In the constantly changing world of 2020 Covid, we were back at Walton Raceway for a second straight weekend of the 2020 Rockstar Energy Canadian MX Tour this past weekend for round 3 of the series.
After overnight rain last weekend left the track fairly muddy for the first motos, Mother Nature really opened up this week, dumping a ton of rain on the facility on Sunday morning and cancelling the qualifying sessions. By noon, the rain finally stopped and stayed away for the rest of the day but we were left with some seriously muddy motos.
Here’s a look at the day.
For the second straight week, we were at Walton Raceway, and we got rain.
And it rained, and rained, and rained, cancelling the morning program.
This has got to be Gauldy’s fault, right?
Monster Energy Thor Pro Circuit Kawasaki team manager, Chad Goodwin, tries to find a dry place to make a call.
With the MX101 Yamaha team looking for sponsorship, Matthes stepped up to throw some branding on the Hot Dog Vendor’s bikes for Walton. Great weather to maximize the Pulp Empire exposure.
No tools allowed, so start scooping.
Not a good sign when your tire is this packed before the moto.
Jess Pettis(15) and Marshal Weltin(19) battle for position during the only time they were clean.
Even better than a mud race is a racing a mud race with no front fender. Ryan Surratt led for part of the first 250 moto before DNF’ing. He finished 9th in moto two.
The pride of Matthes’ home province of Manitoba, Ryder McNabb grabbed a fourth in moto two on his Newf’ tuned GDR Honda.
PulpMX Yamaha’s Marco Cannella finished just off the podium, in fourth place, robbing Matthes of any potential TV time for his logos. Fines will be coming.He didn’t win either moto, for the first time this season, but points leader Jess Pettis remained firmly in the drivers seat after round 3, with a pair of second place finishes.
Marshal Weltin charged through the pack in moto one but his bike let go on the last lap, still giving him 8th, because of the riders he’d lapped. He came back to win the second moto and grab 3rd overall.
This photo summed up both motos for Richard Taylor.
Long considered one of the top up and coming riders in Canada, GDR Honda’s Tanner Ward broke through to take his first ever moto win in the mud. His 3rd place finish in moto two meant he would also grab his first overall win.
Ward, Pettis and Weltin were your 250 podium at Walton.
Phil, super happy and read to race.
Shawn Maffenbeier had been off the podium so far in 2020 but came out swinging in the mud, grabbing the starts and 2-3 finishes, for third overall.
Keylan Meston was good in the mud. The tall Husky rider grabbed 5th overall with 7-4 finishes.
Slot car racing.
Matt Goerke rocked the rain jacket to a 3rd place finish in moto one. He took it off for moto two and finished 5th. Should have left it on.
There was a lot of this at Walton.
Tyler Medaglia was 5th in moto one and crossed the line 4th in moto two but got docked 3 positions for cutting the track, which the team is appealing. For now, we’re going with 6th overall for the Kawasaki pilot.
After grabbing the early lead in moto one, Nicoletti finally broke Dylan Wright’s undefeated moto win streak.
The muddy, greasy conditions made even the best riders look like beginners. Wright bounced back from a 4th in moto one to take the second moto win and second overall. He’s still got 7 moto wins out of 8 so far to start his 450 career.
Giving Phil a sword doesn’t seem like the best idea, but for the second year in a row, he was crowned the King of Walton.
