Written by: Kevin Levick
Beautiful Ste. Julie, Quebec played host to round 6 of the CMRC Monster Energy Motocross Nationals with clear skies and high temperatures, a perfect day for racing.
Some big news leading in to this week’s race was that defending MX1 series champion, Colton Facciotti, would not be lining up on his Red Bull KTM. A separated shoulder, suffered at round 2 of the series in Kamloops, had Facciotti struggling to salvage points at each round in order to remain in the title hunt. However, Colton announced Sunday morning that he could not take any more and would be taking time off to get healthy. We wish him a speedy recovery.
In MX2, it was business as usual as Jeremy Medaglia took his Red Bull KTM to the early lead in the first moto. His nemesis, Leading Edge Kawasaki’s Teddy Maier, did not get the greatest of starts and was mired in 5th early on just ahead of hometown hero Kaven Benoit. As Maier moved into 3rd, Benoit–running 4th–fell over. Luckily, Benoit did not lose any spots, but the lead he had drawn on Maier was lost in the crash.
By the halfway point of the moto, it was still Medaglia out front, but Teddy Maier had put in some hot laps and was all over him, looking to make a pass. Maier went for a pass attempt and seemed to have it completed, but Medaglia would not back down and he reclaimed the position. While the lead duo was battling, Benoit had hustled his KTM following his tip-over and was up to 3rd, running the fastest lap times of the moto. Medaglia and Maier had run into heavy lapped traffic allowing Kaven Benoit to close right in. An intense, three-way fight for the first moto win ensued. At one point, the three riders were even in the air at the same time.
With only a few laps left, Maier went for it again, this time making the pass stick. As he did so, Benoit took advantage of the vulnerable Medaglia and also got by, relegating the early leader to 3rd. Using lappers to his advantage, Maier was able to pull out a little gap in the remaining laps, despite a hard charge by Benoit. Maier would take the win over Benoit and Medaglia. GA Checkpoint Yamaha’s Spencer Knowles would take a very impressive 4th.
In moto 2, it was Kaven Benoit taking the early lead after making a pass on Brad Nauditt. Going down off the start were Jeremy Medaglia and Spencer Knowles, both front runners in moto 1. First moto winner Teddy Maier rounded the first lap in 13th place.
With his main competitors suffering early problems, Benoit charged hard, pulling an early 10-second lead over Rockstar/OTSFF Yamaha rider Richard Grey. Grey’s position, though, was not secure for long as Teddy Maier and Jeremy Medaglia were tearing through the field. Maier was quickly through to 2nd, but found himself still nearly 16-seconds behind leader Benoit. Despite managing to whittle a couple of seconds off of Benoit’s lead, it became apparent that Maier was going to have to settle for 2nd in this moto.
Behind him, things were a little more pressing as Richard Grey and Hully Gully Yamaha’s Dylan Kaelin struggled to keep an on-fire Jeremy Medaglia behind them. It was Grey who would be Medaglia’s first victim, but Kaelin would never get a chance to fend-off the charge of Medaglia. A mistake put Kaelin on the ground, making things easy on Jeremy. Kaelin would pick himself up in 4th, just ahead of long-time Ontario rival Grey.
Benoit would take the moto win and the overall much to the delight of the Quebec crowd, while Teddy Maier would finish runner-up in the moto and on the day. Jeremy Medaglia would take a well-earned 3rd to keep his Championship hopes alive.
In MX1, it was privateer Morgan Burger grabbing the holeshot ahead of series leader Matt Goerke, Red Bull KTM’s Dusty Klatt and Gopher Dunes Honda’s Tyler Medaglia. Klatt appeared aggressive early as he looked for a way past Goerke. Over-jumping a section, however, put him into some soft, loose soil on the side of the track and allowed Rockstar/OTSFF Yamaha’s Bobby Kiniry and Medaglia to both get around him.
As Goerke and Kiniry got around Burger, disaster struck for Tyler Medaglia. Tyler went down hard, and Klatt, who was following him, ran into him and was taken down as well. Klatt was able to get back up and going again, finding himself somewhere around 15th place. Medaglia, though, was not so lucky. He was carried off the track with what appeared to be a knee or ankle injury.
