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MXP Chatter: Colton Facciotti

Heading into Gopher Dunes this past weekend Colton Facciotti held the coveted red plate on his Honda CRF450. After a very steady west coast swing, Colton had to be confident heading into his team’s home track. If there has been one knock on Colton during his pro career it’s that he’s only been able to win championships when he’s clearly the fastest rider every weekend. However, this season we’ve seen a very different, almost methodical Colton Facciotti who’s been willing to do whatever it takes to score maximum points each weekend, even if he’s not the fastest guy. So far, this approach has worked for him and on Saturday at Gopher Dunes we again witnessed Colton benefit from other riders’ mistakes. We caught up with him moments after he took the overall victory at round five of the 2014 Rockstar Energy Drink Motocross Nationals.

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Colton used his effortless style at Gopher Dunes to conserve energy and fuel enroute to the overall win in the MX1 class. photo by James Lissimore

MXP: Hey Colton, it was a pretty good day for you. You won the overall and managed to extend your points lead.

Colton: Yes, it was a pretty good day all around I guess. I wasn’t the fastest guy and honestly I don’t like to win like I did with Mike running out of fuel, but on a tough track like this I’ll take it.

Was there something off today with you, I mean even your practice times weren’t all that great this morning?

I didn’t really feel all that great this week so I wanted to take it easy in practice and let the track come to me. In moto one I was trying to save some energy so when Mike took off in those early laps I was a little hesitant to go with him and it cost me. Near the end of the moto I felt great but I was too far back to catch him. I actually didn’t even know I’d won until after the race was done, then I found out that Mike had run out of fuel.

 In moto two it looked as though you pushed a little harder in those early laps.

That was the plan, I didn’t want him to get too far out front again. I wanted to be a little closer so I could maybe make a run in the late stages of the moto. But, every time I tried to push hard I started to make mistakes, so I just backed it down because at the point I knew I had the overall. Like I said, I didn’t really feel that great this week so maybe it affected me out there today.

 So far this summer we’ve seen you manage this championship very well. You pick up a few points here and there and since the Kamloops round you’ve held the red plate.

That’s been the plan since the series started, just try and be consistent every weekend. I knew coming into 2014 that with this talented field that I might not be the fastest rider in every moto, but so far I’ve tried to just score as many points as I can each weekend.

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Once Colton got through Kamloops in one piece and came away with the red plate, you just knew he wouldn’t want to give it up. photo by James Lissimore

It was nice to see so many fans here today cheering you on. Did you feel that energy during the race?

For sure I did, it was great to see so many people come out and cheer me on. To win the overall today at what is virtually my home track now was very special.

You mentioned that you felt a little off this week. How did you feel physically today? I mean you don’t even look tired right now.

My fitness felt great today, as it has all season. I tried to conserve energy out there and maybe I did a little too much, but I feel good for sure. We have some tough rounds coming up in the next month so I definitely didn’t want to empty the tank today.

Well congratulations on the big win today and good luck the rest of the way.

Thanks Palms. We’ll see you at SDL. I would also like to thank my team and all our sponsors for making this all possible. Hopefully we can keep this going all the way to Walton.

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While Mrs Facciotti looks on with pride, Colton cools himself off after a tough day at the office. photo by James Lissimore

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