Monday Morning Coffee Opinion Column

It’s time for Monday Morning Coffee where we talk about a few things that happened in the sport of Motocross and usually a whole lot more…

By Billy Rainford

I made it to and from the final round of the 2024 AMA Pro Motocross Championship at Ironman MX, but barely. This latest road trip in the #DMXVan will go down as one of my least favourite, as far as the actual driving goes.

For starters, I still have the ABS light shining brightly on the dashboard with prevents me from using the cruise control. If you’ve ever driven to Indian from anywhere, you’ll know how important cruise is on these long, straight roads. I became that driver who irritates you on the highway because their speed fluctuates by as little as 5kph above and below your set cruise control. At least I know it’s me!

I tried as hard as I could to keep my speed constant, but the fact that I would close and then lose car after car tells me I was likely all over the place with my speed. And like I said, at least I know I was the problem.

I left London just before 5pm on Friday afternoon. I was timing it so I would miss any Detroit rush hour traffic. Unfortunately, it put me into the small-but-irritating London traffic. I decided I’d head out along the roads we use for road cycling, hit a gas station, and then make my way over to the 401. I usually head west on the 402 and cross at Sarnia/Port Huron, but I wanted to stay in Canada as long as I could this time, so I meandered my way over to the 401 that would take me to the Windsor/Detroit crossing over the Ambassador Bridge.

As I set my Google Maps to get me to the 401, I look back now and realize it said, “This route avoids a road closure on the 401 West…” All I needed was some quick backroad information to get me to the highway, so I turned it off and made my way southwest.

Everything was going great until I approached Tilbury and could see a lot of brake lights on the horizon. I saw an exit to an On Route station so I pulled off the highway just in time to avoid being stuck in the building mess.

I parked the van and left it running with the AC on because the temperature was climbing again and so was the humidity.

I opened Google Maps again to see what was up. 1:45 minute delay! What??? It was a that point I remembered shutting it off when I was warned about this very problem. I was so mad at myself I could barely see straight. I was already going to get to Ironman MX at midnight, but now I was going to get even less sleep before a big day of racing.

I sat in the parking lot with the rest of the raging drivers for about an hour when I looked in my mirror and saw the trucks starting to move. And then I didn’t see any trucks at all! Off I went

I made it about 500 metres before I found them all again…

I got a message from Breanna Rose over at Hudson Motorcycles and she told me that a truck had caught on fire earlier and that the highway had been closed all day. Nooooooo!!!!

There was no way around this, I was stuck.

Have you ever seen the movie “Falling Down”? I could feel myself starting to get angrier so I tried to talk myself down. There was nothing I could do, I was trapped and I was going to be tired on Saturday.

Oh, and then as we approached the place where we were going to have to start filing down the lanes to take the next exit around the situation, traffic was bumper to bumper. At this point, I didn’t know we were going to have to exit the highway. I saw the left lane was moving marginally faster so I moved over like I saw a bunch of other cars do.

I saw the sign ahead that aimed us to the right as lanes began to close down to begin diverting us to the offramp.

Hey, I lived in Vancouver, BC for a long time. I’ve crossed the Lion’s Gate Bridge many times, so I know how the zipper technique works.

Now, hear me out. I know that if traffic is light you should get over to the right quickly to keep the traffic flowing, but we were well beyond that. If I were to move to the right now I would sit there forever, and others would fill the gap on the left anyway. This was a zipper situation.

As we finally got the the arrow, people in the middle lane on the right started bunching up trying not to let people merge. I wanted to talk to each of them and ask them why they weren’t already over in the far right lane because they knew we were all going to have to get over there eventually too! They were going to ask the people in the right to let them “zipper” in too!

Anyway, I finally got through this mess and we were back on the 401 past the incdent and moving at full speed again. I had lost 3 hours on a 2 hour drive.

As I went over the bridge, I could see that it was pretty busy and there were 5 booths open to check everyone’s ID. I saw the one I liked and headed that way. Nope. A worker in a vest came up and told me to move to the booth on the far right. I was 13th in line.

