The final round of the Ontario Provincial Series is in the books and I came out with my first Provincial Championship! I've had a couple seconds and thirds over the years so it was sweet to finally hold the #1 Plate (see attached pics). The points were super tight in both my classes - Youth and MX1 Pro - coming into the weekend. In Youth, I was 2 points behind 1st and in Pro I was 3 points of out 3rd. Coincidentally, the guy I was battling with for both of these positions was #143 Eric Thiessen. Once again the field was stacked in both classes with a lot of guys off from the nationals and getting ready for the first east coast round next weekend.
Here's the full story...
In Youth, I knew all I had to do was finish ahead of Thiessen and I would get the title. In moto 1 I finished directly ahead of him in 9th which left me one point behind him going into the final moto. I had a good start in moto 2 (narrowly missing a second turn pile up) and the pit board read "+9 on 143" when I came around the first lap in 4th. I kept pace for a few laps and got the message "143 down! +30". At that point, I didn't want to risk anything and backed it off a bit. I finished the moto in 9th, well ahead of 143 which was enough to seal the deal for the title.
In the first pro moto I had a pretty bad start and only made it up to 11th. Nonetheless, I was now only 1 pt out of 3rd for the series. In the final pro moto, we had a great 5 way battle going for 7th! Thiessen was in 7th and I was three positions back. I knew I had to beat him to get third in the series. I tried and tried to make some passes but couldn't make it happen. On the last lap I urgently tried to make a pass for 9th and lost the front end. My bike stalled and I knew it was over. I ended up with 4th in the MX1 class in the series, missing 3rd by 5 pts. I'm still happy with that. Ontario Provincial Series Final Standings
Youth - 1st Overall
MX1 Pro - 4th OverallThanks everyone for all the support so far this season, I couldn't have done it without you (or at least not looked as good doing it haha!)
With the Provincials behind me, it's now time to jump head first into the Nationals. This weekend marks Round 5 of the 9 race series at Gopher Dunes - it'll be my first national this year. My goal is to try and score points at each round and beat my best finish of 17th in the MX1 class. After Walton, I headed straight to Strictly MX where Mike got my suspension...errrr....taught me how to service my suspension (Note: Mike separated his shoulder at Walton on Sunday). I'm pretty sure he got his share of physiotherapy for the day - thanks for gutting it out Mike! After that we headed to Gopher Dunes to get some settings for the weekend. For those of you who don't know, Gopher Dunes is the roughest track in Canada (some have said it makes Southwick look smooth). It's deep, sandy, and just plain brutal. I'll be doing my fair share of sand riding this week to prepare.
Until next week, thanks for reading!!DL
Here's the full story...
In Youth, I knew all I had to do was finish ahead of Thiessen and I would get the title. In moto 1 I finished directly ahead of him in 9th which left me one point behind him going into the final moto. I had a good start in moto 2 (narrowly missing a second turn pile up) and the pit board read "+9 on 143" when I came around the first lap in 4th. I kept pace for a few laps and got the message "143 down! +30". At that point, I didn't want to risk anything and backed it off a bit. I finished the moto in 9th, well ahead of 143 which was enough to seal the deal for the title.
In the first pro moto I had a pretty bad start and only made it up to 11th. Nonetheless, I was now only 1 pt out of 3rd for the series. In the final pro moto, we had a great 5 way battle going for 7th! Thiessen was in 7th and I was three positions back. I knew I had to beat him to get third in the series. I tried and tried to make some passes but couldn't make it happen. On the last lap I urgently tried to make a pass for 9th and lost the front end. My bike stalled and I knew it was over. I ended up with 4th in the MX1 class in the series, missing 3rd by 5 pts. I'm still happy with that. Ontario Provincial Series Final Standings
Youth - 1st Overall
MX1 Pro - 4th OverallThanks everyone for all the support so far this season, I couldn't have done it without you (or at least not looked as good doing it haha!)
With the Provincials behind me, it's now time to jump head first into the Nationals. This weekend marks Round 5 of the 9 race series at Gopher Dunes - it'll be my first national this year. My goal is to try and score points at each round and beat my best finish of 17th in the MX1 class. After Walton, I headed straight to Strictly MX where Mike got my suspension...errrr....taught me how to service my suspension (Note: Mike separated his shoulder at Walton on Sunday). I'm pretty sure he got his share of physiotherapy for the day - thanks for gutting it out Mike! After that we headed to Gopher Dunes to get some settings for the weekend. For those of you who don't know, Gopher Dunes is the roughest track in Canada (some have said it makes Southwick look smooth). It's deep, sandy, and just plain brutal. I'll be doing my fair share of sand riding this week to prepare.
Until next week, thanks for reading!!DL
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