Out front, Goerke was putting in some fast laps and had managed to distance himself from Kiniry, but the rider to watch was Klatt who had topped qualifying earlier in the day and appeared to be rejuvented on his KTM. Within a few laps of his crash, Klatt had already moved up to 5th behind Morgan Burger. Klatt passed Burger and set out to make his next victim Tim Tremblay. With a pass on Tremblay and a clear track ahead of him, Klatt ran the fastest lap of the race in his effort to catch Kiniry for 2nd.
Then, as quickly as he had gotten to 3rd, Klatt inherited 2nd as Kiniry made a mistake and went down. Kiniry would remount in 4th and go to work on passing Tremblay to get back into a podium position. Ultimately, Goerke would hold on for the first moto win while Klatt would take 2nd ahead of Kiniry.
In moto 2, it was Dusty Klatt taking the holeshot ahead of Goerke and Tremblay. In only a couple of laps, Klatt had managed to put 6 seconds between himself and Goerke, while Kiniry had moved up to 3rd from a 5th place start. Trying to keep Klatt in sight, Goerke went down, handing 2nd over to Kiniry. Goerke would get back up in 3rd, still holding a comfortable lead over his teammate, Tyler Villopoto, who was in 4th looking fresh and motivated after a mechanical DNF early in moto 1.
Despite some solid riding by Kiniry, he was never able to get close to Klatt, and he and Goerke both seemed to settle for 2nd and 3rd on the slick, hard-packed Ste. Julie surface. Dusty Klatt would take the overall win–his first of the season as well as his first podium of the season. Goerke would finish 2nd overall with his 1-3 motos, and Kiniry rounded out the podium with his 3-2 scores. The win and absence of Facciotti and Medaglia, catapulted Klatt into 3rd in the series standings behind leader Goerke and 2nd place Kiniry.
Monster Energy Motocross Nationals Ste Julie – Ste Julie, Quebec June 22, 2012 Round 6 of 9
MX1 Pro Class (Moto Finish) 1. Dusty Klatt, Campbell River, British Columbia, KTM (2-1) 2. Matt Goerke, Lake Helen, Florida, Kawasaki (1-3) 3. Bobby Kiniry, Holland Patent, New York, Yamaha (3-2) 4. Tim Tremblay, Dolbeau, Quebec, Kawasaki (5-5) 5. Gavin Gracyk, Blissfield, Ohio, Kawasaki (4-9) 6. Joshua Clark, Lemington, Connecticut Honda (7-6) 7. Morgan Burger, Nampa, Idaho, Kawasaki (6-8) 8. Liam O’Farrell, Hamilton, Ontario, TM (8-7) 9. Jason Burke, Hamilton, Ontario, Honda (10-10) 10. Tyler Villopoto, Poulsbo, Washington, Kawasaki, (DNF-4) 11. Mike Treadwell, Mexico, Maine, Kawasaki (13-11) 12. Alexandre Morin, Mascouche, Quebec, Yamaha, (16-12) 13. Kyle Sidle, Jonestown, Pennsylvania, Honda, (15-13) 14. Shawn Maffenbeier, Swift Current, Saskatchewan, Yamaha (9-24) 15. Jared Stock, Medicine Hat, Alberta, Yamaha (14-17) 16. Michael Stryker, New Paltz, New York, KTM (12-19) 17. Willy Shatrau, Owego, New York, Honda (11-27) 18. P.O. Lavigne, Repentigny, Quebec, Honda (DNF-14) 19. Todd Sewell, Calgary, Alberta, Yamaha (25-15) 20. Yuri Alexandre, Val D‘or, Quebec, KTM (DNF-16)
