Ste Julie Race Report

Jul 27 2010 - 11:24am - Chris Pomeroy

By Chris Pomeroy

They say that Lady Luck is a fickle old girl; sometimes she is on your side and sometimes she just isn’t. For Blackfoot Yamaha riders Colton Facciotti and Tyler Medaglia, they left lady luck back in Gopher Dunes. On the flip side, Dusty Klatt seemed to find the speed he had back in 2006 in Ste Julie and easily won both motos going away. It was a dominating performance for Klatt, who just looked right at home on the hard pack track. He came into Round #6, third in points and left with the points lead.

Tyler Medaglia saw his points lead shrink after a second moto DNF at Ste Julie

In the MX2 class, the riders in both motos were greeted with a perfectly groomed but an over water track for both their motos. This made a good start crucial as passing was difficult and lines were few and far between. For Leading Edge Kawasaki rider Teddy Maier the first moto was no problem as he holeshoted and won without much challenge. Behind Teddy was the duo of Kaven Benoit and Tyler Medaglia. Benoit was riding the race of his life and would hold on for second, just in front of Tyler.

Kaven Benoit gave the home crowd something to cheer for with his first ever moto and overall win at Ste. Julie.

Teddy Maier won the first moto at Ste Julie while lapping his temporary teammate, Ryan Gauld.

It was a great day for breakout rides at Ste Julie with Jared Allison scoring his first Canadian national podium.

(l-r) Jared Allison, Kaven Benoit and Teddy Maier. Your Ste Julie MX2 podium.

In moto #2, Benoit grabbed the holeshot and simply rode a perfect race to win his first ever national, and what better place to do it than in front of his screaming fans. Teddy Maier did everything he could to reel in the hometown hero but just couldn’t get close enough to attempt a pass. Tyler Medaglia who was running second early in moto 2 had a mechanical problem and was forced to DNF, costing him valuable points. He still leads the MX2 points but the DNF has made his cushion disappear.

For Colton Facciotti it was another case of two steps forward and one huge step backwards. After grabbing back the points lead last weekend at Gopher Dunes, Colton made a huge mistake on lap 1 of the first moto while leading and crash hard. The fall left the Champ dazed and with a sore shoulder again. Unless there is another miraculous recovery again, Colton’s 2010 title chase is all but over. It is a real shame, he worked so hard to heal up from his Calgary crash and get back to winning, to do this all over again makes you realize just how tough this sport is sometimes. Get well soon Colton!

Colton Facciotti's championship hopes may have disappeared with his first moto crash.

Mike Brown debuted the new KTM 350SXF at Ste Julie but could only muster 12-9 moto finishes for 10th overall.

Kornel Nemeth rode onto the podium with his second place finish in the second MX1 moto.

With Colton out, his teammate Klatt seemed to ride without any limitations. He was fast, smooth, confident and looked like the Klatt of 4 years ago. Behind him in moto 1 was Bobby Kiniry who also was riding with a sense of opportunity, knowing that the championship might be up for grabs. However, on the hot lap for moto 2, Kiniry’s bike got stuck in 2nd gear. The OTSFF team worked feverishly to fix the problem and eventually would get Kiniry back on the track, but even after 35 minutes he could get any points. Other riders who had good rides were Mason Phillips, Kornel Nemeth and Josh Demuth, who seemed to recover nicely from his crash last week. Kyle Keast was also on the gas but suffered from bad starts, as was the case with Mike Brown. KTM had high hopes for Mike Brown and his debut on the brand new KTM 350, but a broken goggle lense in moto 1 and a bad start in moto 2 kept Brown from showing his true colours.

Jackie Ross picked up where she left off in 2008 with a double moto sweep in the Women's class.

With Facciotti out, Dusty Klatt put in two dominant moto wins and took over the points lead in the MX1 class.

(l-r) Kornel Nemeth, Dusty Klatt and Josh Demuth were your Ste Julie MX1 podium.

So round 6 is in the books and with only 3 rounds left both Championships are wide open. At this rate winners won’t be decided until the final round at Walton, but isn’t that the way it should be? Next weekend it’s off to the land of lobsters, sea air and the Lockhart family. Everyone loves going to Moncton and the track is always perfect.