Things to Watch for at Supercross Rounds 3 and 4

By Billy Rainford

As we head into the final two rounds of Canadian Triple Crown Series Supercross to determine champions, here’s a quick look at a few things to keep your eyes on at Gopher Dunes.

450 Class

#2 Marshal Weltin tied with #15 Jess Pettis for 2nd (39 points behind #1 Dylan Wright) in the 450 MX portion of the series and took the Triple Crown Points lead after his 2nd place finishes at Rounds 1 and 2 of the SX portion of the series last weekend at Gopher Dunes.

With Dylan hurting himself on Friday and there being 2 points-paying Mains per night, Marshal found himself in the lead for the Triple Crown title by 7 points over SX stand-out #16 Cole Thompson.

We’ll have more information on this as we get it from Marshal and the team. Here’s a look at the 450 points:

450 PRO SX POINTS
Place – Name
Number – Hometown
8/27/2021
Finish
8/28/2021
Finish
Total Points
1st – COLE THOMPSON
#16 – BRIGDEN, ON
1st 1st 100
2nd – MARSHAL WELTIN
#2 – , SOUTH CAROLINA
2nd 2nd 86 (-14)
3rd – CASEY KEAST
#32 – KELOWNA, BC
3rd 4th 74 (-26)
4th – WESTEN WROZYNA
#100 – NEWTONVILLE, ON
9th 3rd 67 (-33)
5th – DAVEY FRASER
#11 – LANGLEY, BC
4th 5th 64 (-36)
6th – YANICK BOUCHER
#38 – HEARST, ON
6th 6th 57 (-43)
6th – PARKER EALES
#31 – MAPLE RIDGE, BC
8th 7th 57 (-43)
8th – TOMMY DALLAIRE
#33 – , QUEBEC
7th 9th 52 (-48)
9th – RYAN DERRY
#26 – TORONTO, ON 
10th 8th 49 (-51)
10th – ETHAN OUELLETTE
#192 – CAMPBELL RIVER, BC
11th 10th 44 (-56)
TRIPLECROWN SERIES 2021
450 PRO POINTS
Place – Name
Number – Hometown
7/2/2021
Finish
7/4/2021
Finish
7/10/2021
Finish
7/11/2021
Finish
7/18/2021
Finish
8/1/2021
Finish
8/2/2021
Finish
8/15/2021
Finish
8/27/2021
Finish
8/28/2021
Finish
Total Points
1st – MARSHAL WELTIN
#2 – SOUTH CAROLINA
3rd 4th 1st 3rd 3rd 3rd 2nd 3rd 2nd 2nd 389
2nd – COLE THOMPSON
#16 – BRIGDEN, ON
4th 2nd 4th 5th 4th 6th 4th 2nd 1st 1st 382 (-7)
3rd – DYLAN WRIGHT
#1 – QUEBEC
1st 3rd 2nd 1st 2nd 4th 1st 1st 5th   373 (-16)
4th – JESS PETTIS
#15 – PRINCE GEORGE, BC 
2nd 1st 3rd 2nd 1st 1st   5th     303 (-86)
5th – TYLER MEDAGLIA
#5 – BROOKFIELD, NS 
7th 5th 6th 6th 14th 2nd 3rd 4th     236 (-153)
6th – PARKER EALES
#31 – MAPLE RIDGE, BC
11th 10th 10th 11th 9th 8th 5th 7th 8th 7th 231 (-158)
7th – LIAM O’FARRELL
#21 – BRANT, ON
9th 9th 8th 8th 7th 7th 10th 6th     192 (-197)
8th – SHAWN MAFFENBEIER
#3 – KAMLOOPS, BC
5th 7th 5th 4th 5th 5th         189 (-200)
9th – YANICK BOUCHER
#38 – HEARST, ON
18th 20th 11th 9th 11th 9th 6th 14th 6th 6th 174 (-215)
10th – RYAN DERRY
#26 – TORONTO, ON
13th 15th 12th 17th 10th 14th 8th 9th 10th 8th 164 (-225)

Not that anyone had anything for Cole Thompson in the 450 SX class before Marshal stepped away, but the loss makes Cole’s win that much more inevitable. Watch how easy the #16 makes things look this weekend on Fox Sports or the Flo Racing app. It’s impressive and really makes you wish he was still lining up south of the border during the winter months.

