Motocross Performance Magazine Canadian Motocross news leader
Words by Brent Worrall
photos by James Lissimore
Round 2 of the 2014 Rockstar Energy Drink Motocross Nationals at Whispering Pines this past weekend was the best race this western portion of this series has seen in many years if not ever. We had clear skies for both days of competition and we were back to the regular formatted schedule of amateur and Women’s pro national on Saturday. The great ladies series put on by all the people that have stepped up to make it the success it has become has now only one round of action left in the west next weekend in Calgary. Devil’s Lake MX rider Hailey Larson who has dominated this class the past couple of years did not let up in pursuit of her 3rd consecutive title and took the overall win. Larson was followed by and impressive up and coming youngster Yorkton Saskatchewan’s Kennedy Lutz who looked great on her YZ-125 2-stroke capturing 2nd overall. Sara King on her Cycle North Honda would better Larissa McGlynn for 3rd overall and rounding out the top five would be RTR Valley Speed Kamloops rider Jamie Munro. The race was contested by 30 riders bettering Nanaimo’s entry list by a half dozen. The Pines surface would see the addition of two large new double jumps one of which was well over a hundred feet and eye candy for all the spectators that would clamor to the fences anticipating the action. I cannot tell you enough how impressed I was to see the top 5 in this class negotiating these obstacles with confidence and authority. Our girls have some serious skill and this series has come a long way in the last 5 years and this is one event you do not want to miss on race day.
After showing some good speed at round one in Nanaimo, Vince Friese pulled out all the stops and dominated the MX2 class in Kamloops going 1-1 on the day.
On Sunday the small bike class would see more than 70 riders vie for the 40 gate spots on a race track that was tilled very deep and well watered leaving a lot of the jump faces very tricky to negotiate in quest of a fast lap. Moto one in the 250 class would go to Moto concepts rider Vince Friese who would score a victory in convincing gate to wire fashion and not leave a doubt in anyone’s mind that he was ready to continue his quest for the title after a so so weekend in Nanaimo. Second in the first moto would go to Leading Edge Kawasaki rider Jeremy Medaglia who would make up a few positions in the moto on a race track that was already deteriorating by the completion of the day’s first moto. MX-101 Yamaha rider Jesse Wentland would score 20 points with his third place finish. Royal Distributing KTM rider Kaven Benoit who would take a soil sample on the tracks infield while running second and would take a 4th in moto one. 5th would go to Rockstar Yamaha’s Shawn Maffenbeier followed by RMR Suspension Williams Lake BC boy Brock Hoyer who looked good on his Yamaha. Austin Politelli would suffer a mechanical issue in the form of a rock lodged in his front brake rotor causing it to lock up intermittently leaving him to ride chill and finish 16th. Other notable finishes in the moto were Westen Wrozyna who would score a solid 12th. Dylan Wright would suffer a mechanical issue and be forced to the sidelines and we would still be yet to see the best of Josh Clark as he would finish 22nd in moto one.
Off to the premier class and there we would see the moto one Holeshot go to Rockstar Yamaha’s Bobby Kiniry who would give way to Mike Alessi followed by Josh Hill on his Leading Edge Kawasaki. Colton Facciotti would go down early in the moto leaving him temporarily 5th but did mount a comeback looking as silky smooth as the barrel of the loaded gun we have come to know as the Colt 45. At moto’s end the results would be Alessi looking impressive followed only a few seconds behind at final flag wave by Facciotti. Hill would give way to Colton late in the moto but looked comfortably confident and can sure ride the rear wheel of that Kawasaki. Royal Distributing KTM’s Tyler Medaglia would finish a solid 4th after charging hard the whole moto. Bobby Kiniry would better Teddy Maeir and an impressive ride by Dylan Kaelin would round out the top 7. Matt Davenport on a Yamaha would round out the top 10 followed by Maple Ridge Motosports Ryan Lockhart. But hold the phone, shortly after the moto we got word that Mike Alessi came into a corner hot over shot a berm out of our line of sight and cut the race track to re-enter and would be docked 5 positions bumping everyone up a spot. Being in the tower with Brian Koster co-hosting the online broadcast we could only speculate as to what had happened as it was away from our tower location. We could also only speculate as to how this would be taken by the Moto Concepts team and we were left to anxiously await moto 2 to see if Mike would indeed line up as there was rumours that they would leave the facility and not return.
Bobby Kiniry rebounded nicely in Kamloops after a very tough opening round last weekend.
The second MX-2 would see a repeat gate to wire score by Vince Friese on the Moto Concepts Honda but would have a different rider cross the finish line behind him in the form of Austin Politelli who rode confident and looked to be gaining some momentum on his Kawasaki. I spoke with Austin after the race and he said he felt good and is confident he can make up the lost ground. Jeremy Medaglia would go down in front of me exiting the tower turn left hander while running 3rd and cost him two positions. Kaven Benoit would finish 3rd in moto 2 and I saw Kaven icing his leg upon leaving the track Sunday. RTR’s Topher Ingalls would snag fourth in the moto making your top 5 Friese, Benoit, Medaglia, Ingalls & Maffenbeier. Notables in the race were Dylan Wright taking an ugly digger cross rutting in exactly the spot that Jeremy went down and was slammed hard by his bike. I spoke with Dylan after the race and he was ok but disappointed as he was running a solid 7th at the time. Westen Wrozyna was also on the limp at day’s end as he too had a mishap which saw him scored 30th in the second moto and 18th overall for the day.
When the gate dropped on Moto 2 Mike Alessi did show up and did what he does best and got a Holeshot and started to check out and was very quickly 6 or 7 seconds ahead of Colton Facciotti. Kiniry would run 3rd followed by Hill and Morgan Burger. The big story of this moto other than Alessi lining up would be Colton reeling in Alessi and looking smooth doing it. Mike Alessi seemed to be fighting his set-up a bit and I don’t know if it was Colton’s riding style or his set-up but that Gopher Dunes Honda was the smoothest and fastest bike on a race track that was no easy task finding smooth lines on. Colton would pull away from Alessi and win the moto by just over 20 sec. giving him 50 points on the day the overall win and sole possession of the red plate moving into next weekend in Calgary. Alessi’s second coupled with his 6th would give him 3rd overall on the day. Josh Hill would claim second with moto scores of 2- 3 followed by Tyler Medaglia 3- 6 Bobby Kiniry 5 – 4 would round out the top 5.
We all know how the last two seasons have gone for Colton Facciotti at the Kamloops track. However, like all champions do Facciotti put all those bad memories aside and walked away with the MX1 win on Sunday.
Notable finishes on the day first and foremost Devil’s Lake Mx’ riders Dylan Kaelin with solid 7 – 7 moto scores for 8th overall Matt Davenport 11- 10 for 10th overall and Ryan Lockhart 11 – 13 for 11th overall. I spoke with Ryan and many of the riders after the day and they were all in agreement that the race track on this day was as tough as they had seen in a long time. Ryan went as far as to say that it was the roughest and most demanding National track he had ever ridden and was happy with his result and happy to having clicked this comeback off his bucket list. I spoke with Kevin Tyler of the MX-101 team and he admitted it was a tough day for them and is looking forward to a fresh start next weekend in Calgary. Plenty of great racing left people I look forward to seeing you all in Calgary if you can get there. If not do yourself a favour when this series comes your way get out to the race you won’t be disappointed. I truly believe we are at the highest level of competition we have ever been at in Canadian motocross.
