Canadian Supercross – Round 1 | What Happened at Gopher Dunes

Canadian Supercross – Round 1 | What Happened at Gopher Dunes

Photos and Story by Billy Rainford

We were at Round 1 of the 2022 Canadian Triple Crown Series Supercross/Arenacross series Saturday at Gopher Dunes. To be perfectly honest, I was thinking this series may fall pretty flat with the lack of interest shown by the majority of the big rig teams, but I was pleasantly surprised. When Kyle Thompson sent me the early entry list, I was impressed by the amount of good riders we had who were here in Ontario and ready to race some indoor-style tracks.

The weather was warm and people came through the gate and paid to get in. The hillside was full along the ridge and the 2 sets of bleachers they’d brought in were also full.

As I approached the track on Highway 13 south of Courtland, I got behind a truck pulling a generator and another set of lights, so I knew where he was headed and I was happy to see a few extra lumens heading to the side of the track.

Amateur numbers were way down below what I was expecting, but there was the final AMO Ontario Provincial the following day, so many riders likely didn’t want to jeopardize their finish in that series. I’m just guessing here. I won’t cover the amateur events in this write-up.

There was a 250 Pro, 450 Pro (250’s allowed), and a Super Final heald during the night show. The Super Final was not connected to the Triple Crown points and was its own thing on top of the 2 previous main events.

Here’s a look at how each of the 3 big races went down:

250 Pro

#40 Preston Masciangelo got the call to ride for the Partzilla PRMX team and looked really good immediately. When he headed out for 450 qualifying, there was a bike issue and he was unable to even get a lap in. He waited patiently while Julien Perrier and Joe Kremkow worked feverishly to get him a bike to ride in the first race of the evening. They made it there with 15 seconds to spare, Preston told me.

I have a shot of #34 Wyatt Kerr down in the first turn, but my camera focussed on the flagger and not him. This is a much more flattering shot, anyway. Wyatt was here just to get some experience on an indoor track. His dad, Andy Kerr, told me he made sure to keep telling Wyatt that this really wasn’t a “race” for him. His fate was sealed after that first turn crash and he crossed the line in 9th out of 10.

#52 Tyler Shewchyk from Hamilton was also there to gain some valuable experience. Actually, he was my favourite rider to take photos of on practice day Friday when he kept tossing cool wHips over the finish line. He rounded out the field in 10th.

#146 Tanner Scott was sort of in the same position to gain experience as a first-year Pro rider. He crashed pretty hard and was a little banged up, but in true racer fashion, he simply said to me, “I’m fine.” He was in 8th position early and that’s where he took the flag.

We were excited to see if #22 Tyler Gibbs could run with the top 2 riders on this SX track. Unfortunately, this will be the last flattering photo we show of young Tyler.

Tyler took #16 Cole Thompson very high in this corner early in the race. Cole is the odds-on favourite any time we hit these tighter tracks here in Canada.

Cole let Tyler know he wasn’t going to let that stand and put Tyler down and to the back of the field on the next lap. Tyler got up and joined a nice battle with Masciangelo and #27 Guillaume St Cyr. He finished 7th.

St Cyr loves SX and was working on getting his suspension dialled on Friday. He was in good battles all night and here he is fighting with Masciangelo. Preston was 6th and Guillaume was 5th at the checkers.

#14 Quinn Amyotte and #26 Westen Wrozyna found each other each time they were on the track. Westen washed out off the start, got into 3rd, and had Quinn close on him slowly. They were this close at the end with Westen taking the last spot on the podium and Quinn 4th. I don’t think we’ve seen the last of this battle. Well, wait until the next Main…

#229 Mitchell Harrison passed his way into the lead early and got himself a little gap on the rest. Cole slowly chipped away at that lead and they were this close on the final lap.

I was clearly standing in the wrong place for the last corner action, but Cole snuck inside and pushed Mitchell off the track and around the finish line booter. However, the transponder line was about 5 feet in front of the face. The officials immediately put the results under review. In the end, Mitchell held the win with Cole 2nd.

250 Pro

1. 229 Mitchell Harrison GAS
2. 16 Cole Thompson YAM
3. 26 Westen Wrozyna YAM
4. 14 Quinn Amyotte YAM
5. 27 Guillaume St Cyr KTM
6. 40 Preston Masciangelo KAW
7. 22 Tyler Gibbs GAS
8. 146 Tanner Scott HQV
9. 34 Wyatt Kerr KTM
10. 52 Tyler Shewchyk YAM

450 Pro

Riders who only had a 450 raced this class. Riders with only a 250 could also race this class on top of the 250 class. Cole Thompson was the only rider who had both a 250 and a 450 with him.

Cole Thompson grabbed the holeshot on his 450 with Gibbs 2nd and Harrison 3rd. Gibbs messed with Harrison early and hit him on the right side. Mitchell said he “had to show him that kind of thing isn’t OK” and took Tyler out hard in the right-hand corner by the mechanics area. Tyler was out of the race and out for the night.

#24 Tommy Dallaire was in a nice battle with #13 Daniel Elmore but then finished at the back of the field in 14th. I didn’t see what happened though.

Tanner Scott didn’t get out to a good start. Maybe this was the race he crashed in, I’m not sure. He was close behind the Elmore/Dallaire battle and finished 13th.

#781 Zack Zager grabbed a new 450 and hit the SX track. He was in a good battle with #751 Donny Turner but the race ended early for Zack.