We still have what should be a pretty intense battle for runner-up honours in the class between two unlikely participants. #32 Casey Keast finds himself with some great support from PRMX in the 450 class and #100 Westen Wrozyna landed a coveted spot as a fill-in rider on the MX101 team.

These two kept everyone on the edge of their non-existent seats at rounds 1 and 2 and they both believe they are the ones who belong on that second step. Keep an eye on this battle this weekend.

#11 Davey Fraser just keeps going and going. For some reason, it’s easy to miss him out there. He isn’t at the pace of the podium guys, but he looks to have the rest of the pack covered. His fight to hold off #31 Parker Eales was a great one. They may not be going for wins, but there are some fierce battles back in the pack.

Speaking of Parker, he did one of his patented come-from-nehind moves this past weekend and it will be nice to see what he can do with a good start this week.

#38 Yanick Boucher finds himself in 6th place in the standings. He ends up on his own a lot out there and seems to be picking up this SX game pretty quickly. I liked the whoops speed I saw in his practice sessions during the week, so watch for him to shine if the section is longer this week.

Behind him, I think #26 Ryan Derry and #33 Tommy Dallaire will be close to each other this week. Ryan was our Most Improved Rider for the 2020 SX season and Tommy wasn’t happy with his performances last week. Let’s see how they do at rounds 3 and 4.

#192 Ethan Ouellette keeps getting to the first corner in the lead but then forgets to go left. If he can somehow get himself to the inside and slowed down and stay up front to the Royal Distributing holeshot line, he could see the pace of the frontrunners and move up the ranks.

250 Class

The 250 class is where are the actions seems to be this season. Without exaggeration, we’ve got 6 or 8 riders who could take the win every time the gate drops! It seems to be a battle to see who makes the fewest mistakes.

Here’s a look at the points in the 250 SX:

SXTOUR 2021
250 PRO POINTS
Place – Name
Number – Hometown
8/27/2021
Finish
8/28/2021
Finish
Total Points
1st – MARCO CANNELLA
#46 – WATERDOWN, ON 
1st 3rd 87
2nd – JAKE PICCOLO
#30 – ABBOTSFORD, BC 
5th 2nd 80 (-7)
2nd – DARIAN SANAYEI
#157 – , CALIFORNIA
4th 1st 80 (-7)
4th – TYLER GIBBS
#22 – DEROCHE, BC
2nd 9th 72 (-15)
5th – TANNER WARD
#84 – WOODSTOCK, ON 
6th 4th 65 (-22)
6th – GUILLAUME ST-CYR
#25 – VICTORIAVILLE, QC
3rd 10th 62 (-25)
7th – JULIEN BENEK
#50 – MISSION, BC
8th 5th 58 (-29)
8th – QUINN AMYOTTE
#19 – BLACKSTOCK, ON
7th 7th 57 (-30)
9th – SEBASTIEN RACINE
#212 – CASSELMAN, ON 
11th 6th 47 (-40)
10th – DANIEL ELMORE
#39 – TELKWA, BC
12th 8th 46 (-41)

Obviously, #46 Marco Cannella would love to end this season on a high note, after the struggles he had in the MX series. He’s got 7 points on a tie between #30 Jake Piccolo and #157 Darien Sanayei. These two traded wins at round 2 and will be in this to the end on Saturday night.

Behind these 3, #46 Tyler Gibbs has shown that he’s got some great SX skills. He earned his AMA Pro License through the Supercross Futures program in the US and can take a win in any Main, as long as he keeps the mistakes to a minimum.

We’ve yet to see #84 Tanner Ward up where he belongs in this series, but I’m sure he put the time in this week and will be fighting to land up on the podium this week.

#25 Guilaume St Cyr is also a stand-out in Canada when it comes to indoor skills. He’s definitely most happy on these types of tracks. He runs with the top riders and should be in this fight for wins again this week.

#50 Julien Benek has maybe been the most impressive rider to watch out there. His whoops speed is something to see, so be sure to watch him this week. If he can somehow get a start he has winning speed out there.

#19 Quinn Amyotte looks like he should also be in this fight, but he’s found the ground and that has resulted in lower finishes than he should be getting. Let’s see if he can clean up his game and get up in this fight this week.

We won’t be seeing #212 Sebastien Racine this week, as he told me last week that he’s heading back to school and they just won’t make the trip west again this week. I’ll admit that he looked a bit like a fish out of water on Friday but then came back and looked like a completely different rider on Saturday. His improvement was obvious and he’ll be fun to watch for years to come.

See you there!