Sunny skies complimented by 28°C temperatures helped kick off Round 1 of the Monster Energy Motocross Nationals in Kamloops on Sunday.
The ideal weather conditions assured a smorgasbord of racing action on the fast, multiple-lines Whispering Pines Raceway track and a huge fan turnout to take it all in.
With convincing 1-1 heats, Colton Facciotti bagged the MX1 season opener while his teammate Tyler Medaglia claimed the MX2 overall with hard fought for 3-1 heats.
Facciotti and Medaglia, who had a catch-up race on his agenda in the first heat, towered head and shoulders above the competition on their way to their individual wins of the day.
In the first MX2 heat, Spencer Knowles carved out the holeshot followed into turn one by Jeremy Medaglia and Tyler Sjoberg.
Knowles reign at the front was short-lived, however, with Medaglia taking over for a few laps until he had to bow to Sjoberg.
Making his debut in the Canadian Nationals, Sjoberg stayed up front until about the halfway mark, when a bobble saw him return the lead to Medaglia.
For the remainder of the heat, the top-five stayed in relatively close proximity with Medaglia taking it all the way to the checkered.
Behind Medaglia a furious battle for the remaining podium positions took place between Kaven Benoit and Knowles and Austin Politelli.
Although Benoit would finish the heat in second, a crash involving Knowles and Politelli made room for Tyler Medaglia to snare third. The defending champ had all eyes on him as he sliced and diced his way through the pack after a first turn crash saw him remount dead last.
For most of the heat, Medaglia battled his way into the top-five to inherit third from Knowles and Politelli after they tangled and went down in the last corner while racing for the final podium slot.
The second heat holeshot also went to Knowles, who swapped the lead a few times with his teammate Sjoberg. As in heat one, Sjoberg, Jeremy Medaglia, Benoit, and Politelli would set the pace early in the race.
Tyler Medaglia, who started outside the top-five, wasted no time connecting with the frontrunners. Once he disposed of Knowles, Politelli, and Benoit he set his sights on Sjoberg and Jeremy Medaglia.
One third of the way into the heat, Tyler Medaglia stuck a pass on his brother to go after Sjoberg, who had about a five seconds lead. By the halfway mark Tyler Medaglia removed Sjoberg from the lead and never looked back.
Meanwhile, Jeremy Medaglia, tasting the overall win, stayed on Sjoberg to play cat and mouse with the American.
After a few back and forth passes, Medaglia held down second place only to lose it again to Sjoberg in the closing laps, this time for good.
For Jeremy it meant the difference between first overall on the day! He took home second on the strength of 1-3 heats while his brother Tyler grabbed the overall, thanks to his 3-1 heat finishes.
Dusty Klatt pegged the first MX1 heat holeshot followed closely by his teammate Colton Facciotti, Brock Hoyer, Bobby Kiniry, and Teddy Maier.
Although defending champ Klatt stayed out front for a few laps, once Facciotti took over the race was decided. The teammates quickly put some distance between themselves, Maier and the rest of the chase group.
On his way to victory, Facciotti lapped half the field by the midway point of the heat and kept about four seconds on Klatt, just enough not to get challenged for position.
Maier, making his MX1 debut, ran a solid race that would see him take the final podium slot. Kiniry, meanwhile, did what he had to do to cross the finish line in fourth, although he did mount a few unsuccessful challenges to dislodge Maier from third.
Kyle Keast, who started outside of top-10, charged hard to knife his way into an impressive fifth place finish to seal the top five.
The final MX1 heat of the day was strictly a Colton Facciotti production. Although he failed to grab the holeshot again – it was nailed down by PJ Stratton – Facciotti shot his way into the lead soon after the first turn and never looked back.
Once in the lead, Facciotti put on a clinic lapping up to 10th and eventually finishing some 27 seconds ahead of second place Bobby Kiniry.
In the top-five mix going into turn one with Stratton and Facciotti were Kevin Urquhart, Bobby Kiniry and Cole Siebler. Kiniry would be the only one to finish on the podium along with Facciotti.
For Dusty Klatt the start of the second heat did not go as well as the first. He was somewhere outside of the top-five going into the first turn and despite giving it all he had he would get no farther than third place at the finish line.
Every time he challenged Kiniry Klatt found himself coming up short, eventually focusing on keeping third out of the hands of Teddy Maier and Kyle Keast, who would cement the top-five respectively.
When all was said and done, Klatt took satisfaction with second overall on the strength of 2-3 heats while Kiniry recorded third overall on the strength of 4-2 heats.