PulpMX Photo Report – Prairie Hill Canadian National
Photos and Captions by James Lissimore
For the second straight week, we were at a new venue for the Jetwerx Triple Crown Canadian MX Tour series, this time in Matthes home province of Manitoba. After heavy winds all day on Saturday, Sunday was extremely hot, and the riders struggled with the conditions. In the end though, the same two winners from last weekend’s race, in Drumheller, would prevail again. Here’s what went down in the Great White North.
A new stop on the Canadian circuit, the Prairie Hill MX track, in Pilot Mound, Manitoba is a nice facility, though “middle of nowhere” might be too mild of a description.
The calm before the heat.
With temperatures hovering close to the 100 degree mark, keeping moisture in the track was going to be a battle all day.
Canada’s most dominant rider, Dylan Wright(L) and his mentor/suspension guy – 6-time Canadian Champ, Colton Facciotti.
A sea of KTM’s/Red KTM’s lead the 250 pack in the first 250 moto.
Mitchell Harrison would fall over in both motos, but recovered to take the overall, with 2-1 finishes.
It was a home province race for Ryder McNabb, but the GDR Honda rider was still feeling the effects of being sick the week before and the heat, just squeezing on to the podium with 6-3 finishes.
As the west portion of the series concludes, it’s shaping up to be a battle for the 250 championship between defending champ, Jacob Piccolo and Harrison. They split moto finishes, with Piccolo’s 1-2 giving him second overall on the day but preserving his slim lead in the title chase as the series takes a weekend off.
Rookie Sebastien Racine continued his strong riding, just losing 3rd at the end of the first moto and then falling on the first lap of moto two and charging back from last to 10th, for 6th overall.
Marco Cannella used his fitness to wear Racine down in moto one, grabbing third at the finish. Sixth in moto two gave him fourth overall.
Quinn Amyotte has been impressive to start the 2022 season. The Manluk Yamaha rider finished fifth, with 5-4 scores.
Despite falls in both motos, Mitchell Harrison charged back to take the win in the final moto and the overall.
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Dylan Wright blasts off.
Michigan’s Chris Blackmer hurt his ankle, but soldiered on to 8th overall.
Keylan Meston continued his part-time tour with 6th overall at Prairie Hill.
You know it’s a hot day, when Mexican champ, Felix Lopez, gets heat stroke and just about collapses in the final moto of the day. He ran in podium position for most of moto two before struggling to finish up in 6th, for 6th overall on the day.
Shawn Maffenbeier continues to race through a dislocated shoulder and managed to just miss the podium, with 3-4 finishes for 4th.
Tyler Medaglia and Felix Lopez battling for second in moto two. Medaglia has now finished second overall at every race so far this season.
Tanner Ward finally broke through to grab his first 450 podium, splitting finishes with Maffenbeier to go 4-3 for 3rd.
No one can touch this guy in Canada right now. Making it look easy for another two moto wins to keep his perfect season going, Dylan Wright dominated Prairie Hill.
After a pretty mild start to the year, the temperatures soared on Sunday. There were a lot of heat related DNS’s for the final 450 moto.
Wright didn’t seem to be too fazed by the heat and put on another clinic.
