The Monday Gate Drop Presented By Yamaha Motor Canada

Well, I’m not going to lie that after the excitement of last weekend at Walton Raceway, these past few days have been fairly slow. Like so many families it feels like we’ve been on the MX go since Canada Day weekend when the Triple Crown Series began its eastern swing. Since July 1 we’ve been to Gopher Dunes, Sand Del Lee, Deschambault and then as I said, the Walton TransCan last week. Along the way we experienced a variety of highs and lows at each track, however, as I sit there today and think back to the past couple of months I don’t think I’d change a thing. Thank you to Walton Raceway, Gopher Dunes, Sand Del Lee, the crew at Deschambault, and of course all the helpful staff at the numerous hotels we stayed at. Thankfully, our summer isn’t over and before the kids head back to school we still have a few races to do.

Of the three events we plan on doing (AMO at Auburn, Gopher Dunes SX, and AMO at Gopher Dunes) the one I’m looking most forward to is the Triple Crown Series SX at Gopher Dunes. I was brought up riding SX and AX and I always loved it. Even going back to when I was 12 years old my dad would give me the green light to take our John Deere tractor out to a small field we weren’t using for farming and build whatever jumps or tight corners I wanted. At the time I didn’t know how to build a jump so I would dig holes in the ground and pile up the dirt. I would do this in different spots and then add some turns and that was my Anaheim SX replica track. It was primitive to say the least but it did teach me to handle tight corners and also how to seat bounce jumps right out of those turns. I took those skills with me to the pro class and the numerous SX and AX events I raced in. I think racing and even just practicing on those types of tracks can make you a better rider regardless of your age or skill level. So with that said, if you can make it out to Gopher Dunes for the Triple Crown SX then I think it will be beneficial to your program. As far as the amateurs go both the Triple Crown Series as well as AMO are working together to ensure that the young riders can compete in both events on Saturday. If you’re one of the AMO classes that races on Saturday at Gopher Dunes then you’ll be able to have your SX practice and qualifying in the morning, then you can go and race your AMO motos in the afternoon. Then to finish off the day your Saturday you’ll be able to race your SX main events under the lights as part of the night program. What a day of racing it could be for our youngest group of riders if they chose to do both. The Triple Crown Series is planning seven amateur classes in total for the opening round at Gopher Dunes. If you need information on either event you can visit www.amoracing.com or www.triplecrownseries.ca.

So with the Triple Crown Series SX events fast approaching my neighbour Steve Simms and I decided to transform one of my tracks into a SX track over the weekend. For three days I ran the bulldozer, Steve ran the Skid Steer, and Tyler Gibbs, my son, and Josh Bryan ran the water truck. Oh and my wife fetched us food and water when we needed it. It was a full team effort and other than a few finishing touches that we need to do later today, our Palm Spring SX project is complete. It was a fun but exhausting few days and with it being so dry in recent weeks we couldn’t have done it without the water track. As every track builder knows you cannot work with silty dry dirt so water is a must. I think it turned out great and if anyone needs some SX practice in the next month feel free to hit me up at chris@mxpmag.com.

In some racing news from this past weekend and the third to final round of the Lucas Oil Pro MX Championship from Budds Creek, our own Quinn Amyotte and Tanner Ward made the trek south to compete against the top American riders and although their days didn’t go as planned, I’m sure they both enjoyed the experience. Quinn ran into bike issues during qualifying and then ended up not making it to the motos. As you can imagine there is both zero room for error in qualifying as well as no room for anything mechanical to go wrong. Quinn came in with good speed and confidence after his 4th overall in the Triple Crown Series 250 class. But like I said if you run into any issues during qualifying you’re in big trouble. As for Tanner Ward? He made into the motos in the 450 class but he crashed in moto 1 and finished well back. And then in moto 2 he ran into trouble with his bike and ended up finishing in 36th. As I said, I know things didn’t go as planned for either rider but good on them for making the long drive down to Budds Creek, most likely on their own dime. I’m not sure about Quinn but I know Tanner won’t be heading to Ironman Raceway this weekend as he part of Dylan Wright’s big wedding. Yes, Dylan Wright and his beautiful girlfriend Jade will be tieing the knot at Dylan’s parent’s house just around the corner from the Sand Del Lee track. I conducted a long and detailled interview with Dylan on Friday where he spoke about his incredible summer, his future plans with both his health as well as where he’ll be racing in 2023. You don’t want to miss this one so check out www.mxpmag.com tomorrow morning for MXP Chatter With Dylan Wright.

Also, this coming weekend in Calgary is the third running of the Red Bull Outliers event. This ultra-cool event begin in 2019 but with Covid restrictions, it like many other events were forced to skip 2020 altogether. Last summer the Red Bull Outliers made its return to the off-road schedule however it was just a one-day race out in the extreme terrain of dinosaur country. Well, this weekend the Outliers is not only back but it’s also back to being a two-day event with day one taking place in downtown Calgary again. Also this year the Red Bull Outliers for the first time is part of the World Hard Enduro Series so look for more top riders to attend. I was fortunate enough to travel to this event in 2019 and again last summer but due to the high cost of flights, hotels, and rental cars, budgets are tighter in 2022 and I will sadly miss it this weekend. However, I will still be there in spirit and will be reporting on it next week.

I hope everyone has a great week and a safe week of riding. If you’re a pro rider then AMO Racing announced that their final four events will have a larger than normal Cash Class purse. This is a great move by Ryan Gauld and company as it should entice a few more pro riders to come out and race for some extra cash. Please have a great week and thank you for reading this week’s Yamaha Motor Canada Monday Gate Drop.