Round 6-Ulverton National Preview

By Stephen St. Pierre

The sixth round of the 2016 Rockstar Energy Drink Motocross Nationals presented by Motovan will take place this weekend at Motocross Ulverton, just south of Drummondville, in the Province of Quebec. The race track at Ulverton is a thing of beauty with its sandy soil and massive elevation changes. The sand based soil is not as deep as we saw last weekend at Gopher Dunes, but does provide huge berms as well as a lot of different line choices for the riders. The uphill start straightaway is ultra-fast and could be the most exciting of the series. As we enter the second half of the season, the riders and their teams know the importance of strong finishes and limiting the mistakes as we get closer to crowning our 2016 Champions.

MX1

The series points’ leader and Red Plate holder, KTM Canada Thor Racing’s Davi Millsaps, might have a comfortable 34 point lead but for the first time this season finished the weekend without a moto win at Round 5. Millsaps came into Gopher Dunes nursing some injured ribs and was leading the first moto until he crashed spectacularly while under heavy pressure form Matt Goerke. Davi is tight lipped about the extent of the injury and will probably not be getting much practice time in while he waits for his ribs to heal.

Monster Energy Alpinestar Kawasaki’s Mike Alessi has taken the holeshot in the last three motos, but last weekend’s sixth overall was his worst finish this season. Alessi sits second in the series standings with only one moto win this year and needs to find that extra gear this weekend if he wants to put a dent into Davi Millsaps’ points lead. Mike was the fastest qualifier in 2014 at Ulverton, and we can expect him to be battling for the lead on the long start straightaway this weekend.

Carrying a lot of momentum into this weekend’s race is Rockstar Energy OTSFF Yamaha’s Matt Goerke who took his first overall win of the season last weekend. The win was made more impressive as Goerke was able to reel in series leader Davi Millsaps, forcing the KTM pilot to make an error while under heavy pressure, and beat him straight up. Matt made up some ground in the points standings, moving in to third place, and knows he needs to beat Millsaps if he wants to repeat as Champion. Goerke will be looking to improve upon his 3-3 moto finishes at Ulverton last year.

If Honda Canada Racing Fox GDR’s Colton Facciotti wants to win his fifth National Title, this weekend could be the turning point in his season. Facciotti has not had an overall podium finish since Round 2, and fell back to fourth in the series standings after last weekend’s fourth place finish. Colton went 1-1 last year at Ulverton, was second overall there in 2014, and the Canadian hero knows that it is time to start winning motos.

Rockstar Energy OTSFF Yamaha’s Brett Metcalfe looked good last weekend, winning his first moto of the season and finishing second overall, which is his best result this year. Metcalfe finished 2-2 last year at Ulverton and is another rider carrying momentum into the second half of the season.

This weekend will be a homecoming for KTM Canada Thor Racing’s Kaven Benoit as he returns to “La Belle Province” for the first time in the MX1 Class. Benoit will have the hometown crowd cheering for him as he looks to get his first podium finish in the premier class, after being very impressive during the first five rounds in his Rookie campaign.

MX2

KTM Canada Thor Racing’s Cole Thompson has been in a league of his own so far this season, and has a huge 65 point lead in the series standings. Thompson’s ultra-smooth riding style has helped him to win 8 motos already, and he has only finished outside the top 2 once. Cole raced Ulverton last year in the MX1 class and finished fourth overall.

Sitting a distant second in the MX2 series standings is Redemption Racing Big Steel Box KTM’s Shawn Maffenbeier. Shawn managed to stay close to the series leader for the first three rounds, but since has surrendered a lot of points and knows he needs to beat Cole Thompson consistently starting this weekend. Maff was a winner at Ulverton in 2014 and hopes to finish on the top of the box again this year.

SG Power/Shift/Scotty Motorsports/Honda’s Brad Nauditt is sitting third in the series standings and knows he needs a strong finish this weekend to remain there, but there are some pretty fast riders right behind him. Nauditt lost ground last weekend when he could only manage a seventh place overall in the brutal Gopher Dunes sand. Brad was also seventh last year at Ulverton but will have to do better this year to maintain his position in the standings.

After realizing his best overall result as a pro with a second overall last weekend, MX101 FXR Yamaha’s Dylan Wright could move into third in the series standings this weekend with a good finish. Wright is another rider who needs to beat Cole Thompson and has showed that he is capable of doing just that. Dylan finished on the podium last year in Ulverton, and it won’t be long until this talented 17-year-old Canadian gets his first overall win.

Monster Energy Alpinestar Kawasaki’s Mark Worth moved into fifth place in the series standings after finishing in the top 5 again last weekend. Worth missed the first round of the series after being called up to replace the injured Jacob Hayes, and has been on the podium twice already. He has only finished outside of the top 5 in one moto.

Newcomer to the series, American rider KTM/Factory Connection/Fox’s Dakota Alix looked very impressive while grabbing the last spot on the podium last weekend in his debut race in 2016. The Vermont native will line up again this weekend and will be looking to improve on that result.

The first five rounds of the 2016 Rockstar Energy Drink Motocross Nationals presented by Motovan have taken place in good weather conditions and the forecast for Ulverton this Sunday looks like the trend will continue. The Quebec fans will be cheering wildly for their local hero and native son Kaven Benoit in his first race in his home Province in the premier class. If you haven’t already purchased your tickets you can buy them online easily at the mxnationals.ca website. If you are in another part of the country and are unable to attend the race you can see all the action live by downloading the free Conx2share app and live stream every moto on your mobile phone or computer.

MX1 Point Standings 2016

1. Davi Millsaps (KTM) 274pts

2. Mike Alessi (Kaw) 239pts

3. Matt Goerke (Yam) 237pts

4. Colton Facciotti (Hon) 235pts

4. Brett Metcalfe (Yam) 235pts

6. Cade Clason (KTM) 183pts

7. Kaven Benoit (KTM) 177pts

8. Tyler Medaglia (Husq) 174pts

9. Morgan Burger (Yam) 151pts

10. Keylan Meston (Yam) 148pts

MX2 Point Standings 2016

1. Cole Thompson (KTM) 290pts

2. Shawn Maffenbeier (KTM) 225pts

3. Brad Nauditt (Hon) 190pts

4. Dylan Wright (Yam) 187pts

5. Mark Worth (Kaw) 177pts

6. Brandon Leith (Kaw) 162pts

7. Jess Pettis (Yam) 160pts

8. Mc Coy Brough (KTM) 135pts

9. Casey Keast (Yam) 131pts

10. Ryeley Gallup (KTM) 123pts

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