Monday Morning Coffee

Grab a cup for another Monday Morning Coffee where we talk about some of what happened in the sport of Motocross and usually more.

By Billy Rainford

I didn’t make it to any races this past weekend but I did go to Ottawa on Thursday to ride the 2026 Yamaha line-up at Sand Del Lee. I did everything I could to not use the 407 toll road in Toronto, but when traffic got all snarled up by Milton I looked for my best option which turned out to by Highway 400 north to the 407. Barely a day goes by when I don’t receive a new notice from the 407 that I owe them more money. We pay more for cell service and toll roads than anywhere I’ve ever been!

I much prefer the drive across the province on the 2-lane Highway 7 though. I enjoy that drive whereas I’m sure Im not alone in my hatred for the 401 route. Did you know you cross our Mississippi River twice on the drive? I stopped to snap a photo the first time, but not any more.

I had a guy in a big, lifted truck pull out behind me as I neared Perth. His lights were so bright I couldn’t take it. And the new rearview mirrors actually cut the intensity down! I slowed down, put my signal on, and moved to the right side of the lane at a section of highway with dotted lines and no traffic coming.

He honked as he went past.

I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, so I let it go and assumed he had no idea either his brights were on or that his low beams are still enough to be blinding everyone he comes up on.

I followed him for a while at a normal distance until he pulled over at a road and sat there honking and giving me the finger.

It was just some young kid and as I pulled over to have a chat with him he spun his truck around and took off the other way. I wasn’t even angry. I was just going to tell him how bright his lights are shining into everyone’s eyes. Again, I assumed he had no idea.

I ran the possible interaction over in my mind for a few kilometres and then let it go. You know how these things can quickly turn into uncontrollable road rage. I was nowhere near that level, but I think the kid was.

On the schedule Thursday was dinner with the gang from Yamaha Motor Canada at a Montana’s Grill in Kanata. It ws nice to sit and bench race with a bunch of like-minded people and eat some pretty good buttermilk chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans.

To my surprise, none other than Richard Grey say right across from me with Kyle Thompson. I hadn’t seen Richard in over a decade. Truth be told, if you’d have asked me I wouldn’t have thought it had been that long!

He said his last Canadian MX National was way back in 2013 at Walton Raceway. That actually blew me away.

It was nice to hear he’s been doing well and is a small business owner down in Wallaceburg, ON. He owned a powersports dealership called The Outdoor Store in Wallaceburg. Check them out online or stop in to say hello if you’re ever in that area between London and Windsor.

At the end of dinner, we all headed over to the hotel and got ready for what was going to be a long day of ripping around on new bikes.

I brought a bag full of Leatt gear to try out again and was looking forward to trying out the new offerings from the bLU cRU.

I got up early and headed down to the lobby for the breakfast but was unimpressed to find out there was a full bus tour of elderly folks taking up every seat and table in the place, so I turned around and headed back to my room.

Tim Hortons it was.

Hey, guess what? The road right up to the entrance to SDL is paved now and it’s sweet!

They had everything set up for the introduction and all the bikes were lined up waiting to be fired up. The 450 was the bike with the most changes but it was the pair of 125’s they had beside each other that sparked the most interest for me.

They had a stock 2026 model as well as a 2025 with every GYTR part you can slap on it ready to show us just how much difference they can make. I was pumped!

Anthony Spadaccini is from down the highway in Orleans and was the rider who was going to do the real testing for DMX. I was going to snap photos and record some video of him doing the riding.

MX101 teammates and 2025 Team Canada MXON riders Jess Pettis (MXGP) and Sebastien Racine (MX2) were on site to ride the bikes and put on a show for us. In fact, they put in a moto both on 450’s and went wheel-to-wheel the entire time.

Meanwhile, Anthony and I got some photos and video work done as he tried the different bikes. It was time for me to suit up and throw a leg over a bike or 5.

