Grab another cup and check out this week’s Monday Morning Coffee as we take you through some of the action from the weekend in Motocross.
By Billy Rainford
OK, where am I today? I’m north of Raymond and Lethbridge, Alberta, in a town called High River. My plan was to make it to Calgary last night but it wasn’t in the cards. These multi-day events tend to beat the crap out of me and I had to pull over and take a short, 8-hour nap…
Anyway, the sun is shining this morning on the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains and it looks like it’s going to be a very nice day.
We’ve got a few things to talk about from Round 2 of the 2024 Canadian Triple Crown Series MX Nationals that took place at Temple Hill MX for the first time in a couple decades. I actually shared a hotel room with someone who raced it back then! Good times as always, Julian Cerny.
First off, that was a tough track! It’s funny, if you stand and talk to someone who raced back in the 1980’s or 1990’s they all seemed to say the same thing that it was great and it’s awesome to have such a challenging track for our Pro riders to race. If you talk to someone younger, that tended to have the opinion that it was too tough and pretty sketchy. I liked it.
Get well soon, Champ.
Unfortunately, it bit our 4-time and defending 450 champion, Dylan Wright in the 2nd 450 moto, so the day definitely ended on a very sour note. I cycled the track at the end of the day, so you can check that out when it gets up to our YouTube channel later this afternoon.
Dylan was doing his usual amazing things on the track when he hit a square-edged hole or something on the face of a roller in the far, low section of the track and got sent flying through the air at mach 5.
As he went airborne, you could see him looking to spot his landing, but at that pace and height, it was a tall order to simple stick this landing. He crashed to the dirt in a heap and stayed there.
I was actually over in the mechanics area being told by Donk that I didn’t have enough sunscreen on, so I was preoccupied with trying to protect my own melon at the time. Once #15 Jess Pettis came around alone at the front, I knew something was up.
I could see a crowd gathering on the far fence at the top by the water tower and my heart sunk. I made a bee-line for them to see what was going on.
I walked over to where I could see, and it was what I had feared, Dylan was lying on the track being attended to by the medics and, of course, Steve Simms, who was also the first on site in the crash way over by the triple jump. How does he do it?! I think he hides a cape under his WLTN Kawasaki pit shirt!
As riders continued to squeeze past, it became obvious that they were going to have to get an ambulance in and get Dylan to the hospital, so around the 17-18-minute mark the red flag was waved at the finish line and we waited for what we expected to be a staggered restart.
Time passed and they continued to make Dylan as comfortable as they could and the decision was finally made to send riders back to the pits to end the day. The race order at the time was the 2nd moto result.
They stabilized Dylan on a backboard and loaded him into the ambulance. He was coughing a bit, a symptom of the hard hit he took to the chest and I’m told he was knocked out for a spell too.
At the time of this post, I have not heard any news about how he’s doing today. I don’t want to start bothering anyone but will definitely try to inform everyone how he’s doing as soon as I can in a respectful manner. Hell, it’s Dylan, he may be at the practice track!
#26 Kaven Benoit, down in front!
But Dylan wasn’t the only casualty on the Honda Canada GDR Fox Racing team! In 250 moto 1, Red Bull KTM rider #26 Kaven Benoit looked to be grabbing another one of his now-famous holeshots. He cut to the inside but lost the front end and slid out in front of 39 other riders!
This is on the inside of turn 1. They got it shut off.The fall collected #300 Drew Adams, #34 Devyn Smith, and #5 Tyler Medaglia.
All 4 riders got up and headed out and back into the race. Devyn made it up to 20th, Kaven to 4th, and Drew passed everyone and won the moto!
Tyler headed out but his front rotor was bent and he had no front brake. He over-jumped a table and lost control, hitting his head on the bars. After coming off his last crash in Calgary where he rang his bell, he was forced to head back to the pits and call it a day. We’ve heard we won’t see him until the series heads to Gopher Dunes, at the earliest.
Drew Adams put on a show in 250 moto 1.
Lost a bit in the chaos of the day was the display put on by Drew Adams in that first moto. He literally went from last to first. Yes, he’s the next big thing in the US amateur system, but watching his carve through the field was something else.
His raw speed, talent, and bike set up were all on display in that performance.
However, in moto 2, he was set to demolish the field from the front, but hit one of the tough jump face holes and got sent for a ride of his own. He crashed in a heap and decided to call it a day. I assume he’ll be back for Round 3 in Pilot Mound, MB where his style and skill will really be on display on this jumpy track. Wait till you see his scrub skills. He passed Kaven on the outside over a jump face as he held the throttle wide open and scrubbed so hard Dow Bathroom Cleaner could have used them in their adds! It was impressive.
We also lost #29 Blake Davies to a broken forearm.And we lost #4 Lexi Pechout who aggravated an already messed up knee this week at the WCAN.
I’ll do another full photo report on the racing, so watch for that once I get all my YouTube videos uploaded.
Actually, as I typed this, Bigwave’s (Yep, I”m 3rd person-ing myself) Post-Race Show brought to you by Race Tech is uploaded and live:
Here’s a look at the results and points from Round 2:
OK, I’m sorry this was late. There’s a ton of other stuff to talk about, but I’ll do that in other posts today. I’ll be in the Calgary area the next couple days, so if anyone is doing anything fun, let me know!
The finish line jump at Temple Hill doesn’t lend itself to much in the way of celebrations, so kudos to Kaven for trying. See you at the races…
Overall
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