Good Morning from rainy and humid Ontario. Well, that is definitely what we haven’t said in a while as for almost all of late June and July it’s been dry and although it’s been warm, the humidity thankfully hasn’t settled in like it usually does during this time of the year. But that all appears to be changing and it all started this past weekend in Sand Del Lee as the weather was hot and muggy for Round 6 of the 2022 Triple Crown Series. I feel like because of where the Sand Del Lee track is situated as well as the number of tall trees around the track this round of the nationals is always hot and humid. Sometimes it rains, but it always seems to be super hot. As I said, this past weekend was a challenging one for the riders as the temperatures were high and the sun was shining bright. In the past, we’ve always witnessed the MX101 crew providing the riders with a perfect track for race day and yesterday was no different. Kevin Tyler (or KT as he’s affectionately known in the industry) and his crew did an amazing job on the track as well as the facility and for the most part, the riders and teams were happy. Personally, I love going to SDL each year and this past weekend was no different. The people are nice, the track is awesome, and it’s also fun to hang out in our Nation’s Capitol for a few days. All in all, it was a great weekend, and honestly, I didn’t even mind the five-hour drive home last night. Now onto the racing!
As sure as taxes and eventual death are to all of us so is the fact that every year the racing at SDL is excellent. Whether it’s the sandy and loamy soil, the layout, or the fact that a rider can stay at the back wheel of another rider and not worry about the roost hurting, over the years some of the best battles have happened at this track. Yesterday was no different as almost every moto from the WMX, Pre-Mix as well as both pro classes provided some incredible entertainment. Think about that for a moment. Except for perhaps the opening 450 moto, the other seven motos throughout the day were full of action and drama.
Of course, like always there were a few stand-out moments including Kaven Benoit returning to racing and winning the Pre-Mix class, Eve Brodeur rebounding after a big defeat in Moto 1 of the WMX class, and then coming back and winning Moto 2. There was Mitchell Harrison going from last to third in the opening 250 moto. His ride was amazing and in the end, it saved his points lead as he will now head into Round 7 with a 1-point lead over Ryder McNabb. Speaking of McNabb, he crashed hard on Saturday afternoon at Dylan Wright’s house while practicing starts and injured his back and shoulders. However, that didn’t stop him from winning the overall yesterday and closing the points gap up on Harrison. Tyler Gibbs had his best moto of 2022 as he finished 4th in Moto 2 in the 250 class. At one point Gibbs was in second and just a few feet behind Sebastien Racine. Gibbs would give up a couple of spots to McNabb and Harrison but he held strong and fought off multiple late race attacks from Marco Cannella and Quinn Amyotte. To his credit, Gibbs is gaining the reputation of being one of the hardest riders on the track to pass as he just never gives up. I mentioned Racine, this poor kid who grew just down the road from SDL and he led most of the second 250 moto and had his first ever national moto win all but secured when he hit a downed rider in the final corner and went down. The incident was no one’s fault as poor Devyn Smith just made a small error and went down and then Racine, who was already committed to the inside line, hit Smith’s bike and went down. I know both riders were gutted after the race but it was really no one’s fault. I think it was just a bad luck racing incident. I spoke to Racine after and he told me that he feels good because now he knows that he has the speed to win. Finally, one moment that unfortunately was overshadowed but the Wright/Blackmer incident from Moto 2 was the ride by Shawn Maffenbeier in the opening 450 moto. Maff went down in turn one and for a few moments looked more like an ostrich with his head stuck in the sand than a motocross rider. However, he remounted and put in one of his best rides as he charged all the way back up to second. Unfortunately, I think Maff used up most of his energy reserves in that come-from-behind ride as in moto two he led for almost 20 minutes before Dylan Wright caught up and made the pass for the lead. Although Wright was coming like a freight train, it appeared like Maff didn’t have the energy to put up a big fight against the points leader. Anyway, Maff rode great and I, like everyone else on the planet would love to see him get a moto win before this summer is over.
Now onto Dylan Wright and what was one of the best rides we’ve ever witnessed here in Canada. After cruising to perhaps his easiest moto win of 2022 in the opening 450 moto, things would go sideways quickly in Moto 2 as Dylan went down in the first turn. My immediate thought was at least this moto is going to be fun for a few laps while Dylan slices and dices his way through the pack. Then, Dylan went down again on the opening lap and compounded the issue. So in the matter of a minute, Dylan went from just outside the top ten to way back and when I counted on lap three he was almost 30 seconds behind race leader Tyler Medaglia and with a lot of riders in between. As you can imagine I’m sure, at that point Dylan went into full beast panic mode as his perfect season was in serious jeopardy. As I mentioned earlier, the SDL track is tight and difficult to pass on and with Tyler and Maff out front in clean air, Wright was buried in the back of the pack eating roost from riders he’s only seen when lapping them. It was entertaining to watch and during the opening five laps, he probably should’ve crashed at least five times. By lap 7th Wright was up to fourth and quickly catching Chris Blackmer for third. On one hand, this was good news for Dylan as he still had ten laps remaining, however at that point with Dylan having to battle other riders he and race leader Maffenbeier were turning pretty much the same lap time. As the race entered its 8th lap it was still Maffenbeier’s race to lose and Dylan’s chances of a perfect season were still not looking good.
