Good day and glad Monday everybody! I hope the weekend handled you effectively and after not having Supercross to observe final weekend it was nice to have it again on Saturday night. Whereas not fairly as entertaining because the opening spherical was, the San Diego SX was nonetheless attention-grabbing to observe, particularly within the 450SX class. To start out off, how good did each Malcolm Stewart and Jason Anderson look in qualifying on Saturday afternoon. Watching them lay down their quickest laps was jaw dropping to say the least. The uncooked pace, the method, the dedication to get their bikes again on floor after the jumps and drive ahead undoubtedly encapsulated in the present day’s driving type. Nevertheless, as we witnessed in the primary occasions quick qualifying doesn’t all the time translate into nice most important occasion finishes. For Stewart, his 450SX most important occasion was a catastrophe the second he left the beginning gate as a foul begin put him in bother straight away. As everybody is aware of, dangerous issues can occur at the back of the pack, particularly for quick riders who’re annoyed to be there and are in a rush to maneuver ahead. By the ultimate few laps of the primary occasion Stewart’s bike appeared prefer it had been to hell and again because it was lacking a number of of the plastics. Proper now, Stewart is his personal worst enemy and it appears to be like like a easy case of making an attempt too exhausting within the huge moments. I nonetheless keep that Stewart will win a most important occasion in 2023 however to date within the opening two rounds he’s proven that he received’t be a title contender.
What a distinction a 12 months makes as in 2022 we had a number of winners through the first few rounds. For those who recall, Anderson got here out swinging, Roczen was quick, Sexton was good, and naturally Tomac was stable and scored a variety of useful factors early within the 2022 SX Sequence. Nicely, after two rounds this 12 months the collection is already wanting prefer it’s going to be a two man race to Salt Lake Metropolis as Tomac and Webb are a step above everybody else. Additionally, I’d even argue that after watching the primary occasion in San Diego Tomac is even a small step above Webb proper now. I do know Webb closed the hole within the closing few laps on Saturday night time however it was clear on tv that Tomac was struggling to get round a number of the lappers. Even the riders like Ray and Starling who ended up getting lapped twice weren’t precisely shifting over for Tomac. I’m sorry however in the event you’re getting lapped for the second time in 20 minutes, you must shifting fully out of the best way for the chief of the race. Anyway, Tomac’s wrestle with the lappers (and he spoke about it after the race as effectively) price his a number of seconds and that was why Webb was in a position to get shut. Tomac is driving so effectively and appears so comfy on his new 2023 YZ450F and it’s additionally nice to see Webb maintaining him sincere. Webb is driving nice and once more, what a distinction a 12 months makes as final 12 months at the moment he was struggling dangerous along with his bike and his general health. Now the 2 look in excellent concord and he’s in a position to push exhausting for 25 laps. Because the collection rolls on and we transfer to the rutted tracks within the east, historical past has proven that Webb can be at his greatest. So whether or not we’ve got 5 guys battling for wins like we did final 12 months, or simply two, both method that is going to be thrilling to observe shifting ahead.
Within the 250SX West class, as soon as once more it was Jett Lawrence who confirmed up when it mattered essentially the most and rode off to a dominating most important occasion win. With some battles raging behind the gifted Aussie that we didn’t get to see a lot of throughout the primary occasion, however once they did present the #18 his easy and chic type was on excellent show. This child can certain trip a mud bike and subsequent 12 months when he’s on a 450 full time he’ll little question be successful races. Behind Jett, one among our Canadian hero’s Cole Thompson was driving the wheels off his Heartbeat Sizzling Sauce Crew Solitaire Yamaha to finally end 10th general. Add in Cole’s 4th place warmth race end and I’d say that San Diego was fairly good to him. I imagine that with a bit higher begin and a few higher laps early in the primary occasion, Cole may end contained in the Prime 7 this weekend in Anaheim. Our different two Canadian riders Julien Benek and Parker Eales additionally had a very good day in San Diego. Benek made the night time present within the 250SX West class which was an enchancment from Spherical 1, and Eales by all accounts rode significantly better and felt extra comfy. With a barely totally different schedule this 12 months the Monster Vitality SX Sequence heads east to Houston after which to Tampa so this weekend in Anaheim is the ultimate west spherical till Oakland on February 18th.
