Motocross Performance Magazine Canadian Motocross news leader
Good day and happy Monday everyone! I hope the weekend treated you well and after not having Supercross to watch last weekend it was great to have it back on Saturday evening. While not quite as entertaining as the opening round was, the San Diego SX was still interesting to watch, especially in the 450SX class. To start off, how good did both Malcolm Stewart and Jason Anderson look in qualifying on Saturday afternoon. Watching them lay down their fastest laps was jaw dropping to say the least. The raw speed, the technique, the determination to get their bikes back on ground after the jumps and drive forward definitely encapsulated today’s riding style. However, as we witnessed in the main events fast qualifying doesn’t always translate into great main event finishes. For Stewart, his 450SX main event was a disaster the moment he left the starting gate as a bad start put him in trouble right away. As everyone knows, bad things can happen in the back of the pack, especially for fast riders who are frustrated to be there and are in a hurry to move forward. By the final few laps of the main event Stewart’s bike looked like it had been to hell and back as it was missing a few of the plastics. Right now, Stewart is his own worst enemy and it looks like a simple case of trying too hard in the big moments. I still maintain that Stewart will win a main event in 2023 but so far in the opening two rounds he’s shown that he won’t be a title contender.
What a difference a year makes as in 2022 we had multiple winners during the first few rounds. If you recall, Anderson came out swinging, Roczen was fast, Sexton was good, and of course Tomac was solid and scored a lot of valuable points early in the 2022 SX Series. Well, after two rounds this year the series is already looking like it’s going to be a two man race to Salt Lake City as Tomac and Webb are a step above everyone else. Also, I would even argue that after watching the main event in San Diego Tomac is even a small step above Webb right now. I know Webb closed the gap in the final few laps on Saturday night but it was clear on television that Tomac was struggling to get around some of the lappers. Even the riders like Ray and Starling who ended up getting lapped twice weren’t exactly moving over for Tomac. I’m sorry but if you’re getting lapped for the second time in 20 minutes, you should moving completely out of the way for the leader of the race. Anyway, Tomac’s struggle with the lappers (and he spoke about it after the race as well) cost his a few seconds and that was why Webb was able to get close. Tomac is riding so well and looks so comfortable on his new 2023 YZ450F and it’s also great to see Webb keeping him honest. Webb is riding great and again, what a difference a year makes as last year at this time he was struggling bad with his bike and his overall fitness. Now the two look in perfect harmony and he’s able to push hard for 25 laps. As the series rolls on and we move to the rutted tracks in the east, history has shown that Webb will be at his best. So whether we have five guys battling for wins like we did last year, or just two, either way this is going to be exciting to watch moving forward.
In the 250SX West class, once again it was Jett Lawrence who showed up when it mattered the most and rode off to a dominating main event win. With some battles raging behind the talented Aussie that we didn’t get to see much of during the main event, but when they did show the #18 his smooth and elegant style was on perfect display. This kid can sure ride a dirt bike and next year when he’s on a 450 full time he will no doubt be winning races. Behind Jett, one of our Canadian hero’s Cole Thompson was riding the wheels off his Heartbeat Hot Sauce Team Solitaire Yamaha to eventually finish 10th overall. Add in Cole’s 4th place heat race finish and I would say that San Diego was pretty good to him. I believe that with a little better start and some better laps early in the main event, Cole could finish inside the Top 7 this weekend in Anaheim. Our other two Canadian riders Julien Benek and Parker Eales also had a good day in San Diego. Benek made the night show in the 250SX West class which was an improvement from Round 1, and Eales by all accounts rode much better and felt more comfortable. With a slightly different schedule this year the Monster Energy SX Series heads east to Houston and then to Tampa so this weekend in Anaheim is the final west round until Oakland on February 18th.
