This past weekend was a busy one for me as I was at the AMA National in Southwick, Massachusetts on Saturday, and then I headed to Gopher Dunes for Sunday. I try to hit as many non-conflicting US rounds as I can to meet up with my FXR riders and network with the media. It makes for a long day but before you know it you’re heading back home, beat, dead tired and throbbing, and sore feet from walking the track over and over.
Southwick is an awesome track to ride but not my most favourite at which to spectate. The VIP sections looked like a good place to watch but when I heard that the cost was $200 USD I thought this side of the fence works out just as well for me, thank you very much. I really don’t like standing in one spot when I watch a race. I need to walk around and check out the other areas of the track. I can always watch the race on TV the next day, so I take advantage of the opportunity and check out the areas that you usually wouldn’t see. This event had just over eighty-five 450 riders sign up for the day. That’s one solid list of riders. The only issue is if you are not familiar with the Southwark track, you will probably get smoked by a local pro. I must have heard this comment from a bunch of riders that didn’t make the cut. There is one rider we all know, Mike Treadwell, who was picked up by the factory KTM team back in 2000-ish for that one event due to his blazing speed at that one track. To be fair it’s really hard to beat the fast local pros at any national track, but for some reason Southwick is one of those tracks where the locals rule!
I think Tomac has the 2017 championship in the bag if he stays healthy. There is no one on the 450 list that even comes close to the speed that Eli is running at the moment. He started around 8th or so in the second moto. By lap four he had the lead and never looked back. Blake Baggett is about the only rider that has a chance of staying close to Tomac but he will have to find another gear to stay with that Factory Kawasaki rider. Marvin Musquin was riding well until he launched his Factory KTM into the crowd as he cross-rutted on the face of a jump. Husky rider Dean Wilson had his best race of the year. I was pretty impressed with his sand skills. Martin Davalos “The rookie sensation in the 450 class” had his best ride of the year too. Jimmy Albertson who is now working as the track announcer was saying how impressed he was with the top 450 rookie. He said I am not sure if I am pronouncing his name correctly [laughs]. Cooper Webb looked like he was back up to speed after his huge get-off at RedBud. I think Webb would have finished 3rd overall if he hadn’t tipped over in the second moto.
The 250 guys put on a show as well with Zach Osborne and Dylan Ferrandis 1-2 and 2-1 for the overall respectively. Alex Martin on the TLD KTM had a solid ride going 3-3 for the day.
I think the biggest surprise was RJ Hampshire finishing fourth overall for the day just ahead of his teammate Jeremy Martin on the Geico Honda. If you didn’t get a good start, it was going to be a long day as all these top riders were pushing hard in the sand. One rider that looked great and I feel could have had the overall but crashed out early in the first moto was Aaron Plessinger from the Star Yamaha team. From the video tape it looked like Aaron went down hard on his shoulder and possibly broke his collarbone, but reports show that he banged his head pretty hard and will be ready for the next round at Millville in two weeks.
The Canadian Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals stopped at Gopher Dunes in Courtland, Ontario for some fun in the bottomless sand pit this past weekend. I know some riders were looking forward to the challenge and others not so much. We all expected Matt Goerke to take the win but no such luck for Matt this weekend. Mike Alessi was the rider on the top of the box. It’s been a long time since we have seen Mike win a Canadian round. Mike’s results were 3-1 for the day. Finishing second overall was Matt Goerke with a 2-3. Poor Matt started the first moto laying upside down in the first corner. This was not what any of us expected, but this was going to be interesting to see what he could do in this moto. Matt was on it, passing riders pretty well every where on the track. By the 35 minute mark Matt had passed everyone except Colton who won that moto. I was very impressed on Matt’s speed and fitness. Moto two started off way better as he was in the top 10 on lap one. I thought he would have easily made it to the front, but after a few laps you could tell he didn’t have the same energy he had in the first moto. By the end of the moto Matt worked his way to a third and that gave him second overall. Finishing third was Tyler Medaglia with a 5-2. Tyler looked strong all day. His fitness is good and his Honda looked like it was set up for the roughest track on the circuit. Fourth for the day was Colton Facciotti on his Factory Honda/ Fox Racing CRF450. I was very impressed with Colt’s first moto when he took the win. He looked solid even though he was sick as a dog that weekend. Then the gate dropped for Moto 2. Colt was up front again but with a few laps you could tell that his head cold was holding him back. By the end of the moto unfortunately Colt had slipped back to eighth. I feel if Colton was 100% that weekend the results would have been way different. Finishing in fifth with a 6-4 was Christophe Pourcel on his Factory Husky. I honestly thought CP would be up in the top 3. I know this track is rough but Pourcel is a World Champion that has ridden at some of the best sand tracks in the world. He did comment at the end of the day that he really didn’t have fun at the Dunes.
The MX2 class was pretty exciting as well. Shawn Maffenbeier, on his MX101 Yamaha/ FXR machine, owned the first moto with a wire to wire win. Moto two was good but he was only able to finish second behind points leader Thompson. This gave Shawn and his team the third overall for the season so far. Finishing second was Cole Thompson who went 3-1 for the day. Cole rode solid but I was a bit surprised that he didn’t have anything for Dylan Wright’s pass late in the first moto. The second moto Cole looked like the old Cole and dominated the race. Finishing third for the day was Dylan Wright on his GDR Honda/Fox CRF250. Each weekend Dylan gets stronger and stronger. It’s nice to see him back on the podium. Josh Osby had a good weekend as well with a fourth overall. I expected to see him up front as he commented a few weeks ago that he is a way better rider on sand than hard pack. Finishing fifth was Ryan Surratt on his Nut Up Kawasaki. Ryan is also looking better on his program. He commented this weekend that he is riding himself into shape.
This coming weekend the series moves east into Quebec. Round 6 will be held at Notre Dame du bon Conseil. This track is new to the series and the owner of the track just happens to be Kaven Benoit’s father. We have been told it’s going to be a challenging track with some big jumps and lots of sand once again. Should be lots of fun. See you at the races.