Motocross Performance Magazine Canadian Motocross news leader
FXR is not only the gear sponsor for the Canada’s Motorcycle MX101 Yamaha Team, but they’re also a huge supporter of Canadian motocross.
The weather in Calgary never manages to surprise me. I packed for cold weather and I nailed it. At least it didn’t rain too hard and dampen the weekend of racing we have seen the past two weekends. The Women’s class on Saturday had some new entries; Shelby Turner and Lexi Pechout were on hand. The big news was that points leader Kennedy Lutz was a no show for the weekend. Apparently she crashed during the week and injured her knee, so this left the door wide open for Sara King who was only a few points behind in second. We saw a full gate with 39 entries. Surely this has toJan checked us in lets meet be a record. Both motos there were great with battles happening all over the track. Sara King was on fire with a 1-1 and she was crowned the West Coast Champion. Shelby Turner was just off the pace a little but had a great day by finishing 2-2 for 2nd overall. Rachel Springman and Brittany Danyluk had a good ride by going 3rd and 4th, finishing in the series with a 3rd and 4th overall.
Congratulations to Sara King on winning her first major championship.
In the MX2 class, points leader Kaven Benoit looked solid on his KTM 250 two-stroke once again in practice but American-born Jimmy Decotis on his Canada’s Motorcycle FXR Yamaha put down the fastest lap in practice. Once the gate dropped in moto 1 Jimmy D pulled the holeshot and basically checked out and kept a ten second lead on Kaven Benoit. Running in third most of the race was Honda mounted Jeremy Medaglia and not too far behind him was the young Ontario rider Dylan Wright, having the race of his life. You could tell Dylan wanted a spot on the podium and with a few laps to go he was able to muscle his way into third. After the pass you could see that Jeremy was going to give it one last shot but came up short. Moto 2 had Jimmy out in front for a few corners until points leader Kaven Benoit took the main line away and pulled away to a good ten second lead. Decotis commented on the podium, “I tried following Benoit on his two-stroke but the lines were not working for me.” Jeremy Medaglia once again had a great start and was able to cruise to a third. If there was an award for giving everything you had, that award would go to Dylan Wright. Dylan went down early on lap one and was credited with 39th position. Fast forward twenty-five minutes and 2 laps later and Wright finished 6th with a 4th overall for the day. I was impressed. Cole Martinez decided after practice that his shoulder injury from last week was just too painful to compete. Morgan Burger and Shawn Maffenbeier had pretty good days by finishing 5th and 6th for the day.
The word in the pits was that Mike Alessi and Vince Friese were in town to race. These two guys have the speed to win and I’m pretty sure Kaven Benoit was relieved to see Vince on a 450 this year. Last year Alessi was by far the fastest guy on the track. If THAT Mike shows up this weekend, the rest of the MX1 guys will be fighting for 2nd overall. After practice you could see the now #2 Mike Alessi was not having a good day and his teammate Vince was credited with the fastest lap in practice. In all the years I have attended the CMRC races, I don’t think I have seen a stacked class like today. Points leader Metcalfe is looking fast. Cole Thompson on his new KTM450 is looking very smooth on the rough track. Mr. Consistent, Matt Goerke, and Colton have their 450s set up for the day’s track.Then you have Cade Clason, Tyler Medaglia and Teddy Maier. Moto 1 was looking good, all the top guys were up front. Points leader Brett Metcalfe made his way up to the front and it looked like he was on the move until about halfway in the race when Brett had to pull off due to an engine problem. This put Vince in the driver’s seat. Mike Alessi started to fade due to a practice crash during the week. Matt Goerke, Cole Thompson and Teddy Maier were not too far behind the leader. Colton Facciotti was making a late charge to the front but he was not able to finish better than 5th.
Right after Brett Metcalfe caught Vince Friese for the moto 2 lead in Calgary, Friese made a major mistake and washed his front end out and handed the lead to Metcalfe. photo by James Lissimore
Moto 2 was probably the best moto of the year so far. Vince Friese jumped out front and stayed in the lead most of the moto until the Australian Brett Metcalfe made a move for the lead. The Smarttop rider washed out in a corner and let Colton and Thompson by. The running order was Metty, Colton, Cole and Vince, and not far behind was Cade Clasen on his Redemption KTM. With only a few laps to go the top three riders were gone and Vince and Cade got into it. Cade parked Vince, then Vince paid him back. This went on for a few laps until the checkered lap where Vince made the pass stick. With the a DNF in moto one Brett Metcalfe now moves to 4th in the championship. Leading the series is Rockstar OTSFF Yamaha rider Matt Goerke over Colton Facciotti. Third place in the series is Cole Thompson on his Royal Distributing/Fox/ KTM.
One more event in the west this weekend at Regina, Saskatchewan before the series moves east to Gopher Dunes in Courtland, Ontario on July 12th.
Andy White
