What a difference a year can make. Last year at Gopher Dunes, Dusty Klatt struggled with the track on his two-stroke. This year, Klatt swept the MX1 class, grinned from ear to ear on the podium and took over the early points lead in the series. Klatt will head to his hometrack with the momentum and confidence he picked up at Gopher. Watch for an interview with Klatt on the site tomorrow.

Wait a minute ... if you thought Klatt looked happy to be on the podium, you should have seen this guy. Local favourite Kyle Keast has done his homework for the '06 season and came in determined to make an impression. He did a good job of getting noticed at Ste Julie, but it was impossible to miss him in the second MX1 moto at Gopher. Keast led Klatt for a few laps, then held onto second place until the last lap when Suzuki's John Dowd made the pass, leaving Keast in third and with his first career MX1 podium. The crowd went crazy for Keast, who went 5-3 for 4th overall.

Come to think of it, John Dowd looked pretty pleased to be on the box too... Dowd's 4-2 motos earned him second overeall and he sits sixth in the points standings after two rounds. Dowd apologized to the crowd for passing the hometown boy, Keast, but as Dowd said "there was a race going on out there." Dowd, who was filling in for long-time friend Keith Johnson on the OTSFF Suzuki team, will race Southwick next weekend. Dowd says it's good to be back in Canada and he's toying with the idea of racing Sand del Lee and possibly Walton. 

Blair Morgan was the other new face on the podium at the Dunes. Back on a Blackfoot Honda, Blair is healthy, happy and apparently pretty fast in the sand. It was great to see Blair back in the winner's circle, and I'm sure somewhere in Alberta, Blackfoot's Jason Mitchell was smiling, seeing his dream podium of JSR, Klatt and Morgan realized. Blair hasn't had this much success this early in the season for a long time. He went 3-7 for fifth overall and sits fourth in the MX1 points standings, tied with Gavin Gracyk in third with 64 points.

No. That was JSR's answer when asked on the podium if he was happy with salvaging third overall with 2-4 motos at Gopher Dunes. In the first moto, JSR fought  with a bent shift lever while Klatt ran away up front. In the second moto, he found himself kicking his 450 while the rest of the pack raced towards the first turn. He battled back from dead last to fourth, salvaging points and keeping himself in the title race. He'll have to contend with both Darcy Lange and Dusty Klatt on their home tracks in Nanaimo at round three.

It was a frustrating weekend for Kawasaki's Darcy Lange, who dropped from third in the series to 7th. After winning Saturday's lone MX1 qualifier (before weather forced the cancellation of the second one), Lange was confident heading into Sunday's race. He struggled with bike problems all day Sunday, finishing 31-6 for 12th overall.  

Milo Christie raced his Gopher Dunes/Walton Trans Can backed RM-Z450 to 15-25 finishes at the Dunes. Christie has been overwhelmed with the support since his stuff was bikes and gear were stolen after Ste Julie last weekend. He sits 15th in the MX1 points and will head back to BC this week to make plans to finish out the series.

While Michael Willard was blazing fast at Gopher Dunes, it was Kawasaki's Kyle Chisholm who made the least mistakes and swept the MX2 class. Chisholm now leads the series with 107 points to Willard's 88.  

After handing the lead to Chisholm in the first moto, Willard caught back up within striking distance at the checkered flag (and looked like he may make another last lap pass for the lead), only to be docked five positions after a protest for passing on a caution flag. That knocked him back to 7-4 moto finishes for fourth overall. Willard will be riding a 450 out west when the series resumes in Nanaimo.

After seeing his third place finish in the first moto get boosted to a second, Simon Homan's Racing Nick Evennou was ready to charge in the second moto of the day. His race didn't last long, as he stopped inside the first lap to discover he was a few spokes short. Evennou made a pit stop, changed the tire and raced to a 29th place finish for 9th overall. He sits 4th in the series points behind Matt Barnes.  

Ryan Gauld rode with the leaders all day, earning a second place finish in the second MX2 moto. Gauldy was pumped and honest on the podium, when asked about his training program, he said "I'm not really into that." His 5-2 finishes earned him third overall.

Royal Distributing KTM Canada's Iain Hayden grabbed the holeshot in the second MX2 moto and put in a pair of strong rides, going 6-12 for 8th overall. Hayden will switch to the MX1 class as the series heads west.  

After beating Michael Willard in his Saturday qualifier, Blackfoot's Mitchell Cooke looked to be on track for a strong weekend at the Dunes. But a first turn crash in the opening moto may have spelled an end to Cooke's season. The moto had to be red-flagged as Cooke was attended to. Early reports indicate Cooke has a concussion, a broken bone in his foot and an injury to his elbow. Here's hoping Mitchell is back in action soon, hopefully for his hometown race in Moncton.  

Cooke's injury left a lot of the riders concerned about the narrow first turn. Here JSR and the CMRC's Brett Lee discuss other options. While the restart of the opening MX2 moto ran with the same start, the remaining motos for the day saw the start veer left instead of right.  

Jolene Van Vugt leads Jessica Foster and Jocelyn Killough into the first turn in the second Women's National moto. Van Vugt swept both motos, extending her clean sweep from Ste Julie. The women's series continues in Nanaimo and Calgary.  

See you at the races...