Honda Canada Racing Presents the Monday Gate Drop

Good day and welcome to the Honda Canada Racing sponsored Monday Gate Drop. In two weeks MXP Magazine will be heading to the Zaca Station track in California to test ride the all-new 2018 CRF250R. This new bike is redesigned from head to toe with improved handling and a more powerful engine. I cannot wait to ride the new red machine, and of course I’m sure that the Zaca Station track will be in excellent condition.

I hope everyone is enjoying this incredible Thanksgiving long weekend doing whatever it is you’re doing. I know some of you were racing and riding, but most were probably just hanging out and enjoying time with family. This long weekend has always been one of my favourites as usually the weather is still nice, and it’s always been one of the only weekends (other than Christmas) that my entire family gets together. And while I’m not a fan of turkey, I actually convinced my Mom one year to order Chinese food and it took her years to forgive me. I do love it when my extended family gets together.

For me and a bunch of other old guys in Ontario, Saturday was race day at Moto Park as they held their first ever War of MX Vet Race. This event had an okay attendance considering it was the first one, and maybe due to the fact this it is Thanksgiving weekend and the weather didn’t start out very well. However, the weather and track turned out to be really nice by early afternoon, and if it wasn’t for strange behaviour by someone that had more than a few of us shaking our heads, the day ran perfectly and everyone had fun. I know a lot of tracks right across Canada are trying out new events and new ideas to make their racing more exciting. In Ontario, we’re very lucky to have long time tracks like Moto Park and Gopher Dunes trying out new events like this Vet Race. A few years back Walton Raceway had an event like this and it was very well received. With fewer tracks now in Southern Ontario, it’s good to see new events being introduced to help make the race season more exciting for everyone who spend their hard earned money. With a fun Vintage race planned in the coming weekends at the Dunes, the chapter is about to be closed on yet another regional race season in Canada. Also in two weeks is the beginning of the arenacross season in Canada as the Canadian AX Championships kick off in Armstrong, BC.

So that is the good news for today, the bad news is on the injury front for a trio of Vet riders. These last few weeks have seen some very serious injuries to a few older gents. A month ago Jeff Hauck was badly injured at a local practice track in Ontario. Jeff is doing much better and will be back at home soon, but he still faces a long road to recovery. Then on Saturday at Gopher Dunes, MP1 Suspension’s Mike Parliament over jumped a jump and unfortunately broke his wrist and injured his larynx. Mike was forced to spend the night in a London hospital due to the fact that he had trouble breathing. The third Vet rider to go down was Team Holeshot Motorsports founder Mark Booker. Booker (as he’s known to everyone) crashed very hard at Moto Park on Friday and had to be airlifted to a Toronto hospital. Booker’s list of injuries include two broken femurs, a dislocated hip, a broken eye socket, and a broken tibia and fibula in one leg. I might have missed a few as sadly the list is very long. Let’s face it, with that much trauma suffered at one time, it’s a testament to his toughness that he made it through. As I write this Booker is in a Toronto hospital waiting for his multiple surgeries to be over, and he’s more than likely still talking up a storm. I’m sure all of the nurses and doctors know all about Canadian motocross and how great a sport it is. That is classic Booker, and I want to wish him and all the riders injured in the past few weeks well as they begin their recovery. Finally, the fourth Vet rider to get bitten by the injury bug this weekend was Honda rider Paul Bingham who broke his lower leg at Moto Park on Saturday. Paul didn’t even crash, all he did was land from one of Moto Park’s multiple jumps and his foot got caught. Regardless of how old we are, this sport is truly amazing for the feeling it gives us when we’re doing it, but at times it definitely can be a beast.

So as you can see it was a tough few weeks for our older group of riders in this country and we at MXP Magazine wish them all the best. This coming weekend, everyone will be watching Las Vegas as the 2017 Monster Energy Cup is happening on Saturday. It’s going to be cool to have SX to watch again as it’s been a while since a gate has dropped inside a stadium. Sadly there is only one Canadian rider lining up and that will be young Ben Kongmany in the KJSC race. With the tragic events that went down in Las Vegas last week, as well as a weaker than normal pro class, this Monster Energy Cup is going to have a strange vibe to it. I personally wish that they could move this race back to the MGM Grand Arena where it was much more of a spectacle. To be able to hang out in the MGM Grand Hotel and then simply walk down a set of stairs and then be inside the arena was pretty cool back when this event was referred to as the US Open. This event used to be such a cool one-off event that it made it that much more exciting. Now it just seems to be another SX at Sam Boyd Stadium that doesn’t even seem to excite the riders anymore.

Well, that is it for me this week and it’s Thanksgiving and family time. I hope all of you are having a great long weekend with family and friends. I am currently putting together the next issue of MXP Magazine so we’ve been dissecting Team Canada’s performance last weekend in England. This issue is going to be incredible so stay tuned for it in a few weeks time. Have a great week and please keep the rubber side down – we don’t need anymore injuries.