Monday, April 26, 2010

Shannonville Supermoto / ENAC Can-Am Race #1 Report

The Ontario Supermoto season officially began this past weekend at the Shannonville Motorsports Park. The first round of the Shannonville series and the Eastern North American  Can-Am Championship took place on Sunday on the Nelson Circuit with a little dirt thrown in Supermoto style.


The mains kicked off with the SM2 250 Amateur class. Jason Hine from Michigan on his KTM was the lone 250 pro rider to show up so he rode with the SM2 riders. He got the start on the other riders and left them to battle for position. Steve Scharfe got the second place start and held that to the end. The excitement in this race came from Colin Trevor and Broady Gavigan dicing for the last podium positions with Colin finishing ahead of Broady.
SM2 gets off the line

The biggest class of the day was next. Andy Cule got the holeshot on the 15 man Open Amateur class and held it to the end. Kevin Kiddle held second over Chris Barendregt until the second lap when Chris snuck through the inside of a left hand corner on the pavement. Jerrett Bellamy closed in on Kiddle until the 4th lap when Jerrett got a little aggressive in the dirt, lost the front end and went down. Sam Harris who was running 5th got tangled up in Bellamy’s crash and also went down. Andy Cule took the win followed by Chris Barendregt and Kevin Kiddle.

In the Beginner class Sam Harris got the start followed closely by Krys Nowakowski. These two battled it out for the entire race. At the end it was Nowakowski who came out on top after muscling his way past Harris. Tony Haines rounded out the podium. Colin Trevor made Haines work for it. Trevor’s 250 was working hard against Haines’ 450 but couldn’t get a pass to stick.

Sam Harris (5) and Krys Nowakowski (103) battled it out

The Pro 450’s were up next. Jesse Morgan pulled the holeshot over Erik McAdam and Aarom MacDonald but blew wide and off the track on the turn 3 left hand sweeper. Morgan got back on track close beging MacDonald. The problems weren’t done for Morgan. He stalled his Yamaha 450 in the dirt section and was unable to get it restarted. MacDonald then closed in on McAdam, made a pass and went on to take the win. Paul Rouillard rounded out the podium.

McAdam (76) leads MacDonald and Morgan (88)

Andy Cule once again pulled a holeshot in the SM1 Semi-Pro class over Kevin Kiddle and Bart Bidzinski. Cule held the lead for the entire race. Bidzinski would eventually get by Kiddle and that’s how they finished.

Andy Cule (32) gets the jump on the SM1 field

In the +35 Veteran class Chris Barendregt got the holeshot over Fred Vegter, Steve Scharfe and Tony Haines. Barendregt held the lead to take the win while Haines worked his way up to second and Vegter closed out the podium.

Fred Vegter (13) holds off Steve Scharfe (75) and Tony Haines (923)

Only 3 riders took to the start for the Pro Open race. Jesse Morgan solved his bike issues to get the holeshot over Erik McAdam on his Honda 450. Jason Hine on his 250 was the third rider but was unable to hang with the leaders on their 450’s. Rookie pro McAdam tucked in behind the more experienced Morgan to see what he could learn and followed him in for second.

Morgan making the pass on McAdam on the front straight

Other notables were the lone female rider Danielle Hine holding her own against the guys in the beginner class and Mathieu Robitaillie as the only super quad to enter.

It was a great weekend to kick off the season. The weather held out and stayed dry for the racers and everyone had a great time. The next Shannonville Supermoto race takes place on the smaller Supermoto track Sunday May 16 with practice all day Saturday the 15th. The ENAC Can-Am Championship continues June 6 at Auto City Speedway in Clio, Michigan.