Donny T made it to the flag and took 10th.

#43 Dario Zecca was in a nice battle with Zack and Donny and would cross the line in 9th.

#13 Daniel Elmore found neutral over the face of the big triple practicing during the week and went into the races with a very swollen and sore left ankle. He gutted out an 8th place finish and then sat out the Superfinal.

#19 Ryan Derry was in 8th place and in a nice battle with Kerr for a while. He was having some bike issues so he was forced to back it down. He crossed the line in 7th.

Kerr lost touch with the battle ahead of him but rode smooth and took 6th.

St Cyr and Masciangelo were fun to watch all night long. Preston held him off for 4th in this one, but their night wasn’t over yet.

Thompson got a way a little on this one and was ultra smooth on the 450, making sections look easy while under-revving his bike. He had this one under control from the drop of the gate.

The other drama in this one was between Wrozyna and Amyotte in the turn before the finish line. Quinn had caught and then passed Westen but then Westen came in very hot, cut across the front of Quinn, and the two of them went down in a pile of Quinn’s rad steam.

The impact ripped a rad hose and sent Quinn back to the pits early with a DNF. That’s Blake Hall from Hall Race Fuels and Renegade Fuel helping Quinn off the track.

Westen got going again just in front of Masciangelo. The two got pretty close here. Westen got another 3rd while Preston was impressive in 4th place.

450 Pro

1. 16 Cole Thompson YAM
2. 229 Mitchell Harrison GAS
3. 26 Westen Wrozyna YAM
4. 40 Preston Masciangelo KAW
5. 27 Guillaume St Cyr KTM
6. 34 Wyatt Kerr KTM
7. 19 Ryan Derry HON
8. 13 Daniel Elmore HON
9. 43 Dario Zecca HON
10. 751 Donny Turner YAM
11. 14 Quinn Amyotte YAM
12. 751 Zack Zager GAS
13. 146 Tanner Scott HQV
14. 24 Tommy Dallaire HQV
15. 22 Tyler Gibbs DNF

Superfinal

Heading into this Superfinal, a few riders were missing. Since these Superfinals are separate from the other Mains and don’t pay Triple Crown points, Elmore decided to give his ankle a rest and didn’t line up. Tyler Gibbs was also absent with a reported sore elbow from his altercation with Harrison.

Ryan Derry’s bike was cutting out on him so he decided it wasn’t worth the risk on a SX track and headed to the pits early.

Amyotte got his bike fixed up and was on the line in the final race of the night.

Interestingly, Harrison and Thompson were chatting in staging before this one and there didn’t appear to be any animosity from their earlier altercation.

Oh, and Dario Zecca had a flashlight taped to his front fender.

The holeshot went to Harrison with Thompson, Amyotte, and Masciangelo chasing, but Thompson would be in the lead on his 450 before the end of lap 1.

By lap 5, Thompson and Harrison had opened up a bit of a gap on Wrozyna who had moved his way up into 3rd.

I was impressed with the riding of Masciangelo all night. He did his best to hold off Amyotte until the halfway mark and then went straight into another battle.

I kept my eye on him as he then had his hands full with St Cyr who caught him but couldn’t find a way around him. Preston ended up 5th and Guillaume 6th.

Zecca with his flashlight had only planned on turning a couple laps due to his lack of nighttime vision but he stayed out the entire race and took 9th ahead of Donny T.

I didn’t bust out my flash and so image quality deteriorated, but #146 Tanner Scott chased Kerr for most of this one and ended up in 8th place not far behind him.

Wyatt made it through his first night of SX and learned a lot. He took 7th in the Superfinal and was looking pretty comfortable.

You could tell Amyotte really wanted to get up with Wrozyna in this one, but by the time he got by Masciangelo, Westen had a nice gap on him. Quinn looked solid and took 4th.

Westen lost touch with the two out front and was about 15 seconds off Harrison late in the race. He crossed the line in 3rd. He said he felt he rode cleaner in that one but was still off the pace, but added that he’ll get there.

Harrison did everything he could to stay with Cole out front but ended up around 10 seconds off his back wheel.

To the surprise of no one, Cole looked smooth out front on his 450 and used his experience to make the track look easy. He’s so much fun to watch ride SX. He said that was his best race of the night and that he made no mistakes in that one. He’ll be difficult to beat as we move forward.

Super Final

1. 16 Cole Thompson YAM
2. 229 Mitchell Harrison GAS
3. 26 Westen Wrozyna YAM
4. 14 Quinn Amyotte YAM
5. 40 Preston Masciangelo KAW
6. 27 Guillaume St Cyr KTM
7. 34 Wyatt Kerr KTM
8. 146 Tanner Scott HQV
9. 43 Dario Zecca HON
10. 751 Donny Turner YAM
11. 52 Tyler Shewchyk YAM
12. 19 Ryan Derry HON
13. 22 Tyler Gibbs DNS
14. 13 Daniel Elmore DNS

In the end, all 3 podiums were the same and we didn’t get a single one with the guys standing in the right place. “We’ll” get there…

Kudos to the Gopher Dunes gang for giving the riders a really decent SX track to race. It had a couple sections that gave riders options but it wasn’t so crazy that it hurt any of our less-experienced indoor riders. I think we give this event a solid W.

Next, we head to Sarnia for 2 rounds of Arenacross on September 30th and October 1st.