Elliot Lake is known as a retirement community but it was anything but sleepy and quiet this past weekend when the CSRA’s Regional Championship Series stormed into town. The community welcomed the intense racing action and supported the event with two days of full grandstands and screaming fans.
Whenever the CSRA tour moves close to Iain Hayden’s hometown of Espanola, the results go decisively in his favour! This weekend saw Hayden sweep the Pro Class to the pleasure of the partisan crowd.
PRO RACING
Iain Hayden (OTSSF/Arctic Cat) responded to a supportive hometown crowd when he pulled a commanding holeshot in the Pro 440 Final and led the race from wire-to-wire. The East Lansing Michigan duo of Joshua Zelinski (Ski-Doo/Team Studboy) and Jon Zelinski (Ski-Doo/Team Studboy) pulled amazing starts and ran exactly in that order to the checkers as did the Grand Veteran of Canadian Snowcross – Ric Wilson (Ski-Doo/Team Vincent) in fourth followed by Michael Vandolder (Factory Recreation/Royal Distributing/Ski-Doo) in fifth.
In Pro 600 it was Iain Hayden’s show again with a powerful holeshot. The rest of the pack had to deal with a motivated Earl Reimer (Polaris/Boss Racing) who carved his way to an eventual second and in doing so moved back Joshua Zelinski to third. Mike Larmand (Factory Recreation/Royal Distributing/Ski-Doo) held onto fourth with Matt Turner (Evinrude/Ski-Doo/Supertrax) on his bumper in fifth at the checkers.
In Pro Open racing again Hayden thrilled the crowd by making a late-in-the-race pass on Michael Vandolder to claim his third victory for the weekend. Millington Michigan’s Justin Walesky (Ski-Doo/Team Flintriggers) was a notch back in third doing battle with Earl Reimer in fourth followed by a fast closing AJ Lester (Evinrude/Ski-Doo/Supertrax) in fifth.
SEMI-PRO RACING
Semi-Pro 440 Lee Butler (OTSSF/Arctic Cat) was a man on a mission this weekend making his mark in Semi-Pro 440 with an impressive ride ahead of Ryan Kenney (Polaris/Boss Racing) who looked stronger than anytime this season in second. Joey Sagan (Factory Recreation/Royal Distributing/Ski-Doo) was back on his game after an injury and ran convincingly to third at the checkers.
Semi-Pro 600 was another Lee Butler show with a wire-to-wire run to the checkers followed – but challenged – by Ryan Kenney. In third place was a new name – Peter Raymer on his Arctic Cat. Raymer is a motocross racer trying his skills in snowcross and looks to be a force.
Semi-Pro Open saw newcomer Peter Raymer from Keswick take his first CSRA Semi-Pro victory. In an unfortunate incident Lee Butler left the track on a stretcher after bailing hard. Hard charger Justin Parnell (Ski-Doo/Parnell Motorsports) pulled a strong second with Ryan Kenney tightly-in-tow in third.
Semi-Pro/Pro Women was again easily handled by Millington, Michigan’s Jamie Walesky (Team Flintriggers/Ski-Doo). Angela Vacchino (OTSSF/Arctic Cat) carded second with (Team Kodiak/Ski-doo) Stacey Orr from Coldwater in third.
CSRA Regional Championship Snowcross moves to Kirkland Lake, Ontario March 5th and 6th
