This past weekend, the Supertrax Magazine/Byers Motorsports/Polaris team travelled to the home town of Ski-Doo for the 29th running of the Grand Prix de Valcourt.
The Valcourt crew did a great job preserving the Yvon Duhame Snowcross and Ice Oval tracks, despite the warm weather and the dreaded rain prior to the event. The event brought top Snowcross racers from the CSRA, SCM, ECS and ISOC circuits from Canada and the USA.
Saturdays Semi-Pro Open class racing brought temperatures that we are used to racing in at the Grand Prix with strong winds.
In moto 1, Jamie was running 3rd going down the long front stretch rhythm section before another rider landed on the back of the tunnel of his sled, launching the sled out from under him. Jamie was able to get back on the sled and catch up to the next racer but was unable to complete the pass before the checkered finishing 6th.
Moto 2 went much smoother finishing 4th. With a lot of entries in the class, Jamie had to go to the Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) to make it into the final. Jamie nailed the hole-shot in the LCQ and led from start to finish for the win.
Disadvantaged in the back-row of the final, Jamie was stuck at the back of the pack coming out of the first corner. Being late in the day with overcast skies and perfectly white man-made snow, Jamie struggled with visibility and finding lines through the rhythm section, finishing 11th.
The sun came out for Sunday and the Semi-Pro stock racing. Frustrated with his results on Saturday, Jamie came out strong in Moto 1 nailing the hole-shot and ran a strong hard race leading from the green to checkered flag for the win.
Once again in Moto 2, Jamie was on the throttle and his Polaris IQ race sled launched off the line and grabbed the hole-shot. A hard charging 2nd place stuck his nose in a couple of the corners but Jamie was able to hold him off to grab his second win of the day.
Sweeping the qualifying races, Jamie was tied for the first going into the final. He lined up for the start on the far outside where he had been grabbing the hole-shots all day from.
He didn’t get the best of starts but was able to make up some time on the outside going down the front stretch rhythm section putting himself in 3rd at the second corner. Running 3rd Jamie hit a square edge which jarred his back and ejected him from the sled. Jamie was able to get back onto the sled and finish the race in 11th.
“It’s frustrating at times not being able to pull it through for the finals but we came out of the weekend with some Qualifying Wins and good points towards the CSRA National Championships,” said Jamie after the weekend. “We’re going to be on top of the Podium before this season is over.”
The Next race that the Supertrax Magazine/Byers Motorsports team will be attending is March 5-6 at Sudbury Downs Horse track in Sudbury, Ontario. We will also be welcoming Kyle for his first race back to try and take the top spot in the Sport class in Sudbury.
Thanks To Great Sponsors: Supertrax Magazine, Byers Motorsports – Polaris, Gamma Sales- Fly Racing, Coldwave, Dragon Optics, Amsoil, Dayco Belts, Creechers Design, Woody’s, CM Sports/Clean Media – Photography, Powermadd, Sled Pro, TekVest
