With the recent additions of Jeremy Medaglia and Shawn Rife to the MX2 class, this class is quickly becoming stacked with riders who are capable of winning races. As we saw in 2014 with the enormous battles between Kaven Benoit, Vince Friese and Austin Politelli, next year might be even better as the list of fast riders continues to grow.
Jeremy Medaglia Signs with GDR Honda…
While this deal had been talked about for a few weeks, so was a possible Jeremy Medaglia deal with just about everybody. After a sub-par year in 2014, Jeremy had to be looking for a new spark to get his career back on track. This past summer we saw glimpses of speed on his Kawasaki, however we also saw some out of character crashes and other mishaps. As the season went on it became clear that Jeremy wasn’t his normal self. After a big crash in Moncton, he called it a season and we didn’t hear from him until yesterday.
The big question is – can Jeremy get back to the top of this sport and is GDR Honda the team that can help him get there? My feeling is yes, of course he can. No disrespect at all to the other manufacturers, but I thought Jeremy looked better on his Honda a year ago in the arenacross series than he’s looked on any other bike in years. With the Honda being a little smaller and more compact and Jeremy not being the biggest kid, maybe they’re a perfect fit? Also, what rider wouldn’t be excited about joining a team that just won a championship and is in the running for Team of the Year?
Next year could be a great year for both Jeremy and GDR Honda as it’s possible that they could bring home the MX2 and MX1 Championships. This deal also shows the continuing commitment by Honda Canada to Canadian motocross as a deal like this certainly doesn’t come cheap. This sounds like a win win situation, however, since Jeremy had been linked to Monster Energy Thor Kawasaki, what are they going to do now for a MX2 rider that is capable of winning races? Stay tuned on that one!
Shawn Rife signs with PR-MX for 2015…
In an unexpected move, Ohio rider Shawn Rife has signed with PR-MX to ride the MX2 class in 2015. Shawn is a rider that will bring a lot of experience to the MX2 class and will no doubt be a frontrunner. As of now the team is unsure which brand of motorcycle Shawn will be riding in the MX2 class, however that will be announced soon.
Shawn will also be racing the 2015 Amsoil AX Series for the PR-MX team aboard a KTM so we know that he will be race ready when the MX2 series begins in early June. To me, Shawn Rife seems like a Topher Ingalls-type of rider, someone who is capable of winning any given race at any given time, but not a rider who could win a championship after twenty grueling motos. Shawn Rife will certainly help make things interesting in 2015, though, and this is a great deal for him and the PR-MX Team.