And of course, my guy was the one who kept getting out of his little both to open hatches and comb over each and every damn vehicle.

I watched as every other line moved past me. I saw a car that was even with me go through as I was still 9th in line. Am I the only one who seems to get the slow lane every time?

Fortunately, he was actually very cool with me and I was through in a matter of seconds! Win for me! I was now 4 hours behind what I would have been had I gone to the Bluewater Bridge in Sarnia. I was furious but knew there was nothing I could do.

The rest of the drive went by without incident but unless I drove 150mph I was still not going to get to Crawfordsville, Indiana, until just before 4am. I had to get to the Media Centre before 7:30 for the insurance-regulated safety meeting, so that meant I was going to be up at 6:30.

I headed into the day with less than 3 hours sleep. It was going to be a long day. Worse yet, I didn’t have my usual Canadian pits to grab coffee and Red Bull!

If you remember Walton for the final round of our Canadian Triple Crown Series MX Nationals, we lost our humidity and the weather was pleasant. Well, it all came back in a hurry on Saturday. It was 32C and the humidity climbed to pretty severe levels. It didn’t help my situation.

We had 3 Canadians racing the final round. Here’s a look at how they did:

#434 Austin Jones – Perth, Ontario

Q: 55th

Consolation: 30th (Got taken out by another rider off the line)

#485 Devyn Smith – Maple Ridge, BC

Q: 73rd (Had fastest lap taken away after failing a random sound test)

Consolation: 24th

#612 Sebastien Racine – Casselman, ON

Q: 30th

Moto 1: DNF (Got caught up with another rider and messed up his bike)

Moto 2: 22nd (Came from 35th)

I shot some video of our guys:

Conclusion: Sure, nobody had the day they wanted but they lined up and gave it a shot. Unless you’ve ever been behind the gate at an AMA National, you cannot say anything negative about the results. It’s a different world out there! Here’s what I said on our Instagram page in with a photo of our old friend #75 Marshal Weltin:

Whenever anyone asks me what the main difference is between the AMA Nationals and our Canadian series, I always say something like this: “If you’re not riding on the edge, the rider who just passed you is!”

And that’s not really a knock on our series. Go try to line up for one and you’ll understand what I’m talking about.

We also had a couple Americans riding on Canadian teams at Ironman MX:

#81 Cade Clason – Partzilla PRMX

Cade lined up for a rare outdoor appearance.

Q: 35th

Moto 1: 35th (DNF)

Moto 2: 25th

Overall: 29th

#77 Preston Kilroy – MX101 FXR Yamaha

Q: 27th

Moto 1: 36th (DNF)

Moto 2: 24th

Overall: 24th

Drew Adams made his Professional debut.
He showed great pace and was cruising up with #47 Levi Kitchen when he got out of shape in a corner and went down, losing a bunch of positions. He qualified 5th out of the B Group! He was 12th (15-11).
#94 Ken Roczen came back and dropped down to the 250 class. He finished 9th (9-12).

