A new addition to the schedule this year, Calabogie Peaks Ski Resort played host to Round #1 of the CSRA National Series. Racers had the chance on Friday to use the hill to test out their new machines and do any last minute fine-tuning before hitting the track in full force Saturday.
In the Semi-Pro Stock class, it was a familiar group of names out front starting with #421 Dylan Hall followed by #217 Sean Macaualy who made the jump to Arctic Cat this year riding for All-Terrain Racing/First Nations Motorsports.
With one lap left to go, Quebec racer #144 Maxime Taillefer made the pass on Macaulay and took over second position leaving Macaulay with a respectable third place finish. Giving the Royal Distributing/Rockstar/Factory Recreation team a clean sweep in the Semi-Pro division, #421 Dylan Hall once again took the win on his Ski-Doo in the Open class on Sunday afternoon.
With Hall out in front from the start, the rest of the pack fell into place behind him starting with #381 J.B. Dennis aboard his Byers Motorsports Polaris. #333 Jeremy VanDolder of Labours Union/Dayco battled early on in the race with Peterborough Roofing’s #107 Tom Adams for third position, with VanDolder pulling into the final podium position.
From Timmins, Ontario; #55 Angela Vacchino, last year’s National Pro Women Champion held up to her reputation as Canada’s fastest women racer by putting her RJ’s Motosport Arctic Cat out front for the overall win. Team Rosko Powersports/Ski-Doo racer, #111s Stacey Orr, finished second overall followed by #989 Wakenda Peters.
#937 Dylan Martin came up from the States for the weekend to race for Royal Distributing/Rockstar/Factory Recreation. Martin made quite the first impression with Canada as he grabbed the holeshot in Saturday’s Pro Open final holding off the rest of the hard-charging pack to take the win. Behind first a heated battle continued between Martin’s team-mate, #115 David Joanis and #93 Iain Hayden (Rockstar/Polaris). Joanis got himself ahead of Hayden on the 10th lap only to exchange positions again with four laps left to go. At the checkered it was #937 Dylan Martin, followed by #93 Iain Hayden in second place and #115 David Joanis rounding out the top three.
As the weekend was coming to an end, fans were still on the edge of seat waiting for one race – Sunday’s Pro Open Final! When the green flag dropped it was team-mates Butler and Hayden that rounded the top of the hill first, unfortunately Butler got sideways and went down hard causing the race to be red-flagged. Butler walked off the track under his own power, but obviously would not be participating in the re-start.
With a second chance at the start, #93 Iain Hayden once again took the lead on his Rockstar Polaris with #115 David Joanis and #98 Mike Island close behind. On the second lap, Joanis made the pass on Hayden for the lead which turned out to be short lived with Hayden resuming his position out front almost immediately. #98 Mike Island also got into the mix and put himself ahead of Joanis in second position.
Rockstar racers exchanged positions in the sixth lap as #937 Dylan Martin took over third ahead of Joanis. A great race continued much to the delight of the large crowd of spectators, who cheered loudly as #93 Iain Hayden took the checkered flag for his first CSRA win of the year! #98 Mike Island of Team Rosko Powersports/Ski-Doo took second place with #937 Dylan Martin in third.
Racers will take a break over the holidays and resume racing on January 15-16, 2010 in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec for the Coors Light International Grand Prix.
