After the deep sand at Gopher Dunes for round one, we were a couple hours north at the hard packed, Walton Raceway, for round two of the 2020 Rockstar Energy Canadian MX Tour series. With the two day format, things started out hot and dry for Saturday’s opening moto but a big thunderstorm early Sunday morning meant the riders would looking at mud moto to start day two.
250 points leader, Jess Pettis, checks out his fresh red plates.
Donky worky.
Even though he retired at the end of last season, 6-time Canadian champion, Colton Facciotti is still heavily involved with the GDR Honda team and his young protege, Dylan Wright.
Sunday started like this but the sun and heat was back for the afternoon’s motos.
The rain meant that line choice was critical.
Phil Nicoletti(54) and Cole Thompson(16) battle for the hole shot in moto three.
Thompson rode well on Saturday, securing a third place finish in moto one but his previous injuries caught up with him on Sunday, dropping him to 5th overall.
Pennsylvania’s Bobby Piazza is one of the few American privateers who made the journey north in this strange year and he rode well, finishing the weekend in 7th overall.
Matt Goerke(2) and Nicoletti battle for the final podium spot in moto three. Goerke had a solid, if unspectacular weekend, going 4-2-3 for second overall.
Another Pennsylvania rider who made the trek to Walton was Logan Leitzel, who finished 13th overall in the 450 class.
It was an up and down weekend for Tyler Medaglia. TDags was off the pace on Saturday, finishing 6th and then grabbed a 4th in the muddy first moto on Sunday. For the final moto, he grabbed the lead on lap one and held it for over half of the moto, eventually finishing second and fourth overall for the weekend.
Florida’s Josh Cartwright is racing for the PR-MX team in Canada and finished 8th overall at Walton.
South Africa’s Liam O’Farrell rounded out the top 10 with 10th overall.
Shawn Maffenbeier couldn’t quite run the pace of the leading quartet of riders and was running around the top 5 in all the motos, finishing 6th overall.
Nicoletti will no doubt be unhappy with his weekend, as he went 2-3-4 through the three motos but he still looks to have the best chance of unseating Dylan Wright for a moto win at some point in this shortened season.
So far Dylan Wright has faced deep sand, hot temperatures, rain, mud, ruts and bad starts, and nothing has seemed to faze the super rookie. Three more motos and three more wins for the GDR Honda rider, who remains unbeaten to start his 450 career. Can he keep it going next weekend as we return to Walton for a second straight week?
250 points leader, Pettis, grabs the hole shot in the 250 class.
California’s Richard Taylor had a rough mud moto, finishing 15-29-9.
Marco Cannella was consistent in his podium performances, logging 3-3-3 finishes for, yep, third overall.
Trying to close the gap to Cannella but falling just short was Tanner Ward. The GDR Honda rider finished with a trio of 4th place finishes.
California’s Ryan Surratt rounded out the top 5, with 5-6-6 moto finishes.
The best battle we’ve seen so far in this shortened season was Sunday’s first 250 moto in the mud. Marshall Weltin had the early lead with Pettis giving chase. The points leader caught and made the pass on Weltin but Weltin answered right back, taking the lead back.
After swapping the lead multiple times, Weltin would hang on to take the moto win and end Pettis’ moto streak at 4.
A happy Weltin gets his tv interview from a masked up Gauldy.
The final 250 moto of Sunday would see Pettis return to the winner’s circle as he took his second straight overall victory with 1-2-1 finishes and extends his points lead going into the second weekend of racing at Walton next week.
PulpMX Photo Report – Walton