Photo Report | Sand Del Lee – Round 5

#157 Wyatt Waddell had such an off day he didn’t even make the motos! That’s pretty crazy for a rider who should be in there with one arm tied behind his back. He’ll regroup for Gopher Dunes and get back on track.

I was really impressed with the speed of #491 Gabe Gutierres. He was easily the quickest in the unseeded qualifiers. Unfortunately, he had mechanical issues that kept him from showing his top 10 speed. Hopefully, we see the Massachusetts rider again this weekend at Gopher Dunes.

The rider earning the dubious honour of running the ‘Lanterne Rouge’ is #164 Mitch Goheen. It was great to see Mitch back at the races. Watch for him again this week at round 6.

#114 Quinn Amyotte is back after his back injury he suffered at the Barrie AX. His day didn’t go the way he’d hoped, but he was back in action on Sunday. 37-33 put him 36th.

#127 Connor Arsenault wasn’t happy with his 28-DNF day for 35th overall. He’s much faster than that and will prove it this week.

#543 Charles-Etienne Leveille is only 15 years old and the team was very happy with his 32-23 motos for 26th overall.

#55 Jack Wright’s day didn’t go as planed, either. He had a solid 15th in moto 1 but then broke his throttle in the second for a DNF. He was 23rd o/a and will be better this week at Gopher Dunes.

#24 Michael Fowler worked his Engineering job all week in Pennsylvania and then dropped down to the 250 class for the weekend. He finished 21st (21-18).

#17 Casey Keast finished 16-19 for 17th overall. He said he “struggled a bit” so watch for an improvement this week.

#527 Jake Tricco made his Pro/Am debut this week and was impressive. He made a few rookie mistakes, but that’s to be expected. He finished a very solid 9th in moto 1 and then crashed at the start of the 2nd and had to race without a front brake for 24th putting him 15th on the day.

I’m waiting for #35 Jonah Brittons to make a little more noise out there. His 14-12 motos for 14th are pretty good, but he’s got more in the tank.

It’s also good to see #33 Chris Fortier back racing in Canada. His day didn’t go perfectly but he showed he has the speed. 8-16 put him 13th after getting caught up in a first turn crash in the 2nd.

#278 is also back in action after racing some of the SXQC series. He was the victim of the first moto gate jump and got stuck. He headed out dead last and charged up to 13th. He didn’t get a great start in the 2nd and finished 10th. It was a hard-fought 12th for Westen.

#15 Jess Pettis was taken out of the first moto with an early mechanical. He came back to prove his speed by winning the second by a good margin. DNF-1 put him 11th.

#43 Jared Petruska doesn’t see a whole lot of sand at home in Calgary. His 10-11 finishes for 10th were pretty good considering he was on the ground a couple times.

#196 Jyile Mitchell is from Bermuda and it was cool to see him lining up here in Canada. He’s pretty fast, too! He finished 11-9 for 9th.

#36 Taylor Arsenault was also back in action. He’s a full-time working stiff now and should be proud of his 12-8 motos for 8th. He’ll float around the 6-8 mark every round, I’d say.

Everyone was pulling for #27 Tanner Ward last week after losing his brother. It was an emotional day for him and he managed to grab both holeshots and give great speeches on the podium. He was 4th in the first but then went down early in moto 2 after clipping a flagger stand and finished 15th for 7th overall.

#66 Marco Cannella is the real deal and has been very solid. He was up in 3rd early in moto 1 and then ran alone in 6th for most of the second for 6th overall.

#19 Hayden Halstead said he was looking forward to the sand and he proved it! Great rides for the MX101 truck driver with 5-7 motos for 5th after passing lots of riders to get there.

Word on the street is that #18 Josh Osby spins faster laps than everyone at Club MX during the week. He’s having a bit of a hard time transferring that speed to Canada. I didn’t know it happened the other way! When he gets it sorted, he’ll be a threat for wins. He was 6-5 for 4th.

#1 Shawn Maffenbeier made a few mistakes and was well outside the top 10 on lap 1 of moto 1. He admitted the false start took him off his game for a while. He led moto 2 for 3 laps and was 3-3 on the day for 3rd overall.

A 100% healthy Joey Crown is going to be dangerous. He’s almost there and won the 1st moto. He took 4th in moto 2 for 2nd on the day. He also took over 2nd in points.

From the very first time #12 Dylan Wright hit the track for practice, you could tell he was feeling good. He wheelied and scrubbed his way around to the cheers of his hometown crowd.

