PulpMX Photo Report – Sand Del Lee Canadian National
Photos and Captions by James Lissimore
Coming off the deep sand of Gopher Dunes, we were back at another sand track this weekend – the less deep sand of the Sand Del Lee facility, near Canada’s capital city of Ottawa. The remnants of Hurricane Beryl left plenty of rain on Thursday and flooded pits, but by race day the track was in great condition and it was hot and humid.
As always on PulpMX, here’s a more US rider based look at what went down at Sand Del Lee.
Things were wet in the pits but the sand sucked up the moisture out on the track.
Conditions were mint for race day.
Smooth and ready for bikes to tear it up.
Hot Dog Vendor had a busy weekend as he runs the Sand Del Lee facility and the MX101 Yamaha team.
After a miserable West swing to his series, where he scored zero points, Tyler Medaglia came back last weekend and grabbed a podium spot. He carried that momentum into his hometown race.
Let’s go.
Drew Adams nails the start and never looks back.
After Adams’ dominance and Krystian Janyk coming up last weekend, the latest US Amateur to make his way north to try his hand at a Pro National was Orange Brigade’s Luke Fauser. He rode to a pair of 8th place finishes, for 8th overall.
Dylan Wright decided to sit out the next two weeks to try to heal up his shoulder so with an empty spot under the tent, the GDR Honda Team gave some support to Idaho’s Evan Stice for the weekend. 12-12 for 11th.
PRMX Kawasaki’s Gage Linville’s East struggles continued at Sand Del Lee. 7-DNF for 14th.
Massachusetts’ Kyle Murdoch was back for a second week of Canadian racing. 17-10 for 12th.
Australia’s Tiger Wood is still figuring things out. 14-17 for 16th.
It’s good to see some of the up and coming Canadian riders starting to break through. After getting his first moto podium at Raymond, Wyatt Kerr had a strong race at Sand Del Lee, finishing just off the podium in 4th place.
Another fast Canadian kid who had a good race was PRMX Kawasaki’s Dylan Rempel, who grabbed 6th overall.
He finally surrendered the Red Plate to Drew Adams, but Red Bull KTM’s Kaven Benoit is still in this title fight with another second place overall.
After a few struggles, as he found his footing out West, Drew Adams has clearly figured things out now and looks to be in a different league than everyone else. Led every lap at Sand Del Lee and has now won 6 straight motos.
Tyler Medaglia certainly looks to be back up to speed, and along with Benoit is flying the flag for old guys everywhere. Another podium with third overall.
250 Podium – 1st Drew Adams, 2nd Kaven Benoit, 3rd Tyler Medaglia. Not sure what it says about the 250 class, but there’s 5 children between two of the three riders on the podium.
The Red Bull KTM’s are nailing the 450 starts this season.
Pennsylvania’s Benjamin Nelko snuck inside the top 10 in moto one with a 9th. 14th in moto two gave him 12th overall.
Off road racer, Evan Smith, from Georgia, made his way to Sand Del Lee and grabbed 10th overall.Illinois’ Nicholas Inman wrapped up the day in 14th overall.
New York’s Trevor Schmidt finished in the lucky 13 spot, with 13-12 moto finishes.
Australia’s Aaron Tanti finished just off the podium with a pair of 4th’s, for 4th overall.
Long time Canadian National competitor, Michigan’s Jerry Lorenz had a strong second moto, with 12-7 finishes for 9th overall.
Preston Kilroy has been looking more comfortable as the series goes on. The Wyoming racer logged his first overall podium of the series with a pair of 3rd place moto finishes at the track his team is based at.
Coming off his incredible second place finish last weekend, Tristan Lane was back to try his hand at another Canadian National. The Florida native didn’t match his placing from last weekend but still ended the day with a solid pair of 6’s, for 6th overall.
He didn’t grab a moto podium, like last weekend, but WLTN Kawasaki’s Tanner Ward rode to a consistent pair of 5th place moto finishes, for 5th overall.
The Championship is looking to come down to these two Red Bull KTM teammates, as New Zealand’s Josiah Natzke grabbed the first moto win, before battling with his teammate, Jess Pettis, during the second moto, and eventually finishing second.
Pettis took a hard fought second moto win, to take the overall. The tie on points for the day between him and his teammate, Natzke, means he keeps the Championship lead at 4 points for another weekend.
