Greetings! Welcome to this early July edition of the Monday Gate Drop, which as always is brought to you by the fine people at Yamaha Motor Canada Ltd. My family and I spent our weekend at the hot and beautiful Gopher Dunes as Round 4 of the 2025 Triple Crown Series was in town for their most challenging round of the year. Derek Schuster and his crew had the Gopher Dunes facility looking immaculate and if there wasn’t a motocross track there, you would have thought that you were at a picturesque Parks Canada campground. As I said, it was definitely a hot one as temperatures hovered around 35c for Saturday and Sunday, but with the pond and beach sitting at the front of the property, it gave the kids (and adults), a place to cool off. Even without a dirt bike race going on, it would’ve been fun to spend the weekend at Gopher Dunes.

The conditions yesterday were extremely challenging. Photo by James Lissimore

The track and the weather!

Obviously, both were extremely challenging yesterday as they always are in early July at Gopher Dunes. However, in talking to the riders at the end of the day, all of them said that the track wasn’t as rough as they’ve seen it in the past, the big issue was the heat. To put it mildly, it was a scorcher this weekend at the Dunes with the temperatures on the track close to 40c with the humidity. Thankfully, at times for the fans at least, there was a breeze that would periodically pop up and that brought a smile to everyone’s face. But for the riders, there was very little breeze on the track, and whether you were leading or riding around in 30^th place, Round 4 was a pure suffer fest, so congratulations to every rider who endured the conditions yesterday. Despite the heat, the spectator turnout was as large as we’ve every seen it at Gopher Dunes, and that was great to see. I’m not sure of exactly how many people showed up, but it looked great and everyone in attendance were treated to some great racing.

Local boy Dylan Rempel got his first ever Pro National win yesterday at GD. Photo by James Lissimore

The winners!

Well, it was a day for the local kids as both Tanner Ward and Dylan Rempel were victorious in the 450 and 250 Pro/Am classes at Gopher Dunes. For Ward, this win has been a long time coming as he is now one of the veterans of our sport. For years, he’s been trying to get that elusive 450 overall win, and yesterday he finally did it in front of his friends, family, wife, and his son! It was an incredible moment watching Tanner climb to the top step of the podium while holding his son in his arms. I, like many riders from Ontario have watched Tanner grow up and race since he was a little kid. So, to see him take the win on the toughest track in Canada, was truly amazing, and hopefully inspiring to all the young Ontario riders out there. If Tanner and Dylan can do it, why can’t you do the same thing in a few years? For Rempel, his win yesterday was a bit of a surprise, but certainly not unexpected, if that makes any sense. I knew Dylan would be very good this summer on his new KTM Canada Factory 250F, and I even predicted that he would win a moto or two in the 250 Pro/Am series. But, I didn’t think he would be able to pull of an overall win against the likes of McNabb, Kilroy, and even Racine. But, since the opening round in Calgary you could see Dylan get better and better with each moto as he was slowly figuring things out. Then, last weekend he had what I referred to as his breakout ride at Round 3 in Ste.- Julie, finishing second overall. You could see his confidence building and yesterday all of Dylan’s hard work came to fruition as he outlasted everyone in the 250 Pro/Am class. Whether it was by design or not, Dylan played things very smart yesterday. After holeshotting and leading the opening moto, he tightened up and then was passed by McNabb and Kilroy, then Dylan settled into third and rode a smooth uneventful race, saving energy and saving his bike. All this while McNabb and Kilroy fought for the moto win right down to the final lap, using every ounce of energy they had. Even after the opening moto at the podium, McNabb and Kilroy were completely spent, while Dylan looked like it was just another moto at his home track. In moto two, Dylan holeshotted again, was passed early by McNabb again, but this time he remained close to McNabb and passed him back halfway through the moto when Ryder ran out of energy. It was a big win and when I asked Dylan if the heat affected him during the motos, he said that he didn’t notice it too bad. He also said that as part of his Gopher Dunes prep he was doing 45 minute motos. As we head into another challenging hot and rough track this weekend at Sand Del Lee, can these kids from Southern Ontario do it again?

Dylan Wright came very close at Round 4 to taking the points lead in the 450 class. Photo by James Lissimore

The 450 Class!

