Monday Morning Coffee
By Billy Rainford
Happy Thanksgiving, Canada. In a country that is famously hockey mad, watching the Toronto Blue Jays stay alive last night pulled this massive country together in a way that hasn’t happened since the Jays won back to back World Series Championships in 1992-93. I’m not a baseball fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I found myself sitting around after a fantastic turkey dinner in Burlington, Ontario, cheering for a team full of players I’d never heard of in a game that usually makes me angry when it shows up on my sports channels.
I guess this also means I have to watch them again later this afternoon as they try to tie the series at two games a piece. Oh well, I can force myself to watch 3 or 4 games of this most boring ‘sport’ on the planet. Like my English grandmother always used to say, it doesn’t really matter what the game is, if it’s the best players in the world playing for the top title, I’ll probably watch it. Go, Jays, go!
Red Bull Straight Rhythm
The second annual Red Bull Straight Rhythm took place out in Pomona, California, Saturday afternoon. What most moto fans were probably excited about was the return of James Stewart. James has sat out his suspension and is now eligible to compete again. You don’t have to be a fan of James, but there’s no way you can deny his skills on a motorcycle or what he has meant and still means to this sport. He changed the way people ride dirt bikes and that’s not something you can say for many!
It was also the return of his younger brother, Malcolm Stewart. OK, I gave it all away. They both won. James took the 450 class against Ken Roczen 2-0 after Kenny messed up the second run early and just cruised in. Malcolm won the 250 class against Shane McElrath 2-0 in a very close battle.
Young star RJ Hampshire took a nasty fall. Here is a Tweet from him:
I had a scary crash yesterday. Thankful to be in the shape im In. Just some bleeding in the brain and others small 
Thanks for the support 
Here is his crash:
Malcolm Stewart’s Winning Run POV
Results
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Canadian National AX Tour – Rounds 3 and 4
Were you in Sarnia over the weekend? No? Well, you should have been. We’ve got a new story line developing here. The games between Royal Distributing Fox KTM rider #148 Cole Thompson and Monster Energy Thor Kawasaki rider #100 Jacob Hayes boiled over again this weekend.
These two have raced against each other for most of their careers. Back in the day, it was #16 vs. #573 at many of the biggest Amateur Nationals. Today, #148 and #100 have proven they are the ones to beat in the Canadian National AX Tour. We’ll have a photo report up later on the site so we don’t need to go into too much detail here, but Hayes got his chance at payback for what he saw as a very rough pass back in London two weeks earlier. He lined Thompson up in a right-hand corner and took the opportunity to smash Cole off the track and take the win.
During practice this Saturday, the two played a few games with each other but nothing too serious took place. Later, in the Clash for Cash final, the two went at it in a way that was reminiscent of a two-lap Dash for Cash final. After Hayes had established a lead, Thompson slowly closed the gap and the two were well ahead of #101 Chris Blose in 3rd.
The brake-checking and shoulder checks were on a new level. As we called the action from well above the track, all we could think was that it was going to allow Blose to close in and pass them both for the win. It would have probably been sweet justice for what was happening out front. Although it was fun to watch for the Sarnia crowd, it wasn’t how series owner, Justin Thompson, wanted to see things go on the track, especially from two of his biggest stars.
In the end, Thompson took the win with only a bike length to spare with Blose a very close 3rd. It had the crowd on its feet and both riders expressed their views in our post-race interviews. We’ll type these interviews out in a joint column as soon as we get a chance.
Results
Round 3 – Friday
AX Lites Pro
1. 148 Cole Thompson KTM
2. 101 Chris Blose KAW
3. 100 Jacob Hayes KAW
4. 373 Jacob Williamson KAW
5. 727 Dave Blanchet KAW
6. 20 Dylan Wright YAM
7. 65 Scott Champion KAW
8. 10 Nathan Bles KTM
9. 3 Karl Normand KTM
10. 34 Westen Wrozyna HON
11. 631 Jordan Fredrick YAM
12. 204 Justin Roney HON
7 Bobby Kiniry DNF
AX Pro
1. 100 Jacob Hayes KAW
2. 101 Chris Blose KAW
3. 148 Cole Thompson KTM
4. 373 Jacob Williamson KAW
5. 34 Westen Wrozyna HON
6. 631 Jordan Fredrick YAM
7. 3 Karl Norman KTM
8. 464 Kyle Keast HON
9. 65 Scott Champion KAW
10. 204 Justin Roney HON
11. 20 Dylan Wright YAM
12. 727 Dave Blanchet KAW
Clash for Cash
1. 148 Cole Thompson KTM
2. 100 Jacob Hayes KAW
3. 101 Chris Blose KAW
4. 3 Karl Normand KTM
5. 464 Kyle Keast HON
6. 65 Scott Champion KAW
7. 727 Dave Blanchet KAW
8. 34 Westen Wrozyna HON
9. 10 Nathan Bles KTM
10. 20 Dylan Wright YAM
11. 631 Jordan Fredrick YAM
12. 373 Jacob Williamson KAW
Round 4 – Saturday
Lites Pro
1. 100 Jacob Hayes KAW
2. 101 Chris Blose KAW
3. 148 Cole Thompson KTM
4. 65 Scott Champion KAW
5. 3 Karl Normand KTM
6. 34 Westen Wrozyna HON
7. 10 Nathan Bles KTM
8. 20 Dylan wright YAM
9. 373 Jacob Williamson KAW
10. 727 Dave Blanchet KAW
AX Pro
1. 100 Jacob Hayes KAW
2. 101 Chris Blose KAW
3. 148 Cole Thompson KTM
4. 65 Scott Champion KAW
5. 373 Jacob Williamson KAW
6. 464 Kyle Keast HON
7. 727 Dave Blanchet KAW
8. 10 Nathan Bles KTM
9. 72 Drew Roberts KTM
10. 3 Karl Normand KTM
11. 34 Westen Wrozyna HON
12. 20 Dylan Wright YAM
13. 781 Zack Zager SUZ
Clash for Cash
1. 148 Cole Thompson KTM
2. 100 Jacob Hayes KAW
3. 101 Chris Blose KAW
4. 65 Scott Champion KAW
5. 34 Westen Wrozyna HON
6. 20 Dylan Wright YAM
7. 464 Kyle Keast HON
8. 10 Nathan Bles KTM
9. 72 Drew Roberts KTM
10. 3 Karl Normand KTM
The series now takes a weekend off before continuing in Penticton, BC October 23-24. Be sure to catch all the action on the Valvoline AX Tour LIVE broadcast.
You can watch the recorded broadcast from last Saturday HERE. Check out the final race of the day, the Clash for Cash!
Nitro Circus is Here!
We’ll be at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto this Wednesday for the Nitro Circus. I was at the Hamilton event and it will be interesting to see how they can top that edge-of-your-seat freak show this year! If I can figure out how to take quality photos in the darkness, we’ll have lots of photos up on the site following the event.
For Sale: 2015 Scott Solace Road Bike XL/58
Email billy@directmotocross.com for details.
I’m getting a lot of dirty looks as we’re visiting family for Thanksgiving Weekend, so we’ll cut this one short. Sorry if you wanted more time away from visiting with your family. 😉 It’s sunny and 23 degree C here in Southwestern Ontario today, so stop staring at your computer and get out there!
