JULY 27, 2005
--press release--
Last Sunday’s CMRC Canadian Motocross Championship races at Joliette, Quebec marked the second round of the MX2 East Series and the first of two ‘home’ events for Team ALDO KTM Royal on the ’05 calendar. The trip proved eventful, the team making the short journey to the track from their brand new facility at St-Bruno, with Michael Willard (2-19), Matt Barnes (7-5) and Pierce Chamberlain (20-13) all maintaining their MX2 top ten championship challenge on the all new KTM 250 SX-F.
Saturday’s qualifiers posed no problems for the KTM boys, with Chris Whitcraft completing the quartet of riders enjoying a return to clay-packed competition having toughed it out a week earlier on the sand at Gopher Dunes. Comfortably in the top ten running order, Saturday’s solid performances set the team up for a busy Sunday.
Michael Willard nailed the Royal Distributing holeshot award in the first of Sunday’s MX2 East motos, the teenager powering his way into an early lead as he had done at the Dunes last time out. The tricky rockers section was to catch him out though as fellow-American Kyle Chisholm caught and passed him to take control of the moto. Willard shadowed to take a well deserved second place with team-mate Matt Barnes further back in seventh.
The opening moto wasn’t so kind to Chamberlain or Whitcraft. A couple of falls wrecked Pierce’s hopes of a strong finish but the Canadian hung on to grab some points at the end in 20th. For Chris Whitcraft it was much worse as a trip over the front-end of the #149 bike resulted in a journey back to his native-Ohio with a broken right leg and an early exit this season from competition riding.
Sunday’s second MX2 moto looked to be more promising as Matt Barnes this time launched himself off the line to grab the 250 SX-F’s second straight Royal Distributing holeshot award.
It was a dream start for the boys in orange as Barnes led with Willard right behind him in second and Chamberlain two spots back in fourth. Attack soon turned to defense though as once again Kyle Chisholm powered his way up the order, eventually passing Willard and Barnes for the lead.
Barnes hung on to take fifth at the end with Chamberlain dropping just outside the top ten to finish 13th. Willard’s moto turned into a nightmare as his promising start was interrupted by severe cramp. The Ohio-charger dropped right down the order but valiantly fought his way back up to take 19th at the flag.
Despite a day of mixed results for Team ALDO KTM Royal, Michael Willard sits fourth overall in the MX2 East title battle with Matt Barnes in seventh and Pierce Chamberlain directly behind in eighth.
Also on track at Joliette was local favorite Marco Dubé. Campaigning his KTM SX-450 in the MX1 Championship, Marco bounced back from a disappointing opening moto to just miss out on a podium in the second, the Quebec rider finishing with a 19-4 record for the day.
Reflecting on the weekend Team Manager Andy White commented:
“All our guys rode well at Joliette but it’s not quite reflected in the final results. That said we have to look at the championship picture so I’m pretty pleased that we’ve got three guys sitting in the top ten with two rounds remaining. I’m delighted that Michael and Matt exploited the grip on their Pirelli’s to lock-out the holeshots in both motos and to have three riders in the top four at the start of the second moto was simply awesome. There’s still work to be done but we’re getting up there!”
This weekend Riverglade MX Park in Moncton, New Brunswick hosts the third round of the MX2 East Championship, Saturday 30th – Sunday 31st July.
Team ALDO KTM Royal hits the track this season thanks to support from the following partners; ALDO, Royal Distributing, Axo, FMF, Protech Suspension, M2R, Pirelli, Polisport, Regina Chain, Renthal, Twin Air, Motorex, TAG Metals, Ogio, Mechanix Wear, NelsonMX.com, TriStar, SDG, SFB Racing, Universal, Arnette, DRD, One Industries, LRP, Furious, Hinson Clutch Components, E-Line, Cycra, Excel, Works Connection, Atpac, Aussie/Sport, Jagg448, Sponsorhouse.com and SBS Brakes.