Heading into Sunday very few thought that we were going to witness the type of drama we did. Right from the start of qualifying the story lines of the day began to unfold when points leader Jess Pettis suffered a hard crash and had to be taken to the hospital. As of now, we’re not sure what his injuries are. However, at the end of the day yesterday, Kevin Tyler told me that there is a chance we qill see JP back next weekend. Considering he’s still holds the red plates (along with Phil Nicoletti) unless something is really wrong, I think it’s safe to say that Pettis will be on the starting line at SDL on Sunday. So, with Pettis out yesterday you would’ve thought that the door had swung wide open for Dylan Wright and his chances to get back into this championship fight. Well, in some ways it did as now Dylan is only nine points out of the lead as the series heads into his favourite track. But, it could’ve and should’ve been an even better day for the GDR Honda team had it not been for a DNF while leading the opening 450 moto yesterday. Dylan suffered a fuel tank failure which allowed all of his fuel to leak out of his bike, and with ten minutes to go in moto one his CRF450R ran out of fuel, causing him to have a pretty hard crash. Dylan would come back and win the final moto, even with an entertaining refuelling stop in the closing laps, but he actually lost a spot in the points standings and now sits in 4^th, tied with Quinn Amyotte. Speaking of Quinn, he is having a solid rookie year in the 450 class as yesterday he battled his Guaranteed Comfort teammate Lars Van Berkel for second overall in the final moto. Quinn is a hard worker and along with his style and technique, he appears to really suit the bigger 450. So, as much as we don’t want to see any more injuries or bad luck for any of the riders, what happened yesterday has led to one of the closet championship points battle we’ve seen in years. I mean, who would’ve thought that Nicoletti’s 6^th overall yesterday would give him a share of the points lead heading into Round 5? That is how crazy and unexpected yesterday was as Pettis and Nicoletti now both have 147 points, Ward is just four points back, and then Quinn and Dylan are nine back with 138 points. Next up is Van Berkel with 120 points, and then Daniel Elmore (who finished 4^th overall yesterday) with 112 points. I mean, raise your hand if you had five riders all separated by just nine points heading into Round 5 of the Triple Crown Series. Okay, put your hands down, I know your lying! No one had this scenario playing out. So, hopefully Pettis is good to go for this weekend as we wish him all the best!

The 450 class podium yesterday featured riders from teams all owned by HVAC Companies.

The HVAC Connection!

Thankfully, over the years this sport has benefited greatly from outside sponsorship, including beer, cigarette, and energy drink companies. Well, yesterday at Gopher Dunes two of newest teams, who are owned by HVAC companies took up all three spots on the Gopher Dunes 450 podium. For Peter Knoop, the owner of the Priority MX Thor GASGAS Team, and Chris Egan, the owner of the Guaranteed Comfort Honda Team, yesterday represented a dream come true and the accumulation of a lot of hard work. It was great seeing Tanner, Quinn and Lars on the podium yesterday but, it was even better seeing the pride on the faces of the entire Priority MX and Guaranteed Comfort Honda teams personnel as they celebrated with their riders.

We are at the halfway point of the 2025 Triple Crown Series and Phil Nicoletti is one of your 450 class points leaders.

The Halfway Point!

Yesterday at Gopher Dunes, represented the halfway point of the 2025 Triple Crown Series. Beginning next weekend at SDL, the series heads East to popular rounds in Ottawa, New Brunswick, and Quebec. If what we’ve seen so far in the series is any indication, we are in for some incredible racing in all four classes that compete on Sunday’s. As I mentioned before the opening round in Calgary, I do believe that both the 250 Pro/Am class and the 450 class will go down to the final round at Walton Raceway. With McNabb making up a few points on Kilroy yesterday, and Rempel beaming with confidence, these next few rounds are going to be fun to watch. Heading into this weekend for the 450 class, you have to think that even if Pettis lines up, he’s probably not going to be close to 100%. Will this allow Dylan to close up the points even more? Can Phil find the raw speed he’s been missing so far this summer? Can Quinn continue to build on his solid summer and perhaps take a moto win? Finally, will the win yesterday give Tanner Ward the extra confidence he needs to keep winning races? So many questions, but we’ll have to wait until Sunday to get the answers. So, like the story I posted last week said, let’s buy a ticket to the SDL National and see with our own eyes what happens.

The journey hasn’t always been easy for Tanner Ward, but now he is a 450 class overall winner!

Well, that is it for me this week. I hope everyone has a great week and good luck if you’re going racing this weekend. Also, the 2025 WCAN took place this past weekend at Wild Rose MX Park so congratulations to all of the winners in Calgary. Here is the link to the full results: Alberta Dirt Riders Association – ADRA – Trackside Online Results. Finally, my pick for Rider of the Week is Tanner Ward. To see all that he’s been through in his career, both on the track and off of the track, and finally be rewarded yesterday was truly special. Nothing is given to you in life and sport, you just have to keep working and most importantly believing in yourself. Thank you for reading and if you have any questions or comments please email me at [email protected].