In some other Canadian moto news, yesterday (yes on a Sunday) the PR dropped that young Kawasaki rider Dylan Rempel had moved from the Walton Kawasaki Team over to the Partszilla PRMX Kawasaki Team for this year and beyond. I had heard something about this both a few weeks ago and then again on Friday, but my feeling was that it would never happen. I didn’t think Rempel would leave one Kawasaki team for another, and I thought since he was going to be the #1 250 rider on the Walton Kawasaki Team this year that he was in a great position. However, I’ve been wrong before and I was sure wrong again on this one and the PRMX Team was able to entice Dylan to sign with them. I’m a big fan of Dylan and I think he’s going to do big things in this sport moving forward, but at his young age he still needs a lot of mentoring and guidance if he wants to reach his goals and have some sustained success in this sport. I know he was getting that last year and hopefully he will continue to get that moving forward. Good on the PRMX Team for grabbing this kid and making this deal happen. They got a taste of success last year in the 250 class and with a young rider like Dylan Rempel the future looks bright for them. I reached out to Dylan early this morning to get his thoughts on his new deal.
MXP: Hey Dylan! First off, congratulations on your new deal. You must be excited?
DR: Yes, I think it’s pretty cool and I’m looking forward to riding for the PRMX Kawasaki Team.
MXP: You appeared to be happy last year and in a good spot moving forward, why change teams right now?
DR: I just wanted a change that’s all. I was on a good team last year and unfortunately the season didn’t go the way we had planned. So, I just wanted change.
MXP: Well, that makes sense as sometimes a change of scenery is good. With this new deal, is it just for Canada or does it involve some USA racing?
DR: One of things I really like about this new deal is that it will allow me to race more in the USA. I’m still young so I want to keep getting better and I want to race as much as I can in the States. So, yeah this year I’ll be racing the RCSX at Daytona, the Spring Nationals, hopefully Loretta Lynn’s, and then all of the Triple Crown Series.
MXP: Sounds like you have a busy year ahead of you with a lot racing. Regardless of who you’re riding for, I think it’s great that you’re going to get as many gate drops in as possible. You must also be changing training facilities right?
DR: Yes, I was at MTF and this week I’ll make my way over to South of the Border as that is where the PRMX Team trains.
MXP: Well, congratulations and good luck in 2023!
DR: Thanks Palms! And thank you for calling.
So there you have it, straight from Dylan’s mouth as to why he and his family decided to make the switch. Now, with their #1 250 rider gone, what will the Walton Kawasaki Team do to fill his place? From what I hear this team was wide open over the weekend trying to get some deals done both for 250 riders as well as for some 450 riders. As of Sunday morning they had no riders under contract for 2023 and while the beginning of the series is still a few months away, the clocking is ticking. The names I’ve heard as possible riders are Tanner Ward, Marco Cannella, Justin Bogle, Joey Savatgy, Freddie Noren, Preston Kilroy and Tyler Gibbs. Now, that’s a long list of possible riders under the Kawasaki tent and obviously not all make sense. USA riders like Bogle and Savatgy don’t come cheap and most likely would want guaranteed money to race here. Perhaps they could do an insurance policy type deal, but to do that you need a Triple Crown Series schedule and that hasn’t been released (it’s supposed to be out this week), Freddy Noren would be a lot less expensive to bring up here and honestly I think he would be great in Canada. He seems like a nice guy and someone who would adapt well to how things are done in Canada. Also, I feel like he’s sneaky fast outdoors and might be really good on our tracks. Finally, I can’t see this team not bringing Tanner Ward back, last year he did just about everything that was asked of him. I’m surprised that he wasn’t re-signed before the end of last year but business is business sometimes. As far as Marco Cannella goes, if he doesn’t get some sort of deal to race in 2023 I’d be shocked. With Rempel now gone, Cannella could be this team’s #1 250 rider and have a good shot at winning the title in 2023. So, in a perfect world I’d sign Ward and Noren to race in the 450 class, and Cannella and either a Kilroy or an up and coming young Canadian rider like Josh Bryan or Blake Davies who they could groom for the future. I also mentioned Tyler Gibbs as a possible rider on the Kawasaki Team for 2023. I think you’ll see Gibbs back on the TLD/GASGAS/SSR Team for this year. I haven’t heard anything on this but it makes sense for Steve Simms to bring him back for another go. Since we are now only a week away from February I feel like everything will be sorted out in the next 7-10 days.
Well, that is it for me this week. I hope you have a great week and I hope you enjoy the final week of January. As I mentioned last week, I really dislike January and I’m always glad when it’s over. February is a short month and then it’s March and hopefully spring baby! Thank you for reading and if you have any comments to questions please email them to me at chris@mxpmag.com
