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TYLER MEDAGLIA
450 MX / 6TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Tyler Medaglia made his return to racing in the United States this weekend at Ironman. The multi-time Canadian outdoor motocross champion wanted to show he has the speed and endurance to run with the best of the best here in Lucas Oil Pro Motocross. The Canadian rider made two appearances here in the states two years ago when he raced at Budds Creek and Ironman. He nished twentieth and sixteenth at those races respectively. Those are solid results but here in his return in 2018, he was out to prove that he still has what it takes and can do even better than that in this go around. Medaglia struggled to throw down a fast lap time in the sole morning qualifying practice session. He and the rest of the eld did not have the luxury of two timed practices because of the amount of rain that was being dumped on the course. Nonetheless, he would enter the day of racing with the seventeenth fastest lap time and he was ready to do battle. In moto one, Medaglia did not get off to the greatest of starts. He came around lap one in thirteenth position, but he did not panic. He picked his way forward over the next few laps and by lap three he was up to tenth. He would hang out there for a while, plugging away as he chased after Valentin Teillet. At the halfway point, he was nally able to catch and pass him to take over ninth. Next in line was Kyle Cunningham and he would pass him the very next lap to take over the number eight position. Things were be- ginning to click for Medaglia late in the moto. Then with two laps to go, Jason Anderson would crash, allowing Medaglia to move up one more position into seventh. He would keep the spot and hold it to the checkered ag. It was his best moto nish in the U.S. by far and he would aim to back it up in moto two. Medaglia got off to a much better start in moto two. He came out of the rst lap up front in fth place. Phil Nicoletti had something to say about that though and he would push Medaglia back to sixth on lap two. Two laps later, Blake Baggett would also come through and push Medaglia back but in the meantime, Medaglia passed Nicoletti back so he remained in sixth position. There he solidi ed himself and was left relatively alone the rest of the race. He rode strong in the rough, muddy conditions and showed that he could t right in with the riders in the U.S. He would hold onto sixth all the way to the end, besting his moto from earlier. His 7-6 scores earned him a sixth overall on the day, shattering his previous career high of sixteenth.
44 GRITMOTO • AUGUST 26, 2018