This week in our sport is pretty much about two things: the final round of the 2019 Rockstar Energy Triple Crown Series and honouring the long and very successful career of Colton Facciotti. The first time that I met Colton was way back in 2000 when he travelled the National Series with a group of BC riders and chaperone, Susan Harris. The BC crew raced all of the amateur days and then Susan would provide hospitality for the Factory Kawasaki Teams on Sunday. That year I was riding for the Two Wheel Kawasaki Team so 12-year-old Colton was always around making jokes and keeping us older riders entertained. Yes, as most people know by now, behind Colton’s shy and sometimes serious persona is a pretty funny guy. Since then I’ve followed Colton like everyone else, and in recent years I’ve had the opportunity to cover him as both a media person as well as a friend.
There are so many reasons why I wanted to make this past MXP Magazine cover of Colton Facciotti special. Not just because his incredible career dictated it, but also because all of us at MXP wanted to make this a cover to remember for Colton, his family, his sponsors, and his incredible fans. However, in order for Colton to even make it on this cover he first had to win the 2019 MXTour 450 title. You see, each year for this particular post-summer issue we almost always give this honour to the rider who wins the 450 outdoor title. So, after a hard fought eight rounds of racing from Calgary to Walton, Facciotti was able to win his sixth 450 title, and that is when the planning for his cover began. Another thing that we’ve done for some time is conduct a quick photo shoot with our staff photographer James Lissimore and the #1 plated champion after the final podium celebrations. If you recall back in 2016 when KTM teammates Davi Millsaps and Cole Thompson both won their respective titles, we were able to get both riders on the cover as they did a jump at RJ Motosports, side by side. It ended up being one of our best covers, and considering Millsaps had broken his hand earlier in the day, the fact that he participated made it even more special.
This year after Facciotti won his 450 Championship at Walton Raceway, both he and Dylan Wright took their GDR Hondas out on the track and once again, in front of Lissimore’s camera, they did some incredible whips over the famous Natural Double. Facciotti also did some solo jumps, and after about 15 minutes we had our latest cover shot…or so I thought. A week later our MXP Magazine designers made up some mock covers using the photos from Walton Raceway. Since Derek Schuster (GDR Honda’s CEO) has a pretty good eye for design so I sent him the mocked-up covers to get his opinion. Derek said that while he liked these new cover shots, he wondered if they resembled the Facciotti covers that we’ve done in the past, in particular his last two MXP cover shots. I told him that I’d think about it and get back to him. One item that I was struggling with was the tag line to use that would best encapsulate Colton’s long career coming to an end. To be perfectly honest it took me a week to come up with “Colton Facciotti – Takes A Bow,” and when I ran that by Mr. Schuster, he loved it. That left me with going through all of Lissimore’s Facciotti photos from Walton Raceway and trying to find something that wouldn’t just work, but one that was also special.
There were obviously a few great shots that would’ve looked great on the cover of our magazine. There was the photo of Colton doing a burn out on the podium after the final moto, there was a great corner shot of Colton as he was navigated a deep Walton rut, and one of my favourites was a touching photo of Colton giving his son a big hug beside the podium. All of these would’ve been great choices, however there was one photo that jumped out at us. There was a very cool photo of Colton and his teammate parked on the Natural Double with their backs to the lens of Lissimore’s camera. In the photo they looked to be talking to each other, most likely talking about which way they were both going to whip their Hondas. Colton had his new championship winning Fox Racing jersey on, and when I really studied the photo it almost appeared as if Colton was pausing for a moment before riding off into the sunset. At that point I sent this new photo to our designers, and when it came back, I was blown away. When I sent this version to Derek he replied quickly and stated that he loved it!
We had a winner, and when this issue was released back at the Montreal SX, the feedback was astounding. Everyone, including Colton and his family, loved it. Since then, the more I look at this cover the more I like it. With his long and successful pro racing now over, all that was left was for Colton to take a bow on our sport’s biggest stage, while we as fans just sit back, applaud and say thank-you for entertaining us. So that is how this latest MXP Magazine cover was born and how it evolved into what I believe to be one of our best covers ever. This weekend in Hamilton, Colton will be doing a lap of honour in front of the Hamilton crowd and then we will be crowning the 2019 Rockstar Energy Triple Crown Champion. As we did in 2018, the 450 Triple Crown Champion will grace our next cover of our next issue, so I now look forward to putting that together. In the meantime, thanks Colton for being such a great champion and good luck in the next chapter of your life.