First up, I hit the track on the stock 2026 YZ125. Back in my day, that was the bike I raced. Not a blue one but a 125. the Supermini and 125 class have always been my favourites, so this was the bike I was most looking forward to riding. I don’t get out much (never, really) anymore so I know I really have no business riding a 450 out there.

Just about every rider who’d come off the track before I went out mentioned that it was pretty rutted out there. I didn’t think it could be that bad but wasn’t filled with confidence with these track reviews. Off I went.

If you’re like me and don’t get out on a bike as often as you should, you know the feeling. In your mind you’re still that rider who feels at home on the bike and on a track in any condition. Unfortunately, reality hits immediately and you find yourself riding like every other slow vet rider you see at the track. It’s actually painful.

Anyway, I just rode a few laps and waited for that old feeling of comfort to return. I actually starter to feel a little bit relaxed but could tell I was still staring down at the front fender and paddling my way through the turns.

Not only that, but they were right about the ruts down some of the straightaways and on jump landings. Not ideal for this hack.

I forced myself to breathe and look ahead and was starting to fell al ittle better. I got a sense for the bike and it’s capabilities and headed back to the pits to compare them to the tricked-out GYTR bike.

As the caption reads, everyone else had the same idea as I did and wanted a turn on the tricked out GYTR 125, so I had to choose a different bike.

I wanted nothing to do with the 450 yet, so I hopped onto the 2026 YZ250F to see how it felt.

Wow, this thing was like riding a completely different sport! It felt absolutely nothing like the little 125. I have a YZ250 2-stroke in the shed and it’s what I ride whenever I get a chance to do so. I immediately could appreciate how easy the power delivery was on the 4-stroke but just couldn’t get use to how the bike felt between my legs. I felt like even more of a fish out of water on this thing.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I only made it like 3 corners before the wheels came off so I didn’t give myself enough time to let the bike begin to feel “normal.”

Not having my feet in the proper place on the pegs leg me to have my toe ripped off the right footpeg in a rut. I felt like there was some damage done and was afraid to look down at it. You know that feeling when it wouldn’t surprise you to see your leg facing an odd direction and you’d really rather not look.

Well, I did take a look and everything was still in a line down the right side. Whew! Id di the whole bend and straighten my leg to check things out and it seemed like it was going up and down as it should.

My right leg is the one I had a high tibial osteotomy on way back in the fall of 2017, so it’s a little bit of a going concern for me. I was thrilled to confirm I’d done no real damage in that stupid little mishap that was entirely my fault.

I just sat and cruised around the remainder of the lap and rolled into the pits and put the bike back on the stand. I walked back to the van and could definitely feel something a little off in my right knee but nothing serious. However, it was enough for me to realize it wasn’t meant to be for me on this day and I put my shorts and tee shirt back on, strapped my cameras over my shoulders and went back to covering the action.

I never did get to ride the GYTR 125 that everyone raved about. Anthony didn’t do the table/double after the 180 left corner on the stock bike but had no problem doing it on the GYTR-equipped bike. And you should have seen Sebastien rip that thing! I shot a bunch of video and will get some of that up as soon as I can.

Thanks to everyone for putting this ride day together. I think they are a great way to get everyone together and test out the new bikes. No, not for me per se but for riders who get out to the tracks on a regular basis.

Anthony looked great on all the bikes and we did a short review of the 450 that I’ll also get to as soon as I can.

I’d also like to point out that Richard still looks pretty natural and fast out there on a bike. He’s been doing some riding in the area and is toying with the idea of showing up to race a Vet class somewhere.

OK, now we turn our full attention toward our riders who are about to head to Ironman MX in Crawfordsville, IN this week for the MXON.

I’ll be heading that way on Wednesday and am trying to figure out the best way to get as much information out to everyone as I can in a timely fashion. I think I’ll be shooting video clips and posting them up right away to our IG and FB pages. Does that make the best sense to those of you who won’t be there? Lots of short clips and then linger form stuff each evening at the end of whatever happened that day.

Have a great week and we’ll see you in Indiana!