As racers, we all know what it’s like to line up behind a starting gate along with 39 other riders all with the same goal. Whether you’re a beginner or the pro rider racing yesterday in Kamloops, everyone feels nervous and has that ‘pit in your stomach’ feeling prior to the 30-second board being raised. Once that happens though the fear and anxiety are replaced by pure adrenaline and we are then ready for battle. Now, multiple those emotions by about a million and we’re likely getting closer to how our courageous soldiers felt on this day in 1944 as they travelled across the English Channel on D-Day. Our lives today would be much different if it wasn’t for the brave soldiers who risk everything on this day 78 years ago. So on this Monday if you get the opportunity please pause and remember all of the brave soldiers who paid the ultimate price on D-Day so the rest of us can enjoy the freedom we have today. God bless our troops and God bless Canada!
So, as we saw yesterday the gate dropped on the 2022 Triple Crown Series at Whispering Pines MX Park just outside Kamloops, BC. After experiencing some flight issues in Toronto which would’ve caused me to miss my connection to Kamloops I cut my losses and returned home and watch all four motos on the RydeTV app. I will talk more about the RydeTV app in a moment but from what I saw and heard the racing was excellent yesterday. The track looked amazing and from the riders I spoke to last night, everyone was impressed with the track prep. This is pretty high praise considering the track crew had to deal with not only three days of amateur racing but also Mother Nature releasing multiple storms on Friday and again on Sunday morning. I don’t know, perhaps that extra moisture from the sky was just what the track doctors ordered as yesterday’s circuit had multiple ruts in every corner and massive bumps everywhere. It was ideal pro-national race conditions and it was a great way to kick off the 2022 Triple Crown Series.
As I mentioned, after going through some frustration with regards to trying to fly out to Kamloops I returned home and at 4 pm yesterday my son and I sat down to watch the race action on the RydeTV app. With Kyle Thompson onsite in Kamloops doing probably about a hundred different jobs, and Ryan Gauld busy running his successful AMO Racing program, Jetwerx turned to Brett Lee and USA-born Jack Korpela to handle the commentating duties for these opening rounds of the series. Well, I hope these two remain in place for the entire series as I thought they did a great job. I spoke to Brett on Saturday and he was obviously nervous about doing it and with not really knowing Jack. I mean from my understanding the two met an hour before the gate dropped in Kamloops. However, you wouldn’t have known it as the two went back and forth as if they were lifelong buddies. I enjoyed listening and watching the broadcast and like anything I’m sure it will only improve moving forward. Two areas where I feel it could be better is if they leaned on Kyle Thompson, who as I mentioned was at the track and handling the post-race podium interviews, to conduct a few mid-race updates on what might be happening off-camera. For instance, in the final 450 moto yesterday it quickly became evident that something had happened to Shawn Maffenbeirer as he was out of the race. After finishing with an impressive third in the opening 450 moto it would’ve been good to know what happened to him in Moto 2 and why he was out of the race? A quick live chat with Kyle most likely would’ve shed some light on that situation as well as a few others. Also, it would be good to know how much time is remaining in each moto as unless you started your watch at home (which I did after moto 1) then you left wondering. However, I’m sure the crew will clean these items up for Round 2 and I’m also sure that Brett and Jack will pick up right where they left off yesterday with their excellent commentating. If you haven’t checked out the RydeTV app you get all of the information right here. Www.rydetv.com. I reached out to Brett Lee this morning and he had this to say about his experience commentating yesterday.
“Jack Korpela is a Pro…. honestly in some ways, he reminds me of Marc Travers, former host of Canadian Motocross, as he was good at controlling the flow and cadence on a show. Travers became a student of motocross, he learned. I think Jack is the same.”
What is exciting is as soon as the show was done, within minutes, the Jetwerx guys had ideas on how to quickly improve small things that will make the show much better next weekend. Using Kyle Thompson more, a few more information pieces like countdown clocks, flag indicators will really boost this up.”
I had never done this before, so it was a learning curve for me…again week one is done. I already talked to Jack and Justin Thompson by 9:00 am Monday morning about ideas and what we can do better – so I love that commitment.”
As far as the racing went on Sunday? Obviously, the GDR crew was happy with how things went and I’m sure it made the team dinner last night that much more satisfying. Both Dylan Wright and Ryder McNabb have been ready for the gate to drop for about two months so I’m quite sure they were excited to get the series underway. Dylan is currently battling some knee injuries so he’s in a position where he has to be patient and try and race smooth. Patient and smooth are two adjectives that you don’t usually use when you’re describing how Dylan rides but if he wants to make it through this summer and three-peat, he really has no choice. I loved what I saw from him yesterday as he didn’t rush things when trying to get around Tyler Medaglia and the only time he looked to be pushing the envelope was during the opening laps of Moto 2. If Dylan can limit those ‘on the edge’ moments to once or twice a round then his knees should hold up and he’s going to be difficult to beat this summer. Behind him, Medaglia looked solid in both motos as I thought the rough Whispering Pines track appeared to suit him. Does Tyler have the speed and intensity to hold Dylan off and win a moto or two this summer? I would say yes to the speed as he showed it yesterday, but carrying that intensity for 35 minutes is going to be tough for Canada’s fastest Vet rider. We’ll see though. If any rider can adapt and find a way to make something possible it’s Tyler Medaglia. Shawn Maffenbeier was also good yesterday but an unfortunate crash on the opening lap of Moto 2 sent him to the hospital with a shoulder injury. I spoke to his Team Manager Kevin Tyler this morning and he said that after talking to Shawn late last night he’s confident that Maff will be in Drumheller this weekend. This is great news for Shawn, Kevin, the MX101 Team, as well as the Triple Crown Series!
