Coming off the season opener in Calgary last week, the Jetwerx Triple Crown Series made it’s way to a new venue in the north east of Alberta, at the Mason Watt Raceway, in the town of Cold Lake.
As is usual at PulpMX, here’s a look at the racing at Cold Lake, with a look at the many American racers who made the trip up to race in Canada…
Cold Lake, Alberta. We were in one of the flattest parts of Canada but they managed to carve the track out of one of the few hills in the area.
Phil is a popular guy in Alberta
Cold Lake is home to one of Canada’s largest Air Force bases so they did a Military Appreciation race for this round. The GDR Honda team knocked it out of the park with this tribute to Canada’s Snowbirds Aerobatics team(Canada’s version of the Blue Angels or Thunderbirds.)
Ryder McNabb gets in the zone.
Red Bull KTM’s Dylan Rempel(24) battles with points leader, Preston Kilroy for the hole shot.
Washington State’s Preston Wittkopp made the trip up to Cold Lake and finished 17th in the 250 class.
Rempel continued his upward trajectory with a career first podium in the first moto. A 4th in moto two gave him fourth on the day.
Blake Davies is from my hometown and I’ve known his dad since we were teenagers, so I felt extremely old when he cracked his first top 5 with a 5th overall finish at Cold Lake on his Triumph.
New Zealand’s Dylan Walsh made it two for two podiums, as he grabbed third in the second moto and third overall.
Coming off his win at the opener, Wyoming’s Preston Kilroy had another solid race at Cold Lake. After taking the win in moto one, in a tight battle with McNabb, Kilroy tipped over in moto two and rode to a solid 2nd, to keep the red plate going into the break.
After losing to Kilroy in both motos last week, 2-time champ, McNabb wanted to prove he could still take the top spot on the podium. He worked his way up from a bad start in moto one, to close the gap on Kilroy but couldn’t make the pass. In moto two, he capitalized on Kilroy’s mistake and sprinted out front to take the moto win and his first overall win of the season. It’s looking like a two horse race for the 250 title.
The 450’s were hitting this big table to table. Jess Pettis goes to the moon.
Phil continues to bang off great starts on his Walton Kawasaki.
California’s Dakota Bender finished 14th in the 450 class.
Washington’s Kile Epperson finished one spot behind Bender in 15th.
Dylan Wright suffered a bad arm injury practicing during the week and gutted out a courageous 2nd in moto one.
Idaho’s Evan Stice switched to the Compass Rose Triumph team for round two. He struggled with minimal time on the new bike, finishing 16th.Utah’s Gavin Brough cracked the top 5 in the 450 class, with a pair of 6th’s.
Quinn Amyotte continues to impress in his first season on the 450. He finished 4th for the second straight week.
Illinois’ Nicholas Inman finished just outside the top 20, in 21st place.
Dutch rider, Lars VanBerkel continues to bide his time on the hard packed tracks out west, waiting for the sand tracks of the east. He finished 7th.
Bummer for Wright in moto two as the ailing rider was pushing again with his injured arm, trying to get Pettis for the lead when his O2 sensor broke off and caused him to DNF.
Wright’s misfortune allowed Nicoletti to move up a spot, to second on the day.
Tanner Ward had a bit of a off day in his debut on the Priority Mechanical GasGas team last weekend at Calgary but bounced back at round two to get on the podium, with third place.
Pettis had a dominant day, winning both motos by a lot. He’s firmly in the drivers seat for the defence of his 450 title.
This year, Jetwerx is having a team competition at the races, called “Stages”. I’m not totally sure how it works but the Hotdog Vendor, Kevin Tyler, takes the win with his MX101 Yamaha team for Stage 1.
