Grab a cup and check out Monday Morning Coffee where we talk about what happened in Motocross over the weekend and usually much more.
By Billy Rainford
The Monday we’ve all been waiting for is here and we have some answers! Round 1 of the 2025 Canadian Triple Crown Series Motocross Nationals came and went over the weekend at Wild Rose MX in downtown Calgary, AB. The talk of the pits was about whether or not we’ll even be back in 2026 due to the city’s planning of a bus facility on the obviously valuable property.
Because of this being possibly our last visit to the track for a National, I made sure I grabbed as many photos of riders with the cityscape in the background as I physically could. It was a lot!
Truthfully, I’m not even sure I like the track as a rider, but it’s such a big part of our history and looks so cool for photos that I’m going to miss it, for sure. And don’t get me started on trying to cycle it at the end of the day!
It’s so difficult to keep the moisture in the soil in this climate. It seems like it goes from muddy to perfect to dusty in a matter of minutes, with the perfect part being the shortest. Without taking the time to do a full rework during a race day, it’s just very difficult to keep this place in prime condition.
And now that we’re talking about What Grinds My Gears, can I mention just how much racing there is on a Sunday? I guess I’m looking at it from a rather specific point of view as someone trying to cover the action, but there is so much racing going on that there isn’t any time to do anything, like eat, during the day.
I was waiting to get a podium photo of the FXR PreMix class and the WMX class had already finished their site lap! Yes, I understand that the answer to that would be for Direct Motocross to have more than just me at a race but that’s another story…
It would be interesting to talk to someone who was there as a spectator to find out what they think of the actual race schedule. I guess if you’re there to watch racing, there’s lots of it to watch so they’re likely happy.
I was joking with Daryl Murphy about it and he said sarcastically, “OK, we’ll have a meeting and see what we can do…”
Amateur Day on Saturday was good. It’s always fun to watch the next stars rip it up on the track. There was, of course, a full gate of Junior riders, but the other classes were a little sparcley contested. I’ll be sure to put up a photo report showing you how it all went. We’ve definitely got some fast riders from Alberta who will be working their way up through the ranks to become tomorrow’s Pro champions.
Heading into Sunday, the wind picked up during the night and there was some damage done in the pits. Red Bull KTM Canada lost their tents and the AVL Team lost their entire awning system from their rig! I don’t know the bottom line on one of those, but I heard some pretty devastating numbers to replace one!
Fortunately, the wind calmed down by race day morning. It also brought the temperature down a long way. We started out in tee shirts but then the temperature literally dropped 20C in a matter of minutes and everyone was scrambling for jackets and layers.
Let’s talk a little bit about the actual racing.
Multi-time Snowcross champion #50 Crayden Dillon is out here and racing the FXR PreMix class. I figured it would come down to a battle between him and young #226 Jonathan Bergeron for the win and it did. What I didn’t expect was to see #591 Rylan Pozdnekoff moving up through the field to take 3rd. Nice.
I don’t think we’ve seen the last of the battle for the wins between Crayden and Jonathan.
Everyone was curious to see who would step into the big boots that Eve Brodeur left behind in the Thor WMX West class. We had a pretty good idea who the main players would be, but #4 Katrine Ferguson really stepped up and grabbed the win with 1-1 motos.
She put in the work and actually spent time down at Robbie Reynard‘s place in Oklahoma all by herself. She’s taking this championship and her racing very seriously. And she still gives the most enthusiastic post-race interviews of anyone! She’s also a full-time University student! She’ll pick up where Eve left off very nicely.
Unfortunately, #3 Kaylie Kayer actually suffered a dislocated hip 6 weeks ago and it has her scrambling to get herself up to race pace and fitness. You’ll remember, the one-and-only Jeremy McGrath said that was the most painful injury he ever had. Kaylie confirmed it in the post-race Walk and Talk.
All things considered, she did well to take 3rd at Round 1.
I was most impressed with #17 Destiny Slingerland. From what I see, she has shown the most improvement of the group which leads me to believe she isn’t finished yet.
In the 250 class, we all knew 2-time champion #6 Ryder McNabb and American hotshot #80 Preston Kilroy would be the ones to beat. But we didn’t know they’d be the exact same speed!
They went at it every minute of both motos and it was awesome to watch! RYder got out front in moto 1 and had Preston hounding him. When Ryder tried to jump across a few ruts in a corner to avoid a lapped rider, he went down in Preston’s line and got hit, putting them both on the ground briefly.
Preston got away first and held on for the win with Ryder 2nd.
