PulpMX Canadian Nationals Photo Report – Gopher Dunes
Chaos reigns supreme at the Dunes….
Photos and Captions by James Lissimore
This weekend the Jetwerx Canadian TripleCrown series made its way to the roughest track in North America, the deep sand of Gopher Dunes, in Ontario. It wasn’t the hottest, or the roughest that it’s been in the past but it was still really hot, really rough, and generally a tough day to race a bike. In the end, it would be a crazy day, with the 450 points leader crashing out in practice, the second in points rider DNF’ing while leading the first moto and Phil somehow having his worst day of the season and still ending up with the red plate. Go figure.
Here’s a look at what went down at the Dunes….
Gopher Dunes. Nice and smooth before things get rough AF.
With this being a home race for the Gopher Dunes Racing Honda team, they always do a custom bike for the race. With this year being the 50th anniversary for Gopher Dunes, they did up these sweet Moto-X Fox bikes for the race.
Mr. PulpMX himself, Steve Matthes came out to Gopher and even lined up to race on Saturday. It did not go well…
Steve did a live show on Saturday night, with Ryan Gauld and Ryan “The Newf” Lockhart
The highlight of Jess Pettis’ day was signing this kids Croc. The 450 points leader crashed hard in practice, heading to the hospital for an over night visit.
The Gopher Dunes national doesn’t get started until Frank Schuster shakes every rider’s hand.
The Hotdog Vendor had a much better Saturday with these two number one bikes than how things went on Sunday.
Ryder McNabb tries to deal with the hot temps by cutting some speed holes in his custom retro Fox gear.
Scoops for everyone in this deep, deep sand.
T-Dags has been racing off-road this year but came out to line up in the 250 class at Gopher. He jacked his arm in moto one and pulled out for the day.
Red Bull KTM’s Dylan Rempel leads the way in moto one.
New Zealand’s Dylan Walsh continued his run of bad luck at Gopher with a first moto DNF. He finished 6th in moto two.
Massachusetts rider, Kyle Murdoch, made his first Canadian appearance of the year at Gopher and finished 7th overall.
ClubMX Yamaha’s Ryder Malinoski made the trip to Gopher and scored a top 5, with 5th overall.
Preston Kilroy pushed hard in moto one to try and catch Ryder McNabb but ended up settling for second. The heat took a lot out of him and he could only mange a fourth in moto two, for fourth overall.
Noah Viney finished just inside the Top 10, with 7-13 finishes for 10th overall.
Connecticut’s Joe Tait finished 8th overall.
Sebastien Racine came on strong in the second moto, finishing on the podium with 4-2 finishes for 3rd overall.
Ryder McNabb had a great battle with Kilroy in moto one, coming out on top. He would finish 3rd in moto two, for second overall.
Dylan Rempel has continued to improve this season and had a breakout ride at Gopher, taking his first moto and overall win with a dominant second moto.
It was hot and the riders were really feeling it. Kilroy tries to cool down after moto one.
Dylan Wright(9) leads Tanner Ward(84) into the first turn in the opening 450 moto.
With Pettis out, Wright looked to be on his way to a dominant 1-1 day and the red plate, when disaster struck.
Wright’s bike died on the face of a jump, sending him over the bars and out of the moto. He would win the second moto buts still sits 9 points out of the lead heading into Sand Del Lee.
Idaho’s Evan Stice got good starts on the Triumph, finishing 9th overall.
Utah’s Gavin Brough DNF’d moto one but came back to get ninth in moto two.
Minnesota’s Josh Boaz continued his strong riding with 7th overall.
Dutch rider, Lars Van Berkel, was counting down the days until he could get off the hard packed tracks of the first three rounds and into the sand of Gopher Dunes, and he didn’t disappoint. He grabbed his first podium of the season with 2-4 finishes for 3rd overall.
Lars was feeling the heat and struggled to make it on the podium after moto two.
Only Phil Nicoletti could have his worst day of the season, finishing 7-6 on the day for 6th and somehow coming away with the red plate.
The biggest surprise of the year has been the strong riding of Quinn Amyotte in his first season on the 450. He grabbed his first 450 podium with 4-2 finishes on the day for second overall.
New York’s Trevor Schmidt finished just inside the top 15, in 14th overall.
Tanner Ward capitalized on Dylan Wright’s DNF as the Priority Mechanical Gas Gas racer took his first 450 moto win in moto one. A solid second in moto two allowed him to take his first 450 overall win as well.
Tanner Ward takes the win.
450 podium: 1st Tanner Ward, 2nd Quinn Amyotte, 3rd Lars Van Berkel
