The Royal Distributing Fox KTM Team Reigns Supreme In Nanaimo

Facing yet another rare hot and dry race day on Canada’s West coast, the surrounding scenery was certainly more beautiful than the track conditions Kaven Benoit and Cole Thompson had to face at round two of the CMRC Canadian Nationals. However, even with the extremely dry and slippery conditions Benoit and Thompson rode smooth and smart on route to capturing both the MX2 and MX1 class wins.

They say that attitude is everything when an athlete is faced with adverse conditions. So while most of his competition was dreading the arrival of round two, Kaven Benoit and his 2015 KTM 250 SX were excited for racing on one of Canada’s most challenging tracks.

When the gate dropped on both the MX2 motos, Benoit found himself near the front of the pack and within moments worked himself into the lead. From there he chose his lines very wisely and used the power of his KTM to his full advantage. Lap after lap he remained fast and consistent and when the final checkered flag fell on the day, Benoit had not only taken both moto wins, but he also recaptured the coveted red plate that comes with the MX2 class points lead heading into round three in Calgary.

“Heading into Nanaimo I know a lot of people were saying that I would most likely struggle on my two-stroke. I definitely used that as motivation and I wanted to prove all of those people wrong. I couldn’t be happier with how my KTM worked and how the team came together on Sunday, it was a great day us and it‘s going to feel great to put the red plates back on my KTM.”

After a frustrating weekend at round one in Kamloops, Cole Thompson retreated back to his home near Sarnia, Ontario to regroup and refocused. In moto one in Nanaimo, Cole found himself up front early and from there he rode uncontested to his first National moto in over a year. In moto two he once again used his smooth throttle control and the stable handling of his 2016 KTM 450 SX-F to again take the early lead on the dry and slippery Nanaimo track. By moto’s end Thompson was in second place which was good enough to take the overall win for the day in the MX1 class and make it a clean sweep for the Orange Brigade.

“After last weekend I just went back home and worked my butt off. The team was very supportive and my KTM worked great on this track. It’s nice to get a win under my belt this early in the season and I can’t wait for next weekend in Calgary.”