July 19, 2018
Triple Crown MX: Round 6 Gopher Dunes | Photo Report
Triple Crown MX: Round 6 Gopher Dunes | Photo Report
July 18, 2018
by Dawn McClintock Photos by James Lissimore Smack dab in the middle of an Ontario heatwave seems to be the trend for every Gopher Dunes Canadian national, well, unless you swing back to the early 2000s when we had torrential rain and tents blowing away. Lucky for us, a slight rain shower on Saturday afternoon did pull back the thermostat a tad, making things a bit more tolerable but made for some vision problems once that sand started sticking to everything. Anyone who has rode or watched a national race at Gopher Dunes will know that this track gets super gnarly early on and takes victims and for some that also meant their bikes. We had some amazing racing from our FXR riders and a flawless performance from Royal Distributing/Yamaha/FXR rider, Jess Pettis who owned The Dunes this weekend. We also had a few more of our American crew join in for this round. Let's take a look at some of the action from Courtland, Ontario.
Ladies were up first and that's #241 Sarah-Kim Villeneuve and #198 Julia Krzemien battling in moto one. Krzemien would take 6-6 for a 6th overall.
Ringing out that two-stroke for all it's got was Gemma Pope who took 16-14 for a 15th overall.
#20 Dominique Brule pulled off a 18-20 to give her 18th for the day.
Manitoba rider Michaela Hamm would take a 21-24 to give her 24th overall.
Dana Barrett would take 26-29 to give her 29th for the day.
Sarah-Kim Villeneuve would take 4-16 to give her 10th overall.
Connecticut rider Brittani Majcher came up to Canada to test out the Gopher Dunes sand before her Loretta Lynn's week. She would grab a 3-8 for an impressive 4th overall.
Your Gopher Dunes Ladies podium. | Dawn McClintock photo
Welcome to Canada. New England rider Chris Canning made the trip north to give Gopher Dunes a go.
Canning known for his sand riding had a solid weekend at The Dunes taking 8-7 for 7th overall. Safe to say he had a fun time so watch for this likeable guy to return for more Canadian nationals.
Cade Clason has never been a big fan of riding in the sand.
Clason had some not great starts but managed to muscle his way through the pack to get him up into the top ten.
Gate prep in his brand new Helium kit.
Clason hung tough at The Dunes and took a solid 9-8 for 8th overall.
A rough weekend for Davey Fraser. A flat in moto one forced him to a DNF and moto two gave him 20th for 25th overall. Things will be on his home turf next round so look for some better results out east.
A little whip for the home crowd. Hayden Halstead calls Gopher Dunes his home track and with friends and family lining the fence, he gave them a real show this weekend.
Edging closer to that podium every weekend, Halstead has really honed his skills this season and look for some good results from this guy in the eastern rounds.
Not feeling 100% on race day, Halstead didn't show it on the track. He was on fire.
Hayden would take 7-4 for an impressive 5th overall.
BC rider Jonah Brittons would take 21-20 for 20th overall.
Alberta rider #289 Connor Paul.
These west coast riders definitely aren't big fans of these sand tracks. Jared Petruska battled hard at Gopher.
Petruska would take 18-13 for a 13th overall.
Out of the gate and this guy was gone.
For claiming that he's not a sand rider, Jess Pettis fooled all of us at Gopher Dunes.
Keeping it calm and cool heading up for moto one.
Jess Pettis put on a complete clinic this weekend in the sand.
Grabbing the win in moto one.
American rider Kyle Murdoch would take 14-18 for a 15th overall.
A guy who has been out of the racing scene for a couple of years made his debut this weekend at Gopher Dunes. Liam O'Farrell proved that he's still got it.
O'Farrell would take bring home an impressive 10-10 for a 9th overall for his return to the Canadian nationals.
Marco Cannella was riding hard in the sand but just wasn't able to keep things up where we know he can be.
Sadly a nasty second moto crash pushed Cannella back from running right up front.
Cannella kept pushing through after his crash and managed to pull of a 8-8 for a 7th overall. Watch for him to gain momentum as we head to more hard pack tracks.
You ask this guy how he likes riding Gopher Dunes and he will tell you flat out. "I hate it!" Insert a few curse words in there too and that sums up how Mike Fowler feels about this place. An off weekend for the Pennsylvania rider who will regroup for Riverglade. I believe when you ask him how he likes riding Riverglade he will answer with, "I love it!"
Ryan Lalonde has been the sure and steady guy who gets the job done every weekend and he's proving that his experience is paying off.
Lalonde took a solid 12-14 for 12th overall.
Local rider Taylor Ciampichini has pulled back from a lot of racing this season but he decided to line up at Gopher Dunes and he took 26-27 for 30th overall.
Teren Gerber would take 23-16 for 18th overall.
William Crete would take 22-18 for 19th overall.
Wyatt Waddell made it into the mains at Gopher. These last couple of rounds have been a struggle for Waddell and hopefully taking the sand out of the equation will get him back up where he knows he can be. Wyatt took 31-23 for 28th overall.
Pettis on a tear. He would make it look so easy.
Sweet victory for Pettis taking the second moto win to sweep The Dunes.
That face says it all. Congratulations Jess on a flawless performance.
Your 250 Pro podium. See you guys at Riverglade!
