2023 Medicine Hat Arenacross Photo Report

By Billy Rainford

Photos by Noel Flatters from SuperFine Media

After a long, one-month layoff between Round 1 at Gopher Dunes and this Round 2 Arenacross at Co-Op Arena in Medicine Hat, Alberta, we were back in action this past Saturday night. Noel Flatters from SuperFine Media was covering the event for us and did a fantastic job grabbing photos and interviews throughout the entire day.

#1 Mitchell Harrison came in as our defending Indoor champion, and he came in looking ready. Here’s a look at the event through Noel’s lens.

Moving up through the ranks, Wyatt Hasil and Liam Dodds checking things out during track walk.

Shawn Maffenbeier assumed the role of Team Manager for the MX101 Yamaha team. #lifeafterracing

Fans rolled in and some even got in the Halloween spirit, I think. I remember being in England for Supercross and a kid was all decked out in a Spiderman costume. It was January…

Sir Paul Kingsley led the riders through a pre-race riders meeting, as usual.

The future of Canadian MX from a western perspective.

#4 Jake Piccolo’s night started out very well. He was the fastest qualifier in both the 250 Pro/Am and 450 Pro class. But there’s more to this story…

250 Qualifying:

4 Jake Piccolo
1 Mitchell Harrison

450 Qualifying:

4 Jake Piccolo
1 Mitchell Harrison
24 Guillaume St Cyr
14 Quinn Amyotte
26 Julien Benek
25 Daniel Elmore
56 Blake Davies
31 Zach Ufimzeff
67 Ryan Martin
12 Sebastien Racine

250 Heat 1:

#14 Quinn Amyotte flinched and let Harrison, #67 Ryan Martin, and #25 Daniel Elmore get out to the front. #82 Dawson Gravelle was down and Elmore ended up last early. Harrison got away a little as Amyotte made a pass on Martin to take 2nd. #48 Devyn Smith was in a nice battle with #31 Zach Ufimzeff for 4th. Zach would make the pass as Elmore closed in.

#82 Dawson Gravelle went down early in this one.

At the flag, it was Harrison 5 seconds ahead of Amyotte then Martin and Ufimzeff going straight through after the 8 laps. Elmore and Smith would have to go to the LCQ.

250 Heat 2:

Holeshot to #26 Julien Benek, followed by #4 Jake Piccolo, #12 Sebastien Racine, #44 Dylan Rempel, #56 Blake Davies, and #43 Clayton Schmucki. Davies made a lap 1 pass on Rempel to take over 4th.

Racine and Davies had a nice battle for 3rd but the youngster from BC would make the pass for 3rd. Out front, Piccolo had his hands full with Benek who would make the pass late in lapped traffic.

At the flag, it was Benek, Piccolo, Davies, and Rempel heading to the Main while Racine and Schmucki would be off to the LCQ.

450 Heat 1:

Holeshot to #14 Amyotte but #1 Harrison would grab the lead right away. #25 Elmore was 3rd with Ufimzeff, Racine, and Schmucki giving chase.

Ufimzeff and Racine had a nice battle with Sebastien eventually getting by to take the final transfer position at the flag.

Out front it was Harrison and Amyotte then Elmore.

450 Heat 2:

#4 Piccolo grabbed the holeshot with #24 Guillaume St Cyr, Smith, and Davies behind him. Davies made a nice block pass stick on St Cyr as Guillaume hits a tuff block that was knocked onto the track.

#26 Benek was well back and had to make some quick passes in the 10-lap qualifier to to make it in and made a nice block pass on #67 Martin to get it done.

At the flag, it was Piccolo, Davies, and Benek.

JC Seitz outside getting #15 Dexter Seitz’s Supermini ready for action.

The Supermini riders were treated to a 15-lap Main with the crowd watching their every move. The holeshot went to #38 Chase Nemeth ahead of #15 Dexter Seitz who wasted no time getting to the front. Behind them on lap 1 it was #10 Braxton Zeitner and #923 Kayden Kerr in a tight battle.

Zeitner would get by Nemeth in the whoops and grab 2nd place as Seitz tried to get away out front, building a 10-second lead early.

Nemeth would struggle and drop back, finishing in 8th.

Out front, Seitz negotiated the lappers as Zeitner did the same trying to chase him down. Kerr would move to 3rd but he was 20 seconds back of Zeitner. #315 Trey Schmucki was next followed by #518 Parker Hatt.

At the flag, it was Seitz then Zeitner, and Kerr.

Supermini podium: #15 Dexter Seitz, #10 Braxton Zeitner, #923 Kayden Kerr.

250 LCQ:

They took the top 4 from each Heat and then another 4 from the LCQ for a final field of 12 riders with a couple needing to start in the second row.

#25 Elmore grabbed the holeshot ahead of #48 Smith who got passed by #12 Racine who then went after Elmore out front.

