Medaglia Extends Canadian MX Lead

Team Suzuki Press Office - June 18.

Canadian MX1 Championship points leader Tyler Medaglia rose to the occasion at round three at Shadow Valley Raceway in Morden at the weekend with second overall with solid 3-2 moto scores.

In the first moto, Medaglia blasted out of the gate to round turn one in the top five which included Simon Homans, Colton Facciotti, Dusty Klatt, Kyle Keast and Jeff Northrop. A hard race was in the works for Medaglia, but on lap two he stuck a pass on Homans to take third place behind the lead duo of Facciotti and Klatt.

Nelson would prove to be Medaglia's toughest customer in what shaped up to be a battle for third. Nelson hounded Medaglia for two laps and then managed a successful pass. For the rest of the moto, Nelson repeatedly fended off all attacks by Medaglia. It looked like the American was going to deny Medaglia a top-three finish but Medaglia was able to rely on his powerful RM-Z450 EFI to put a last lap pass on Nelson.

The second moto start saw Nelson snare the holeshot with Medaglia in his rear wheel. This time Medaglia had no desire to play cat and mouse and he passed Nelson before the end of the first lap. But hew soon had first moto winner Colt Facciotti breathing down his neck. The two then set such a blistering pace, fighting their own battle, that within a few laps they put a 35-second gap on third place.

For the next eight laps Medaglia was in full control of the moto not giving an inch to Facciotti. Then Medaglia ran into some trouble after hitting a couple of braker bumps, which is all Facciotti needed to grab the lead. Medaglia rode a strategic race the rest of the moto to ensure he'd chalk up a second place finish and the valuable points it would add to his lead in the championship - 18 points over Dusty Klatt.

"I know I should have won the second moto, but it was still a good weekend for me and the team," said Medaglia. "I just need to keep on staying consistent at every round, because that's what wins championships. And with my RM-Z450, which has been awesome since round 1, I know I have a bike I can depend on."

Medaglia's MX1 team mates, Mitch Cooke and Brady Sheren, fared less well on the fast Shadow Valley track, which despite a brief early morning downpour proved to be ideal for racing all day long.

In the MX2 title hunt, Jeremy Medaglia redeemed himself from a troublesome round 2 to card an impressive fourth overall on the strength of 2-5 motos. As in the previous two rounds the battle for the MX2 win proved to be an American affair.

"It would have been nice to get a better finish in the second moto, but overall it was a good weekend. I went from sixth to second in the points standings so I'm happy about that," said Medaglia.