Race Report: Deschambault Motocross National

Royal Distributing KTM Fox Racing’s Kaven Benoit had a perfect day at his home province national at Deschambault near Quebec City.

Mike Alessi and Kaven Benoit take MX1 and MX2 wins at the Deschambault Motocross National!

Canadians Colton Facciotti and Benoit continue leading the Rockstar Energy Drink Motocross Nationals, with Americans Alessi and his Smartop MotoConcepts teammate Vince Friese hanging tight in runner-up positions

Today was Round 7 of the Rockstar Energy Drink Motocross Nationals at Motocross Deschambault near Quebec City, Quebec, and things got interesting with riders and teams suffering through their second “mudder” of the season. Rain came down hard in the morning and left things pretty wet for the rest of the day. However, things dried well enough for good conditions in the final MX1 moto. Rough, rutted and choppy. Regina was a mess and limited to the racing to one moto for each class, but Deschambault features a sandy course so it was better able to suck up the rain as it came down. Things were tough, but this is motocross and the fastest guys always find the best way around the track.

MX2 Breakdown and Results

The big news in MX2 action at Deschambault was the appearance of two new riders to the winner’s circle with KTM racers Liam O’Farrell and Jeremy Pronovost each earning their first ever Canadian National podiums. Local kid Pronovost took a third in the first moto and 5th overall on the day while O’Farrell finished 2-2 for second overall behind factory KTM’s Kaven Benoit.

(BTW – great day for KTM Canada, who is located within 2 hours of Deschambault. They had a total of 7 moto podiums with Benoit, O’Farrell and Pronovost in MX2, and Tyler Medaglia who went 3-3 in MX1.)

Interesting to note that two-strokes are reigning supreme as of late in the MX2 Canadian Nationals. Benoit swept the day with 1-1 moto finishes and extends his points lead to 33 over Vince Friese (since Gopher Dunes, Benoit has doubled his lead every race – it’s gone from 8 to 33 since he’s been on a two-stroke). O’Farrell and Pronovost are also on KTM 250 SX two-strokes. Almost one third of the top-20 in MX2 are on two-stroke KTMs. Neat, eh?

Your MX2 podium at Deschambault, Quebec: Liam O’Farrell, Kaven Benoit and Shawn Maffenbeier

Rockstar Energy Drink OTSFF Yamaha’s Shawn Maffenbeier continues to keep things steady with a third overall on the day. That’s his third podium of the series, and with MX101 Yamaha’s Jesse Wentland having a rough day in Quebec (14-5, 8th overall), Maffenbeier is now sitting comfortably in third in the MX2 championship. Not bad for a quiet kid from the flat lands of Saskatchewan.

Kudos to Devils Lake Riverside Yamaha’s Hailey Larson on qualifying for her first ever Canadian Pro National! The two-time Western Canadian Women’s champ has been trying most weekends to make the cut and finally got’er done in Quebec. Sadly, things didn’t go too well in the motos with Larson not finishing the first and then not starting the second.

It was a dark and cloudy day for the Monster Energy Leading Edge Kawasaki team in the MX2 class. Defending champ Austin Politelli’s bike broke down in both motos and Jeremy Medaglia was unable to finish the first moto after his bike quit too.

Duroy KTM’s Michael DaSilva scored his best moto fiinsh of the year at Deschambault taking a 7th in moto one behind Maffenbeier. That marks his second top-10 result in the last three races.

Colton Facciotti rode away from Mike Alessi in the second MX1 moto to take the win.

MX1 Breakdown and Results

Josh Hill ain’t over the hill, he’s on top of it! The likable Monster Energy Leading Edge Kawasaki rider was on the box at Nanaimo and Kamloops and again today in Quebec, which included his very first moto win in Canada. Hill had a good start in the first moto and passed Tyler Medaglia and Bobby Kiniry to take over the lead late in the race. Kiniry should have won the first moto but in the final laps Kiniry’s bike went “boom” and his bike blew up. Too bad as it would have been the New Yorker’s second moto win of the year. He could have used the momentum after a miserable weekend at Sand Del Lee.

Hill took his win with three seconds over Mike Alessi who had to work past a few riders to finish second, which is uncommon for the holeshot wonder. A fourth in the second moto would give Hill third overall in Quebec behind Facciotti and Alessi.

GDR Troy Lee Designs Honda’s Colton Facciotti put on a riding display in the second MX1 moto. Maybe his best moto of 2014 so far?

Colton led every lap of the final moto in Deschambault. In the second race he took a commanding win with a 17-second gap over Alessi who finished second but gets the overall win with 2-2 scores. Facciotti was second overall with a 4-1. Alessi cuts down on Colt’s points lead but only by one point (28 to 27).

Kaven Benoit gave his local fans his best performance! He's now 33 points ahead of Vince Friese in the MX2 series.

Mike Alessi looked a little “off” today in Quebec, not getting the best starts like he normally does and he didn’t seem to have that breakaway speed he normally does. Nothing wrong with a 2-2 and first overall though.

Cool to note that Facciotti was using this killer, time saving line in the split-lane-rhythm-section where he’d jump across to the other lane halfway through. No one else used it and it definitely helped Colton make up time.

Alessi’s younger brother Jeff took part in his first Canadian National riding with his infamous #801 on a Smartop MotoConcepts Suzuki 450. He had a decent day taking 8th overall.

Click on these images to see top-20 results from Quebec and the Overall Championship: