Racer X Illustrated — October 2017

12 2 http://www.racerxonline.com

Like Huffman, Metcalfe,

Goerke, and Alessi, the newcom-

er Epstein has perhaps found a

permanent home up north with

his great rides, or maybe this is

the boost he needs to get his

American results trending up.

“Being up here, you get that

almost like a clear head again—

and racing is just such a mental

game,” Epstein says. “Once

you get that taste of blood

again running up front and be-

ing with fast guys and showing

yourself you’re fast again, it’s

so easy and you see that it’s so

easy to be up front.”

All told, the American inva-

sion has been a good thing for

the series. It’s brought American

media attention, fan interest has

picked up each week with the

recognizable names (the series

livestreams its racing with the

Conex2Share app), and yeah,

the fans like it when a Facciotti

or Benoit beats the big names

from south of the border. But

none of the riders I spoke to said

they’ve ever felt unwelcome.

“I feel like more people want

Facciotti to win, but that’s obvious

because he’s Canadian,” Goerke

says. “Still, I feel like some of the

fans like me battling with him. I’m

sure he has more fans here, but I

think I have some too.”

Although he prefers Cana-

dians over Americans, and even

though he’s racing against them,

Schuster thinks the infl ux of

Americans has been a good thing.

“If you go back to 2013 or

so, I think, when Metcalfe won

his championship, you have

Metcalfe, Alessi, Goerke, [Davi]

Millsaps, who won it last year,

and now Christophe this year,”

Schuster says. “Those are all

pretty big-name guys that bring

some extra attention to the

series. You can look outside of

Canada and see other people

talking about the series and how

guys are doing because of it.

I think that’s a big deal, and it’s

pretty cool to see.” X

Florida’s Matt Goerke

(above and right) is a

veteran on the Canadian

scene, as is #111 Kyle

Chisholm. (Far right) Colton

Facciotti is holding the line

for Canadian pride against

the Americans.

I work a

lot harder

now than

I used

to back

then when

I won

Southwick.”

MATT GOERKE