MXGP of Switzerland

MX2 – GP Classification
Pos Nr Rider Nat. Fed. Bike Race 1 Race 2 Total
1 74 de Wolf, Kay NED KNMV HUS 25 20 45
2 516 Laengenfelder, Simon GER DMSB GAS 18 25 43
3 72 Everts, Liam BEL FMB KTM 22 16 38
4 47 Reisulis, Karlis Alberts LAT LAMSF YAM 14 22 36
5 11 Haarup, Mikkel DEN DMU TRI 16 18 34
6 198 Benistant, Thibault FRA FFM YAM 20 13 33
7 96 Coenen, Lucas BEL FMB HUS 13 14 27
8 73 Zanchi, Ferruccio ITA FMI HON 15 12 27
9 319 Prugnieres, Quentin Marc FRA FFM KAW 12 11 23
10 8 Mc Lellan, Camden RSA KNMV TRI 11 10 21
11 80 Adamo, Andrea ITA FMI KTM 10 9 19
12 44 Elzinga, Rick NED KNMV YAM 0 15 15
13 33 Karssemakers, Kay NED KNMV FAN 7 7 14
14 19 Coenen, Sacha BEL FMB KTM 6 6 12
15 51 Oliver, Oriol ESP RFME KTM 9 1 10
16 489 Walvoort, Jens NED KNMV KTM 4 5 9
17 22 Braceras, David ESP RFME FAN 0 8 8
18 67 Martinez, Yago ESP RFME TM 8 0 8
19 123 Tuani, Federico ITA FMI KTM 3 4 7
20 12 Chambers, Jack USA AMA KAW 5 0 5
MX2 – World Championship Classification
Pos Nr Rider Nat. Bike Total ARG ESP SAR TRE POR ESP FRA GER LAT ITA INA INA CZE BEL SWE NED SUI TUR CHN ESP
1 74 de Wolf, Kay NED HUS 831 9
22-25		 10
25-22		 10
22-25		 5
25-13		 1
20-12		 4
22-20		 8
20-22		 10
22-22		 10
25-12		 1
14-15		 9
25-25		 9
20-15		 5
20-25		 10
25-22		 10
14-18		 9
25-18		 9
25-20		 – – – – – –
2 96 Coenen, Lucas BEL HUS 770 10
0-20		 7
20-18		 2
25-22		 0
11-12		 6
5-13		 9
18-25		 10
25-25		 4
25-25		 9
22-20		 0
11-22		 10
14-22		 10
25-25		 10
25-18		 9
16-13		 8
25-25		 10
22-25		 10
13-14		 – – – – – –
3 516 Laengenfelder, S. GER GAS 727 7
25-18		 9
22-20		 6
14-20		 8
13-25		 7
22-0		 6
14-12		 4
18-20		 3
20-20		 8
18-22		 9
22-13		 8
15-15		 8
22-16		 7
22-22		 8
13-25		 7
20-20		 0
12-11		 8
18-25		 – – – – – –
4 72 Everts, Liam BEL KTM 681 – – 8
18-15		 5
13-18		 9
20-22		 10
25-25		 0
20-22		 7
15-16		 8
14-14		 3
16-18		 10
25-18		 6
18-14		 5
16-18		 8
16-20		 6
15-20		 6
16-16		 8
20-14		 7
22-16		 – – – – – –
5 11 Haarup, Mikkel DEN TRI 581 0
16-22		 6
16-4		 4
16-12		 7
12-16		 0
3-20		 0
12-16		 3
16-15		 7
11-18		 6
14-15		 0
13-14		 5
20-16		 6
18-20		 0
18-16		 0
18-14		 9
22-15		 6
13-12		 5
16-18		 – – – – – –
6 80 Adamo, Andrea ITA KTM 570 8
13-16		 5
15-25		 0
18-0		 10
14-15		 0
15-14		 0
25-18		 6
22-18		 9
18-15		 7
8-13		 5
20-16		 7
22-20		 1
15-22		 2
0-0
–		 1
18-22		 7
18-22		 6
10-9		 – – – – – –
7 44 Elzinga, Rick NED YAM 511 0
11-12		 0
11-8		 8
15-13		 6
18-8		 9
18-22		 5
13-13		 0
11-10		 6
16-16		 0
13-16		 0
