Coming into the weekend, Rockstar Husqvarna’s Christophe Pourcel knew he had to beat Goerke who held a 19-point lead in the series standings, and got off to a good start as the fastest qualifier in the morning. Pourcel got a good start in Moto 1 and by Lap 4 had worked his way into third place behind Goerke, who then fell with four laps remaining, handing second place over to Pourcel who had the fastest lap of the moto. In Moto 2, Christophe again found himself in third place behind Goerke but this time made a bold pass on the last lap, forcing Goerke out of the racing line, to take second overall for the day and gain a few points on the series leader as the Championship moves to Barrie, Ontario for the series finale next weekend.

Rockstar Energy OTSFF Yamaha’s Matt Goerke came into Round 9 with a comfortable series lead, knowing that his third National Championship is well within reach, but Goerke doesn’t have to win to take the title. His 3-3 performance this weekend was smart racing, including a holeshot in the second moto, and he will go into the final round with a 15-point cushion over Pourcel. Nonetheless, Matt is a fierce competitor who hates to be beaten, and was not very happy about the aggressive pass Pourcel made on him during the last lap of Moto 2. That was the second time this season that Matt has been passed by Pourcel on the last lap, and if you include Regina when Matt’s chain came off, that was the third. With only two motos left this season, Matt will probably play it smart and keep his eyes on the big prize, but this is motocross and as we have seen in the past anything can happen.

Coming from Florida, Royal Distributing Motovan Piller’s Race Team’s Kyle Chisholm was probably looking forward to Deschambault all season to showcase his sand skills, evident by him being the second fastest qualifier. Chisholm’s starts were probably not what he was hoping for, but he managed to work his way up in both motos to finish 5-4 on the day for fourth overall. Kyle has now finished one step off the podium in each of the last three rounds, and if he could grab a holeshot has showed enough speed that he could win.

Monster Energy Alpinestars Kawasaki’s Mike Alessi finished 6-5 on the day for fifth overall and now sits fourth in the series standings. Alessi grabbed another holeshot in the first moto but appeared to struggle in the deep, wet sand and was pushed back to sixth by the end of the race. Mike looked like he would finish sixth again in Moto 2 until Tyler Medaglia was forced to retire late in the race moving him up to fifth.

Rounding out the top 10 were Rockstar Energy OTSFF Yamaha’s Tim Tremblay in sixth, Yamaha Canada Cycle Works Foot Hills’ Keylan Meston in seventh, Redemption Racing’s Cade Clason in eighth, KTM Moose Racing Factory Connection’s Ryan Dowd in ninth, and TXS Productions Black Diamond MX O’Neal’s Jesse Wentland in tenth.

MX1

OVERALL FINISH	RIDER	MOTO 1	MOTO 2	BIKE
1st	Colton Facciotti	1st	1st	Honda
2nd	Christophe Pourcel	2nd	2nd	Husqvarna
3rd	Matt Goerke	3rd	3rd	Yamaha
4th	Kyle Chisholm	5th	4th	Honda
5th	Mike Alessi	6th	5th	Kawasaki
6th	Tim Tremblay	7th	6th	Yamaha
7th	Keylan Meston	8th	8th	Yamaha
8th	Cade Clason	12th	7th	KTM
9th	Ryan Dowd	10th	9th	KTM
10th	Jesse Wentland	9th	12th	Suzuki

MX1 Championship Standings

STANDING	RIDER	POINTS
1st	Matt Goerke	475
2nd	Christophe Pourcel	460
3rd	Colton Facciotti	426
4th	Mike Alessi	407
5th	Tyler Medaglia	378
6th	Kyle Chisholm	342
7th	Dillan Epstein	328
8th	Tim Tremblay	302
9th	Cade Clason	281
10th	Keylan Meston	244

MX2

Nut Up Industries Kawasaki’s Ryan Surratt came into Round 9 second in the MX2 series standings, 46-points behind leader Shawn Maffenbeier, and after a dominating 1-1 performance will now go into the final round only 11 points back and a real threat to win the title. Surratt narrowly missed grabbing the holeshot in Moto 1 but then made a pass for the lead over the first tabletop jump and led every lap to take the win, the first of his career here in Canada. In the second moto, Ryan grabbed the holeshot and spun out shortly after allowing both Jason Benny and Tanner Ward to get by. He wasted no time passing them both back to get into the lead, and just like in the first moto led every lap to take the win.

Rookie Pro Am rider KTM Canada Thor Racing’s Tanner Ward will remember this week of racing for a long time as the 17-year-old rookie went 2-2 for second overall in only his fifth professional race. Ward led the morning qualifying session, grabbed the holeshot in the first moto, posted the fastest lap, and rode a mistake free race to finish second. Tanner’s start in the second moto was not as good but by the third lap he had worked his way into second, again posting the quickest lap, and stayed there until the checkered flag. Finishing second overall at a National topped off an amazing week that saw Tanner win all nine of his motos at the ECAN in three Intermediate classes. This young phenom will certainly be looking to get on the box again at the series finale next weekend.

Black Rider Motovan Kawasaki’s Jason Benny used his local knowledge at this track to turn in a career best 6-4 performance to finish on the podium for the first time in his pro career. Benny rode well all day, found himself leading the second moto for a few corners, and held down second position for the first two laps. During the second moto, Jason had a good battle with fellow Quebecer Jeremy Pronovost and was able to hold him off to get himself up on the podium.

Another rider to have a career best performance was Motosport St-Cesaire Yamaha’s Jeremy Pronovost, who also used his local knowledge at Deschambault to finish 5-6 for fourth overall. Pronovost was very consistent lap after lap in the difficult conditions, and narrowly missed finishing on the podium after hitting a lapper late in Moto 2 and losing a position on the last lap.

MX101 FXR Yamaha Team’s Hayden Halstead rounded out the top 5 with 7-7 moto finishes and joined the group of top 5 finishers that all had career best performances at Deschambault. Halstead had to overcome poor starts in both motos and come from outside the top 10, and rode well in the tough conditions. Hayden sits tenth in the series and with a good finish next weekend at RJ Motosport Park could move up a few positions in the standings.