Abbotsford, BC – The brand new Canadian Jetwerx Triple Crown series made its first 2018 stop at the Abbotsford Centre Arena on February 24th. Despite extremely muddy conditions, KTM Canada’s riders Cole Thompson and Tanner Ward showed great speed and found themselves on the podium. Thompson was making his first appearance on a KTM 450 SX-F in 2 years while 250 teammate Ward was riding his first Pro Canadian race as a professional racer.
MX1 rider Cole Thompson started his day by setting some fast practice times. He quickly went on to win his 450 heat race, qualifying 1st for the main event. As the conditions were deterring, Cole lined-up for the final race confident he had the speed to get out front. After a top 5 start, Cole moved up to 3rd and immediately found himself battling over 2nd place with #5 Tyler Medaglia. After exchanging position at multiple occasions, Thompson secured the 2nd place and started putting pressure on the leader. Twice during the race, Cole came really close to making the pass for the lead, but he tipped over due to the very slippery conditions. Thompson left round 1 of the Arenacross Series 2nd in the point standing but he is already looking forward to redeeming himself in Calgary on March 15th & 16th. “Mud races are always tough to predict, Saturday could have went both ways and even thought I knew I had the speed to be in front, I will take 2nd place and build on it. I can’t thank my mechanic, Steve Beattie, enough for his help this weekend. He was able to keep my 450 SX-F in mint condition all night despite the difficult track situation and I know it was a big factor to my podium.”
Also riding aboard a KTM Canada THOR machine was MX2 rider Tanner Ward. The Abbotsford Arenacross was Ward’s first Pro Canadian race as a professional motocross racer. Having raced the East Coast leg of the AMA Arenacross series, Tanner was confident in his new indoor racing skills. The muddy conditions set him back a bit but after finishing 2nd in his heat race, he knew he was definitely a title contender. Ward experienced a bad start followed by a crash right in front of him that caused a pile up in the first corner. Despite of all that, he quickly re-focused and got himself back into the race. From then on, Ward rode a strong race gaining position after position to finally earn a podium with a hard fought 3rd place. “I’ve been riding Arenacross almost every weekend for the past 2 months but never would I have expected these conditions. I can’t wait for the upcoming races for the opportunity to truly show my speed. I’ve worked hard and gained a lot of racing experience since moving to Pro. Overall, I’m happy with my podium this weekend but I’m looking forward to my first win of the 2018 season!”
KTM Canada, Inc. would like to thank Thor & Parts Canada for their support, as well as all our other team sponsors.
Results:
450 AX:
1. Colton Facciotti – 30 points
2. Cole Thompson – KTM – 27 points
3. Tyler Medaglia – 25 points
4. Carson Brown – 23 points
5.Keylan Meston – 21 points
250 AX:
1. Carson Brown – 30 points
2. Shawn Maffenbeier – 27 points
3. Tanner Ward – KTM – 25 points
4. Ryan Lockhart – 23 points
5. Marco Canella – 21 points
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