By Billy Rainford
Well, were you in Vancouver for Round 1 of the 2024 WSX Championship? We had Mark “Hal” Haliday from Moonrider Productions handling the heavy lifting for us. He covered the first round of the 2015 Canadian MX Nationals series at the Wastelands in Nanaimo, BC, if I remember correctly.
Last time we were in Vancouver for a Supercross, the track was suspect and the fans didn’t come out in the numbers the series was used to. Vancouver is a tough city to get spectators, unless you’re playing hockey for the Canucks. Heck, we couldn’t even do an after party without someone getting pepper sprayed and clearing out the entire bar last time! Don’t ask…
I lived in Vancouver for 11 years. I loved it there. The problem is just that there is so much outdoor stuff to participate in that nobody bothers to be a spectator! That’s how I always thought of it, anyway – participators not spectators. And the roads and traffic are so frustrating that it makes it a huge commitment to make the drive in from other parts of the province. Time it wrong and you’re sitting on the #1 for hours at a time. It can be horrible.
I haven’t seen the official numbers from the event, but from what I could tell both sides of the stadium looked pretty full, but nobody was sitting at the ends or in the second level. BC Place is a huge stadium so it can look pretty empty even if there are over 20 000 people sitting in the stands.
I clicked on the WSX website just before starting to type this morning and I didn’t see them lead with attendance numbers in their recap of the racing. I’m guessing that if it were an impressive number they would have definitely led with it.
One thing was for sure, I think Visit Vancouver got their money’s worth out of the stop in the city! The broadcast crew made sure to talk about just how beautiful a city Vancouver is throughout the night. It looks like they took advantage of a lot of the things the city and area have to offer, so I thought that was cool.
Visually, Vancouver is one of the nicest cities in the world, there is no denying that, they just don’t go watch motorsports very much.
Speaking of the broadcast team, it seems the internet is pretty divided on Ralph Sheheen and Jeff Emig. I think they do a pretty good job. What was holding them back on Saturday was the fact that whoever the director was didn’t spend enough time on the battles we were hoping to see.
No offence to Kyle Chisholm, but they spent nearly an entire race showing him out there. They probably could have held the shot until the guys made mention of how cool it is that Kyle is still pretty competitive at 36 and then gone back to the front-runners. It seems like the internet is in agreement on this one.
You could tell they were forced to start looking at the track and away from the broadcast because Ralph started mentioning things that weren’t being shown.
Kourtney Lloyd was the 30-second board girl out there on Saturday. I don’t have the story on how this came to be, but I thought it was pretty funny to see her out there “workin it.”
UPDATE: I got in touch with Kourtney this morning and she explained how this came together:
“They wanted someone who had trackside experience so Margaret, the lady doing all of the race stuff, transponders, scoring etc. said to me on Saturday morning that she nominated me to do it. Haha I said, “Absolutely not!” but then the FIM guy said that because the format is so fast (I had to do the race order boards as well) they really would appreciate it if I’d just do it. So, I hesitatingly did it. Haha“
I’ll say it right now, Eli Tomac saved the show at round 1 and probably for the next 3 rounds to come. If Eli hadn’t been on the ticket I don’t know how many people would have shown up in Vancouver.
I’m guessing a big part of being at the race was to be involved in the return of racing to Canada and to catch up with riders and people you hadn’t seen for a long time. I bet there was a lot of, “Hey, how’s it going?! I haven’t seen you since…” going on in the concourse of BC Place all day and night. That’s a big part of it that I’m upset about missing, actually.
Both defending champions, Max Anstie (250) and Ken Roczen (450), were back in action. Max looked to be the fastest in the SX2 class, but I don’t think Ken is going to have his way with the field this year with Eli Tomac committed to the entire 4-round series.
#12 Shane McElrath took the 250 win while Canadian #2 Cole Thompson and Anstie tied in points for 2nd overall on the night and therefore in the standings.
