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The fourth and final race of the Rockstar Energy AX Tour was held at the Molson Center in Barrie, Ontario. Home of the Barrie Colts Hockey Club, the arena has a strong hockey presence with a rich heritage of winning. On this night, two Canadian Arenacross Championships would be awarded and the first of three Triple Crown Tours would be in the books.

Racing with the series leading Red Plate for the third weekend in a row, Honda/GDR rider Dylan Wright had the momentum and confidence to secure this seasons AX Tour Championship. Debuting the all-new v3 helmet in Canada for the first time, and wearing it with matching Limited Edition Heritage Zebra gear, Wright had a proper ‘Beast from the East’ flash.

Starting strong in the heat race, Wright was mistakenly taken out while making his pass on the falling race leader.  Remounting to finish 4^th, Wright advanced to the Main Event but didn’t earn a spot in the “clash for cash” to earn extra points on this valuable night.

With a poor gate pick in the Main Event and unable to get the holeshot, Wright was stuck in sixth place but passed his way up to third place by lap 8/15.  Knowing the title was well secured at this point of the race, Wright stayed comfortable in that position for the remainder and brought home the 2019 AX Tour MX2 Title.

Starting the 2019 Triple Crown series with an MX2 AX title under their belt, the Honda/GDR team will now shift all focus to the Motocross program with expectations of repeating their MX1 title as well as adding their first MX2 MX title to the resume.

Round 4 MX1 Race Results:

1^st – Matt Goerke

2^nd – Phil Nicoletti

3^rd – Dakota Alix

4^th – Cole Thompson

5^th – Cade Clason

Round 4 MX2 Race Results:

1^st – Tyler Medaglia

2^nd – Luke Renzland

3^rd – Dylan Wright

4^th – Tanner Ward

5^th – Brad Nauditt

AX Tour MX1 Series Standings:

1^st – Cole Thompson – 122 pts

2^nd – Matt Goerke – 119 pts

3^rd– Phil Nicoletti – 110 pts

4^th – Cade Clason – 82 pts

5^th – Shawn Maffenbeier – 82 pts

AX Tour MX2 Series Standings:

1^st – Dylan Wright – 109 pts

2^nd – Luke Renzland – 100 pts

3^rd – Tyler Medaglia – 94 pts

4^th –– Marco Cannella - 68 pts

5^th –– Brad Nauditt - 67 pts

Loic Bruni - First place Mens Elite DH:

Loic started his 2019 the same way he ended 2018 - on the top step of the podium. Winning back to back races for the first time in his career was a much better start to the season than last year when he crashed in Losinj: “Compared to last year it’s a big improvement. I was a little bit looking for redemption.. I was not so confident and I didn’t know if it would be enough for winning. I did my best and attacked a lot. I did not look so loose but in my head I was super loose and I was on the limit and I’m happy I rode like that because I think that was the only way to do it and the times were so close and you had to push… coming into the bottom I was aware that my run was pretty solid and I thought ‘OK now it’s time to keep it steady and not crash' and I didn’t and I’m happy no one was close enough to win at the bottom. Solid first race with the new bike, let’s hope it’s the start of a good year!” The defending World Champ heads to next month’s race in Fort William with both the Rainbow Stripes and the WC leaders vest for the first time in his career!

Tahnée Seagrave - First place Womens Elite DH:

Tahnée spent nearly two weeks in Maribor in preparations for the World Cup opener and though things were up and down during that time, the practice paid off on race day as she blitzed the course and ended up with the victory: “I felt like I was behind, I’m not gonna lie so I had some work to do but I love the chase and I pulled it out on top at the end which I’m really happy with. It took a lot of hard work so I’m pretty stoked to start the season off with a win!” A training injury in December curtailed her early season training but she worked hard in the months and weeks leading up to the race and it showed in her confidence during her run: “I knew it was a good run, I knew where I needed to get the work done so when I came in and I did it how I want to I kinda knew it was a good run.” Tahnée also heads to her home race in June with the World Cup leaders' vest for the first time. No doubt her home fans will be going crazy in Ft. Bill!

Laurie Greenland – Ninth place Men’s Elite DH

Laurie G rode a fast and calculated race to gather ninth place at the finish. Laurie has been steadily progressing the last two season and staring the season with a top ten finish is another great step in his progression as and Elite rider. He was obviously happy with such a great performance to start the season: “I’m stoked because I gave it my all today! Good tight Racing! P9 to round up the weekend and 8th in points!" Laurie heads to his home race in the UK next month with confidence and momentum from his great run in Maribor!

Finn Iles – 52nd place Men’s Elite DH

Finn had a great weekend going in Maribor and was pushing massive speed in the first segment of the race. He was in the lead by a fraction of a second but a tiny mistake on an off camber root section proved disastrous as his front wheel washed out, effectively ending his shot at the podium. He rebounded quickly and finished the race with blistering times on the lower segments. His crash meant a 52nd place was disappointment but his comments post race show he is in the right place in his head to overcome this challenge: “This weekend we had a really good process, the race run didn’t go how we wanted it to but I think the process just needs to stay the same and I just need to stay a little bit more focused on what I’m doing when I’m racing and just tone it down a little bit. The speed is there and the focus is there, I think I need to go slow to go fast. It’s all a learning process because I’m still nineteen. I just need to be a bit slower and have a few good results and get my confidence and be good in the overall, then I can really push it because as much as I want to win, I need to have good results to back it up. I just need to continue on and it will work out, seven more chances.” Finn and the Specialized Gravity team head to chance number two in Fort William next month.

Loris Vergier – 58th place Men’s Elite DH

Much like Finn, a great start to the weekend took a tough turn for the worse for Fox and Santa Cruz Syndicate rider Loris on Sunday. A solid fifth position in qualifying had him confident for race day and his run started well as he was only six tenths of a second of the lead heading into the third timed segment. Things went sideways quickly both literally and figuratively as he washed his back tire and clipped a tree. The spectacular crash was scary to watch but thanks in part to his new RPC helmet he popped up quickly and finished the course, even setting some of the fastest times on the lower segments: “It was the first race of the season so it’s always a tricky one. I felt good, no pressure on, I was just trying to ride well and I ended up doing a mistake on the corner that I should have not approached as fast, it’s my mistake but it happens. The new helmet works good, I crashed hard and I feel like I have nothing wrong pretty much and the MVRS (Magnetic Visor Release System) is good. Let’s focus on the rest of the season!” His 58th place finish means he’ll need to do some work over the next couple of races to get back into contention for the overall title, but with his speed and confidence he’ll be back competing for a podium quickly.

After a fantastic start to the season in Maribor, the Fox MTB DH team has a some time to rest and recover before training starts again for UCI Downhill World Cup race number two in legendary Fort William, UK. One of the most iconic races in the history of Downhill, Fort Bill is a coveted race, a win there can make a riders year or even their career. Watch as these athletes compete during the rest of the season in the all new Rampage Pro Carbon and Defend and Flexair gear which was made for their ride! Check the full Fox MTB one at www.foxracingcom/mtb.