Down But Not Out-Colton Facciotti

In my DeCal Works Monday Gate Drop yesterday, I spoke a little about the timing and the process of how some of the top riders might be preparing for the opening round of the 2015 Rockstar Energy Drink Motocross Nationals in Kamloops, BC. All of these riders in both the MX2 class and the MX1 classes have May 31st circled on their calendar as their D-day, the day in which the gate will drop on the 2015 national season and they will head into battle.

One such rider that we’re all keeping a close eye on is our 2014 MX1 Champion Colton Facciotti, who until a few weeks ago was having a pretty routine off-season. In fact, one could say that this time around his months spent in Georgia at the GPF Training Facility were more productive than ever as he had his wife and new baby at his side all winter. Having loved ones close by obviously can put an athlete’s mind at ease when they’re training for competition. Being successful at anything demands a consistent routine. For Colton, this routine is something he’s done for many years now, and with his family at his side, it’s just one less thing he has to worry about. Trust me, athletes despise worrying about anything other than the job they’re paid to do.

Despite this small setback, I think Colton Facciotti will be ready to go when the 2015 Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals begin in May. photo by James Lissimore

So as mentioned, everything was just peachy (Georgia peachy in fact) for Colton up until a few weeks ago. As he was out doing his routine Saturday motos, something went wrong and the champ took a very hard crash. By all accounts it was one of those crashes that people witness and wonder how a rider could even get up? However, Colton is as fit and flexible as they come so he picked himself up, made the long trek back to his pit area to first thank his lucky stars that he wasn’t badly injured, and second, to assess the damage. When all was said and done, and after a trip to the local hospital, it was determined that Colton suffered a fracture in part of his pelvis and he would need to stay off the bike for about a month. So he packed up his family and made the long drive back to Ontario, because it’s always much better to heal up in the comfort of your home.

My question is that with all of Colton’s competition still able to train hard while he’s forced to take a month off, does this break (no pun intended) hurt his chances of being ready for the opening round in Kamloops in approximately 54 days? I say no it doesn’t and here’s why:

While I’m sure that Colton would rather still be down in the Georgia heat pounding out motos with his GDR Honda teammates, this time off may end up helping him as the summer arrives. Over the years there hasn’t been a Canadian rider that has been as efficient as Colton at preparing for the Nationals without competing in at least one warm-up race. Even JSR in his prime always got a few gate drops in before the big series would begin. As a rider you almost have to, just to put your mind at ease for when the time comes you’ll remember what to do when the 30 second board goes sideways. Racing beforehand doesn’t necessarily apply to Colton, because we’ve witnessed in the past his innate ability to show up at round one and be completely ready.

As he displayed in this 2014 MXP cover shot, when the time comes Colton can be as cool as they come and he knows how to prepare better than anyone. photo by Dan Stenning

Another aspect of this to consider is that while being injured this close to the beginning of any series is not ideal, if Colton was still riding at GPF he would have to be aware of the timing of his training. With just under two months still to go before Kamloops, as a rider do you still continue to push hard or do you start thinking about backing it down a bit prior to making that final push in early May? The one peace of mind that Colton has right now is that when he arrives back down at GPF in a few weeks, he knows it’s go time and that he must work extremely hard to make up for lost time. For him, there will be no guess work, or worrying about peaking too soon. All he has to do is ride and train and think about what he needs to do to be ready for Kamloops.

Trust me, no rider wants to get injured at any time during the season. However, in Colton’s case, the injury appears to be not that serious and it’s given him a short break and an opportunity to regroup and make one final push to get himself ready to defend his 2014 MX1 title. I think Colton will be just fine and I’m convinced that we’re going to see some of the best racing that we’ve ever seen in Canada this summer.