Press Release
Out of the Gate: “Time is of the essence” for Dylan Wright
That well-known expression is all too appropriate for young Dylan Wright.
With less than a month to go until Gopher Dunes on July 14th, this young 15 year old intermediate rider is eagerly awaiting and training hard for the Eastern rounds of the Canadian professional motocross circuit.
As part of the MX101 Talent Factory Team, Dylan has been maximizing the time he has left before Gopher Dunes by fitting in as much practice time as possible at the Sand Del Lee motocross park where MX101 hosted races over the past weekend. As most racers know, it’s one thing to turn fast laps in practice and do so consistently. It can be a whole different ball game to try and do that same thing in a race situation.
Because “time is of the essence”, Dylan has also been working really hard to consistently improve on his lap times. It seems that the time spent at Sand Del Lee over the past few weeks is paying off, as Dylan is rumored to be completing laps in times that might rival that of some of the pros. On Saturday, June 20th, Dylan proved that he could deliver on race day. In fact, he turned the fastest lap times of the day as he completed motos in the Pro-Am and MX2 Intermediate classes. He finished day 1 with wins in all four motos.
Could he repeat on Sunday? Well … Kyle Keast and Liam O’Farrell would have something to say about that! These Canadian pro riders surprised the Eastern Ontario racers who didn’t let the weekend’s sprinkles of rain put a damper on the racing. As the rain held off on Sunday, crowds gathered in the bleachers and along the fences to witness some of the most exciting races of the day in the Pro-Am and Youth classes. Dylan and his fellow MX101 Talent Factory teammates Tyler Duffy and Scott Hough had a huge fan club as local riders cheered on the pros but were secretly and not so quietly pulling for the underdogs.
It was time to see if Dylan and the other intermediate riders could hang with “the big boys”. As the 30-second board went up and the gates went down, Eastern Ontario settled in for what proved to be some absolutely phenomenal racing. Straddling his Yamaha YZ 250 2-stroke, Dylan amazed the crowd by keeping pace with Keast and O’Farrell. Giving it everything he had, Dylan was in the mix until the end of moto 1 when he boldly tried a new line on the last lap to attempt to make a pass for 1st place. Unfortunately, that option proved to be nasty. The front end dug into some of the soft stuff on the side of the track sending Dylan through the air and his bike cart-wheeling down the track. This kid looked like he was made of rubber as he bounced up, ran to his bike and finished the race in third. The gasps in the crowd were audible as Dylan crashed. But these gasps were soon followed by a roar of cheers by the many fans as Wright crossed the finish line.
Needless to say that with only fractions of a second separating #37, #27 and #539 at many points during the Pro-am and Youth motos, “time was of the essence”. Add to that the fact that each of the top riders layed their bike down at least once to take some soil samples, Sand Del Lee was clearly the place to be for high-caliber motocross racing in Ontario.
So … at the end of the day … Liam O’Farrell took top honours in the Pro-Am class and Kyle Keast earned the first place position in the Youth class. As for Dylan, he proudly came away with a second place finish in both classes. He can also boast that he topped the podium in moto 1 of the youth class and that he turned the fastest lap time in moto 1 of the Pro-Am class and moto 2 of the Youth class. Not too shabby for an aspiring intermediate rider hoping to go pro next year.
Stay tuned to hear about Dylan’s results at Motopark next weekend as he hopes to cross paths with Keast, O’Farrell once again, and perhaps a few other pros making their way east after the completion of the western rounds.