CMRC Nationals Round 6 - Ste. Julie

The 2011 Monster Energy Motocross Nationals headed to the beautiful Ste. Julie, Quebec for round 6 of the series. The sunshine all weekend long assured a fantastic event with awesome track conditions. Ste. Julie is a polar opposite to last weeks track, Gopher Dunes, in almost every way. The track is very fast with a hard and slick surface complete with some of the most painful roost on the tour. Getting a good start is certainly among the riders' best interests!

The racing kicked off with the first MX2 moto, and KTM's Jeremy Medaglia, who sat out last week with an injury, returned to the series in a big way, grabbing the holeshot over Gopher Dunes Suzuki rider, Topher Ingalls. Behind them, chaos ensued as series points leader and defending champion, Tyler Medaglia, suffered a poor start and then crashed while trying to make some quick passes. 2nd place in the standings, Kaven Benoit, also crashed off the start. Monster Energy Leading Edge Kawasaki teammates, Tyler Sjoberg and Austin Politelli were also mired midpack early on. Jeremy Medaglia was quick to pull out a lead of around 3 seconds, but couldn't seem to open it up any further. Ingalls also appeared incapable of getting it any closer. While the chess match for the lead went on, Tyler Medaglia was busy with his charge through the pack. Working his way through with him, was Kaven Benoit. As Benoit entered the top 10, disaster struck. The hometown hero and 2010 Ste. Julie MX2 overall winner suffered a heartbreaking mechanical failure on his KTM, all but eliminating any chance of a repeat performance. With Benoit out of the way, Tyler Medaglia had a huge opportunity to drastically increase his points lead, depending on how far he would be able to move through the tight MX2 field. The second half of the moto saw a late charge by Topher Ingalls on Jeremy Medaglia, with 2 laps to go, Topher gave it everything he had, unfortunately for him, Jeremy was able to respond and hang on to his first moto victory of the season. Sjoberg and Politelli were able to work their way up to 3rd and 4th, while the champ, Tyler Medaglia, rounded out the top 5.

Moto 2 saw Tyler Sjoberg grab the holeshot on his KX250F, just head of Kaven Benoit. Benoit, fresh after sitting out much of the first moto, immediately made a pass on Sjoberg and tried to make a break. Unfortunately for him, Tyler Medaglia got a much better start this time around, and was into the lead before the end of the first lap. Just a couple of laps in, first moto winner, Jeremy Medaglia, pulled into the mechanics area with what appeared to be bike trouble. Following in suit of what happened to his teammate in moto 1, Jeremy was forced to pull out of the moto with a mechanical. As Tyler Medaglia began to stretch out a massive lead, Topher Ingalls, who finished runner-up in the first moto, was on the move along with Austin Politelli. The two were in a tight battle of their own as they worked through from the tail end of the top 10 together. By the halfway point of the moto, they had gotten into 5th and 6th, respectively. Due to some over-watering of the track during intermission, Tyler Sjoberg was forced to throw away his goggles as mud clouded his vision. The final few laps of the race would see Ingalls and Politelli fight their way up another position each. As the checkered flag flew, it was Tyler Medaglia taking a convincing win, securing the overall for the day. 2nd in the moto was Kaven Benoit, Sjoberg 3rd, with Ingalls and Politelli 4th and 5th.

Tyler Medaglia, after having his streak broken at Gopher Dunes, returned to his winning ways at Ste. Julie, going 5-1 for 1st overall. 2nd overall was Tyler Sjoberg, using his consistent 3-3 scores. Grabbing his first career overall podium was Topher Ingalls with 2-4 moto finishes.

After any shot of winning every overall this season was taken away by Matt Goerke at Gopher Dunes, Colton Facciotti set out with something to prove at Ste. Julie. He started off on the right foot by grabbing the holeshot in the first MX1 moto ahead of Rockstar Suzuki's Bobby Kiniry and Dusty Klatt. Klatt wasted no time in engaging in a fierce battle with Bobby Kiniry for 2nd in an effort to keep Facciotti in sight. Kiniry put up a fight, but was displaced only a lap later. As if Kiniry wasn't frustrated enough by losing 2nd place, he then began to fight some issues with the bike as he hit the ground a couple of times in a row. Bobby was eventually forced to pull out of the moto and regroup for moto 2. With Kiniry pulling out, Monster Energy Leading Edge Kawasaki teammates Teddy Maier and Matt Goerke inherited 3rd and 4th positions and engaged in an epic battle that would go right down to the last lap. Maier would hold the position until around the halfway point, when Goerke would make a great move and put himself into the podium position. Maier stayed close, but it appeared that Goerke would hold on as the race began to come to a close. However, a late crash by Goerke allowed Maier to squeak back by. Up front, Klatt rode hard, but was never able to keep sight of Facciotti, who took a very dominating moto win. Maier would finish 3rd with Goerke and a rider making his 2011 Canadian debut, Travis Sewell, taking 4th and 5th.

Moto 2 saw another Blackfoot Red Bull Yamaha take the holeshot, but this time it was Dusty Klatt, determined to get his first overall win of the season. Matt Goerke grabbed a great 2nd place start behind Klatt, while Facciotti was just outside of the top 5. However, it didn't take long before Facciotti was putting a sweet move on 2nd place Goerke and 3rd place Robby Marshall, passing both of them in the same corner to take 2nd. Facciotti then seemed to catch Klatt by surprise, making the move and immediately stretching out a lead, just as he had done in the first moto. At about the halfway mark, Facciotti made an uncharacteristic mistake in the back section, handing the lead back to Klatt. Klatt once again held the lead over his teammate, holding about a 5 second advantage before Colton regrouped and began to attack once more. In only 1 lap, Facciotti had taken Klatt's lead back down to just 2 seconds, when Klatt took a soil sample of his own. It seemed that neither Blackfoot rider was prepared to win this moto, as their crashes had allowed 3rd place Goerke to close up a little. Teddy Maier had meanwhile been working his way up, along with Bobby Kiniry who was putting his first moto DNF behind him. The pair sat 4th and 5th as they each got around early front-runner, Robby Marshall. In the end, it was Colton Facciotti taking the moto and the overall. Klatt would take a convincing 2nd over Goerke, who seemed out of his element in comparison to his dominating performance a week ago at Gopher Dunes. Nevertheless, it was a solid effort for Goerke, taking 3rd overall. Maier was 4th and Kiniry was 5th in the moto.

Colton Facciotti has now taken 5 out of 6 overall wins this year and finished 2nd in the only race he hasn't won. He appears well on his way to reclaiming the championship he lost just a year ago. Dusty Klatt sits solidly in 2nd after taking another 2nd place overall finish. Matt Goerke continues his run up the points standings by taking 3rd overall. Maier moves into 3rd in the points as he took 4th overall at Ste. Julie.