Hot humid weather and a rough Gopher Dunes track made for a do-or-die day of racing in Courtland, ON, as the Monster Energy Motocross Nationals resumed on Sunday for Round 5 of the tour after a three-week mid-season break.

 

As per usual the gnarly deep sand of Gopher Dunes separated the men from the boys and ensured plenty of drama and spectacle.

 

On hand for the event was none other than multi-time U.S. Motocross and Supercross Champion Ricky Carmichael. The Florida native was brought to the event by Monster Energy/Thor for a ‘greet and meet’ with the fans and sign hundreds of autographs, which no doubt left him with writer’s cramp.

 

Carmichael even hung out in the Monster Energy MotoXRadio Live Webcast booth with the show's host Brian Koster, to contribute some colour commentary for the first MX1 moto.  A real treat, thus, for anyone who was tuned in for the webcast.  

 

Not surprisingly Facciotti, with yet another clean sweep and his first-ever win at Gopher, is back at the head of the pack in the current MX1 rankings.  

 

Facciotti’s Yamaha/Red Bull/Blackfoot/Fox Racing teammate Tyler Medaglia further solidified his hold on the MX2 points chase, thanks to 2-1 motos that also saw him take home the overall.

 

Medaglia received a helping hand from fellow title contenders Teddy Maier and Shawn Rife, on the Monster Energy/Leading Edge Kawasakis, who both ended up with one scoreless moto.

 

Maier went down in the first moto while battling for the lead with Rife and didn’t get his bike restarted until he was down two laps. Rife, who handily won the moto, DNF’d the second moto with technical problems.

 

In the first MX1 moto, Facciotti grabbed the holeshot followed by his Blackfoot teammate Dusty Klatt and Machine Racing Honda’s Kyle Keast. Facciotti never looked back and put on his by now customary clinic all the way to the checkered flag.

 

Keast lived up to expectations on his home track by holding second place, which he grabbed after the first turn, to the end of the moto. Unfortunately his great ride was for naught, when he ran out of gas with less than a lap to go.

 

Klatt, who was unable to challenge Keast for second place, ended up with that position after Keast sputtered to a stop.

 

Monster Energy/Cernics Kawasaki’s Josh Demuth, who was chasing down a fifth-place running Bobby Kiniry, slammed into Kiniry’s Rockstar Energy/OTSFF/Troy Lee Designs/Two Wheel Suzuki teammate Freddy Karrle’s rear wheel suffering a brutal crash that left Demuth with a concussion and a zero-points day.

 

Despite finishing in the top five Royal Distributing KTM’s Kornel Nemeth and Kiniry ended up outside the top 10, after being docked 10 positions each for a Red Cross flag infraction. Nemeth went from third to 13th while Kiniry slid from fifth to 15th.

The second MX1 moto holeshot again went to Facciotti with Keast in second place working the throttle to stick with the defending champ. By the end of the second lap the lead duo had put a ten-second gap on the chase group, which included Nemeth and Monster Energy/Cernics/Kawasaki’s Troy Adams.

 

Nemeth settled into third some five laps into the moto, where he would finish behind Keast. It was a real bittersweet day for Keast, who would have finished second overall on the day if he hadn’t run out of gas in moto one.  

 

Klatt, meanwhile, suffered a back-of-the-pack start that he parlayed into a fourth place finish just ahead of Kiniry, also the victim of a bad start. Klatt’s impressive ride assured him second overall on the day while third overall went to Adams on the strength of 3-7 motos. It was the American’s best finish on Canadian soil to date in the MX1 title hunt.

 

In MX2 action, the first moto holeshot went to Monster Energy/Leading Edge Kawasaki’s Spencer Knowles. A few laps into the moto Knowles went over the handlebars turning the lead over to Duroy Racing KTM’s Kaven Benoit.

 

But with the Kawasaki duo Maier and Rife breathing down his neck, Benoit soon found himself in third place. Maier and Rife quickly pulled away and swapped leads a few times until Maier went down for a soil sample towards the end of the moto.

 

Tyler Medaglia, who started around 10th place, took a few laps to work his way into the top five. Once that task was cleared he had to contend with KTM mounted Richard Grey for a while, before sticking a pass on the Intermediate rider for fourth place.

 

Although it looked like Benoit was on his way to finishing second after Maier’s exit, an on fire Medaglia, who had moved into third, hunted Benoit down and passed him with less than half a lap to go.

Benoit, who has been stepping it up at every round, snared the second MX2 moto holeshot and managed to stay in the lead for more than half the race. Grey booked another noteworthy start mixing it up with the top five until a couple of bobbles took him out of the running.

 

As in the first moto Benoit again had to bow to a superior riding Tyler Medaglia. Once he took over the lead Medaglia was never really threatened for position. Jeremy Medaglia, who had also snuck by Benoit, rode the rims off of his Orange Motorsports KTM, however, to keep his brother honest.

 

Benoit, who had plenty of cheering support from a throng of Quebec motocross fans, recorded third overall on the strength of his 3-3 motos. And with 4-2 moto results, the younger Medaglia grabbed an impressive second overall on the day.

 

Meanwhile, defending champ Maier, who went down right after the start, clawed his way from the back of the pack into a fourth place finish while his teammate Rife exited the stage about halfway into the moto while running in the top ten.  

 

MX1 Overall Results

1 Colton Facciotti (BC)

2 Dusty Klatt (BC)

3 Troy Adams (USA)

4 Kevin Urquhart (USA)

5 Bryan Wallace (USA)

6 Kornel Nemeth (SA)

7 Mason Phillips (NZ)

8 Brad Nauditt (USA)

9 Kyle Keast (ON)

10 Bobby Kiniry (USA)

 

MX2 Overall Results

1 Tyler Medaglia (ON)

2 Jeremy Medaglia (ON)

3 Kaven Benoit (QC)

4 Kerim Fitz-Gerald (SA)

5 Kyle McGlynn (AB)

6 Nathan Bles (USA)

7 Shawn Rife (USA)

8 Teddy Maier (USA)

9 Jonathan Parise (QC)

10 Jared Allison (AB)