Photo Report | 2024 Canadian Triple Crown Series Round 2 – Temple Hill MX
Let’s take a look at some of the racing action from Round 2 of the Canadian Triple Crown Series MX Nationals at Temple Hill MX in Raymond, Alberta.
By Billy Rainford
We were back at Temple Hill MX in Raymond, Alberta, for the first time in a couple decades. I have to admit, when I drove through and took a look at the track before round 1, I didn’t know what to think of it. It looked small and the property didn’t look like it could host such an event. It turns out I was wrong.
I will say that due to its location, attendance looked pretty bad. In fact, everyone I saw there was either a family member, friend, or raced the WCAN. It completely baffles me that we don’t have line-ups to get in to see this crazy and awesome sport! It always has and it looks like it always will. Can we incorporate the use of hockey sticks at some level?
We got lucky with the wind for Pro Day on Sunday. Strong winds are always a threat at this place in the prairies on the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains. We saw some of what it was capable on the Tuesday before the WCAN, but we lucked out. It was warm and sunny.
Let’s have a look at how some of the racing went.
250 Pro/Am
It won’t surprise anyone that #300 Drew Adams was the fastest in qualifying. We were about to see, first-hand, just how fast the top A class rider in the USA is. Of course, as we all know, his day wasn’t without its glitches.
The big news came early when #5 Tyler Medaglia got caught up in this first turn pile-up when #26 Kaven Benoit slid out at the front of the pack. It bent Tyler’s front rotor and he had no front brake. He over-jumped a table and smashed his face on the bars, forcing him out. He won’t be back until we get to Gopher Dunes, at the earliest.I didn’t see what happened to #113 Braden Spangle from Washington State, but he came into the 2nd round with a wrapped up wrist and is only scored a 36-DNF in the official results.#146 Kaiser Strode is also up from Washington. He’s got sick gold rims and has the name of a Die Hard villain. He finished 34th (33-32).Austin Watling decided not to race the PreMix class on Sunday, but at least #424 Nolan Dickinson from Illinois was out there on the #424 (That was Austin’s amateur number). He was 32nd.I got a message that #165 Logan Burns is all the way here from SS Marie on his own in a van (Pfft, who isn’t?!). With an effort like that, he makes it in. 22-26 put him 29th.There are a lot of Intermediate riders making up the field in the class. #97 Wyatt Hasil is one of them getting his feet wet at the top level. He ended up 24th (21-19).Our relationship got off to a rough start when I pointed out to Scott Tokley before first practice on the line that Chase Reid’s numbers were all different on his bike. He’s normally #32 but the front number plate had a piece of white tape reading 321 while the side plates had 132. What really would have sucked would have been for them to black flag him and mess him all up! Scott just pulled the tape off and made it read 132. Sorry, Chase. The rider from Camas, WA was 22nd. Hey, Chase, ever eat the 8-patty burger in Camas? I have a coffee mug from that restaurant!We’re still waiting for #55 Hayden Jameson to have his breakout ride at this level. He’s faster than his 20th overall shows. He was 15th in moto 1 after a good start. Unfortunately, he had a bad start in moto 2 and pushed a bit too hard and crashed, ringing his bell. Hopefully, he’s all good for round 3 in Manitoba this week.#34 Devyn Smith was the other rider caught up in that first turn crash. He didn’t give up and managed to get himself up to 20th and then 15th in moto 2 for 19th.A real bummer for #29 Blake Davies. He was undefeated all week in his Intermediate races at the WCAN and finished 13th in moto 1. He crashed in moto 2 and broke his right forearm. See you in 6-8 (That’s 3-4 in MX speak).#87 Liam Dodds from Revelstoke (I wonder if he knows how lucky he is?) is another young rider lining up. He was consistent with 16-17 motos for 17th.#19 Dylan Rempel squeaked through the chaos of the moto 1 start and pulled the holeshot. He was looking good until his bike started sounding bad and the engine let go on him. He came back for a 12th in moto 2 and was 15th overall.It’s time for #24 Zach Ufimzeff to start putting in some results. 11-14 isn’t horrible but he’s faster than 14th overall. Let’s see what he’s got this week.One of the best battles on the track was between #25 Tanner Scott and #232 Clayton Schmucki. I don’t remember Clayton being such a flashy rider but he’s looked really good at the first 2 rounds. Tanner got the better of the battle and was 12th (12-10) with Clayton just behind him in 13th (14-11).#66 Noah Porter was amazing in moto 1, avoiding the crash in turn 1 and then running 3rd for a while! 7-13 put him in an impressive 11th overall.Under the radar no more! #12 Sebastien Racine now knows he belongs up at the front trying to stay with an old guy from Quebec and a hotshot from Tennessee. Had an electrical issue not stopped him, his 2-2 motos would have been enough for the overall! Next week, Sebastien. In reality, DNF-2 put him 10th but his confidence should be soaring after those rides.#33 Tyler Yates looks good too. He cracked the top 10 with 10-9 motos.We saw one of the best rides we’ve ever seen in moto 1 from #300 Drew Adams. He passed every other rider out there and took the win after being down in turn 1. Like I said in the opening, it really shows you how fast riders are down south. He was about to run away with the 2nd moto but got caught out and crashed really hard, forcing him to retire for the day.And that was the best I think I’ve ever seen #30 Austin Jones look! The Auz Man had his best-ever finish for 7th with 9-8 motos. Let’s see if he can keep the ball rolling.#143 Tiger Wood was under fire a lot on Sunday. He was in some great battles and finished 5-6 for 6th.#316 Evan Stice from Idaho looked good again at round 2. He’s here from Idaho and did what he could to hold off some of the top riders in both motos. 8-4 broke the top 5 for him.I know how fit #59 Wyatt Kerr is so I kept an eye on him. He made passes the entire time he was out on the track in both motos. Like former Priority MX rider Liam O’Farrell, riders will now fear looking behind them and seeing Wyatt. He raced his forward to 3rd in moto 2 for his first moto podium and 4th overall, just 1 point out of 3rd.When #402 Gage Linville looked over his shoulder in moto 1, he saw…everyone! He led until the final 2 laps when Adams went around him. He ended up losing touch with the top riders in moto 2 and was 7th for a podium position in 3rd.#14 Quinn Amyotte was a front-runner all day. He was alone in 2nd in moto 1 until Racing and then Adams closed in. He held on for 3rd and then took 5th in moto 2 for a very good 2nd overall.With Adams likely to disappear from our series soon, I don’t see why anyone would bet against #26 Kaven Benoit winning another 250 title! He’s shown he can run the pace of everyone except the young American phenom. He came from last to 4th in moto 1 and then grabbed the holeshot, led until Adams passed him but crashed in moto 2, and took the win. With starts like he gets, who’s going to challenge him?250 podium: Kaven Benoit, Quinn Amyotte, Gage Linville.
