--press release--

The first round of the Canadian nationals turned into a mud fest as the British Columbia skies turned grey Saturday night and rain fell continually during Sunday’s race day. 

The Richmond Racing Kawasaki team showed no shortage of speed during the dry qualifiers on Saturday.  Brady Sheren grabbed the holeshot in his MX2 West qualifier and led for a good part of the race.

Colton Facciotti worked his way through the pack to finish in fifth in his qualifier after a first corner crash that took down both Facciotti and Dusty Klatt.  Jeff Northrop, who had better luck off the start, worked through the pack to finish the qualifier in second.

In the premier MX1 class Ryan Lockhart rode his KX250 to finish fourth in the stacked qualifier. 

With all team riders qualifying for the Sunday finals, the team had high hopes.  Those hopes dwindled as the BC sky’s opened up and turned the Mission track into a sloppy mess. Nonetheless, track conditions were the same for the entire field. 

In the MX2 class Facciotti had a first corner crash in moto one and Sheren struggled in the Mission mud.  Northrop and Maier ran a good pace in the sloppy condition to finish fourth and fifth respectively. In the second moto the team was again challenged by the wet conditions.  Maier got a rock caught in his chain and Sheren was forced to DNF the moto due to the poor conditions.  Facciotti turned his luck around in moto two and grabbed the holeshot and ran a strong moto to finish on the podium in third.  Northrop finished in sixth. 

In the MX1 class Ryan Lockhart came out strong and finished the first moto in forth and follow up with an eighth in moto two to take sixth spot overall for the day.  Lockhart had been training all winter with his good friend and AMA pro racer Sean Hamblin and it was obvious in Mission that Lockhart will be a force to be reckoned with as the series progresses.  Ryan’s MX1 teammate Evan Laughridge was unable to finish the first moto and finished 12th in the second moto.

“It was just the little things that happened,” said team manager Billy Whitely. “One lap to go with Evan Laughridge in fourth, the bike blows up in the first 250 moto. It wasn’t due to the actual bike failing, but the radiator was so clogged up with mud we lost our water and the thing blew up. He came back in the second moto, though, and rode OK.

“All in all, I wouldn’t say that we were happy with the weekend. But overall we weren’t let down with our riders or equipment or our personal—considering the conditions. I want the rider to keep the same work ethic they showed this weekend, and carry it though the next races and it will pay off.”

The Richmond Racing Kawasaki team will return to action next weekend, June 11 and 12, in Nanaimo, BC.