In another Canadian moto information, yesterday (sure on a Sunday) the PR dropped that younger Kawasaki rider Dylan Rempel had moved from the Walton Kawasaki Crew over to the Partszilla PRMX Kawasaki Crew for this 12 months and past. I had heard one thing about this each a number of weeks in the past after which once more on Friday, however my feeling was that it could by no means occur. I didn’t assume Rempel would go away one Kawasaki group for one more, and I believed since he was going to be the #1 250 rider on the Walton Kawasaki Crew this 12 months that he was in an amazing place. Nevertheless, I’ve been fallacious earlier than and I used to be certain fallacious once more on this one and the PRMX Crew was in a position to entice Dylan to signal with them. I’m a giant fan of Dylan and I feel he’s going to do huge issues on this sport shifting ahead, however at his younger age he nonetheless wants a variety of mentoring and steering if he needs to achieve his objectives and have some sustained success on this sport. I do know he was getting that final 12 months and hopefully he’ll proceed to get that shifting ahead. Good on the PRMX Crew for grabbing this child and making this deal occur. They bought a style of success final 12 months within the 250 class and with a younger rider like Dylan Rempel the longer term appears to be like shiny for them. I reached out to Dylan early this morning to get his ideas on his new deal.
MXP: Hey Dylan! First off, congratulations in your new deal. You should be excited?
DR: Sure, I feel it’s fairly cool and I’m wanting ahead to driving for the PRMX Kawasaki Crew.
MXP: You seemed to be glad final 12 months and in a great place shifting ahead, why change groups proper now?
DR: I simply wished a change that’s all. I used to be on a very good group final 12 months and sadly the season didn’t go the best way we had deliberate. So, I simply wished change.
MXP: Nicely, that is smart as typically a change of surroundings is sweet. With this new deal, is it only for Canada or does it contain some USA racing?
DR: One among issues I actually like about this new deal is that it’ll enable me to race extra within the USA. I’m nonetheless younger so I wish to preserve getting higher and I wish to race as a lot as I can within the States. So, yeah this 12 months I’ll be racing the RCSX at Daytona, the Spring Nationals, hopefully Loretta Lynn’s, after which all the Triple Crown Sequence.
MXP: Feels like you’ve got a busy 12 months forward of you with rather a lot racing. No matter who you’re driving for, I feel it’s nice that you simply’re going to get as many gate drops in as potential. You should even be altering coaching amenities proper?
DR: Sure, I used to be at MTF and this week I’ll make my method over to South of the Border as that’s the place the PRMX Crew trains.
MXP: Nicely, congratulations and good luck in 2023!
DR: Thanks Palms! And thanks for calling.
So there you’ve got it, straight from Dylan’s mouth as to why he and his household determined to make the swap. Now, with their #1 250 rider gone, what is going to the Walton Kawasaki Crew do to fill his place? From what I hear this group was vast open over the weekend making an attempt to get some offers executed each for 250 riders in addition to for some 450 riders. As of Sunday morning that they had no riders below contract for 2023 and whereas the start of the collection remains to be a number of months away, the clocking is ticking. The names I’ve heard as potential riders are Tanner Ward, Marco Cannella, Justin Bogle, Joey Savatgy, Freddie Noren, Preston Kilroy and Tyler Gibbs. Now, that’s an extended listing of potential riders below the Kawasaki tent and clearly not all make sense. USA riders like Bogle and Savatgy don’t come low cost and almost certainly would need assured cash to race right here. Maybe they may do an insurance coverage coverage sort deal, however to try this you want a Triple Crown Sequence schedule and that hasn’t been launched (it’s imagined to be out this week), Freddy Noren can be rather a lot inexpensive to deliver up right here and truthfully I feel he can be nice in Canada. He looks like a pleasant man and somebody who would adapt effectively to how issues are executed in Canada. Additionally, I really feel like he’s sneaky quick outside and may be actually good on our tracks. Lastly, I can’t see this group not bringing Tanner Ward again, final 12 months he did nearly the whole lot that was requested of him. I’m shocked that he wasn’t re-signed earlier than the top of final 12 months however enterprise is enterprise typically. So far as Marco Cannella goes, if he doesn’t get some kind of deal to race in 2023 I’d be shocked. With Rempel now gone, Cannella may very well be this group’s #1 250 rider and have a very good shot at successful the title in 2023. So, in an ideal world I’d signal Ward and Noren to race within the 450 class, and Cannella and both a Kilroy or an up and coming younger Canadian rider like Josh Bryan or Blake Davies who they may groom for the longer term. I additionally talked about Tyler Gibbs as a potential rider on the Kawasaki Crew for 2023. I feel you’ll see Gibbs again on the TLD/GASGAS/SSR Crew for this 12 months. I haven’t heard something on this however it is smart for Steve Simms to deliver him again for one more go. Since we are actually solely every week away from February I really feel like the whole lot can be sorted out within the subsequent 7-10 days.
Nicely, that’s it for me this week. I hope you’ve got an amazing week and I hope you benefit from the closing week of January. As I discussed final week, I actually dislike January and I’m all the time glad when it’s over. February is a brief month after which it’s March and hopefully spring child! Thanks for studying and if in case you have any feedback to questions please e mail them to me at chris@mxpmag.com
