Well, here we are just over a week before Christmas and once again our resolve is being tested with this never-ending Pandemic. However, on the bright side, the 2022 Monster Energy Supercross Series is just around the corner so in 15 days we’ll be able to sit back and watch the best SX riders compete at Anaheim 1. Thankfully, after taking last week off Ryan Lockhart is back with his popular Matrix Concepts Canada 3 Q’s. Newf is in Alberta this weekend for the LRX Performance AX in Brooks, but he still had some time to give us answers to these three important questions.
MXP: Hey Newf, how was the LRX Performance AX?
RL: We had a Blast. Honestly, Paul Lavoie and Charlie Johnston did a fantastic job with their first event. The track was built well and was a lot of fun to ride. The event also had about 350 entries each day, tons of spectators, and a lot of faces I haven’t seen in a while. The ADRA was the sanctioning body for the race and handled all the sign-up and scoring. There were some scoring issues, but I think they learned and it will be better for Alberta Motocross moving forward. All in all, it was fun, great racing, and very few injuries so not much more you could ask for. I could have done without the -30 temps outside but now that’s just me being picky (laughs).
MXP: It sounds as though a bunch of Canadian riders will be lining up at multiple rounds of the 2022 Monster Energy SX Series. The biggest name is obviously Jess Pettis who will be at Anaheim 1. However, Cole Thompson also announced this week that he will be racing a few rounds of SX next year. First off, how does Pettis do at Anaheim 1? Second, do you think Cole should race a 250 in SX or just focus on the 450SX class?
It’s probably the most Canadians that have decided to take the leap and to go all in on SX in a long, long time which is 100% awesome for the fans.
As for Pettis, as long as he’s 100% healthy I think it would be hard to place him outside of the top 10. Now with saying that I think the top 5 is possible if the stars are aligned, but more likely 6-10 is where I see him fitting in.
For Cole Thomson, this is awesome! There is no question that his outdoor desire had died but yet he still wants to keep racing. SX is a good fit for him as he has more experience than any current Canadian rider at this point. He has had success before but the only downfall for him is that his program is completely switched around. Switching from KTM to Yamaha might be a challenge this late in the game but what I would like to see is him race some 250SX West to get some time in then switch to the 450SX class when the series goes east. Is he as good as Pettis right now in SX? No in my opinion, but I don’t think he’s too far off. Regardless, it’s awesome for us fans to have 5 Legit Canadians going for it this year (Pettis, Thompson, Ward, St-Cyr, Benek). It’s all going to be fun to watch and I’m excited for these guys!
MXP: Well, Merry Christmas Newf! What is on your Christmas list this year?
Not a lot to be honest. Randi and I just bought a house and we’re moving in February so it’s going to be a bit of a thin Christmas on our end of things. Of course, the boys will be spoiled and that’s the way it should be. Merry Christmas Palms!