Honda Canada Racing Presents The Monday Gate Drop

As we roll into 2018, Honda Canada Racing and the GDR Fox Honda Team are getting ready to prepare for the upcoming Rockstar Energy Triple Crown Series. Team riders Colton Facciotti and Dylan Wright are ready to head south to begin riding and training. The team will be set up at the GPF Training Facility in Cairo, GA, and while there they will have full access to GPF’s AX track, as well as their challenging outdoor track. The two Honda Red Riders will be ready to race when the season begins on February 24^th in Abbotsford, BC.

After months of anticipation, the 2018 Monster Energy Supercross Series finally got underway on Saturday evening in Anaheim, CA. As we’ve witnessed so many times before, the opening round always produces some highlights as well as some low lights. With so much as stake and so much time to think about it, it seems like Round 1 either goes really well for the series top guns, or unfortunately, really bad. While each rider who lines up obviously wants to win Anaheim 1, only one rider in each class can and the rest are left to figure out if their night was successful or not.

This year, I decided not to travel to Anaheim to watch the opening round, instead opting to remain back in bitterly cold Ontario to view it on television. Over the years, I’ve been fortunate enough to attend a bunch of opening rounds in Anaheim, even as far back as 1984 when my Dad and I watched my favourite rider Johnny O’Mara win, so I can tell you that the energy at Angel Stadium is incredible. From the moment you arrive at the stadium in the morning, you can just feel the energy. As you can imagine, the riders, teams, and of course the fans, are all pumped for the new season to begin. If you have never been to the opening round in Anaheim, you really should try and make it one of these years.

Heading into this weekend there was definitely a number of big news stories making the headlines. Ken Roczen returning to the race track was perhaps the biggest story of them all. We all know Roczen’s story since his crash at Anaheim 2 last year. Eleven surgeries, months of rehabilitation, endless hours of training, and some very serious mental recovery, all as he prepared for the 2018 series. The fact that he was even able to ride a motorcycle again is truly amazing. However, to see him back on the race track and qualifying first during practice at Round 1 was so epic. After getting ping ponged around during his heat race by an overly aggressive Cooper Webb, Roczen got off to a so-so start in the main event. From there, the German rider rode very smart, let the race come to him, and eventually finished up in fourth place. It was incredible to see Roczen return to racing, and it was even better to see him finish up inside the top five. During the broadcast on Saturday evening, Fox Sports made a huge deal about Roczen’s comeback. While you could argue that they went a tad overboard with rehashing his injuries, I thought it was great as this story needs to be told again and again. Hopefully Roczen can continue to remain healthy and make this comeback complete with a great season in this 2018 Monster Energy Supercross Series.

Helping riders like Ken Roczen and Marvin Musquin look so good on Saturday night was Eli Tomac and his massive mistake while leading the main event. From the moment the gate dropped, Tomac appeared to be in complete control of the opening round. During the first half of the race, Tomac was out front and riding well, then disaster struck. Coming out of the first turn there must of either been a slippery spot, or maybe some plywood showing, whatever it was we saw Benny Bloss and Eli Tomac lose traction there and have a big crash. While Bloss’s crash looked a lot more painful, Tomac’s came when he was eight minutes away from winning the first race of 2018. Tomac’s mistake was inexcusable in my opinion as a rider of his talents and in his position should’ve known better. Just like the rest of the Anaheim 1 track, the section Tomac crashed in wasn’t that difficult. So for him to throw it all away there was very strange indeed. What happened after his crash with his pants, and then him just pulling off, was even more strange. Over the years, Tomac has been one of the toughest riders in the sport, so for him to pull off and wave good-bye to any opening round points, must have meant that he was pretty sore. Now, once again Tomac is playing catch-up and for the first half of the series he will be trying to chase down a Red Bull KTM rider.

So with all this drama going on with Roczen, Tomac, Chad Reed, and Dean Wilson, Marvin Musquin did he very best Ryan Dungey impersonation and rode off to an easy opening round win. Although Musquin lacks the style of a modern day rider, he certainly knows how to stay quiet and simply get the job done. I think mentally he can be rattled by other riders, but physically right now he is the best rider on the track. His big win on Saturday night must have given him even more confidence than he had before, and I’m assuming he already had a bunch heading into 2018. It will be very interesting to see what happens in the coming weeks as the tracks get tougher and more riders begin to feel comfortable. Lets face it, the track in Anaheim appeared to be less complicated than what these riders are used to. However, for Round 1 that is how it should be as there is enough noise and commotion for the riders to deal with. This coming weekend in Houston, the track will be a lot slower and much more technical.

So with Musquin cruising to victory in the 450SX class, and Shane Mcelrath doing the same in the 250SX class, I have to give mention to the rider who finished in 15^th in the 450SX main event. Coming into Anaheim 1, Chad Reed had been off for ten weeks with a surgically repaired broken foot. He was also left without a factory ride as none of the big teams wanted anything to do with him for 2018. So, with a still healing foot and a virtually store bought Husqvarna, Reed showed up this weekend to ‘Race” himself into shape. On paper, his main event finish wasn’t exactly Chad Reed like (although it was better than his opening round finish last year), but considering the lack of preparation that he was able to put in, his finish was pretty amazing. Hopefully Reed can stay healthy while he gets himself back into shape in the coming weeks. He looked a little uncomfortable on his new bike, however I did like how he was still flying through the whoops and tripling through the rhythm sections, even in the closing laps of the main event. With the level of riding at the front of the pack, the sport still needs Chad Reed to be out on the track racing in my opinion. Along with Ken Roczen now, Reed is a fan favourite and someone that the sport can build entertaining mainstream media stories around. No offence to Tomac or Musquin, but they don’t yet resonate with potential fans from outside of our sport. With SX reaching more and more households than ever before, it needs all of the personality it can get. With that in mind, let’s hope that Reed still has a few more years left in him.

So that is it for the most hyped race of the year. The opening round of the 2018 Monster Energy Supercross Series is now part of history. In front of a sold out crowd and and millions of people watching at home, Round 1 in Anaheim definitely didn’t disappoint. Now all eyes will turn to Houston for Round 2 and the first true indoor event of the series. It will be interesting to see what happens next weekend after everyone has a chance to catch their breath and regroup. In the meantime, I hope everyone has a great week and I hope everyone is staying warm. We are now just over a month away from the opening round of the 2018 Rockstar Energy Triple Crown Series in Abbotsford, BC. As we speak, all of riders are getting ready to begin their preparation for the 2018 race season. Some actually already have, and by all accounts their early testing is going well. Please have a great week and stay safe!