We were back in Northern BC for the second year of the Prince George National. Prince George lies 8hrs north of Vancouver, and after dodging the weather last week in Popkum, Saturday morning dawned cold and wet.
Yep, it was going to be one of those days
With the muddy conditions, paddles were a common sight in practice.
Alan Brown pretends to work on a bike.
Michigan’s Joey Crown grabbed the hole shot in the first 250 moto.
Crown led the opening laps of the 250 race, with Dylan Wright and Jess Pettis trailing behind. He would end his day on the podium, going 2-5 for 3rd overall.
Josh Osby got a little zesty trying to force a pass on Tanner Ward on the opening lap of moto two and went down.Osby remounted to finish 3rd. His 3-3 finishes were good enough for second overall.
Hometown boy and points leader, Pettis, was running second on the last lap in moto one when his engine blew up. He bounced back to finish second in moto two but will relinquish the red plate going into round four.
It was an off day for defending champ, Shawn Maffenbeier, who could only manage 4-7 for 5th overall but somehow managed to come away with the red plate with a 1 point lead over Osby after Pettis’ DNF.
After being fast but having mechanical problems at the first two rounds, Dylan Wright bounced back in a big way to take both moto wins for his first victory of the season. The GDR Honda pilot is back on the right track but has a lot of points to make up to get back in this title fight.
The sun finally came out for the final 450 moto of the day.
After winning both of the first two rounds, it wasn’t a great day for Colton Facciotti as the points leader would end the day with 7-7 finishes for 7th overall. He’s still leading the 450 standings but his gap has closed to only 4 points over Matt Goerke.Dillan Epstein was quick in practice as the California native logged the top qualifying time. He finished 5-5 for 5th overall.
After being one of the main picks for the title, Cole Thompson has been a tick off the top guys so far in the MX season. He finished 4-4 on the day and has now finished 4th overall at all three races to start the season.Cade Clason blew up a bike in moto one but came back to grab 8th in moto two.
Texas’ Cheyenne Harmon just missed out on the top 10, finishing 13-11 for 11th overall.
X-Games Snowbike gold medalist, Brock Hoyer, used to be a Top 10 Canadian MXer, so for Prince George, he unbolted the track and threw a tire back on his bike and finished 10th overall.Matt Goerke has won three Canadian titles by always being in the mix. He proved that again in PG by winning the first moto convincingly and then backing it up with a 3rd in moto two, for 2nd overall. With Colt’s bad day, he’s now only 4 points out of the title lead.
Mike Alessi has a baby that’s due any minute so he could be forgiven for being a little distracted at PG. He finished 6-6 for 6th.Kaven Benoit and Tyler Medaglia had good battles in both motos, with Benoit coming out on top.
Medaglia was quick in the mud, pushing Benoit hard and coming close to taking his first National win in a few years. His 3-2 scores would give him 3rd overall.
Since his heroics at the MXdN in Italy in 2016, it’s been a tough year and a half for Kaven Benoit, as injuries pretty much wiped out his 2017 season. He made it through the first two rounds unscathed and really started to hit his stride at Prince George. After finishing 2nd in moto one, he grabbed the hole shot and led wire to wire in moto two to take his first National win in two years.
Benoit and Medaglia relive their moto.
Benoit gets the victory and the hand carved bear.
There was a lot of clean up after the wet and muddy day.
Photo Gallery – Prince George Canadian National