After 6 weeks off since the CSRA season opener, the Supertrax / Byers Motorsports Team hit the road for Round 2 of the CSRA Nationals in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec.
While most of Ontario is seeing a shortage of snow so far this winter, Rouyn-Noranda had plenty on the ground and a large base of snow to build one of the CSRA’s larger race tracks.
Heading North into Quebec, we knew it was going to be a cold weekend. Both mornings we woke up -28*C to -35*C Temperatures but the sun came out and temperature warmed up for the afternoon Main Events.
Saturdays racing saw Jamie Byers put on a great show in the Pro-Lite Stock class. In Moto 1, Jamie didn’t get the greatest start and had to dig in and ride hard.
Coming out of the holeshot corner, Jamie was back in 6th. By the end of the first lap, he made his way up to 2nd picking a great line through the two rhythm sections but the leader had started to check out and Jamie settled for 2nd.
In Moto 2, Jamie was second coming out of the Holeshot corner, ducked to the hard inside of the big sweeping corner to take the lead which he held on to for the win.
With a 2nd and 1st in the Qualifiers, Jamie was Top Qualifier and lined up to the far inside for the start. When the green flag dropped, he grabbed the throttle and launched his Polaris IQ to the front for the Holeshot.
From there it was clear vision and he started to check out from the rest of the pack but he was not alone. #511 McPhail was hot on his tail but Jamie picked fast lines and held McPhail off for his first Pro-Lite win this season.
“Everything came together, the Polaris IQ’s suspension worked great through the rough sections and the hard work has payed off!” Jamie said pumped after the race.
Jamie was ready to rip the Open class on Sunday after the stock win on Saturday. In Moto 1, his mod sled launched off the start line and grabbed the holeshot.
Jamie led for 2 laps before getting passed by fellow Polaris racer #381 Dennis finishing 2nd. In Moto 2, Jamie got a great start but was pushed wide and lost many spots through the “S-bend” start coming out 5th.
Jamie charged hard getting himself in 3rd, going for 2nd, before having a mechanical failure going through the top rhythm section and having a nasty crash.
The sled got towed off the track and Rob (mechanic/dad) and Jamie got the sled back into shape and running again before the final. Qualifying 11th, Jamie started inside back-row for the final.
At a disadvantage with the tight start section, he was 9th coming around on the first lap. He rode smart and made good line choices to come across in 6th at the checkered.
“I feel that we could have had a Top 3 run in the Open final if I had a front row start to get upfront right away but that’s racing. I have to thank Rob for all his help, hard work and tuning once again this weekend.” Jamie said after the weekend. “We had a good weekend overall and look forward to our next race.”
