PulpMX Photo Report – Deschambault Canadian Nationals
Phil is back in the red plate!…
Photos and Captions by James Lissimore
This week the 2025 Jetwerx Canadian Triple Crown Series made its way to the picturesque Deschambault track, near Quebec City in the French speaking province of Quebec. Arguably the nicest track on the circuit, the weather was hot but conditions were perfect for racing on Sunday. In the 250 class, we saw a legendary ride from Quebec native, Kaven Benoit, who made his only appearance in the 250 class on Sunday after clinching the 250 title last year. He would steal the show but Preston Kilroy would do what he needed to clinch his first Canadian title.
In the 450 class, the championship battle is going down to the wire, and Tanner Ward came into the race holding a slim, 1 point lead over PulpMX’s own Phil Nicoletti. A good day for Phil, with a moto win and second overall, would see him take over the championship lead and extend it to ten points with only one round remaining.
Can Phil really come out of retirement and take the title? Let’s take a look at what went down at Deschambault…
Dechambault is the nicest track on the Canadian circuit.
After only running a single rider all season, the Red Bull KTM pits were a busy place at Deschambault, as the team welcomed back 2024 250 Champion, Kaven Benoit, for his one National appearance of the season and also Marvin Musquin, who was competing in the Pre-Mix class, and legendary Canadian Women’s racer, Eve Brodeur, who was also making her lone appearance of the season.
After winning the 250 championship last year, Kaven Benoit stepped away from racing, with only a lone Pre-Mix appearance so far this year before Deschambault.
With Dylan Wright missing Deschambault due to all the injuries he’s accumulated this season, the GDR Honda team gave privateer racer, Tanner Scott, an opportunity to race Wright’s bike.
White bikes with black and red on them seem to be a theme this season in Canada, and it was Priority Gas Gas’s turn at Deschambault. They were doing a co-lab with the Dirt Care brand that is based in Quebec.
FXR hired an airplane to do loops and stuff before the motos started.
To the surprise of no-one, Musquin took both moto wins in the Pre-Mix class.
Kaven Benoit(1) takes the hole shot over Preston Kilroy(80) to kick off the 250 moto.
In his return to racing, Benoit leads the pack in the opening 250 moto.
With so many other riders under the KTM tent at Deschambault, Dylan Rempel, was a bit lost in the shuffle but he grabbed a third in the opening moto before finishing fifth in moto two, for fourth overall.
Connecticut’s Joe Tait rounded out the top 10 with 7-13 finishes.
Massachusetts racer, Kyle Murdoch, had a solid first moto with a 6th, but a crash in moto two saw him come back to 12th, for 8th overall.
After winning a moto and finishing second overall last weekend, the struggles were back at Deschambault for WLTN Kawasaki’s Dylan Walsh. The New Zealander’s bike was smoking heavily in moto one, but finished in 12th, and he finished 8th in moto two, for 9th overall.
Priority MX’s Wyatt Kerr rounded out the top 5, with 8-4 finishes for 5th.
In a legendary ride, Kaven Benoit came off the couch to lead every lap of moto one and take the win. He looked to be on his way to doing the same in moto two until he fell on the last lap and allowed Sebastien Racine to get by and take the surprise moto win. It was still good enough to give Benoit the overall win in his only appearance of 2025.
Racine pressured Benoit most of moto two and took the win when Benoit fell on the last lap. 4-1 on the day gave him second overall. Racine was named to Team Canada for MXON on Tuesday, so it was a pretty good week for the MX101 Yamaha rider.
With Benoit and his teammate, Racine, out front, Preston Kilroy cruised it in, in 3rd, to clinch the 250 championship.
The Wyoming racer takes his first Canadian title.
Preston Kilroy is your 2025 Canadian Triple Crown Series 250 champion.
Benoit celebrates his win in front of his hometown crowd.
Ice cream for everyone as the MX101 Yamaha team celebrates their championship.
French racer, Adrien Malaval, made the trip again to Deschambault to race. He would podium the second moto and take 4th overall with his 6-3 finishes.
Musquin was chatting it up with Dutch racer, Lars VanBerkel before the start of the 450 moto.
Phil leads the way to take the hole shot in the 450 moto.
Idaho’s Evan Stice has been struggling with bike setup on the Triumph the past couple rounds. 15-16 for 14th overall.
Utah’s Gavin Brough had a solid day, cracking the top 10 with 12-9 for 9th.
It’s been a long time since he raced a Canadian national but Josh Cartwright came up to race Deschambault. He finished solidly inside the top 10 with 9-8 finishes for 8th overall.
Jess Pettis fell on the opening lap of the 450 moto 1 and had to come through the pack to almost get Phil for the win, but would have to settle for second in the first moto.
VanBerkel was dejected as Tanner Ward passed him on the last lap of moto one to take the final podium spot, but later it would be ruled that Ward was off the track when he passed him, restoring his third place finish in the moto. He would finish 3-6 for 5th overall on the day.
Phil takes the opening 450 moto win and retakes the red plate.
Phil leading with Malaval and Pettis giving chase in moto two.
Quinn Amyotte had an off day at Deschambault. 7-7 on the day for 7th overall.
Not content to let his brother have all the fun, Riley Brough also lined up for Deschambault. 19-14 for 18th overall.
If a team could ever be cursed, it would seem GDR Honda is that team right now. Tanner Scott’s day with the team ended with a broken 02 sensor bung in moto one and a brand new fuel pump that packed it in in moto two.
Tanner Ward held the red plate by one point heading into Deschambault, but he couldn’t quite match the pace that Phil and Pettis were running, and would end up 4-4 on the day, for 3rd overall, handing back the red plate to Phil with one round to go.
Phil leads Pettis in moto two.
Pettis would get by to take the moto and overall win. Down 36 points going into the final round, it’s all but over for his title defence.
His shoulder is hanging on by a thread, but Pettis is out there doing what he can to salvage his season.
450 Podium from Deschambault: 1st Jess Pettis, 2nd Phil Nicoletti, 3rd Tanner Ward.
Can Phil really take this championship? He’s now sporting a 10 point lead going into the final round, but if this season has taught us anything, it’s that something crazy is bound to happen. Tune in to find out at Walton.