MX1 Pro Class Championship Standings 1. Matt Goerke, Lake Helen, Florida, Kawasaki – 292 2. Bobby Kiniry, Holland Patent, New York, Yamaha – 253 3. Dusty Klatt, Campbell River, British Columbia, KTM – 190 4. Tyler Medaglia, Kemptville, Ontario, Honda – 182 5. Colton Facciotti, St. Thomas, Ontario, KTM – 175 6. Gavin Gracyk, Blissfield, Ohio, Kawasaki – 156 7. Tyler Villopoto, Poulsbo, Washington, Kawasaki – 155 8. Morgan Burger, Nampa, Idaho, Kawasaki – 136 9. Jason Burke, Hamilton, Ontario, Honda – 122 10. Shawn Maffenbeier, Swift Current, Saskatchewan, Yamaha - 76 11. Brock Hoyer, Williams Lake, British Columbia, Kawasaki – 76 12. Jaromir Romancik, Czech Republic, Kawasaki – 58 13. Joshua Clark, Lemington, Connecticut, Honda - 56 14. Kyle Keast, Lindsay, Ontario, Yamaha – 54 15. Tim Tremblay, Dolbeau, Quebec, Kawasaki - 52 16. Liam O’Farrell, Hamilton, Ontario, TM - 50 17. Shawn Robinson, Gatineau, Quebec, Yamaha – 48 18. Bryar Perry, Woodland, California, Kawasaki - 43 19. PJ Stratton, Whitecourt, Alberta, Honda – 39 20. George De Graaf, Coalhurst, Alberta, Kawasaki – 38
MX2 Pro Class (Moto Finish) 1. Kaven Benoit, Drummondville, Quebec, KTM (2-1) 2. Teddy Maier, Fort Dodge, Iowa, Kawasaki (1-2) 3. Jeremy Medaglia, Kemptville, Ontario, KTM, (3-3) 4. Spencer Knowles, New Westminster, British Columbia, Yamaha (4-8) 5. Dylan Kaelin, Grand Bend, Ontario, Yamaha, (9-4) 6. Topher Ingalls, Templeton, California, Honda (8-6) 7. Parker Allison, Delburne, Alberta, Yamaha (7-7) 8. Kyle Beaton, Surrey, British Columbia, Kawasaki (6-10) 9. Jared Allison, Delburne, Alberta, Yamaha (10-9) 10. Brad Nauditt, Spokane, Washington, Honda (5-15) 11. Nathan Bles, Varna, Ontario, Honda (13-11) 12. Richard Grey, Keswick, Ontario, Yamaha (31-5) 13. Guillaume Baillif, St Jerome, Quebec, KTM (14-13) 14. Michael Dasilva, St Jean Sur Richelieu, Quebec, KTM (18-12) 15. James Roberts, White Lake, Michigan, Honda (15-16) 16. Dave Blanchet, St Apollinaire, Quebec, (11-DNF) 17. Kade Walker, Winchester, California, Yamaha (12-DNF) 18. Sylvain Le Gad, Laval, Quebec, Kawasaki (32-14) 19. Alexandre Morin, Mascouche, Quebec, Yamaha (19-17) 20. Zach Deiana, Coleville, Saskatchewan, Suzuki (17-19)
MX2 Pro Class Championship Standings 1. Teddy Maier, Fort Dodge, Iowa, Kawasaki – 278 2. Jeremy Medaglia, Kemptville, Ontario, KTM – 251 3. Jared Allison, Delburne, Alberta, Yamaha – 177 4. Kyle Beaton, Surrey, British Columbia, Kawasaki – 168 5. Topher Ingalls, Templeton, California, Honda – 166 6. Brad Nauditt, Spokane, Washington, Honda – 163 7. Parker Allison, Delburne, Alberta, Yamaha - 143 8. Dylan Kaelin, Grand Bend, Ontario, Yamaha – 141 9. Spencer Knowles, New Westminster, British Columbia, Yamaha –138 10. Richard Grey, Keswick, Ontario, Yamaha – 122 11. Ross Johnson,Tenino, Washington, Suzuki – 101 12. Kaven Benoit, Drummondville, Quebec, KTM- 92 13. Keylan Meston, Calgary, Alberta, Honda – 54 14. Zach Deiana, Coleville, Saskatchewan, Suzuki – 51 15. Nathan Bles, Varna, Ontario, Honda - 44 16. Trae Franklin, Fort St John, British Columbia, Honda – 44 17. David Gassen, Arnold, California, Honda - 39 18. Nicky Beatty, Wyoming, Ontario, Yamaha – 37 19. Cody Woodworth, Palmer, Alaska, Yamaha – 36 20. James Roberts, White Lake, Michigan, Honda - 31