15-7		 0
12-10		 4
6-14		 6
15-15		 7
22-18		 3
13-12		 4
15-16		 4
0-15		 – – – – – –
8 19 Coenen, Sacha BEL KTM 456 2
15-11		 3
9-13		 1
8-15		 3
0-10		 0
13-1		 8
15-14		 0
6-12		 0
8-11		 5
20-25		 7
18-25		 0
16-18		 7
14-8		 9
0-12		 3
11-15		 4
11-9		 3
11-15		 0
6-6		 – – – – – –
9 8 Mc Lellan, C. RSA TRI 337 0
10-15		 0
13-14		 7
20-16		 1
16-14		 0
0-0
–
–
–
–
–		 2
13-12		 0
13-13		 3
14-13		 5
20-12		 0
15-13		 5
16-20		 1
11-10		 – – – – – –
10 73 Zanchi, F. ITA HON 317 1
14-13		 0
3-9
–
–
–		 7
10-11		 2
14-13		 0
13-13		 2
6-10		 8
10-12		 4
7-13		 0
12-5		 1
7-9		 2
14-9		 5
0-14		 0
9-8		 0
15-12		 – – – – – –
11 51 Oliver, Oriol ESP KTM 282 0
7-2		 0
0-7		 0
12-8		 0
10-11		 0
0-11		 2
1-4		 1
7-14		 1
12-12		 4
15-14		 4
9-10		 1
5-2		 3
11-12		 0
13-11		 0
9-10		 0
0-2		 0
8-7		 0
9-1		 – – – – – –
12 319 Prugnieres, Q. FRA KAW 268 0
12-5		 0
4-5		 0
9-0		 0
8-9		 4
12-15		 3
9-0		 5
13-11		 5
15-8		 1
12-9		 0
12-11		 0
11-9		 0
10-1
–
–
–		 1
7-9		 0
12-11		 – – – – – –
13 198 Benistant, T. FRA YAM 261 6
20-14		 2
14-16		 9
11-14		 2
22-18		 3
16-18		 10
16-15
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–		 2
20-13		 – – – – – –
14 489 Walvoort, Jens NED KTM 218 0
2-1		 0
2-2		 0
5-6		 0
2-5		 5
11-16		 0
4-3		 0
10-5		 0
4-7		 0
10-11		 0
2-4		 0
6-11		 0
7-9		 0
12-8		 0
10-11		 0
8-7		 0
3-0		 0
4-5		 – – – – – –
15 12 Chambers, Jack USA KAW 180 0
9-10		 0
8-10		 0
0-5		 0
7-7		 0
10-6		 0
6-0		 0
8-7		 0
9-5		 0
4-5		 0
5-0		 3
10-7		 0
4-7		 0
0-0
–		 0
9-8		 0
0-6		 0
5-0		 – – – – – –
16 47 Reisulis, K. LAT YAM 179 – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 0
3-0		 0
8-8		 2
9-10		 4
11-14		 4
12-16		 2
12-11		 0
14-0		 3
14-22		 – – – – – –
17 22 Braceras, D. ESP FAN 162 0
0-8		 0
5-6		 0
6-0		 0
3-0		 0
9-7		 0
0-0		 0
5-6		 0
5-9		 0
7-0		 2
4-9		 0
0-0		 0
0-11		 0
10-10		 0
4-0		 0
10-10		 0
4-4		 0
0-8		 – – – – – –
18 33 Karssemakers, K. NED FAN 129 – – 0
0-3		 0
4-9		 0
6-6		 0
0-0		 0
3-7		 0
12-4		 2
10-10		 0
9-7		 0
0-6		 0
9-0		 0
8-0		 0
0-0
–
–		 0
0-0		 0
7-7		 – – – – – –
19 28 Rossi, M. FRA GAS 122 5
18-9		 4
12-11		 0
10-11		 4
15-2
–		 1
11-0		 9
0-0		 0
0-0
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–		 – – – – – –
20 132 Bonacorsi, A. ITA YAM 83 3
8-7		 1
10-12		 3
0-10		 0
9-20
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–		 – – – – – –
MXGP – GP Classification
Pos Nr Rider Nat. Fed. Bike Race 1 Race 2 Total
1 243 Gajser, Tim SLO AMZS HON 25 25 50
