Cycle News

VOL. 51 ISSUE 42 OCTOBER 21, 2014 P55 was probably going to stay in the bank where it has the previous two years (Villopoto pocketed the money in the very first MEC), since the competition seemed very close this year. No one really expected one rider to dominate and win all three motos, like you might expect Villopoto or Stew- art, who recently won the Red Bull Straight Rhythm even, when they are around. When Trey Ca- nard came out and won the first moto, the Oklahoman suddenly became the only rider who had a shot at the money. Canard's win didn't really surprise anyone; af- ter all, he's been riding well as of late, which included a win at the final National MX of the year. But when he won the second moto, things started getting really inter- esting, because, not only did he win the first two motos, but he did so rather convincingly, which included nabbing two holeshots, so he was in contention to win the truck, as well. There was hardly a person in the house who didn't want to see Canard win the money, es- pecially when you consider what injuries and hardships he's had to overcome throughout much of his racing career, not to mention that he is simply just one of the nicest people in the world. Heading into the final moto, Canard had a realistic chance of pocketing the money; even the person who was going to present the million dollars to the winner had already changed into his "presenting" attire. Canard lost his chance to win the truck after getting off to a third place start behind Jason Anderson and Millsaps. Millsaps and Canard quickly displaced Anderson and immediately got down to busi- ness. With two wins already un- der his belt, momentum seemed to be on Canard's side, and all he had to do was pass Millsaps and hold on for the win and the mon- ey would be his—a very realistic scenario. But Millsaps wasn't giv- ing an inch, and Canard had to Briefly... As mentioned, many riders were making their debut on their new teams and one of the more anticipat- ed ones was Justin Barcia on the Toyota/JGRMX Yamaha. It started off well but didn't end up that way. Barcia qualified second overall and looked confident going into the eve- ning program, but he just couldn't get off the line well all night long and seemed a little out of sync all night. And with such short races on a fairly easy track, it was difficult for the riders to separate themselves. Barcia found it difficult to make his way to the front, especially in the final race when he crashed on the first lap. He ended up going 6-6-16. Barcia's teammate Weston Peick did not have a good debut either. In qualifying, where the top 18 riders head straight to the program, Peick finished 20 th , so he had to qualify for the night via a five-lap LCQ held late in the afternoon. With only the top five making it in, Peick finished fourth. His best finish of the night was a 10 th in the final moto. Red Bull KTM's Ryan Dungey was another rider who was hammered all night by bad starts and was never re- ally in contention for the overall. His night started off with an eighth and was followed by a fifth and a third for fourth overall. The Rockstar Husqvarna factory team was out in force in what was its first race and it started off well. Jason Anderson, on the FC450, was the top qualifier and did well in the mains. A crash, however, left him in 15 th place in the first moto, but he rebounded with 7-4 moto finishes, continued on next page

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