Honda Canada Racing Presents The Monday Gate Drop

As the summer of 2016 rolls on, Honda Canada Racing has been tearing up the race tracks right across Canada. Whether it’s young Austin Watling in the amateur ranks, or Colton Facciotti in the pro class, Honda has been at the front of the pack. In the 1990’s it was Carl Vaillancourt and Marco Dube who rode a Honda to their Championships. From 2001 to 2006, it was Blackfoot Honda’s Jean Sebastien Roy and Dusty Klatt who reaped the rewards of riding red. Fast forward to 2016 and it’s the Honda Canada Fox GDR Racing Team of Colton Facciotti and Jeremy Medaglia looking to add to Honda’s rich history of success on the track. We would like to welcome Honda Canada as a proud new supporter of this Monday Gate Drop column. If you want to see all of Honda’s line up for 2016, just log onto www.motorcycle.honda.ca.

Hello and welcome to yet another edition of Honda Canada Racing’s Monday Gate Drop. I hope everyone had a great weekend and enjoyed what was the unofficial final weekend of summer. Well, I guess this coming weekend is the final big weekend of the summer of 2016 but this was without a doubt the final weekend of August. In a week’s time all of our youngsters will be back in school, and while I’m sure a few of the teachers will be a little miserable, a lot of parents out there will be breathing a big sigh of relief. For all of you motocross kids out there who have had a very exciting summer riding your dirt bikes, just remember that a good athlete tries their hardest at everything they do, whether they enjoy doing it or not. This means that even if you’re not looking forward to sitting in a classroom next week, you should still put the same effort into your school work as you have into your racing this past summer.

So with school and fall on the horizon, this past weekend was not only the MMRS National in Madoc, ON, but also the final round of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championships at Ironman Raceway in Indiana. I was lucky enough to ride at this track last year for a KTM press launch, and I can tell you that the layout is super fun. With multiple elevation changes and big jumps, I can understand why it’s one of the riders’ favourites. Just like in 2015, this year we saw of few of our top Canadian riders head south to mix it up with the stars of the AMA series. Kaven Benoit, Dylan Wright, Shawn Maffenbeier and even Eve Brodeur all travelled to the small town of Crawfordsville, IN. You really have to hand it to these riders for finding the energy and motivation to race this event after a long summer of competing in Canada. I’m sure this race cost them money out of their own pocket as even with some support, racing a US National is never a cheap endeavour. If you can find your way down there I don’t think it’s ever a bad idea to race a US National, especially one of the final rounds. It’s not only a great way to build confidence and race a different track, but it’s also a great way (as we saw on Saturday) to make a name for yourself with a solid performance.

Shawn Maffenbeier looked to struggle with bad starts and sadly finished outside of the top 20, however Dylan Wright continued his great riding by going 21-16 in the 250MX class, and our newly crowned #3 rider, Kaven Benoit, impressed everyone with an incredible 11th overall in the premier 450MX class. Benoit’s first moto was a perfect example of charging hard and never giving up, while his second moto and a 10th place finish certainly raised more than a few eyebrows. Benoit even beat Red Bull KTM factory rider Dean Wilson, who certainly couldn’t have been thrilled to watch some three digit Canadian riding in front of him.

Both Benoit and Wright have been brimming with confidence and swagger since the 2016 Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals headed east back in July. Like a snowball rolling down a hill, you could see these two improving during each round of the nationals. In this sport you don’t win nationals by accident, for some riders it takes a lot of time to put all the pieces together. When it finally does happen, it’s a pretty amazing feeling. Soon after, that feeling turns into trying to do it again so you can prove to people that the first one wasn’t a fluke. With the confidence and internal drive that both of these riders have, more wins are no doubt in their future. As for everyone’s favourite rider, Shawn Maffenbeier, his speed is there also, I just think he needs a few weeks off to relax before he takes on the World’s best riders at the MXoN in Italy at the end of September. Congratulations to all of our Canadian riders who traveled to Indiana this past weekend and raced so well on a very difficult race track.

In other news of the not-so positive type, it was confirmed late last week that Jeremy Medaglia was officially relieved of his duties by the Honda Canada GDR Fox Honda Team. This was probably the least surprising news of the summer, because from day one of the series things appeared to be going in the wrong direction for both parties. What could’ve been a championship winning summer for both Jeremy and Honda was anything but. I reached out to Jeremy for a comment last night but he hasn’t returned my call as of yet. I like Jeremy and like most people I love to watch him ride. Hopefully he can find some happiness in 2017, whether it’s on the race track or doing something else that he loves. When I reached out to Team Owner Derek Schuster regarding the situation, he had this to say. “Unfortunately things just didn’t work out this summer and the Honda Canada GDR Fox Racing Team had to move on. We wish Jeremy the best with whatever he does in the future. Our team will now focus on 2017.”

It will be interesting to see what the GDR Honda Team does to fill the spot that is now vacant. Do they try and find another MX2 rider to be Colton Facciotti’s teammate, or do they hire a MX1 rider to back Colton up? Whatever way they chose to go, what riders are out there and who can they afford? Would Kaven Benoit ever want to leave his surrogate family at KTM for a chance to ride the new 2017 CRF450? With Benoit’s success on the orange brand and his closeness to Team Manager JSR, I can’t see that ever happening. Not to mentioned that there are rumours that he’s already resigned with KTM for 2017 and beyond. Is someone like Dylan Wright ready for the jump up to the MX1 class and would he make a good teammate for Colton? These two riders, along with Cole Thompson, certainly have the highest stock right now in Canada. Of course, the rumour last week was that Thompson has already resigned with KTM to race Supercross and defend his MX2 title in 2017, but that might just be a rumour. So much to ponder about a series that is still nine months away.

Finally this week, I’d like to give a big shout out to one of the coolest little kids at the track, young Brenner Lammens. After a solid 5th overall at Loretta Lynn’s a few weeks ago, and a second overall at the Parts Canada TransCan last week, Brenner suffered a crash while practicing the other day and broke his lower leg. The result for Brenner is a full leg cast for a month and then a walking cast for a few weeks. This injury not only has caused a premature end to his racing season, but it will also delay the start of his hockey season. I hate seeing people get hurt, but I especially hate seeing our young kids getting hurt. It’s heart breaking! Heal up quick Brenner and hopefully this is your final injury!

That’s it for me today. I hope everyone has a great week and a fun Labour Day weekend. Please get out there and enjoy the final weekend of this glorious summer!