The second moto was red flagged at around 17:00 when #1 Dylan Wright crashed and was receiving medical attention on the track. We expected a staggered restart but then they decided to call an end to the race and riders headed back to the pits.
#168 Cale Kuchnicki is back from Michigan for more. He crashed right in front of me and finished 25-27 for 29th.I didn’t see what happened to #58 Tommy Dallaire from Quebec, but 28-25 for 27th doesn’t sound like a good day for the stylish rider.#88 Bryant Humiston rides his 350 (?) like a 125! You can tell where he is at all times as he rips around the track. 21-21 put the rider from Wyoming 24th.#41 Ryan Derry is Engineer by day and Pro Motocrosser by…well, also day. He cracked the top 20 with 18-18 motos for 19th.I didn’t even know #22 Tyler Gibbs was there until the motos! He’s usually a really good starter but wasn’t up at the front early in either motos. 27-15 put him 18th.#246 Chance Blackburn from Washington was in a nice battle with #50 Crayden Dillon in moto 1 and the two finished next to each other in the results. Chance was 17th (13-22 with a crash).#50 Crayden Dillon is a 2024 Snocross champion. The Ontario rider is on the way up and finished a steady 16-16 for 16th.It’s great to see #716 Todd Minnie on the track again. He didn’t make it in Calgary but made up for it with 17-17 motos for 15th this week.So, #670 Gavin Brough has raced the AMA Pro Motocross Championship on Saturday and then our series on the Sunday two weekends in a row now! Yep. I don’t know how he could have hung on this week but he finished 14-10 for 13th this week after 10-8 8th in Calgary last week.#377 Daniel Elmore crashed with Blackburn in moto 2 after a 9th in moto 1. He was 13th when moto 2 got stopped and ended up 12th.It’s also great to see #482 Teren Gerber back at the races, too. He was very solid with 12-11 motos for 11th overall.#18 Parker Eales always finds himself a rival. This year it looks like it will be #10 Keylan Meston. They gauged each other all day with Parker going 11-9 for 10th.#10 Keylan Meston had to work hard to stay ahead of Eales in both motos. His 10-8 put him just in front of him in 9th. Let’s see what these two have for us this week.#1 Dylan Wright took the lead in moto 1 at the halfway point and then moved to first place in moto 2 before crashing hard, causing a red flag. Dylan is currently in the hospital in Lethbridge with some rib and lung issues to name a couple. He’s in good spirits and I’m sure we’ll see him back at the front in no time. 1-DNF put him 8th.I’m waiting for #84 Tanner Ward to grab a holeshot and run up at the front. He ended up on his own in moto 1 and was 7th when moto 2 was stopped, putting him 7th.I really liked what I saw from #17 Julien Benek this week. He was up in the mix and should have confidence to keep doing it moving forward. 6-6 put him 6th.#8 Mitchell Harrison kept making passes and worked his way up to 5-4 motos for 5th.I th ink the rest of the 450 class should be a little worried with what we saw from the two new guys this week. #808 Preston Kilroy tied for 3rd place and ended up 4th with 3-5 motos.#109 Aaron Tanti looks to be getting up to where we expected him to be. He came from last to 7th in moto 1 after a clutch issue and was 2nd when moto 2 was stopped to take 3rd. Again, this should cause the rest of the riders some concern.Same goes for #23 Josiah Natzke from New Zealand. WHen he gets a start, he can ride to a win. He finished 4-3 for 2nd. The flood gates are wide open without Dylan in the mix.#15 Jess Pettis steps into the driver’s seat with Dylan out. He’s been the only rider this close to him so far.Obviously, we’ll miss Dylan but the racing for 1st place may have just opened up!450 podium: Jess Pettis, Josiah Natzke, Aaron Tanti 🤣
Overall
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