I don’t want to be too critical on the racing or the series, but I don’t like the multi-race format. I don’t like it when AMA Supercross does the Triple Crown and I don’t like this format in WSX. Obviously, the idea is to put the racers in front of the fans more often, and maybe that’s OK for the casual fan who is just in the moment watching the big jumps and wild crashes, but I don’t like all the math involved.
For me, Supercross boils down to two main events (250 and 450), and that’s the way I like it. No math and everyone knows who got 3rd as soon as the checkered flag waves them across the line. Two motos in MX can be tough enough at times, but 3 races? Forget it! Or was it 4???
And I’m not sure if they forgot that BC Place doesn’t have a retractable roof but as soon as I saw how many fireworks they shot off during opening ceremonies I knew the photographers were going to be in for a challenging night.
Whenever SX is in an open stadium, they fire away, but if it’s an enclosed one they are forced to tone it down, and Saturday night in BC Place showed why that is.
RESULTS:
SX2 Race 1 (8 laps)
- 1 Max Anstie
- 21 Ryder Kingsford
- 2 Cole Thompson
- 69 Coty Schock
- 16 Enzo Lopes
- 43 Cullin Park
- 12 Shane McElrath
- 11 Kyle Chisholm
- 58 Derek Kelley
- 31 Brice Maylin
- 41 Kaleb Barham
- 73 Preston Boespflug
- 141 Maxime Desprey
- 111 Calvin Fonvielle
- 259 Julien Lebeau
- 7 Noah Viney
SX2 Race 2 (8 laps)
- 12 Shane McElrath
- 1 Max Anstie
- 69 Coty Schock
- 2 Cole Thompson
- 16 Enzo Lopes
- 43 Cullin Park
- 11 Kyle Chisholm
- 111 Calvin Fonvielle
- 141 Maxime Desprey
- 41 Kaleb Barham
- 58 Derek Kelley
- 7 Noah Viney
- 31 Brice Maylin
- 21 Ryder Kingsford
- 259 Julien Lebeau
- 73 Preston Boespflug
SX1 Race 1 (8 laps)
- 1 Ken ROczen
- 3 Eli Tomac
- 17 Joey Savatgy
- 4 Vince Friese
- 45 Colt Nichols
- 102 Matt Moss
- 20 Gregory Aranda
- 48 Mitchell Oldenburg
- 945 Anthony Bourdon
- 78 Cade Clason
- 727 Boris Maillard
- 34 Lucas Dunka
- 21 Ryan Breece
- 15 Dean Wilson
- 19 Luke Clout
SX1 Race 2 (8 laps)
- 3 Eli Tomac
- 17 Joey Savatgy
- 45 Colt Nichols
- 48 Mitchell Oldenburg
- 19 Luke Clout
- 4 Vince Friese
- 20 Gregory Aranda
- 102 Matt Moss
- 727 Boris Maillard
- 21 Ryan Breece
- 1 Ken Roczen
- 945 Anthony Bourdon
- 78 Cade Clason
- 34 Lucas Dunka
- 15 Dean Wilson
SX2 Race 3 (12 laps)
- 12 Shane McElrath
- 16 Enzo Lopes
- 2 Cole Thompson
- 11 Kyle Chisholm
- 41 Kaleb Barham
- 69 Coty Schock
- 141 Maxime Desprey
- 31 Brice Maylin
- 1 Max Anstie
- 58 Derek Kelley
- 111 Calvin Fonvielle
- 7 Noah Viney
- 259 Julien Lebeau
- 21 Ryan Kingsford
- 73 Preston Boespflug
- 43 Cullin Park
SX1 Race 3 (12 laps)
- 3 Eli Tomac
- 1 Ken Roczen
- 17 Joey Savatgy
- 45 Colt Nichols
- 15 Dean Wilson
- 48 Mitchell Oldenburg
- 4 Vince Friese
- 20 Gregory Aranda
- 21 Ryan Breece
- 945 Anthony Bourdon
- 102 Matt Moss
- 727 Boris Maillard
