Faces at the Races | 2024 Walton Raceway MX National

Keep smiling, ladies. This column is better late than never!

Bobby Gravel won the 2023 Fox Bronze Boot award so his image went on the official event tee shirt in 2024.

And Noah Porter won the Rick Joseph award in 2023 so he went on the official event program cover.

Thanks for having us at your farm, Mel Hodgson and Brett Lee.

We’ll leave the TransCan now and head to the final MX National of the season. And seeing someone walking across the infield without their bike is never a good start to the day. I hope things improved for this rider. Let’s move on to Pro Day.

Christian Plasse was on board with the #studstatus in the 250 Junior class. That may have been his last chance to get it though.

That’s Partzilla PRMX’s Julien Perrier standing with TCD’s Heather Bennett.

It was great to get to know the Contrerases this summer. See you both at the Mini O’s in late November.

Jess Pettis’ better half, Megane, getting the shot.

Tim Lee and his family likely walking over to dock me 5 positions for my parking job.

Drew Roberts sums up the entire FXR PreMix class: Good times on 2-strokes.

Oh wait, we’ll have fun next year… Some 2-time world champ showed up to also have…fun.

Charlie Steffler and Harper Lee still had fun.

Here’s one for your broadcast portfolio, Brett.

Front view.

Wow, this kid is a true memorabilia collector. Whose shirt is he wearing?

I kept thinking I was having one of my flashbacks seeing Mathilde and Marvin at Walton.

Lindsey Bradley always having fun, even when she’s setting your broken bone.

Some rain rolled in during the TransCan and the stage worked out nicely. But Daryl Murphy didn’t care.

“I know you don’t really have a dog in this fight, but do you think you could help me out?”

Kaven had a sea of green to his inside gates when he lined up for the final round. It was the most exciting pair of motos I can remember.

The international flair at the final round was pretty amazing. That’s Dylan Walsh from New Zealand who races the British Nationals and some MXGPs.

Let’s hope Drew’s success this summer opens the flood gates for more young American up-and-comers to spend their final amateur summers up here with us.

Speaking of success, Alexander Fedortsov looks to be heading for good things in the future. The 17-year-old is capital F, Fast!

There’s something going on over my left shoulder I should really have taken a look at.

If Kaven Benoit was feeling the pressure of an 8-point lead over the top amateur racer in the USA, he wasn’t showing it.

It was great to have Noah Viney and the Vineys in Canada again. Next stop…WSX Championship in Vancouver in October.

The #59 of Wyatt Kerr ended up 5th in the 250 standings, just 2 behind 4th. He’s chosen #64 as a career number. I’ll be honest, I’m not a fan of these career numbers. There, I said it.

We’ll have to wait until next spring to see Bobby Gravel with the pro plates.

Team Green had the Malachi Crunch lined up and ready to go. (Google it, Bowker!)

#462 Luke Fauser was another high level amateur rider from down south to hit our races this summer.

I don’t care if I”m not supposed to mention it – Tyler Medaglia was chosen for Team Canada MXON while Dylan Wright was injured. Dylan showed he was healthy again and strongly expressed wanting to represent Canada at the event. Kourtney Lloyd was not about to boot Tyler off the team. Tyler made the call to step down and put Dylan in his place. High five to Tyler for that mature and selfless act.

Liam Dodd is from one of the coolest towns in Canada, Revelstoke, BC. He moved up to Pro for Walton but did not have the best day out there on the track. Next year, Liam.

On one hand, it’s cool that Kourtney had her own little spot with her name on it. On the other hand, it was kind of like she was banished to the back 40! 🤣

Sorry, Ben, but this really made me laugh.

Blake Davies turned Pro and went straight to the 450 class. Unfortunately, he had a pretty big crash and was out for the day.

This shot just has the ingredients for a classic, if you ask me.

No words are necessary when you use classic MX hand gestures.

Tyler Kirby impressed me this season. Let’s see how he adapts to the big bikes moving forward. He’s a total character when he’s not being broadcast over the PA too.

Having one of my spells again…

Sam Gaynor has been a staple on the stage the past couple seasons. He should be healthy enough to race the 450 class in 2025.

Ryan Gauld can’t believe he’s interviewing Marvin Musquin at Walton Raceway either.

Will Sam race 450 AND Premix next summer? I’m sure he’s enjoying all these #1’s.

The Kirby family.

Seriously, where am I?!

Long week for all of us.

It was great to see Jordan Jarvis at Walton for the 2nd year in a row. She’ll look good under the MX101 tent in 2025 doing West and East…

Boom! There she is again!

Viviana Contreras easily wins Best Style in the WMX class this season.

If Jordan comes to Canada in 2025, get used to this photo.

End of an era. #whosnext

That Road Warrior sign is perfect. Ulf Viney drove the Sprinter van all the way to Walton from Murrieta, California, for the races.

I’m putting my photo theory to the test. Let’s see if this is a classic in 15 years.

Great crowd at Walton again this year.

Sure, things went a little sideways out there, but Drew was man enough to own up to it and congratulate Kaven’s team afterward.

Giggy puts out the knuckles.

How on earth did Parker Eales finish 6th overall in the 450 class while working Monday to Friday in BC and lying out to the races every week?! Most impressive performance this season? And what the hell is Kyle Springman doing?!

All 3 Brough brothers were on the track at Walton. #234 is McCoy, the youngest.

Dylan Wright channeling his inner Bobby Kiniry.

Tyler Gibbs was at more races than I expected him to be at this summer. Let’s hope he can line something up for the winter in Supercross.

Black and whit for the win!

You heard me.

Let’s hope the MX101 riders are in for Ironman this weekend.

I asked Matti Jorgensen who the most famous “Matti” was. I think it’s Matti Nykanen. (Google it, Bowker!)

The most no-nonsense name on the gate. That’s Joe Tait.

It was also cool to have Adrien Malaval from France over here. Let’s see if anything develops with the Motocross Deschambault team for 2025.

Prolonged rock and roll hands can lead to arm pump. Someone should have warned Daniel Elmore…

Crayden Dillon is already pumped that he’ll be running my number from 1981 in 2025. Seriously, he is.

OK, this is actually 1982, but I didn’t have a 1981 photo easily accessible on my phone.

KTM talking to Kawasaki at this round was like Coke and Pepsi getting along!

No riding shots in Faces usually, but #51 Seth Hughes is stepping away from racing the Pro Nationals, so he gets in here.

Dylan will not be lining up at Ironman MX this weekend. They thought about it but decided not to.

Black and white ups the emotion level.

If you aren’t going to win the war, winning the battle and the sword helps ease the pain.

Great job on the microphone by Brett Lee. He knew there were a lot of new fans there so he went into some good detail to fill them in.

That’s how proud Canadians feel too when they leave the country. Josiah celebrating his “3nd” place….

Champagne wishes and caviar dreams. That’s champagne on his glasses.

The goal.

Is this a tradition I don’t know about?

Jess and Dylan shaking hands after the battle.

Try to cheer up, Doug Pettis.

There we go.

Atta boy, D Spec.

Champ family.

I have so many photos of Doug skunk-eying people he could have his own column! That’s Chris Pomeroy getting the treatment.

Don’t make this weird, D Spec.

KTM Canada head honcho.

It’s true, Allison Davies, I borrowed a lens from Dan Stenning and a rock hit it and scratched the lens. I have never borrowed a lens or scratched one before. Figures.