PulpMX Photo Report – Riverglade Canadian Nationals
Lots of mud and Phil wins a moto!…
Photos and captions by James Lissimore
After the craziness of last weekend’s race at Sand Del Lee, things looked like they might calm down as the series moved to the eastern most stop of the Canadian Triple Crown Series, at the Riverglade MX track near Moncton, in the Atlantic province of New Brunswick. This time, instead of craziness from the riders, Mother Nature decided to throw her hat into the ring with a massive amount of rain Sunday afternoon. After getting through the first 250 moto relatively unscathed, the skies opened up and a torrential amount of rain fell for the rest of the day. Let’s take a look at what went down at Riverglade…
Riverglade MX track, the literal calm before the storm.
After two weekends without scoring any points, Riverglade marked the first time all season that Jess Pettis’ MX101 Yamaha wasn’t sporting red plates.
With Pettis’ misfortune and two straight wins for him, Tanner Ward took the red plate coming into Moncton.
Concrete starts are still a thing in Canada.
It’s a sea of blue up front for the first 250 moto as Preston Kilroy(80) grabs the holeshot.
Defending Canadian Women’s Champion, Jamie Astudillo, qualified for the 250 class at Riverglade. The Pennsylvania native finished 32-34 in the motos.
Ziggy from Factory Connection’s son, Aaron Zielfelder raced at Riverglade, finishing 15th overall.
After DNF’ing 5 of the last 6 motos, things weren’t looking great for WLTN Kawasaki’s Dylan Walsh, but the New Zealander bounced back in a big way, finishing 3rd in moto one and splashing through the mud to take the victory in moto two, for second overall.
ClubMX Yamaha’s Ryder Malinoski had a breakout first moto, finishing second but things didn’t go as well in the muddy second moto as crashes left him with a 20th place finish.
A bad start in moto one left last week’s winner, Sebastien Racine having to work through the field to get 7th. He bounced back to get 3rd in moto two.
Massachusetts racer, Kyle Murdoch, splashed his way to a top 5 with 5th overall.
Preston Kilroy continues to keep a strangle hold on the 250 championship as the MX101 Yamaha racer won the first moto and backed it up with a second in moto two to take the overall win.
Connecticut’s Joe Tait put his 2-stroke into 6th overall on the day.
With Ryder McNabb out, Noah Viney was the sole 250 racer under the GDR Honda tent. He rode to a solid 5th in moto one but didn’t fair as well in the mud of moto two, finishing 12th.
After finishing 3rd in the second moto last weekend, Triumph’s Blake Davies( who only turned 17 this week) moved up one spot in the overall standings to grab his first career podium with 3rd overall.
Phil stays clean while grabbing the second moto holeshot.
Cody Groves grabbed the first moto holeshot and led a lap before dropping back to 13th.
Banged up after multiple crashes last week, Dylan Wright gutted out a second in the first moto. Things didn’t go as well in moto two as a couple crashes left him in 10th.
Minnesota’s Josh Boaz ended the day in 12th overall.
It’s a long shot now to take the championship, but Jess Pettis put in a solid 1-2 day to take the overall win. Down 37 points with two races remaining, you’d have to think that Pettis is out of the title fight but with how crazy this season has gone, you can’t completely write him off yet.
Pettis stops for new goggles in moto two.
Lars Van Berkel is under there somewhere. The Dutch racer finished 7th overall.
Illinois racer, Nicholas Inman, finished 14th overall.
Quinn Amyotte continues to plug away, just missing the podium in 4th place.
Maryland’s Tyler Stepek had a great battle with Amyotte in moto one, finishing 6th. A tough moto two with a 25th meant he would finish 13th overall.
In his first race with the red plate, Tanner Ward, grabbed the final spot on the podium with a third overall but gave up 7 points to Phil in the Championship chase, hanging on to the lead by a single point heading into the final two rounds.
With the Championship firmly in his view, a rejuvenated Phil Nicoletti took to the Riverglade track. Don’t look now but with a 3-1 finish on the day, he’s only 1 point out of the championship lead.
