We were in the french speaking part of Canada for round 8 of the series, at one of the most popular tracks on the circuit – Deschambault.
Hometown star, Kaven Benoit, was the favourite for the victory.It’s not as sandy as it used to be, but the sand paddle is still the preferred tire choice at Deschambault.
Not too often that you get to see a father-son pair race a National but John and Ryan Down were on the line for Deschambault.
Pretty cool moment in practice as Ryan paces his dad over the big 130ft jump.
Benoit was feeling loose at his hometown race, having no problem getting flat over the big double.
250 class blasts off.
Last week in Moncton, a 4-2 was good enough to take the 450 win. This week a 4-2 was only good enough to give Tanner Ward fourth overall in the 250 class. That hurts.The title defence is slipping away for Shawn Maffenbeier, who fell while leading in moto one, and finished 6th. In moto two he crashed again and was plowed into by Dylan Wright, and could only come back to 7th.
Great battle for the lead in the first 250 moto as Jess Pettis caught Dylan Wright for the lead and made a pass, but Wright regrouped to make the pass back and hold on for the win.
Wright takes the moto one win.
Not a great day for the defending champion as crashes left Matt Goerke with 4-4 finishes.
Pennsylvania’s Michael Fowler rounded out the top 20th with 20th overall.
Jacob Hayes hole shot moto two on his way to 7-5 finishes for 6th overall.
He still hasn’t won a moto but Cole Thompson took his second straight overall victory with 2-2 finishes and is gaining momentum as the series comes to a close.
Cade Clason rode to 8-8 finishes, good enough for 7th overall.
Solid moto one for Dillan Epstein, who landed on the podium in third. Second moto did not go as well as the California native crashed hard and DNF’d.
Kaven Benoit got the crowd fired up by taking the moto one win. A fall in moto two left him coming through the pack for 6th, which gave him 3rd overall on the day.
Not a great day for Josh Osby, who fell in moto one and finished 8th and then had an engine failure in moto two.
Unlike his teammate, Osby, Joey Crown had a great day and has been catching fire as the series heads towards it’s final round next weekend. He won his second straight overall with 3-1 finishes.
Sounds easy enough.
New Englander, Gabe Gutierres, has been racing the East rounds and finished 8th overall in the 250 class at Deschambault.Don’t look now but Crown is only trailing points leader, Jess Pettis, by 3 points heading into the final round at Walton.
12th overall for this week’s PulpMX Privateer podcast subject, Cheyenne Harmon.
Ryan Dowd won the battle of the Dowd’s, finishing 9th overall.
53 years old and finished 13th in the second moto. The legend of John Dowd continues to grow.
A lot of up and down finishes at Deschambault. Colton Facciotti fell in moto one and could only manage to get back to 6th but came back to win moto two. He’s looking good to take his 5th Canadian title with a 22 point lead heading into the final round.
It was a hot one.
Two straight wins for Cole Thompson in a year that has seen no clear cut favourite emerge in the 450 class. There’s still 5 riders with a mathematical chance at the title as we head into the final round at Walton Raceway.
