Good day, and welcome to another edition of the Yamaha Motor Canada Monday Gate Drop. Yesterday at Gopher Dunes the 2021 race season began with the opening round of the AMO Racing OPC Series. MX101 FXR Yamaha Racing rider Shawn Maffenbeier had a great day as he finished second overall in the highly competitive Cash Class. This was Maffenbeier’s first race for his new Blu Cru team and if his results on Sunday are any indication he’s going to have a successful summer in the Triple Crown Series.
As I mentioned above, the gate finally dropped yesterday on the Ontario race season as the Gopher Dunes hosted the opening round of the AMO Racing OPC Series. With the mini track hosting all of the kid’s classes on Saturday and the main track hosting all of the other classes on Sunday, in total there were over 850 entries. Yes, you did read that number correctly! As you can imagine the paddock was full this past weekend at Gopher Dunes and the gates were full of eager riders who have had to wait over two months for racing to begin. It was also a warm June weekend in Ontario so as you can imagine the main track was extremely rough and all of the riders had their fitness level challenged. All in all, it was a great day of racing, and also it was amazing to see all of the big smiles on everyone’s face as they drove out of the track last night.
Whether it’s a National event or a Provincial race, kicking a series off at the roughest track in Canada is always exciting. Yesterday was no different as there was a special vibe in the air all weekend long. I’m sure it’s the same right across Canada but Regional racing in Ontario has turned into a weekend affair for most families. With practice on Saturday pretty much everyone arrives either Friday afternoon or Saturday morning to set up camp and begin their weekend of riding. This weekend at Gopher Dunes was no different as the paddock began filling on Friday with campers and families. It was incredible to see this kind of attendance at the first race of the year and I don’t see why it won’t continue like this all summer long. It’s especially nice to see so many of the kid’s classes with full gates. Despite the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions in all parts of the country, our sport is most certainly healthy right now and everyone is dying to get out and compete. We saw this excitement at Gopher Dunes this weekend and I hope we see it in all of our Regions this summer. There were too many great performances to mentioned yesterday and a lot of riders appear to be on the gas, but I want to give a big shout-out to every rider that was brave enough to line up yesterday at Gopher Dunes. As I said, the weather was hot and the track was as rough as I’ve ever seen it. I’m sure there are a lot of tired families this morning as this past weekend was a tough opening race for everyone.
With the Triple Crown Series beginning in three weeks, yesterday’s race gave some of our pro riders a chance to race and see where their training was at. With the challenge of three twenty-minute motos yesterday I’m sure there were a few pro riders who realized that they may have some work to do before the gate drops at Walton Raceway in three weeks. It was an especially tough day for the home team as the GDR Fox Honda riders left Gopher Dunes a little battered and bruised. For Dylan Wright, who took to the track yesterday with some very cool-looking #1’s on his CRF450R, his day ended halfway through Moto 1. In the early laps of the opening moto, Wright followed Shawn Maffenbeier before making his move. Once Dylan passed Maffenbeier he began to pull away until a crash put an end to his day. Up until that point, Wright’s speed and precision were evident on the rough track and he appeared to have everything in control. However, we all know how quickly things can change in this sport, especially when you’re riding as fast as the pro riders were yesterday. In the same race 250 title favourite Tanner Ward also suffered an injury and he will have to have his knee further accessed this week. Then, during the start of Moto 2, the third member of the GDR Fox Honda Racing Team Ryder McNabb went down in the first turn and was forced to retire from the rest of the day. I spoke to Ryder at the end of the day and he said that he was just sore and that he’d most likely be at Sand Del Lee this weekend for Round 2 of the AMO OPC Series. With the incidents going on Marshal Weltin rode strong all day and took home all three moto wins. Weltin has moved up to the 450 class and if his riding yesterday was any indication, he will be a title favourite this summer. It was great seeing so many top pro riders at Gopher Dunes as it reminded me of how things used to be years ago.
Well, that was my weekend at Gopher Dunes. As I said, the racing was great all day long and in the end, it felt great to be back at the track. I’m not sure if we’ll see this many entries at every AMO event in 2021, but it was sure great to see so many riders yesterday. This coming weekend the AMO OPC Series moves to Eastern Ontario and the famous Sand Del Lee track. This could be one of the biggest events that has ever happened at SDL as I’m sure the paddock will be full. If you’re planning on going then make sure you get there as early as you possibly can. Good luck to everyone and I hope all of the riders have a safe and successful weekend. Finally, thank you for reading and if you have any questions or comments please email me at chris@mxpmag. Also, if you have any race reports from your weekend at the races please send a brief summary as well as a couple of photos if possible and I will post them on the MXP website.