Colton Facciotti of Aldergrove is already the champion again this year. He won Round 8 of the MX1 race series and although there will be one more round, Colton will be the official 2011 Champion because of his overall score from this season’s races.
Round 8 of the Monster Energy Motocross Nationals at Sand Del Lee in Richmond, Ontario on Sunday saw Colton Facciotti sweep the MX1 class while Royal Distributing KTM’s Jeremy Medaglia emulated that feat in MX2.
With a total of 385 points, Facciotti left Richmond as the 2011 MX1 Champion.
The first MX1 heat 1 holeshot went to Teddy Maier. On his tail were defending champion Dusty Klatt, Kyle Keast, Shawn Maffenbeier and Facciotti.
Two laps later Facciotti had the lead in hand and checked out.
While there was no doubt Facciotti had complete control of the heat up front, the battle for the remaining top-five positions was fierce and ongoing between Maier, Keast, Maffenbeier and Klatt.
By the halfway point Klatt had passed and shook off Maffenbeier and Keast to take possession of third place.
Not long after taking third he handily disposed of Maier, to then settle into second where he stayed until the checkered signalled the end of the heat.
Maffenbeier watched his top-five finish dissolve towards the end of the heat, which saw Matt Goerke, who started around 10th, follow Facciotti, Klatt, Maier, and Keast across the finish line, in that order.
The second MX1 heat holeshot went to Facciotti followed by Klatt, Maier, Maffenbeier, Keast and Goerke.
As in heat one Facciotti put on another clinic, running his own race all the way to the finish line without anyone ever getting close enough to make a challenge for position.
Once again Facciotti put a lot real estate between himself and second place.
For the next few laps a wicked battle for second place developed between Klatt and Maier, which saw some back and forth passing until Maier finally let off.
Meanwhile, Goerke and Maffenbeier fought tooth and nail for fourth place with Maffenbeier temporarily taking that position to then chase down Maier.
A get-off foiled Maffenbeier’s attempt to get past Maier, leaving the up-and-comer to finish outside the top-five.
Not long after the halfway mark of the heat an on fire Goerke, now in fourth, charged ahead to pass a somewhat fading Maier, to then set his sights on Klatt.
A few laps later Goerke had chased down Klatt to engage him in a battle for second place.
With neither giving an inch, Goerke and Klatt made contact and both went down for a soil sample.
Keast, who had also snuck by Maier, inherited second place, 20 seconds behind Facciotti.
While Goerke rejoined the fray in fifth place Klatt found himself in seventh. Towards the end of the heat Goerke had chased down his teammate Maier and passed him for third.
In the closing laps Keast, hounded by Goerke, went down but was able to remount in third, where he would finish ahead of Maier, who was pushing hard.
Maffenbeier stayed in the mix to seal the top-five.
The first MX2 heat holeshot went to Jeremy Medaglia with Nicky Beatty next to him diving into turn one. Close by in their rear wheels followed Tyler Sjoberg, Austin Politelli and Kaven Benoit.
A hot on the trot Medaglia, looking for his first overall victory, was obviously intent on doing it with a clean sweep of the second heat. He stuck to Benoit like glue to take over first place just before the halfway point. Once Medaglia was in the lead the race was decided.