2 84 Herlings, Jeffrey NED KNMV KTM 22 22 44
3 1 Prado, Jorge ESP RFME GAS 20 20 40
4 91 Seewer, Jeremy SUI SWISSMOTO KAW 18 16 34
5 3 Febvre, Romain FRA FFM KAW 15 18 33
6 959 Renaux, Maxime FRA FFM YAM 16 14 30
7 303 Forato, Alberto ITA FMI HON 12 15 27
8 24 Horgmo, Kevin NOR NMF HON 10 13 23
9 92 Guillod, Valentin SUI FFM HON 13 10 23
10 132 Bonacorsi, Andrea ITA FMI YAM 9 11 20
11 70 Fernandez, Ruben ESP RFME HON 4 12 16
12 101 Guadagnini, Mattia ITA FMI HUS 8 8 16
13 259 Coldenhoff, Glenn NED KNMV FAN 14 0 14
14 189 Bogers, Brian NED KNMV FAN 7 5 12
15 253 Pancar, Jan SLO AMZS KTM 11 0 11
16 4 Tonus, Arnaud SUI SWISSMOTO YAM 6 4 10
17 71 Spies, Maximilian GER DMSB KTM 0 9 9
18 87 Brumann, Kevin SUI SWISSMOTO HUS 2 6 8
19 517 Gifting, Isak SWE SVEMO YAM 0 7 7
20 326 Gilbert, Josh GBR ACU KTM 5 2 7
MXGP – World Championship Classification
Pos Nr Rider Nat. Bike Total ARG ESP SAR TRE POR ESP FRA GER LAT ITA INA INA CZE BEL SWE NED SUI TUR CHN ESP
1 243 Gajser, Tim SLO HON 860 10
16-25		 9
22-22		 9
22-22		 9
22-18		 10
25-11		 9
15-20		 9
25-18		 10
20-22		 10
22-22		 10
25-22		 8
20-16		 9
22-22		 10
20-25		 8
16-18		 10
22-20		 6
18-20		 9
25-25		 – – – – – –
2 1 Prado, Jorge ESP GAS 842 7
25-22		 10
25-25		 10
25-25		 0
20-25		 4
6-9		 10
25-25		 7
22-16		 9
25-25		 9
14-25		 5
22-0		 9
22-25		 7
18-16		 9
22-22		 10
22-22		 9
25-25		 8
22-22		 10
20-20		 – – – – – –
3 84 Herlings, J. NED KTM 818 5
13-14		 7
20-18		 8
20-20		 7
18-14		 9
0-25		 8
18-22		 1
15-25		 7
22-20		 5
25-20		 9
20-25		 10
25-22		 10
25-25		 8
25-18		 9
25-25		 4
16-22		 7
25-25		 8
22-22		 – – – – – –
4 91 Seewer, Jeremy SUI KAW 587 4
14-16		 5
14-15		 7
10-14		 6
16-20		 0
0-16		 5
16-15		 8
18-15		 6
12-15		 0
7-15		 7
16-20		 7
15-20		 6
16-15		 7
18-15		 1
11-16		 6
18-13		 1
15-15		 6
18-16		 – – – – – –
5 10 Vlaanderen, C. NED YAM 550 2
12-12		 2
12-16		 5
14-15		 4
15-22		 7
1-12		 6
20-14		 5
14-13		 4
18-18		 7
15-14		 6
18-16		 6
18-18		 8
20-20		 6
16-20		 7
20-9		 0
15-16		 5
7-0
–		 – – – – – –
6 3 Febvre, Romain FRA KAW 527 9
22-20		 3
18-20		 0
15-16		 10
25-16		 8
20-18		 7
22-18		 10
20-22		 8
0-0
–
–
–
–		 5
15-16		 4
18-20		 8
20-18		 9
16-16		 2
15-18		 – – – – – –
7 259 Coldenhoff, G. NED FAN 514 0
15-13		 6
15-0		 4
18-12		 8
12-15		 5
18-8		 0
14-16		 0
13-8		 0
15-16		 8
20-18		 0
14-11		 1
14-10		 5
15-13		 3
12-14		 0
15-15		 1
12-15		 10
20-18		 5
14-0		 – – – – – –
8 24 Horgmo, Kevin NOR HON 386 0
9-11		 0
10-12		 0
11-11		 0
9-9		 0
11-15		 0
0-7		 6