I guess the main question was who would be the 3rd fastest. Well, I think we have our answer and that might even change later in the summer.
#54 Dylan Walsh finally came out and told us he broke his back in 3 places in that Denver crash. I heard it was “just” his L3, but it was even worse!
He was having more fun than anyone during qualifying and his whips in front of the Calgary backdrop showed it.
Even with his less-than-ideal race prep, he managed to get himself up into 3rd in both motos. He should continue to close the gap on Ryder and Preston very soon I’d say.
And we can’t get through this without mentioned how great it was to see #102 Jared Allison back at the races. He had Bryton Allison as his mechanic and their dad Brent and other brother Brad were there as well.
Lori Allison is going through some tough times with illness so we’re sending her our love that she gets through it with flying colours.
Jared loaded up and headed home before I could get to him for the Walk and Talk but we’ll see him again this week, I hope and be sure we snag him.
The same thing happened in the 450 class and it was fantastic!
Again, we knew who the key players would be but I think many of us were leaning a certain way. We were blown away.
Defending champion #1 Jess Pettis had to have been pissed with us media types for basically saying the 450 title was #9 Dylan Wright‘s to lose and he showed us why.
Jess looked comfortable on the bike right away from what I could tell. He looked solid in both qualifiers and took top spot in both. Dylan was his typical self and looked fast but was 2nd.
Jess is a great starter so Dylan knew he’d have to up his game in that department or else get ready to push it to the limit to go with the Yamaha rider.
#29 Phil Nicoletti is also a good starter and got himself up at the front early. He was quick to point out that he just wasn’t going to push the limit on the greased-down conditions and seemed to ride well within himself in moto 1.
The track came around in moto 2 and you could see it in the way Phil rode.
Phil knows Jess and Dylan are world class talents, so I don’t think he’s too surprised by what he saw from them. It will be interesting to see if he picks it up on a different track. We’ll find out this week in Cold Lake, AB.
Jess and Dylan went at it both motos like two riders possessed. And they’ll have to in order to beat the other, they’re just going that fast and are that close in speed.
Dylan closed on Jess in moto 1 and then let off on the last lap for 2nd. Jess went across the finish line and looked back with the Cooper Webb finger gun. It was funny in our interview when he said he looked back and shot nobody because Dylan had backed off, but don’t worry, Dylan heard about it…
In moto 2, both riders hit the ground and kept it interesting as they gapped the field by 2 minutes in moto 1 and 1 minute in moto 2. It was a clinic!
Dylan crossed the line for the moto 2 win and went for an angry and in-your-face finger gun of his own which Jess admitted hit him because he was right behind him.
Bottom line, we’ve got a great summer ahead of us in both classes for these wins and it’s going to be Blue versus Red. Even better, they swapped moto wins so we’ll have 2 red plates at round 2!
The Race Tech Walk and Talk is uploading to YouTube as I type this, so we should have that up very shortly. In this one, we chat with Jess Pettis, Preston Kilroy, Daniel Elmore, Keylan Meston, Brett Lee, Phil Nicoletti, Blake Davies, Kaylie Kayer, Al Dyck, Julien Benek, Ryder McNabb, Lars Van Berkel, Quinn Amyotte, Parker Eales, and Tanner Ward.
And yes, I tried to cycle the track at the end of the day. Did I feel like it after that day? No, I most certainly did not. To tell you the truth, I was more tired for this one than any I’ve done in the past, but the show must go on! And I didn’t borrow an e-assist bike like I have in the past so this one wasn’t easy.
That video will go up later today too.
I will also edit a highlight video with a voice-over as soon as I get the chance. They are a lot of work but are something I believe our series needs. Do I want to be the one who does it? No, I do not.
AMA Pro Motocross Round 2 at Hangtown
On our race weekends up here, I don’t even have time to pay attention to what’s going on down south. Several pits had the broadcast going on Saturday as Amateur Day was taking place and I did manage to check some of it out, but not much. I haven’t even watched the highlight video yet!
#800 Preston Masciangelo was on the line and made it into the motos this week. Congratulations to him. I hear it was pretty warm down there? Doh!
Here’s how Preston summed it up on his Instagram page with a Luc Caouette photo from Pala:
MXGP of Germany Highlights
Erzberg Full Video!
OK, I’ve run out of time. Watch for lots more from Round 1 in Calgary! It sounds like a bunch of people are heading to Banff for a couple days of cycling, so we’ll be sure to grab some of them for a chat and post it up on the site.
Have a great week, everyone, and I’ll see you at Cold Lake to see what they’ve got cooking for us in that corner of the world for Military Appreciation Day!
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