anada’s ultimate racing experience, the Montreal Supercross, celebrated 30 years of earth shaking excitement Saturday, September 29th, at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium. Over the past 29 years the Montreal Supercross has drawn a total of 1,528,699 spectators. Presenting sponsors Parts Canada/Thor and Coors Light proudly welcomed the 50,000 motocross, all terrain vehicle and dune buggy racing fans who had traveled to Montreal.
     The Quebec fans love five-time Canadian Motocross champion Jean Sebastien Roy, and since he was unable to compete in Montreal last year they were hungry to see him back on the track and out front. In MX1 practice JSR’s lap times were consistently fast, in the top ten in fact, but American riders Ryan Clark and Jason Thomas were aiming to beat the French Canadian ace in his own backyard. The 450s are cool, but the real battle in Montreal was shaping up in the MX2 class between Suzuki OTSFF Rockstar’s boy-wonder Tyler Medaglia and Colton Facciotti, Kyle Beaton, and Simon Homans. When the gate dropped for the MX2 main event, race fans witnessed perhaps the most exciting moto in the history of the Montreal Supercross.
     Suzuki OTSFF Rockstar’s Ryan Lockhart led the MX2 pack into turn one before being passed by Medaglia, who quickly built up a solid lead. As Lockhart and Homans fought for third Medaglia maintained a fast but smart pace, until Homans got by Lockhart and started pouring on the pressure. Meanwhile Facciotti had brought his Toyota/Yamaha Blackfoot Fox YZ-F from 11th all the way to third, a mistake away from taking over the lead.
     Medaglia and Homans were in near constant contact as the race went on, fighting and bumping for the lead as the one lap flag went up. Anything can happen in Supercross, but Medaglia held strong and with the crowd on their feet captured the checkered flag and his first taste of Supercross fame. Homans held on for second, with Facciotti in third. Clearbrook Yamaha’s Kyle Beaton took fourth and Ryan Lockhart kept up the Suzuki streak by finishing fifth while Medaglia’s brother Jeremy, in his first Suzuki OTSFF Rockstar outing, netted 10th.
     Montreal isn’t just about motocross, and as the crowd caught their breath they witnessed some great ATV racing and awesome sounding dune buggies, as well as a spectacular freestyle exhibition. If you’ve never seen racing buggies indoors you’ve missed out on one of motorsports’ greatest spectacles. Wild-eyed drivers hammer their cars wheel to wheel around the track as they clear double jumps and slide through the turns. The sound coming from a full pack of these powerful four-cylinder racecars as they come off the line is simply awesome! Daniel Gagne was the fastest driver of the night, with aggressive driving that put him ahead of fellow Canadian Richard Lacroix and American Scott Schwalbe.
     Not to be outdone by the buggies, the ATV riders tore up the track and kept the crowd on their feet. Those huge leaps that look nearly impossible for motocross bikes really defy physics when the much larger ATVs take to the air. Battles from the leader right to the back of the pack took place in every ATV moto. There were no breaks in the wheel rubbing and bar banging it takes to pass other riders on such a tight indoor course. On Saturday night the star of the show was Yamaha USA’s Cody Miller. Greg Gee of Epic/Can-AM racing brought his Bombardier Can-AM into second, while Yamaha Canada’s Richard Pelchat finished a hard-fought third.
     By this time Olympic Stadium was amped for the MX1 main event. Brian Johnson grabbed the holeshot, and patriotic spectators were on their feet urging JSR to recover from a mediocre start and gain ground. While the Canadian played catch-up, Ryan Clark passed Johnson, with Eric Sorby at his heels. JSR was gaining ground, with the crowd going wild at every pass, but time was running out. With two laps to go Sorby went down, remounting in fifth place and handing second over to Jason Thomas. Johnson finished third, with Sorby clawing his way back to fourth ahead of Jeff Northrop. JSR worked his way to sixth before time ran out.
     The 30th anniversary of the Montreal Supercross was a tremendous night of racing and motorsports entertainment, but then tremendous racing has always been what the Montreal Supercross is all about!