There’s a new sheriff in town. After 25 years of the CMRC running the Nationals in Canada, for 2018 the series is being promoted by Jetwerx and rebranded as the Rockstar Energy Triple Crown Series. There’s now three series, with a spring AX Tour, a summer MX Tour and a fall, SX Tour, with the combined winner grabbing an extra 100 Grand.All is right in Canadian moto when Brett Lee is back at the races.Sometime PulpMX host, Ryan Gauld, runs the mic at the new look Triple Crown Series.One of the most iconic tracks in motocross, the new series kicked off at the Wild Rose MX track, in the heart of the city of Calgary, Alberta.Remember concrete starts? There’s still a few in Canada.Cade Clason might not be able to race SX but since the Canadian Nationals aren’t FIM affiliated, he’s free to race and lined up on a Sky Racing Honda. He finished 8th overall.Michigan’s Joey Crown has a long history of racing amateur in Canada and for this year is making his National debut on the ClubMX/Redemption Racing KTM team. He grabbed a podium with 3rd overall in the 250 class.After sitting out the AX Tour, 2-time 250 Champ, Kaven Benoit was back in action at Calgary. He started things off well, grabbing second in the first 450 moto but a few falls in moto two knocked him back to 14th.With the move to permanent numbers in the Jetwerx series, Mike Alessi has his beloved number 800 back. He went down in a big first turn pileup in moto one that collected many of the top contenders but came back to 8th. A 5th in moto two gave him 6th overall.There was a lot of talk about who could be in the mix for the win coming into the opening round but by the end of the day, Colton Facciotti had put his stamp of authority on the field. The 4-time Canadian champ blew the doors off of everyone, winning both motos by over 40 seconds on his way to a clean 1-1 sweep on the day.
KTM Red Bull Thor racing rider, Tanner Ward(27) grabs the hole shot in the first 250 moto of the season
Defending 250 champion, Shawn Maffenbeier, made the move to the Monster Energy Alpinestars Pillars Kawasaki team during the offseason and, even though he didn’t win, put in a solid 2-2 effort on the day.Coming off of racing the last few west coast SX races, Royal Distributing FXR Yamaha’s Jess Pettis looked confident on the track, grabbing the lead early in both 250 motos and riding off to 1-1 finishes for the opening win of the season.California’s Dillan Epstein moved over to the Rockstar Energy OTSFF Yamaha team for 2018 and had a good second moto, grabbing 2nd.The ageless Mike Brown was back for another Canadian National and finished 9-9 for 9th overall.Coming off a dominating performance in the Jetwerx AX Tour series, many had Cole Thompson as pegged as the favourite for the 450 title. Getting caught up in the big first turn crash that took down many of the riders put him on the back foot in the first moto but he charged through the pack to grab 3rd. A couple crashes in moto two relegated him to 7th, and 4th overall but he still leads the overall Triple Crown series points after the opening round.Local Calgary rider, Keylan Meston, has been steadily improving the past few years but had a stand out ride on his local track. The Husky rider rode in third for much of the first moto until Thompson got him with a couple laps to go and backed it up with sixth in moto two, for fifth overall.Another of the title contenders in the 250 class, Indiana’s Josh Osby split moto finishes with his teammate, Crown, going 3-4 for 4th overall.1-1 for Pettis and heading into round two with the red plate.Joey Crown, with his dad, Matt, after moto twoThe 450 class blasts offTyler Medaglia is alway going to be a solid podium threat. The two-time 250 champ finished third overall on the day in the 450 class.Defending champion, Matt Goerke, was another victim of the first turn pileup in moto one but somehow turned 6-3 finishes into 2nd overall on the day.Domination by the multi-time champ and red plates to match his red bike going into next weekend’s round at Popkum.
Photo Gallery – Canadian MX Nationals Opener