As Dylan came up on the back wheel of Blackmer for third it was the first time in the race that Dylan had caught someone who was racing at close to his speed. Blackmer is fast and loves the sand, so even though he’s not capable of going Dylan’s speed, he’s not too far off. However, as I mentioned above Dylan was in beast mode and racing at a speed that we’ve probably haven’t seen all season long. He wants to win every moto this summer and who can blame him for that. So as the two riders (Blackmer and Wright) came through the rollers and out of the woods heading towards to old tower finish line section Wright attempted a pass going into what used to be the final corner on the track. During the opening laps, Dylan had made multiple passes here as he was simply holding the gas on and breaking later than everyone else. As they entered the turn the other riders sensed Wright’s presence and gave up the spot without too much of a fight. But like I said, Blackmer is fast and trying to find the podium again so whether he knew it was Dylan or just another red front fender, he fought back in the corner and made Dylan check up and not be able to make the pass. Now, this is where the racing side of things at the pro level comes into play. If you’re Blackmer then of course you make it hard on Dylan to make the pass. If you’re running third and you don’t then you shouldn’t be out there. But if you’re Dylan and you’ve just come from 25th place and your potential perfect season is slipping away you don’t want anyone to impede your progress. You are in attack mode and everyone in front of you is the enemy. So as the two riders charged over the old finish line jump Dylan saw a small opening to the inside and went for it. The problem was that he ended up overjumping the jump and when he landed he got a little sideways and wasn’t able to remain in a direct line to the following corner. Blackmer was also being aggressive as he was fighting for third place so he also carried a lot of speed over the same jump. As the two riders landed and attempted to turn into the high-speed rough corner Dylan had a slight advantage but with the combination of him getting a little sideways and Blackmer staying aggressive also, they came together, and because Dylan was a little ahead and on the inside poor Blackmer got the worst of it. Also, since it was such a high-speed section Blackmer ended up crashing hard and knocking himself out. He was in fact down almost the entire remainder of the moto as the medics tended to him. Dylan would go on to reel in Medaglia and Maff and win his 14th moto of the season in what was just an incredible ride.
Was there blame to go around in this unfortunate incident? I don’t think blame is maybe the right word. You could argue that Dylan caused it by jumping aggressively to the inside off the jump and putting both he and Blackmer in a bad spot. However, Blackmer was also aggressive off the jump and didn’t give Wright a lot of room. In the end, I think this was mostly a racing incident that just went really bad for one of the two riders involved.
Everyone wants to see good aggressive racing and the Team Manager’s especially want to see their riders fight for every inch on the track. Blackmer is an aggressive young rider and he wants to prove to everyone that he can win races. He’s a breath of fresh air to the 450 class and I hope he’s able to come back soon and battle. As for Dylan, aggression is his middle name and over the years he’s been in more than one situation that has left people shaking their heads. But we want that from him and really that is what makes him such a unique rider. Would we have criticized him last fall in the MXGP Series if he had made the same pass on some poor MXGP rider? No, we would’ve waved our Canadian flags and said do it again Dylan! One reason people hold Ross Pederson in such high regard is because of how he raced. He was borderline evil when he battled you and he just didn’t care who you were. Heck, his nickname was Rollerball! John Nelson once told me an old Ross story and how at one race in Quebec Doug Hoover came into a corner and made a rare aggressive pass on Ross. John was excited because not many riders did that to Ross. Well, John and Hoover’s excitement was short-lived as Ross went into the next corner and hit Hoover so hard that he broke Doug’s foot. Now, when we tell this story we tell it with humour and admiration for how brutal Ross was sometimes. So let’s not jump on Dylan Wright for how he rides here and then turn around and hope that he rides that way on the world stage. He is who he is and every rider on the track knows it. If they don’t like it then they can deal with him on the track! I will also add that I like the way Chris Blackmer rides and I applaud him for putting up a little fight when Dylan was trying to pass. That is racing folks!
Now, I was also going to go into what happened after the Wright/Blackmer incident with the flags and whether there should’ve been a steady red flag on the top of the finish line jump as opposed to after it. I’ve spoken to Assistant Referee Daryl Murphy, as well as to a few of the Team Managers and riders. I understand why the officials didn’t want to use a red cross flag on the top of the jump or even before the jump. They made the decision that the situation was under control and that after one lap every rider knew what was after the jump so they knew to slow down accordingly. However, in witnessing the entire situation from just 30 feet away it’s my opinion that a red cross flag could’ve been used at the top of the jump and not just after it. I believe that it would’ve provided a buffer of safety that would have increased the chances of no further incidents happening. Thankfully nothing did happen and everyone was safe, but it easily could’ve gone the other way as it was a challenging situation to say the least. In the moments after the crash Blackmer was non-responsive and when he did finally wake up it’s my understanding that his back hurt and he had some tingling in his legs. So right from the start, this was a serious situation on a very tough part of the track for medics to work on him. This is not a critique of the officials as Kinger and Murph do a great (thankless) job. We need them in this series and we are thankful that they still are a part of this series. But we also need to have discussions after incidents like the one yesterday to ensure that it was handled correctly and what, if anything, can be done next time to ensure everyone’s safety. Murphy did tell me this morning that lately he’s been trying to have more communication with the riders to see how they feel about certain things. I think this is great as ultimately they’re the ones who are in the heat of battle each weekend. Ask them what they would want to see happen if a situation like this takes place again? Unfortunately, this is motocross and sadly we will see something like this again.
Well, I think I’ve written enough today and this Gate Drop is getting pretty long. I hope you’ve enjoyed the read and in closing, I’d like to send Charles Charlton and his family my best wishes. Charles had a big crash on Saturday at SDL and remains in hospital as he recovers from a serious head injury. His dad posted on FB that he’s doing well and improving each day so please keep Charles in your thoughts this week. Finally, thank you to Kevin Tyler and the SDL crew for a great weekend of Triple Crown Series racing. Now, it’s onto Riverglade for Round 7.