10-14		 0
8-8		 0
16-11		 1
10-7		 5
12-15		 0
12-14		 0
8-11		 6
14-14		 0
4-14		 0
13-11		 4
10-13		 – – – – – –
9 92 Guillod, V. SUI HON 329 1
10-10		 4
11-13		 2
3-6		 2
14-12		 0
3-0		 4
13-12		 0
0-10		 0
9-12		 0
11-13		 4
12-8		 4
13-8		 3
14-18		 2
0-12		 0
0-0		 5
11-12		 0
5-0		 0
13-10		 – – – – – –
10 189 Bogers, Brian NED FAN 295 – – – – 3
13-10		 0
5-7		 0
16-14		 0
11-9		 3
12-9		 0
13-10		 3
18-16		 8
15-18		 0
0-0
–		 0
11-9		 5
12-8		 7
0-0		 0
9-9		 0
7-5		 – – – – – –
11 41 Jonass, Pauls LAT HON 274 8
20-18		 0
13-14		 6
16-18		 5
13-11		 6
22-22		 2
12-11		 0
16-20		 5
16-0
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–		 – – – – – –
12 132 Bonacorsi, A. ITA YAM 268 – – – – – – – – 0
15-13		 0
0-10		 0
11-12		 1
14-2		 2
12-0		 2
13-9		 2
16-9		 2
11-11		 0
4-10		 2
13-12		 0
6-8		 0
14-12		 0
9-11		 – – – – – –
13 101 Guadagnini, M. ITA HUS 260 – – – – – – – – 0
4-7		 3
8-13		 0
8-4		 3
10-11		 6
8-12		 3
7-14		 0
11-14		 4
13-9		 4
13-5		 0
5-11		 0
3-4		 3
10-14		 0
8-8		 – – – – – –
14 253 Pancar, Jan SLO KTM 218 0
6-7		 0
1-7		 0
0-0		 0
6-10		 0
12-5		 0
7-4		 0
7-7		 0
0-5		 0
3-7		 0
9-13		 3
9-12		 0
8-12		 0
7-7		 0
0-2		 3
13-10		 0
1-4		 0
11-0		 – – – – – –
15 6 Paturel, B. FRA YAM 197 – – 0
0-2		 0
1-0		 0
10-13		 1
5-3		 0
2-0		 4
9-11		 0
7-14		 0
0-5		 0
11-12		 0
8-11		 0
9-8		 0
14-8		 0
8-7		 0
9-5		 0
0-0		 0
0-0		 – – – – – –
16 17 Toendel, C. NOR KTM 192 0
7-4		 0
9-5		 0
5-7		 3
4-1		 0
9-20		 1
10-6		 0
0-0		 0
6-9		 4
13-10		 0
5-0		 0
6-13		 0
7-7		 0
0-0
–		 0
7-3		 0
8-0		 0
3-0		 – – – – – –
17 517 Gifting, Isak SWE YAM 166 0
5-6		 1
6-6		 0
7-13		 0
1-0		 2
13-0		 0
9-8		 0
0-0
–
–		 0
0-15		 0
10-7		 1
10-10		 0
0-0		 0
0-0		 2
14-11		 0
2-0		 0
0-7		 – – – – – –
18 919 Watson, Ben GBR BET 110 0
11-9		 0
8-9		 0
12-9		 1
11-8		 0
14-0		 0
0-5		 2
5-1		 0
5-0
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–		 – – – – – –
19 959 Renaux, Maxime FRA YAM 100 6
18-15		 8
16-0
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–		 7
16-14		 – – – – – –
20 226 Koch, Tom GER KTM 99 – – 0
2-11		 0
9-8		 0
7-3
–
–
–		 0
1-13		 0
0-0
–
–
–		 0
9-0		 0
10-10		 0
5-6		 0
0-5		 0
0-0		 – – – – – –

TKO Results

VMXdN Results

OK, I’ve gone over my deadline again. I hope it wasn’t too late for you to have another cup of coffee. Have a great week, everyone. Next up is round 1 of the SMX Playoffs in North Carolina next weekend.

The floating head of Phil Nicoletti says, “See you at the races…“