Honda Canada GDR takes victory at hometown race!!
CMRC National Round 5 – Gopher Dunes,Courtland Ontario
The West coast swing has come and gone, the nations top riders had some time to catch their breathe but it was time to fire things up again with the East kicking off in style at Gopher Dunes for Round 5 of the Rockstar Energy Motocross nationals. With just 9 points separating first and second place in MX1, Colton Facciotti, aboard his Honda Canada GDR CRF450R was hoping to extend his points lead in front of a loud hometown crowd at the Dunes. Westen Wroyzna, riding the GDR CRF250R in the MX2 class, was hoping to take his experience from the first 4 rounds of his rookie campaign and build on his results heading into the tough final 6 rounds of the series. To celebrate their home track race the GDR crew unveiled an all new look in the form of throwback 1996 McGrath replica graphics package and some amazing new 2015 Troy Lee Designs riding gear.
As things kicked off for the day, the #278 of Westen Wroyzna headed to the line to do battle against the nations top MX2 riders. Utilizing the off weeks in the series to his advtange Wroyzna came out and put together one of his most solid races of the year running a steady 12 place until a big crash put him to the ground and struggling to remount his bike. In a courageous display of grit and determination, Westen was able to get back up and re-fire the Honda Canada GDR CRF250R and finish the Moto. After composing himself in-between moto’s Wroyzna went out and put down a solid performance in MX2 Moto 2, running just outside of the top 10 on an insanely rough Gopher Dunes track and when the checkers dropped found himself in 13th.
In MX1, moto 1, Facciotti and Alessi continued where they left off in the West and quickly put some distance on the field as they both showed off their remarkable skills in the bottomless Gopher Dunes sand. As the #45 of Facciotti settled in at his race speed, Alessi continued his attack of the Gopher Dunes track and stretched out a lead leaving Colton comfortably in second about 6 seconds back. This feverish pace though ended up with Alessi on the sidelines out of fuel leaving the door wide open for the #45 CRF450R to swoop in for the kill with two laps left to take the Moto 1 win. In a near clone of Moto 1, the #1 and #2 riders in the MX1 class again jumped out to a great start and the heat, humidity and deep sand seemingly had no effect on these two riders as they put on another impressive display for the crowd. After extending his points lead in Moto 1, the cool calm and collected #45 found his rhythm running around 12 seconds back of Alessi until a late race pit stop by the MotoConcepts team had some fans wide eyed as Facciotti was back within a second of the #800 Alessi. With some late oto excitement Facciotti ended his day with a second place finish giving him 1-2 moto scores and a 1st OA on the day. Colton says of his day “I was happy to get through the day and continue to extend my points lead as we move into the second half of the season”.
Facciotti after his solid weekend at Round 5 extends his lead in the MX1 series to 28 points heading into Round 6 at Sand Del Lee on Sunday July 20th. Team manager Derek Schuster adds “We are very happy to come away with the win at our home track this weekend, this is the first time our team has accomplished this so it was an extra special one for us. I look forward to keeping the ball rolling next weekend in Sand Del Lee”.
Honda Canada, Troy Lee Designs, Pro Honda Oils and Chemicals, Yoshimura, Proven Moto, SSS, Dunlop Tires, Parts Canada, Hinson Clutch Components, PROCRF Technology, Atlas Brace, Dyco Tool, Honda Genuine Accessories, Honda Genuine Parts and Service, Cycra, Motoseat, Wiseco, Oakley, Snap On Tools, Macnab Transit, Works Connection, Matrix Concepts, Mechanix Wear, Hammerhead Designs, EBC Brakes, Limenine, DT1, Xtrig, Adidas, 2Undr, Dubya USA, Toronto Digital Imaging, Renthal, Alpinestars, Back in Motion, Evan Cooling, Dissent, Steahly Offroad, CMT Composite
Press Release brought to you courtesy of Honda Canada GDR Race Team.