Through the Team Managers' Eyes: Ste Julie

Sponsored by: 

All photos by James Lissimore

Contributions by Chris Pomeroy and James Lissimore

Andy White – Royal Distributing/Thor/Dragon Fuels KTM

Riders: Eric Nye, Kornel Nemeth and Ryan Millar

Wow what a weekend for KTM. I was really impressed with Kaven Benoit on the weekend. I am really happy that he captured his first National overall in his home province. He had lots of fans cheering him on the last couple of laps for his moto win. Eric Nye and Kyle had good rides on the weekend as well even after a gate malfunction on the start of the first moto put them behind the pack.

In the MX1 class Kornel really tried hard to get good starts and prove that he had the speed to podium. I was really happy for him to finally get a 2^ndin moto 2. It was really cool to have Mike Brown attend his first ever Canadian event. He was really impressed with the speed of the Canadian riders. He knew it was not going to be easy to podium up here. The 38 year old put in 2 solid rides for the St Julie crowd. Ryan Millar nailed the holeshot in first moto and hung in there until he had to pit for new goggles. Ryan is a trooper for putting in the effort while still recovering from his separated shoulder. Ryan said “I am not going to give up!”

Thanks again to all our sponsors; we look forward to greeting the East coast crowd at Moncton this weekend.

Pat O'Connor – Monster Energy Leading Edge Kawasaki

Riders: Teddy Maier, Spencer Knowles, Brock Hoyer and Shawn Rife 

Well this weekend was a lot better for the whole team, than last weekend. As you know, I did not partake in last week's team manager report. I was always told that if you do not have anything nice to say, then do not say anything at all...so yeah.

You know Teddy and Spenny have really good qualifying times. We tell the guys that top 5 in times is perfect. You can pick a gate pretty much where you want and if you are lucky, you can line up on the inside of anyone. As we where heading to the staging are, we noticed that the #1 bike of Teddy Maier had a blown fork seal, so instead of leaving it, c4mx.com (frenchy) and I hauled ass back to the truck ripped the bike down and changed a fork seal, just in time for the start of the first moto, without getting a parade lap Teddy got the holeshot.
Both guys had their Leading Edge, c4mx.com race bikes up front. Teddy went on to win moto 1 and Spenny finished in 6th.
Moto 2 was good as well, Teddy got a good jump and missed a shift and came out in 11th. He would battle for 30 mins and finish 2nd.
Spencer, who almost had the holeshot rode solid, with about 5 laps to go he was trying to pass #26 and fell over in some deep ruts, finishing 6th. All in all good weekend. The team would really like to thank Ryan Guald for riding a solid day with 14/14. With some training  he would be a top 7 guy no prob.

Little Spenny went 7-6 for 6th overall.

Dean Thompson - Blackfoot Yamaha 

Riders: Tyler Medaglia, Colton Facciotti and Dusty Klatt

Well, first off its very unfortunate with Colton’s situation.  He has battled a few injuries this season, obviously he did a remarkable job coming back from his Calgary crash and regaining the points lead.  Its just a tough deal for him, but, I guess that is racing and these things sometimes happen. He is going to get his shoulder looked at today and see what his injuries are with that and then we’ll make a decision on Moncton.

It was also too bad for Tyler to have that DNF, he has been on the good end of luck so far this season so I guess again, its racing and these things happen.  The good news is that he still has the points lead and we are going into the last 3 rounds on tracks that he loves.  Also, we planned to have Kyle Beaton back for the last two rounds, so that will help Tyler.

As for Dusty, I am sure that he is the last person that thought he would leave Ste Julie with the points lead. He just rode amazing, you know when Dusty gets in that groove there is just no stoping him. He has been dealing with a lot of stuff, but I think it is all behind him and it obviously showed on Sunday. Dusty also likes the last 3 tracks so we are excited. I would also like to add a big congrats to Kaven Benoit on his first National win. To do it in front of his hometown fans is pretty special, he and the Allison brothers have really been showing everyone what they are capable of this year.

Klatt pulled his mojo out of his back pocket this weekend and ran on a level of his own.

Adam Robinson - OTSFF Suzuki

Riders- Bobby Kiniry and Freddy Karrle

It was an okay weekend, the track, the weather and the fans were all good for sure. It is always tough going from one extreme to another, by that I mean going from a track like Gopher Dunes to a track like Ste Julie. It is tough on bike set up and on the riders to. 

Freddy rode really good this weekend, he is hanging in there in the series and staying strong, his starts weren’t the best on Sunday but he kept charging and that is what matters. I felt bad for Bobby, he had a great 1st moto and with Colton out, the points lead was his again. Then on the hot lap for moto 2 he had a problem with his bike, we took It back to the truck and fixed it but we just ran out of time. We got him out there but he was almost two laps down and scored no points, that cost him the points lead. 

I guess that is racing but man, it just takes so much wind out of everyone’s sails.  However, if 2010 has taught us anything, its that anything can happen, so we go into Moncton preparing like we have been and ready to give it 100%. 

We were really pleased with Heidi Cooke, she rode great and those races were fun to watch. She is heading to her home track this weekend so it should be another great battle. 

Billy Whitley - Cernics Kawasaki.

Riders - Josh Demuth and Troy Adams

It was a great weekend for our team, both Josh and Troy rode so strong this weekend. I told you a few weeks ago that as long as we keep improving every weekend, I’ll be happy. That’s what we have been doing, ours guys are getting used to riding outdoors again, their having fun and they are getting better every time their on the track. I hope we can make a big push here in the last 3 rounds, I really want to get at least 1 moto win before its over.

On the bad side, I hate to see Colton crash like that again.  I mean, I hate to see anyone crash but he is such a great kid and he works so hard.  You know, its just unfortunate that the only two mistakes he has made this year, have been real big ones.  I hope he heals up and comes back strong, we all know he is the faster guy up here, everyone knows that. But, it was good to see Dusty step up and ride like that, man he was on it!! You know, is it just me or are all the tracks super fast this year? I was watching on Sunday and these guys were hauling the mail, they were flying. The final three rounds should be fun, can’t wait.