By Billy Rainford
I made it back from Indiana Sunday afternoon. The 7-hour drive took me north from Indianapolis (which has been under construction for the last 10 years) and then skirted me south of Fort Wayne on the bypass and across to Toledo, Ohio, to the east. From there it’s a pretty simple drive north on the I-75 and through Detroit, Michigan, to Port Huron. I like to go this way because the border is usually less congested and the Duty Free store is pretty easy too. Plus, after filing up with “cheaper” gas it’s just 1 hour east on the 110KPH 402 into London.
Ironman MX was the final round in the 2026 AMA Pro Motocross Championship and all 3 titles were still up for grabs. It was also an SMX Next race on Friday. Funny story…
Our 250 Pro/Am champion, Dylan Rempel, didn’t think he got into the races. In fact, I spoke to him on Thursday morning before I hit the road and he told me he was out.
Later in the afternoon, like at 3 or 4pm, he was told he had been accepted! What a scramble it was to get everything ready and loaded up to make the 8-hour drive from Gopher Dunes to Crawfordsville. He said he and Abe Friesen didn’t get to their hotel until around 3am.
To be honest, I wasn’t exactly sure who is eligible or invited to these events. I was told that they are basically “OEM Invitational” events and so it was through the work of a few people and Honda that got Dylan accepted in the 11th hour.
From Pro Motocross:
“The group of invited prospects for the Ironman Combine was determined through a collaborative effort with competing manufacturers from the SMX World Championship, including Honda, Husqvarna, Kawasaki, KTM, Suzuki, Triumph, and Yamaha. The lineup of athletes features a diverse collection of young racers, many of whom have achieved success at the American Motocross Majors and the recent Monster Energy AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship from Loretta Lynn’s Ranch that took place earlier this month. Several racers have even earned professional experience by making select starts during the Pro Motocross Championship, in accordance with the rulebook. The Ironman athletes will receive guidance and mentorship from a decorated group of Rider Coaches, led by AMA Hall of Famers Broc Glover and Kevin Windham in addition to celebrated international racers Michael Byrne, of Australia, and Gareth Swanepoel, of South Africa. In addition to coaching, Combine participants will receive classroom-style education sessions on other aspects of the sport such as health, fitness, nutrition, and media engagement from leaders in the industry.”
Dylan had Broc Glover as his mentor for the day. I’ve gotten to know Broc a little bit over the past few years and he’s still just as passionate about the sport as he was when he raced and was known as “The Golden Boy.”
I wasn’t even sure if Dylan would know who Broc was, besides being the guy in the Dunlop shirt and hat counting tires with a clipboard at the races, but he said that he did.
In moto 1, Dylan was 9th early and moved his way up to 8th at the flag. Interestingly, #23 Landon Gordon went from outside the top 20 to 5th in the first moto. More on that for moto 2…
In moto 2, Dylan moved to the inside in turn 1 and then chose wisely in turn 2 to miss the chaos of a big crash. He came out up in 4th place and looked much more comfortable running the pace of the leaders in this one.
I was told that he had basically no sleep and hadn’t even eaten before the first moto, so he was feeling more like himself in moto 2.
I mentioned Gordon because it was him who got out to the front and took the win, but Dylan was close to his pace in moto 2, so he should be pretty happy with that performance.
Rempel ended up taking 3rd in moto 2 and that put him just off the podium in 4th behind #177 Kade Johnson.
I shot a long-form video of the SMX Next races, focussing on Dylan, and you can watch that here if you haven’t seen it yet:
One of the best parts of the whole deal was when I overheard Broc say to Dylan: “You turned a lot of heads today!”
Then, we had 3 Canadians to keep tabs on in the final WMX motos – #2 Brandy McLarty, #18 Hannah Cole, and #912 Kaylie Kayer. Not to mention #1 and #2 from our Canadian Triple Crown Series – #301 Jordan Jarvis and #469 Jamie Astudillo.
WMX:
Moto 1:
Kayer – started around 15th and finished 13th.
McLarty – started 25th and finished 18th.
Cole – started 15th and finished 20th.
Moto 2:
Kayer – was running 10th for first 3 laps and then got landed on and was out.
Cole – started 26th and finished 21st.
McLarty – started 25th and finished 22nd.
Cole and McLarty battled each other. I shot video for these motos and will post ASAP.
Jarvis finished 7th (6-6) and ended up in a tie for points with #51 Mikayla Nielsen for 3rd in the series, but lost the spot due to finish scores.
Astudillo finished 10th (8-11) and 12th in the series after missing some rounds.
Video will go up later today.
250:
#800 Preston Masciangelo
Q: 22
Moto 1: 22
Moto 2: 24
Overall: 24
#613 Cole Pranger
Q: 43
LCQ: 22
#247 Tegan Kortenbach
Q: 44
LCQ: 7
#380 Preston Kilroy
Q: 9
Moto 1: 17
Moto 2: 14
Overall: 15
#431 Ryder Malinoski
Q: 24
Moto 1: 19
Moto 2: 10
Overall: 14
450:
#484 Tanner Ward
Q: 28
Moto 1: 28
Moto 2: 25
Overall: 28
#304 Quinn Amyotte
Q: 29
Moto 1: 29
Moto 2: 26
Overall: 29
Tanner and Quinn also found each other on the track and made it look like a Canadian National at times. Video will be up later today.
Eli Tomac Announces Retirement
Interestingly, I had this very conversation with someone trackside at Ironman on Saturday. We all knew it was coming, of course, but it’s the end of an era.
OK, time to get to work on all this content from Indiana. Have a great week, everyone.
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