He jumped the start in moto 1 and paid the stop-and-go price on lap 2. He dropped back outside the top 10 and then charged back to the read wheel of Joey at the flag for 2nd. He took 2nd in moto 2 and knew that would give him the overall. 2-2 for the win.

250 Podium: Dylan Wright (2-2), Joey Crown (1-4), Shawn Maffenbeier (3-3).

I joked about that kicker on the table giving riders cold sweats. Well, #72 Kyle Keast went end over end and hurt some ribs over it early. He finished with a rare DNF-DNS.

The Lanterne Rouge in the 450 class goes to South Carolina rider, #463 Zach Nobrega. 37-35 put him 37th. Hey, at least you made the photo report, Zach!

So far, this has been a summer of character building for #645 Cheyenne Harmon from Texas. He took a DNF in both motos and even found himself trapped under his bike for a while. Two cliches work here: 1) What doesn’t kill you… and 2) If it weren’t for bad luck… Hang in there, Cheyenne.

La Toque 2001…seriously???!!! That’s apparently the last time #767 Jason Thorne lined up for a Pro National! He looked a little stiff but also like he had a great time. He made the first sheet of results, and went 32-34 for 33rd. Gopher Dunes? No. He’s headed to BC but we may see him in some Supercross after shows this fall.

Finishing 1st in the 450 name game, it’s #169 Chandler Fritzius from parts unknown. He was 18th in moto 1 but then took a DNF in moto 2 for 22nd. Turns out, he’s from from Florida but now lives in Quebec.

It’s been a long road back from Epstein-Barr for #117 Michael Dasilva. He’s back racing and took 18th. Troubles in moto 1 (2 crashes) put him back in 25th but he rebounded for a solid 15th in moto 2.

#20 Davey Fraser has also been pretty quiet, so far this summer. He was a consistent 14-16 for 15th.

#28 JC Bujold put his head down and kept moving forward from almost last in moto 2 at Sand Del Lee.His 13-12 motos put him 13th and is looking forward to the rest of the series.

#63 Graham Scott and #21 Ryan Lalonde had some good battles just like back home on Vancouver Island. Ryan was 12th (11-13) and Graham was 11th (12-11).

10-10 matched his number, but #10 Keylan Meston wants to be mixing it up with the front runners. He says he wasn’t feeling it, so hopefully he gets back on track this week.

#4 Jeremy Medaglia was back and filling in for the injured Mike Alessi. He headed out with his brother out front in moto 2 and would end up taking 9th on the day with 7-9 motos. We won’t see him back on the green bike this week at Gopher Dunes, but it’s not because the team wasn’t happy with his results.

#9 Cade Clason put his vast Supercross experience to use over this crazy kicker on the tabletop. While other panic revved, Cade pulled tear offs. His 8-7 motos put him 8th.

#46 Ryan Dowd is a sand guy and looked really good, going 9-6 for 7th overall. Watch for more from him this week at Gopher Dunes.

#7 Dillan Epstein was a steady 6th in moto 1 and then came from well outside the top 20 for an amazing 5th in moto 2. He’s got to be getting his stuff together for a push as we continue east.

#16 Cole Thompson looked solid for 5th at SDL, but you know he expects more from himself than 5-4 motos — he’s going for wins. He’s been great at Gopher Dunes so let’s see if he can get out front this week.

#26 Kaven Benoit carried his moto win streak to 4 after moto 1. He was dead last off the start in moto 2 and charged his way up to 8th by the end for 4th.

Not to be a jerk, but I get a kick out of #1 Matt Goerke’s podium speeches when he doesn’t win; he takes it so hard. He’s always right there and isn’t happy unless the score sheet reads 1-1. His 3-3 keeps him in the hunt but he is now 7 points out of first place.

#5 Tyler Medaglia ran 2nd in the first moto until he messed up and collected some twine in his rear brake, dropping to 4th late. He came back and raced to a solid 2nd, holding off a charging Goerke in the process for 2nd overall.

#45 Colton Facciotti dogged Tyler Medaglia in the 1ts moto and then took 2nd. He moved his way up early in the second and took the lead on lap 8 for the win and the overall. Let this be a reminder, never count either Colton or Tyler out. Colton will be the only 450 with a red plate this week at his home race at Gopher Dunes.

450 Podium: Colton Facciotti (2-1), Tyler Medaglia (4-2), Matt Goerke (3-3).

These ducks say “Beat it!” and probably never want to “See you at the races…” ever again!