A few other riders who looked solid yesterday in the 450 class were Jess Pettier, Christopher Blackmer, and Daniel Elmore. After breaking his wrist in April Pettis just got back on the bike last week so we knew he would be a little rusty. I thought Pettis rode smart in both motos and you would have to assume that he’s only going to get better as the summer goes on. Remember, Pettis gave Wright all he could handle last summer so I’m sure fans cannot wait for a repeat performance in the coming weeks. Newly signed TLD/GASGAS/SSR rider Blackmer raced the WCAN all week long so through qualifying and the first 450 moto he was very fast. All of the laps appeared to finally catch up with him in the final moto as he didn’t look as sharp. This kid is a gamer though so look for him to be very good as his comfort level improves in the coming weeks. Finally, local BC rider Daniel Elmore had his best weekend ever as he rode to a strong 5th overall. It’s great to see new riders like Elmore inside the Top five as it goes to show you that hard work does pay off. Hopefully, Maff is good to go this weekend, Pettis should be better, Medaglia must be full of confidence, as is Blackmer and Elmore, but once again Wright will carry the weight and glory of the red plate heading into Round 2.
In the 250 class, Jacob Piccolo and Ryder McNabb traded moto wins while another title favourite Marco Cannella struggled once again at the opening round. McNabb ended up with the overall win as his 2-1 moto score gave him that honour. Piccolo came together with his buddy Tyler Gibbs on the opening lap of Moto 2 and was forced to come from behind. Speed-wise there doesn’t appear to be much between McNabb and Piccolo so if both can remain healthy I think this summer is just going to come down to which rider can get a good starts and who can adapt more quickly to changing track conditions. As far as Cannella goes, he injured the palm of one of his hands in moto two so he will need some TLC this week in order to be 100% for Round 2. Cannella needs to be consistent through these first three rounds as the series champion won’t be decided in the west, but he cannot let the kids gain even more confidence than they already have. Never mind the points right now, Cannella needs to find a way to get the mental edge in the 250 class and then proceed from there. Right now the kids feel like they have Cannella handled and that goes a long way in determining the final results. One rider who did everything he could to make things happen yesterday was Tyler Gibbs. He not only got some great starts but also fought like hell to stay inside the Top 5. On the podium, after the final moto Piccolo referred to Gibb’s pass on him in turn two as ‘dirty’, but I’m not sure there were too many people who saw it that felt the same. Perhaps Piccolo was still a little heated after the moto and considering he did go down maybe that is why he thought the pass wasn’t right. However, that is racing and regardless of who was involved, I loved it! As the late great Ayrton Senna once said “If you no longer go for a gap that exists, then you are no longer a racing driver.” Words to live by I guess for every racer out there.
So that was the opening round in a nutshell. Like the start of any series or season, some athletes were happy with their performances and some weren’t. Thankfully there’s a Round 2 in six days and they get to do it all over again. With the track being as challenging as it was yesterday, I did notice (on television) that generally speaking the two GDR Honda’s, Tyler Medaglia’s bike and Maff’s in moto 1 looked to be the most balanced and stable on the rough Whispering Pines track. All four of these riders use Joe Skidd’s SSS Suspension and although I don’t want this to sound like a SSS commercial, for years we’ve seen Joe’s stuff work very well on tracks like we saw yesterday. The only other bikes that also looked balanced from what I saw were the TLD/GAGAS/SSR bikes of Blackmer and Gibbs. They have Steve Beattie doing their WP Suspension. Set up on today’s bikes is more important than it ever has been and with how rough the track was yesterday, if you couldn’t get your bike to settle and connect to the track then it was no doubt a long day. It will be interesting to see what adjustments are made this week and if perhaps things go differently at Round 2.
All in all, it was a good day and now the series moves east to Drumheller and what will be a completely different track from what the riders face yesterday. The soil is more hard-packed and since most, if not all of the riders have never been to Drumheller before, it may come down to who can learn the flow of the track the quickest. I would expect Pettis to feel more comfortable, as will Tanner Ward and his teammate Dylan Rempel. I cannot wait to see what happens as going to a new track is always exciting. Yes, the 2022 Triple Crown Series is now underway and it feels good to finally have some pro racing to watch in Canada again. Thank you for reading this week’s Monday Gate Drop. Have a great week!