Motocross Performance Magazine Canadian Motocross news leader
Words by Austin Watling
The final two Triple Crown arenacross rounds wrapped up this past weekend at the Molson Centre in Barrie, Ontario. With a few riders returning to Canadian racing this weekend, who would be the guy to beat? Will Thompson keep his winning streak going and will Maff clinch the championship before the final round on Saturday?
With two rounds left there was still a lot of racing to do. In the MX2 class this weekend, we had Westen Wrozyna and Jess Pettis both return to Canadian soil. Westen making a few mistakes and having some bad starts held him back from where he would want to be. Jess, on the other hand, was the guy to beat. Pettis looked very comfortable right from the start of the day. He took heat race wins both Friday and Saturday, and won the main event both nights as well. Very impressive ride for Jess and looking forward to watching him tear it up outdoors.
Marco Cannella and Ryan Lockhart battled hard all series long and ended up taking home the runner-up positions in the 250 class. Photo by James Lissimore
The rookies Marco Cannella and Tanner Ward were also ones to keep an eye on. Cannella coming off Sarnia with a 3rd gave him some confidence going into Barrie. He backs it up with a solid 2nd in Friday night’s main and 3rd on Saturday. These results gave him a very respectable 2nd overall in the AX championship. Tanner Ward has the speed and aggression. He needs to put that with consistency and good starts then he will be right up front. Ward finished 7th in the main event on Friday and 4th on Saturday. He tried putting it in on Cannella the final corner but ended up going down. He took 4th in the overall AX championship.
The 450 class has been stacked but Thompson has been flawless almost every weekend; he kept it going into Barrie. He won 5 out of 6 main events over the AX season this year, and his worst finish was a 2nd. Facciotti was his main competition being the only other rider to win a main event this season. Colton pulled a few starts on Thompson but he couldn’t seem to hold Thompson off. The rivalry continues going into the outdoor season with Thompson pushing Facciotti into the tough blocks before the finish in Saturday night’s main.
Other than the opening round in Abbotsford, Cole Thompson was unstoppable all series long in the 450 class. Photo by James Lissimore
A few more to mention from the weekend are Ryan Lockhart (Newf) and Cade Clason. The Newf flew from out west for the Barrie arenacross and lucky he did. He finished 3rd overall in the MX2 class behind Maff and Cannella. He finished the night off by drinking his champagne out of his boot. Cade Clason came from South Carolina to race. He rode awesome all day, getting great starts and leading plenty of laps. He finished it off with a 2nd on the night.
Will Thompson and Maff keep the ball rolling into the great outdoors? Will the rookies come out swinging at round 1 and land on the podium? Will there be new faces or any underdogs that come out of nowhere? We will see at round 1 in Calgary!
See you all in Calgary next month. Photo by James Lissimore
