Photo Report from The Wastelands Presented by SixSixOne 

Report by Danny Brault
Photos by James Lissimore

Hometown Heroes: The Wastelands track was lined with fans, showing their support for their local stars. 

Team Toyota Yamaha/ BlackfootDirect.com/ Fox Racing can’t seem to catch a break this year. Colton Facciotti appeared to have his third moto win under his belt in the first moto, after grabbing the holeshot and building a comfortable gap over Jeff Gibson—until he suffered a flat rear tire. Facciotti pulled into the mechanics area just before the halfway point to have his wheel replaced, putting him a lap down. Showing his newfound heart, Facciotti charged all the way back to 14th. In the second moto, his luck didn’t get any better when he fell down on the first lap and was run over, accidentally, by his teammate, Blair Morgan. So once again, Facciotti was forced to work his way through the pack. This time he managed to come back to ninth and only dropped back one spot in the series, from third to fourth.

Morgan too, is continuing his bout with lady luck. In the first moto, while running just outside of the top 10, he went down after clipping Tyler Medaglia’s rear wheel and pulled off with a sore wrist. He toughed it for the second moto, however, and came from 20th to seventh.
 

Denny’s/ Holeshot Racing Kawasaki’s Jeff Northrop really wants a 450 ride in Canada next year, and he showed it in Nanaimo by passing Jeff Gibson for the first moto win and then passing Gibson again for third in the final moto, giving him second overall. Norcal’s MX2 teammate, Brady Sheren, had good weekend in Nanaimo as well, finishing 8-8 for sixth overall and ended the MX2 West series in tenth overall. I hear that Sheren rides a 450 really well, so we’ll find at River Glade when he heads east for the final three MX1 rounds. 

“Ricky Bobby” Northrop: Always the joker, Northrop did his best Ricky Bobby impression for Brett Lee and the Nanaimo crowd. “Where do I put my hands? I don’t know where to put my hands … “ It’s this kind of personality and entertainment that makes the Canadian Nationals … well, fun! 

While his Monster Energy/ Cernic’s Kawasaki teammate and points’ leader, Paul Carpenter, struggled with starts all weekend, Jeff Gibson rode solid, leading the first moto for a few laps before finishing second and then scored a fourth in the second moto for third overall. He’s now third in the championship behind Dubé.

A big congrats to Simon Homans (6) on his first MX1 moto win and overall! Homans chased down early leader Marco Dubé (5) for the second moto win. Even though both French Canadians are fast and capable of winning, it was still a bit surreal seeing them out front and pulling away from the pack. We now have six different moto winners after six rounds in the MX1 class: Carpenter (5), Facciotti (2), JSR (1), Cooke (1), Northrop (1), Homans (1). Who will be next? 

It feels like there has been a black cloud over the series, and we lost another rider in Sunday’s qualifying. Putting together one of his best seasons yet, Chuck Mesley went down over a small tabletop, breaking three ribs and suffering a concussion. It looked scary as they loaded him into an ambulance, but The Mez returned to the track three hours later to watch the second round of motos. He’s hoping to return for Sand Del Lee and Walton.  

Paul Carpenter had his worst weekend of the series, going 4-6 for fifth overall. In every other round, he has either won a moto or finished on the podium. That consistency has given him a comfortable 66-point lead in the championship. Wow!

Our Ignition Racing/ RXC Factory Rider for a Day, Andrew Belin, had an up-and-down weekend at The Wastelands. Sleep deprived from his endless work schedule (he actually worked four hours on Saturday morning before practice) and feeling somewhat burnt out, Belin’s highlights for the weekend were an 11th in the first MX2 moto after falling down twice and an 11th in the final MX1 moto, where he ran inside the top 10 for half of the race and was pushing Drew Clegg but went down and had to fight back and make a few key passes to make it back to 11th.  

Darcy Lange traded in a Gatorade and turkey sandwich for a Kokanee and cheeseburger in Nanaimo. The third-place finisher in the East Coast SX championship showed up with his girlfriend and friends and looked to be enjoying his time off.  

It was all or nothing for Kyle Beaton in Nanaimo—and he got it all (and the girl too (below)). Right from the first lap of practice on Saturday, Beaton was the fastest 250F rider (and for a few laps, one of the fastest 450F riders) on the hard Wastelands track. Everyone always knew he had the speed to win, but this weekend, Beaton finally found the consistency, chasing down Ben Evans (235) and Jimmy Nelson (1) to finish 2-1 for his first ever national win. While Nelson was riding for the championship, he admitted that he had nothing for Beaton in Nanaimo. 

It was an emotional weekend for everyone in the Beaton camp, and long time supporter Rob Goth told me that he couldn’t hold back tears of joy when his little buddy crossed the checkers. Beaton’s victory also moved him from fifth to third overall in the series. Check back this week for an interview with the Yamaha Canada rider. 

Tucker Hibbert didn't meet his goal of winning the final two motos in Nanaimo. In the first moto, he came from 13th to fifth and in the second, he led the first start until the race was red flagged for injured riders, Kyle McGlynn and Ryan Millar. (McGlynn suffered a concussion, sore back and broke his Leatt Brace in half.) Hibbert again found the lead in the restart until a rock jammed into his clutch actuator arm, forcing to pull into the mechanics area.

The Best in the West: MX2 west champ, Jimmy Nelson (centre), Ben Evans (left) and Kyle Beaton (right) atop the final podium. Evans came into the final race only three points back of Nelson. He tried his hardest to keep the #1 plate behind him, leading a few laps in the first moto and passing Nelson for second in the final moto, but it just wasn’t enough.

Jolene Van Vugt (1) was determined to beat Heidi Cooke (52) in Nanaimo. Unfortunately, she may have tried to hard and went down in both motos. She charged back for 3-7 moto scores to give her third overall. Cooke, meanwhile, swept the motos once again.

Missy Hackett finished second in both motos for second overall. She now sits third in the series with a 12-point lead over Jessica Foster. 

The Wastelands crowd circles the podium. 

The Ignition Racing/ RXC Factory Rider for Day adventure takes a two week break until the next round at River Glade in Moncton, New Brunswick. It should give Brett Dailey just enough time to regain his sanity. Who will be under the FR tent in Moncton? Stay tuned!