Heading into the opening round of the 2022 Triple Crown Series this past weekend at Whispering Pines MX Park, defending 450 Champion Dylan Wright had his mind set on getting off to a good start. Since this is the first time the series has travelled to the west coast since 2019, Dylan and his GDR Honda Team had more things to worry about than they have for the past two seasons. However, with a challenging track and a few of his competitors that also wanted to win on Sunday, Dylan accomplished exactly what he set out to do and won both motos at the opening round. It was a great opening round for the two-time 450 champion and heading into Round 2 Dylan is looking for the same type of success. We caught up with him as he was heading out to do some motos near his home in Quebec.
MXP: Good morning Dylan, it’s early so thank you for taking our call. What are you up to this morning?
DW: Hey Palms! Right now I’m just driving out to Jeremy McKie’s track to do some motos and try and beat the rain. It’s supposed to start raining this afternoon and then rain for a few days so we have to try and ride while we can.
Yeah, it’s been raining pretty hard this morning in Ontario so no doubt it’s headed your way. So you raced two motos on Sunday and then had a long day of travel yesterday back to Montreal, how is the body feeling after Round 1 of the Triple Crown Series?
I feel pretty good actually. Flying home from Kamloops is always tough as you have connections and the time change coming back east, but we landed yesterday around 4 pm and I was able to get to bed early last night. I feel good and with the conditions and how things went on Sunday, I was able to conserve some energy and recover quickly.
It’s been a long time since you had to fly out west to race so I’m glad to hear that you’re feeling good. Talk to us about Sunday. I’m sure it didn’t feel routine to you but from the outside looking in it appeared like the opening round pretty much went as you hoped it would?
For sure, winning both motos like that is how I wanted it to go and certainly how I envisioned the opening round going during the off-season. In the opening moto, I was able to follow Tyler [Medaglia] around for a few laps as he was going pretty fast during the opening laps. But after about 12 minutes or so I saw an opening and was able to make the pass. From there, I just rode smooth and tried to keep my feet on the pegs as much as possible.
In Moto 2, I didn’t get off to that great of a start so I had to push a little more in the early laps. I knew Tyler was up front again and I didn’t want him getting too far out there. I found some great lines and made some passes and then took over the lead. It definitely wasn’t routine but the day did go fairly smooth. It’s good to score those points early in the series as it kind of sets the tone heading into Round 2.
Your old teammate and current suspension guru Colton Facciotti used to really thrive on scoring points early in a series and getting off to a quick start. I guess you just never know when you’re going to need them later in the series if a moto or two doesn’t go your way.
Exactly, Colt used to be the king at that and that is why he was so hard to beat. It’s nice to get off to that type of a start in the series. I was a little sick coming into the weekend so I’m glad it didn’t end up being a hot one on Sunday. I did feel a little better on Sunday but with the rain and cool temperatures, I didn’t have to use up that much energy.
In talking to different riders the consensus was that the Whispering Pines track was in great shape for the motos on Sunday afternoon. Would you agree with that?
The track was pretty good and I think the rain on Sunday really help it. If we didn’t get that rain then I think it would have dried out for the motos. As it turned out the conditions were good in both motos and even after my sight lap before Moto 2 I told I told Justin that the track was in perfect shape. Those rough and rutted conditions really suit me as that is what I grew up riding so I enjoyed racing on Sunday. We’ll see what this coming weekend is like. I’m hearing that it’s the complete opposite of what we saw in Kamloops.
I guess the track this weekend in Drumheller is new to everyone so we’ll how it shapes up for racing on Sunday. But I’m also hearing that it will be completely different conditions to what you guys faced last weekend. Except maybe that it’s not forecasted to be that warm again.
We’ll see how it goes and yes, I’m quite sure the weather will determine how the track prep goes. If they think it’s going to rain then they may not rip it too deep and then it will just get hard-packed and blue grooved. We’ll see what happens, hopefully, the track crew can rip it deep and have it get rough and rutted.
Although the riders and teams do a ton of testing before the season begins, coming into any opening round there is always some uncertainty about bike set up. Your bike looked great on the rough Kamloops track, did it feel as balanced as it appeared?
Yes! My bike was good all weekend and I think we only made a few clicker adjustments before the second moto. Having Colt there was great as he was spot on with his predictions about how the track would be throughout the day. So the direction we went with the bike was the right one and things worked.
So overall, other than obviously winning both motos which is what you wanted, were you happy with the weekend and how it all went?
For sure, it was fun to get back out west and race some different tracks again. I enjoy being in BC as it’s so much different than what we have here in Quebec and Ontario. Heading into the opening round the goal was to stay out of trouble and take the red plate into Round 2. As a team, we accomplished that, and heading into this weekend in Drumheller my bike and Ryder’s bike are going to look great with the matching red plates.
I bet they will. So what is your plan for this week?
I think it’s just going to be the same as it always is. We’re riding today and then I’ll try and ride once more on Thursday. In between, I’ll hit the gym, and other than that I’ll just rest up and get ready to fly to Alberta on Friday. That’s about it Palms!
Well, congratulations on a solid opening weekend in Kamloops. Good luck at Round 2 and I’m sure we’ll be talking again soon.
Hopefully! Thank you for calling and we’ll see you this weekend.