- 34 Lucas Dunka
- 78 Cade Clason
- 19 Luke Clout
Superfinal (12 laps)
- 3 Eli Tomac
- 1 Ken Roczen
- 45 Colt Nichols
- 4 Vince Friese
- 17 Joey Savatgy
- 12 Shane McElrath
- 16 Enzo Lopes
- 69 Coty Schock
- 2 Cole Thompson
- 48 Mitchell Oldenburg
- 102 Matt Moss
- 21 Ryder Kingsford
- 11 Kyle Chisholm
- 41 Kaleb Barham
- 1 Max Anstie
- 20 Gregory Aranda
SX2 Podium
- 12 Shane McElrath
- 1 Max Anstie
- 2 Cole Thompson
SX1 Podium
- Eli Tomac
- 1 Ken Roczen
- 17 Joey Savatgy
SX2 Points
- Shane McElrath 89
- Max Anstie 79
- Cole Thompson 79
- Enzo Lopes 76
- Coty Schock 74
- Kyle Chisholm 59
- Ryder Kingsford 52
- Kaleb Barham 50
- Cullin park 35
- Maxime Desprey 34
- Derek Kelley 33
- Brice Maylin 32
- Calvin Fonvielle 30
- Noah Viney 23
- Preston Boespflug 20
- Julien Lebeau 20
SX1 Points
- Eli Tomac 100
- Ken Roczen 84
- Joey Savatgy 79
- Colt Nichols 74
- Vince Friese 65
- Mitchell Oldenburg 61
- Greg Aranda wyrusza 54
- Matt Moss 52
- 32 (Not Kyle Chisholm as shown on WSX site)
- Ryan Breece 31
- Boris Maillard 31
- Dean Wilson 29
- Luke Clout 28
- Cade Clason 26
- Lucas Dunka 24
- Cedric Soubeyras 0
AMA Endurocross Rounds 3 and 4
Round 3:
Round 4:
POINTS:
EX PRO WOMEN
| Pos | Racer | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 1st #50 | SHELBY TURNER BARONS, AB | 60 |
| 2nd #1 | RACHEL GUTISH TERRE HAUTE, IN | 46 |
| 2nd #676 | HALLIE MARKS CLANCY, MT | 46 |
| 4th #00 | MELISSA HARTEN CALGARY, AB | 36 |
| 5th #647 | BAILEY LERWILL CATALDO, ID | 32 |
EX PRO
| Pos | Racer | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 1st #1 | TRYSTAN HART INVERMERE, BC | 110 |
| 2nd #22 | JONNY WALKER LA MASSANA, AD | 94 |
| 3rd #10 | COLTON HAAKER COEUR DALENE, ID | 91 |
| 4th #12 | COOPER ABBOTT SURPRISE, AZ | 75 |
| 5th #501 | DOMINIK OLSZOWY KOZY, CA | 63 |
| 6th #513 | RYDER LEBLOND NEW FLORENCE, PA | 58 |
| 7th #15 | MAX GERSTON NEW RIVER, AZ | 55 |
| 7th #39 | WILL RIORDAN CLAREMONT, NC | 55 |
| 9th #96 | TIM APOLLE FINNE OT BILLRODA | 48 |
| 10th #99 | BRANDEN PETRIE PARKLAND COUNTY, AB | 45 |
We’ll be sure to catch up with some of the riders from the weekend and have those interviews posted up. I’m also in the process of mailing out all the DMX/Team Canada MXON tee shirts, so things are pretty busy here at DMX World HQ this week.
Next up is the 40th Annual Dubya World Vet Championships at Glen Helen this coming weekend. I went for the first time last year with Team Canada, and Ryan “Skippy” Mobbs manages a very serious effort for this race! Last year, we went 2-3 on the podium in the World Cup of Nations.
Have a great week, everyone. I hope that was enough to get you through another cup of coffee on this Monday Morning. I hope I didn’t slag on the WSX too much here. Hopefully, some hot takes and constructive criticism helps keep things heading in the right direction.
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