NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN
Medicine Hat's Colton Medwed goes over a jump during a practice session in the Alberta Motocross Championship on Saturday, May 18, 2019 at Medicine Hat Motocross Park.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
The mud was flying at the Alberta Motocross Championships this weekend – but that’s just how Colton Medwed likes it.
The 15-year-old rider was one of the only Hatters in action over the long weekend at Medicine Hat Motocross Park, and says the muddy conditions may have worked out in his favour thanks to his familiarity with the local course.
“I feel like a lot of the kids out there just give up when it comes to the mud, but I just keep going and pushing it to the limit,” said Medwed. “It’s my home track and I know the layout really good.”
Medwed earned a fourth-place finish in his supermini class, taking fifth in the first moto and sixth in the second one. He was last in the group of 15 junior 250 racers on the weekend.
As for other Medicine Hat competitors, Jeremie Lacroix took second in intermediate 250 and fourth in GP pro am, Troy Seeley was sixth in 450 junior and vet junior, while Troy Bernath was fourth in a 4- to 6-year-old division.
Medwed got into motocross racing at the age of eight when his father gave him a bike as a gift. The Crescent Heights student has spent the three few years vying for SuperMini supremacy at the provincial level, but this year Medwed made the decision to step up the horsepower and join the junior 250cc class as well.
“It takes a lot of training, it takes a lot of riding to get up to speed. Just getting in shape, going for bike rides and stuff, it’s all a big grind,” he said. “This year we’re getting right back into it, doing the full series and looking to finish good in the points.”
Medwed added the competition is fierce in both classes, particularly the junior 250cc, which has proven a demanding transition onto a more powerful bike.
“It’s a really tough class,” said Medwed, who raced alongside his older brother Logan when the Alberta Motocross Championship stopped in Medicine Hat in 2017, though Logan has stepped away from the sport since. “There’s more power on the 250. You can do a lot more jumps and a lot more stuff on the 250. It’s an overall better bike.
“The SuperMini, I’ve been racing the class for the past three years so I know the competition well, and there’s some new kids in it, so it should be good.”
