others, it takes a little longer to get comfortable and we saw that this past weekend. If we look at the two nights of racing in Sarnia on Friday a couple of the riders were really fast from the opening lap of practice and they carried that right through the night. For others, it took one night to get comfortable with the track, their bike setup, as well as the dog-eat-dog type of racing that AX demands. As I mentioned above, a rider must make a plethora of decisions in a short period of time if they want to first survive and then find success. Of course, no rider is immune to a poor decision, and as we saw this weekend things can go sideways pretty quickly. But as a rider, I used to love it and as a fan and media guy of this sport, I still love it!
To get an idea of who was fast this past weekend in Sarnia let’s focus on the results from the final race on Saturday evening, the Superfinal top 10:
1. Mitchell Harrison- GASGAS
Mitchell is the perfect example of a rider who got faster as the weekend went on. Although he does have a lot of indoor experience, most of that is in SX where he’s accustomed to having more room. On Friday night Harrison struggled to find the pace of the leaders and his results most certainly weren’t as good as they were on Saturday night. I spoke to him after this big win, and he said that they made some bike changes after Friday and he was just feeling more comfortable. Thankfully, he was okay from his big crash in the 250 main event on Saturday when he tangled with Tyler Gibbs through the whoops causing both riders to go down hard!
2. Cole Thompson- Yamaha
Cole was Mr. Consistency this weekend as he finished on the podium in all six main events. As always, he was on both ends of the rough-riding spectrum as he gave it as good as he took it. It was surprising to see Cole a little off the pace through qualifying on Friday however by the time the gate dropped for the main events he had found his groove. In the 250 main event on Saturday evening, he did get a little lucky when the Harrison/Gibbs incident caused a red flag and a new start. At the time of the red flag, Cole was outside of the top 3 and struggling to make passes. On the restart, Cole grabbed the holeshot and rode off to an easy win. Sometimes in AX you just need a little luck! It was also great to see all the Cole Thompson fans come out to cheer on their local hero!
3. Tanner Ward- Kawasaki
Tanner Ward’s riding this past weekend was remarkable in my opinion as he really demonstrated just how far he’s come as a racer. First, a little back story to Tanner’s weekend in Sarnia. As of Wednesday, he didn’t even have a bike to race as his Team Manager Chad Goodwin had to drive up from Florida to build a motor as well as a set of indoor suspension. On Thursday, Tanner drove up to my place and spent most of the day riding my SX track and trying to get comfortable on a 250F again. Obviously, whatever he did worked as he was also Mr. Consistency this weekend. His best finish was a win on Friday night and his worst was 4th on Saturday night! Tanner rode extremely smart all weekend and it was great to see him back in this series. Not only will Tanner be in Calgary later this month for the final round, but he’ll also be racing in the Future West AX Championships in BC.
4. Devin Simonson- Kawasaki
It was great to see a couple of USA riders travel to Sarnia to race and all of them were fast during parts of the weekend. Simonson has a lot of SX experience in the USA and right away you could see his strong indoor skills. However, most of the weekend he struggled with his starts and his ability to make passes and that hurt his results. Still, it was great to have him here and I’d kill to have his long hair!
5. Tyler Gibbs- GASGAS
Right from the start of practice on Friday Tyler was fast and even took pole position in both classes on night one. Tyler loves AX and his skill set fits perfectly with the tight tracks of indoor racing. Tyler not only found some consistency on Friday evening, but he also grabbed his first podium of the series. On Saturday night, he found himself leading the 250 main event in the early laps until Harrison’s banzai move through the whoops took them both down. Since head referee Paul Kingsley deemed that Harrison and Gibbs both caused the red flag, they were forced to start in the second row on the restart. Unfortunately, Tyler could only muster a 7th in that main event but he did bounce back well to take two top-five finishes in the remaining main events. Tyler is a rider with a ton of talent and as he matures and finds a little more consistency he’s going to do quite well indoors in the next few years!
