In less than a month, Prince George will host its first-ever national motocross event - the CMRC Rockstar Energy Drink Motocross Nationals.
The top professional riders from Canada and the United States will converge on Blackwater Motocross Park southwest of the city and at least one of them has a Prince George address.
Jess Pettis, 20, will be returning to his home track racing his Yamaha in the MX2 class. Pettis, part of the MX101 team, is coming off a spectacular 2016 season in which he finished fifth overall on the CMRC national circuit, then went on to win the Future West arenacross points championship.
"For me, that's one of the big highlights, being able to watch our homegrown Jesse race against all the fastest guys in Canada on his home track," said Andrew Forbes, president of the Prince George Motocross Club (PGMC).
"This is something everyone has always wanted but never thought would happen."
Another Prince George rider, 17-year-old Hayden Wolff, stands a good chance of qualifying for the MX2 pro class in his hometown on June 11.
The 10-event Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals starts in Western Canada and moves east, wrapping up in mid-August. Prince George will be the second stop in the series after Kamloops (June 4), with Calgary (June 18) and Regina (June 25) also hosting the Western series.
The Prince George club has locked into a three-year agreement to host the Canadian Motorsport Racing Corporation (CMRC) national event, taking over from Nanaimo.
"It's the biggest race series we have in Canada and the best of the best in North America will be here," said PGMC director Kourtney Lloyd. "It's going to be filmed on TSN. It's the semi trucks, it's the Rockstar Energy girls. It's the whole big show that we've never had before. It's incredible. Just being in pit lane is crazy at a national race.
"If you're ever going to go to an outdoor event in Prince George, this is the one to go to."
Lloyd works for Cycle North, which sponsors 35 local amateur riders, the largest amateur program in Canada. The first day of racing is devoted to the amateur classes and the top qualifiers will move on to the Sunday races, sharing the stage with the pro MX1, MX2 and women's pro classes.
Two of the pro class races - MX1 (450 cc) and MX2 (250 cc) - will be taped by a TSN video crew to be edited and broadcast a couple weeks later. Each pro class will have two races on June 11.
Blackwater is one of the most spectator-friendly motocross tracks in Canada. Built into a large hill, almost all of the track is visible from the top of a long berm where spectators converge.
"There are no tracks that I've been to where you can see the entire thing from the spectator area like ours," said Lloyd. "People will get some really good photos."
Tickets for the Prince George race are available online at www.mxnationals.ca. A weekend pass is $25 (kids 12-and-under), and $45 (13-and-older), available at the reduced rate online.
The Blackwater track is located at 28100 Blackwater Road, 22 kilometres south of Highway 16.
