PulpMX Photo Report – Sand Del Lee Canadian National
Captions and Photos by James Lissimore
Yep, it’s 2020. Three straight weekends of rain. Unlike the previous two rounds at Walton, the sandy surface at Sand Del Lee did a much better job of soaking up all the excess moisture.
Creative trenching in the Monster Energy Thor Kawasaki pits to direct the flow of water.
The enigma that is Jeremy Medaglia was back for his hometown national at Sand Del Lee after not racing for over a year. Tyler’s little brother had electrical problems so we’ll have to wait till next weekend to see how he stacks up against the rest of the series regulars.
450 rookie, Dylan Wright, has been pretty much unstoppable this year and was now at the track he grew up at. Colton Facciotti(L) knows a thing or two about winning, as well.
“Filthy” Phil, living up to his nickname off the start of Saturday’s 450 moto.
It took him almost a lap to get going and missing a fender, but Nicoletti charged hard to get within a wheel of edging Tyler Medaglia for 5th at the finish line. What a ride for the New Yorker and a sign of things to come for Sunday’s motos.
A familiar sight in 2020. Dylan Wright takes Saturday’s 450 win.
Sand, Hard pack, mud, dry – it hasn’t mattered for Jess Pettis, who has been dominating the 250 class this year.
Even out front, it’s tough racing without goggles.
All good things come to an end. The PulpMX Yamaha era came to an end after Saturday’s motos.Ā
With Cole Thompson out with an injury, the Red Bull Thor KTM team tapped snocross legend(and former National winner), Tim Tremblay, to fill in. Unfortunately, Tremblay also had problems, going down hard early in Sunday’s first moto and was out for the day.
California’s Ryan Surratt(r) battles with last rounds overall winner, Tanner Ward. The Sky Racing Kawasaki racer finished 7th overall in the 250 class.
As a life long British Columbia resident(the western most Canadian Province, for American readers), I was pretty excited to see all the BC talent up front in Sunday’s opening 250 moto, with BC riders occupying the top 4 spots for much of the race, and ultimately sweeping the podium and placing 4 out of the top 5. Carlson Racing Husqvarna’s Casey Keast was once a up and coming prospect but injuries and off the track incidents had derailed his career. His third place finish in the moto was great redemption story.
Fellow Carlson MX Husqvarna rider, Keylan Meston, was killing the starts at Sand Del Lee, nabbing both hole shots in Sunday’s motos. He finished 6th overall.South African Canadian, Liam O’Farrell, is a fixture inside the top 10. He was 8th at Sand Del Lee.
There were high expectations coming into the weekend for Tyler Medaglia, who grew up near Sand Del Lee, but couldn’t quite crack the podium, finishing 5th overall.
Pennsylvania’s Logan Leitzel just missed out on the top 10, scoring 11th overall.
After being a little off the pace through the first two rounds, Shawn Maffenbeier has been on fire the past two weekends. He led half the moto on Saturday before finishing second and finished 3rd in both motos on Sunday, including catching back up to Wright in the final moto and trying to make the pass, which would have given him his first 450 overall win. Unfortunately, by not making the pass, he dropped from first to third, but still a second straight overall podium.Ā
Rough weekend for Florida’s Josh Cartwright, who DNF’d the first and third motos, but finished 7th in moto two.
It was an off weekend for Marshal Weltin, as the Kawasaki rider saw his chances at the 250 title become slim. 5-6-4 for 5th and he’s now 48 points down on Pettis as the series heads into its final weekend.It was a quiet weekend for Marco Cannella at his team’s home race but he still finished on the podium, with 3-7-5 finishes.
Long touted as one of Canada’s best prospects, Jacob Piccolo had so far struggled with consistency in his first 3 pro races. After a 16th in the mud on Saturday, it was looking like more of the same for the KTM pilot but he finally put in a breakout performance on Sunday to show why he’s long been considered a future star. He turned a good start in Sunday’s moto one into a second place finish behind fellow BC rider, Pettis and then backed it up with an even more impressive performance in the final moto as he had the previous weekend’s overall winner, Tanner Ward, breathing down his neck for much of the moto but held on to take the second spot by a wheel.Ā
A familiar sight for Jess Pettis, as the 2018 250 champion put in a dominant 1-1-1 sweep to take a 48 point lead into the final round next weekend.
Despite his first turn crash on Saturday, Nicoletti showed that he was on another level at Sand Del Lee. Two wire to wire moto wins on Sunday and he comes into the final round 24 points down on Dylan Wright.Just cracking the top 10 was Pennsylvania’s Bobby Piazza, in 10th overall.
Good battle between Monster Kawi teammate’s Matt Goerke(2) and Tyler Medaglia in moto three. Goerke got the better of him and fourth overall for the weekend.
Sunday was an all Phil kinda day. His 6-1-1 scores gave him second overall.
PulpMX Photo Report – Sand Del Lee Canadian National