At the flag, Elmore took it just ahead of a charging Racine while Smith held on to 3rd with #43 Schmucki on his rear fender to make it in.

450 LCQ:

#43 Schmucki grabbed the holeshot ahead of #91 Ethan Ouellette, #31 Ufimzeff, #44 Rempel, and #48 Smith who bumped Rempel and made the pass that started a very good fight between the two young riders.

After a heated battle, Smith would go for it on the last lap to try and take the final transfer spot from Rempel, but would end up going down.

At the flag, it was Ufimzeff, Martin, Schmucki, and Rempel who would move to the Main.

Tee Perrot was on hand to help his Manluk Racing teammates.

Paul Lavoie from LRX Performance was there to help Harrison.

#31 Zach Ufimzeff relaxing in the stands.

Bennet Amyotte helping out his little bro.

#43 Clayton Schmucki has the friendliest accent you’ll ever hear. It’s also his week for the Frid’Eh Update Interview.

250 Pro/Am Main:

Holeshot to #1 Harrison with #4 Piccolo, #14 Amyotte, and #67 Martin behind him. Martin would go down early and #56 Davies would have nowhere to go and would plow into him.

On lap 3, it was still Harrison, Piccolo, and Amyotte as #26 Benek would make a pass on #25 Elmore to takeover 4th place then it was #44 Rempel behind them in 6th.

Harrison started to get away out front as Piccolo started showing some troubles that Amyotte would take advantage of to take 2nd place from him with a nice block pass.

Benek would follow suit and take 3rd from Jake as Piccolo started to make his way backwards in obvious distress.

Benek would make the pass stick on Amyotte who stayed with him until the latter part of the 15-lap Main.

Behind them, it was a tight battle between Elmore, Piccolo, Rempel, Ufimzeff, and Racine.

At the flag, it was Harrison and Benek with a gap back to Amyotte, Piccolo, Elmore, Racine, Rempel, Ufimzeff, Smith, Schmucki, Davies, and Martin rounding out the field.

250 PRO / AM

Overall	Nbr	Name	Points Earned
1st	#1	MITCHELL HARRISON LEESBURG, FL	25
2nd	#26	JULIEN BENEK MISSION, BC	22
3rd	#14	QUINN AMYOTTE BLACKSTOCK, ON	20
4th	#4	JACOB PICCOLO ABBOTSFORD, BC	18
5th	#25	DANIEL ELMORE TELKWA, BC	16
6th	#12	SEBASTIEN RACINE CASSELMAN, ON	15
7th	#44	DYLAN REMPEL BERSLAU, ON	14
8th	#31	ZACH UFIMZEFF LAKE COUNTRY, AB	13
9th	#48	DEVYN SMITH MAPLE RIDGE, BC	12
10th	#43	CLAYTON SCHMUCKI RED DEER, AB	11
11th	#56	BLAKE DAVIES MISSION, BC	10
12th	#67	RYAN MARTIN KELSO, WA	9

450 Main:

Holeshot again to Harrison with #56 Davies in tow followed by Amyotte and Benek.

At the end of lap 1 it was Harrison, Davies, Benek, Amyotte, St Cyr (who only had a 350 with him), Racine, Elmore, Rempel, Schmucki, and #85 Blake Osatchuk.

At the half, Davies was actually putting pressure on Harrison out front with Benek and Amyotte right with him. St Cyr, Racine, and Ufimzeff were in a battle for 5th.

#56 Blake Davies ran up in 2nd until Benek made the pass.

Benek was wheel-tapping through the whoops and it appeared to be gaining him time on the leaders and it would help him make a pass on Davies for 2nd.

At the flag, it was Harrison, Benek and Davies, making his first-ever Pro podium. Amyotte would cross in 4th ahead of the St Cyr, Racine, Ufimzeff battle.

450 Main podium: Mitchell Harrison, Julien Benek, Blake Davies.

450 PRO

Overall	Nbr	Name	Points Earned
1st	#1	MITCHELL HARRISON LEESBURG, FL	25
2nd	#26	JULIEN BENEK MISSION, BC	22
3rd	#56	BLAKE DAVIES MISSION, BC	20
4th	#14	QUINN AMYOTTE BLACKSTOCK, ON	18
5th	#24	GUILLAUME ST-CYR VICTORIAVILLE, QC	16
6th	#12	SEBASTIEN RACINE CASSELMAN, ON	15
7th	#31	ZACH UFIMZEFF LAKE COUNTRY, BC	14
8th	#44	DYLAN REMPEL BERSLAU, ON	13
9th	#25	DANIEL ELMORE TELKWA, BC	12
10th	#43	CLAYTON SCHMUCKI RED DEER, AB	11
11th	#85	BLAKE OSATCHUK REGINA, SK	10
DNS	#4	JACOB PICCOLO ABBOTSFORD, BC	9