6. Jeremy McKie- KTM
Jeremy was a late entry for Sarnia as he decided last minute to make the long drive there from Quebec. For most of the weekend, he was frustrated with his lack of speed and ability to find comfort on the tight Sarnia track. However, little by little he worked with his mechanic for the weekend Steve Beattie, to find the right set up and by Saturday night he was looking better and feeling better. Good on Jeremy for trusting the process and in the end he found a little success in the main events. On another note, if I was a team looking for a 450 rider in 2023 that could quietly be a solid top-five guy I would sign McKie in a heartbeat. I know he’s currently a 250 rider but trust me when I say this, his best days are ahead of him, and they will be on a 450.
7. Westen Wrozyna- Yamaha
All weekend long Westen was on the cusp of a great finish in Sarnia. On Saturday in qualifying he was very fast and like always, that translated into better results in the night show. Westen is a warrior and I love that he’s still out there banging bars with everyone in the class. He’s built for indoor racing and if he could find a way to get better starts, he’d be a podium guy for sure. I hope Westen finishes the series in Calgary later this month as the racing is most certainly more entertaining with him on the gate.
8. Quinn Amyotte- Yamaha
I believe this was Quinn’s worst finish of the weekend as he was fast on both nights of racing. Throughout the season Quinn has improved his overall speed and consistency and so far in these indoor races, he’s been near the front. I’d love to see what he could do with a main event holeshot but that is something he needs to work on. I’m sure Quinn will have to get the steel wool out this week to buff some of the scrapes off his Yamaha as he was involved in more than one aggressive pass. Rubbing is racing when you don’t get the holeshot in AX.
9. Daniel Elmore- Honda
Considering he’s been away from home since early August and the fact that he hasn’t been able to ride much since the Gopher Dunes SX, Daniel rode solid all weekend, and this was his best result. Daniel is a great guy and it’s good that he’s part of this series. This week he and his brother are finally making the long drive home to BC where they will rest for a few weeks before making their way to Calgary for the final round of the Triple Crown AXTour Series.
10. Guillaume St Cyr- KTM
Indoor specialist St Cyr looked solid all weekend but after hurting his ankle on Friday night he struggled to get inside the top 5. The Quebec rider is fast on these tight tracks and when he gets a start, he is very hard to pass. Hopefully, St Cyr can get healthy and make the trip out west to finish up this AXTour Series.
Well, that was your top ten from the Superfinal on Saturday night. The only rider missing from those names was Chris Blackmer who was fast and entertaining all weekend long but didn’t qualify for this race on Saturday night. Blackmer grabbed a podium finish on Friday and certainly had some speed throughout the weekend. Chris told me that he wants to come back to Canada in 2023 but on a 250 this time. Time will tell if he can make it happen, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him racing the East half of the series next year. It was great to have real indoor racing back this past weekend and Sarnia was a perfect host to the series. Both nights saw decent attendance numbers and those who were there got treated to a great show. As I mentioned at the top, I loved every minute of the races this weekend and I cannot wait for Calgary. I also want to send a shout-out to young pro riders Tanner Scott and Preston Masciangelo who both didn’t make it through the weekend. Tanner had a big crash in practice on Saturday and Preston crashed hard on Friday night. I hope both riders are back as they definitely have some solid indoor skills.
Moving on from AX racing to the incredible support that the moto community is showing for Steve Simms. His GoFundMe page is now over $20,000 and is still climbing. Our moto family is amazing and I cannot express how touched Steve’s family is at all of the love and support. Currently, Steve is still in the hospital as doctors are working hard to get his fever down. He is also still on a ventilator. Overall, he’s doing a little better and is more awake and not in need of as many drugs. There is still no timetable set for his release, but his mom Mary said she should know more later today when she’s set to meet with the doctors again. Hang in there Steve, we’re all thinking of you and pulling for you! Fundraiser for Mary Simms by Scott Donkersgoed : Support Steve Simms (gofundme.com)
Well, that is it for me this week. I hope everyone has a great week and Happy Thanksgiving to all of you this weekend. Also, congratulations to Trystan Hart who won the Denver Endurocross this past weekend. After his win, Hart is now just four points out of the championship lead in the 2022 series. Finally, this weekend is the opening round of the new FIM World SX Championships in Cardiff, Wales so that should be exciting to watch. Our own Kourtney Lloyd is managing the ClubMX Yamaha Team so let’s all cheer for them. Thank you for reading and if you have any questions or comments, please email me at chris@mxpmag.com.