St-Bruno, QC – Three moto wins, two overall victories and a total of six podium finishes; things couldn’t have gone much better for KTM at Round 6 of the CMRC Motocross Nationals in Ste-Julie, QC!
Well, one thing could have made KTM’s weekend sweeter, and that would be to have a healthy Colton Facciotti. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen. After riding with a separated shoulder for five races (and still finishing on the podium in most of them), the KTM Red Bull Royal Distributing Fox Racing rider decided to call it quits in Ste-Julie. “I tried riding my qualifier, but the pain has become too much to handle and I just can’t ride to my potential,” says a disappointed Facciotti. “It’s not easy, but after discussing things with my sponsors, we’ve decided to sit out the remainder of the series, get my shoulder healed up and then begin developing our 2013 race bikes.”
MX1
With Colton out, it would be all up to his teammate, Dusty Klatt, to put KTM out front in MX1. The Campbell River kid has shown signs of brilliance but had yet to reach the podium in the first five races. The two-time champ always finds a good flow around the Ste-Julie track, though, and 2012 was no different. After posting the fastest MX1 qualifying time, Klatt would go on to finish 2-1 for first overall. It would mark Klatt’s first podium and KTM’s first MX1 victory
f the season.
“It feels really good to finally do it, for myself and our team,” says Klatt, who now sits third overall in the MX1 series. “The first moto was a little more work. I fell down early in the race after bumping into a downed rider and then had to work my way up through the pack. In the second moto, I got the holeshot, put my head down and gave it everything I had until the checkers.”
MX2
Once again, Kaven Benoit and Jeremy Medaglia covered the MX2 podium in orange, finishing first and third overall in Ste-Julie. In moto one, KTM Red Bull Royal Distributing Fox Racing’s Medaglia led most of the race, but in the later laps, couldn’t quite match the pace of Benoit. Medaglia would eventually settle for third behind Benoit.
The second moto would be all Benoit, as the hometown hero holeshot and immediately checked out. A 2-1 on the day would give Benoit the overall win. Medaglia, meanwhile, was forced to work his fight through the field after going down in the first corner. He would go onto finish third and third overall. The Factory KTM racer wants a win real bad, but Medaglia still maintains a solid second-place in the series with three rounds to go. As we’ve seen already, anything can happen and the MX2 title chase is far from over.
“Today was a big day for KTM, especially with it being in the backyard of our corporate office,” says KTM Canada’s Race Manager, Andy White. “Dusty has been working really hard these past few weeks and we saw that today. It was an absolute pleasure watching him scrub his way to the win, and then to have Kaven and Jeremy on the podium in MX2, incredible! We are definitely sad to see Colton forced to park his bike, but there’s no other choice. The goal is to get Colton back to 100 percent and start focusing on our 2013 program.”
Results –Round 6 of the CMRC Canadian Motocross Nationals
Ste-Julie, Quebec
MX1
1. Dusty Klatt 2-1
2. Matt Georke 1-3
3. Bobby Kiniry 3-2
4. Tim Tremblay 5-5
5. Gavin Gracyk 4-9
MX2
1. Kaven Benoit 2-1
2. Teddy Maier 1-2
3. Jeremy Medaglia 3-3
4. Spencer Knowles 4-8
5. Dylan Kaelin 9-4
Championships points after Round 6 of 9
MX1
1. Matt Georke – 292
2. Bobby Kiniry – 253
3. Dusty Klatt – 190
4. Tyler Medaglia – 182
5. Colton Facciotti – 175
MX2
1. Teddy Maier – 278
2. Jeremy Medaglia – 251
3. Jared Allison – 177
4. Kyle Beaton – 168
5. Topher Ingalls – 166
KTM Canada thanks all of our sponsors for their generous support in 2012!
Red Bull, Royal Distributing, Fox, Dunlop, FMF, Factory Connection, DID, Talon, DUBYA, DT1 Filters, VP Racing Fuels, Acerbis, Cometic Gaskets, T.M. Designworks, Matrix, Motorex, Renthal, GoPro, Shorai Batteries, Mechanix Wear, Magnum, Hinson, All Balls, Four Werx Carbon, Podium Grafix, CL Brakes, SteadyMate, Ride Engineering, Nihilo, Custom Decals, and IMS.