Motocross Performance Magazine Canadian Motocross news leader
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It’s Show Time! Nationals Kick off This Weekend in Nanaimo
The eagerly awaited 2013 Monster Energy Motocross Nationals kick off this weekend at The Wastelands in Nanaimo, BC. The venerable track has been an integral part of the CMRC Nationals circuit for the past 14 years, staging all but two events (2009/2010) during this period of time. Many an epic battle has been fought on the hard-base track and the tradition will without a doubt continue on Sunday. Everyone wants to win that first race of the season and start the all-important game and strategy of psyching one’s opponents. Whereas last year’s Nanaimo National proved to be a mud bath (see picture above of Yamaha’s Bobbi Kiniry), everyone can look forward to an ideal weekend of racing this time around-at least if the weather forecasters are right. Temperatures are expected to hover around 20ºC all weekend. Sunshine with some clouds are predicted for Saturday-sunshine only for Sunday. With local favourite Dusty Klatt still recovering from pre-season injuries, British Columbia motocross fans will have to look to Aldergrove, BC native Colton Facciotti for a home MX1 victory. Red Bull/Fox/Royal Distributing/KTM’s Facciotti won the event in 2008 and 2011, and he will be on the gas to tie Jean Sebastien Roy’s hat trick of three wins. Although Facciotti’s KTM teammate Klatt has also won the event three times, two of the victories were in MX2. Darcy Lange, another Vancouver Islander, also has three wins to his credit: two in MX1 and one in MX2. Look for Monster Energy/Parts Canada/Leading Edge/Kawasaki’s Teddy Maier to not give his Canuck rivals so much as an inch as he goes for his second consecutive win at The Wastelands. The American won the MX2 class last year and he will want to follow that up with top spot on the box in the MX1 class, to which he has migrated after claiming the MX2 title in 2012. |
Maier furthermore carries the task of defending Leading Edge’s 2012 MX1 victory at the hands of Matt Goerke, who is racing back home in the USA this year. Look for Maier’s teammate, the Aussie Brett Metcalfe, to bolster Leading Edge’s chances and make it two in a row.
The MX2 class has no British Columbians to count on for a possible win and it is expected that Leading Edge’s Tyler Villopoto and Austin Politelli will be the ones to beat. But tell that to Red Bull/Fox/Royal Distributing/KTM’s Kaven Benoit (pictured right). The Quebecer knows that 2013 has to be his major break-through year and starting off with a win in Nanaimo is the way he wants to go. Without a doubt the 2013 Monster Energy Motocross Nationals promise to be a very competitive series. While there are clear-cut favourites in both classes, anything is possible. And even more than in the past decade or so, there is room for upsets and unexpected surprises. While the titans of the sport will be the ones to watch on the track, off the track in the paddock area is where strategies are hatched and the preliminary battles are fought. Regardless of who wins the MX1 and MX2 Championship, we can expect, according to the pundits, that that rider will be a member of one of the following teams: Monster Energy/Parts Canada/Leading Edge/Kawasaki (MX1-Brett Metcalfe, Teddy Maier; MX2-Austin Politelli, Tyler Villopoto); Red Bull/Fox/Royal Distributing/KTM (MX1-Colton Facciotti, Tyler Medaglia, Dusty Klatt; MX2-Kaven Benoit) and Rockstar Energy/OTSFF/Yamaha/Motovan. |
But let’s leave some room for alternative scenarios, because as the old cliché goes, “it ain’t over till it’s over.” A few underdog teams like Redemption Racing KTM (MX1-Gavin Gracyk); MX101 Yamaha (MX1-Jeremy Medaglia (pictured left); RTR Performance Honda (MX2-Topher Ingalls); BlackfootDirect Yamaha (MX2-Jared Allison; Parker Allison); and Gopher Dunes Racing Honda (MX1- Nathan Bles; MX2-Blake Savage) could dismantle any of the above’s efforts and possibly claim a No.1 plate. Although there will be no live streaming audio of the nationals this year, live lap times and positions will be available onwww.cmrcracing.com or on your mobile – mobile.cmrcracing.com. Past Champions at The Wastelands MX1: MX2: |
