By Todd Vallee
Todd Vallee is the official Flat Track Canada announcer and has been announcing motorsport events for over a decade. He has written for Inside Motorcycles for 12 years with roughly 120 articles combined in print and online. Happily married for 30 years, Todd is also a proud father of two, and soon-to-be first time grandpa. Off the track, you can catch Todd riding his Suzuki SV650, watching racing or hockey, or travelling to a new destination.
Conditions were nearly perfect as Flat Track Canada returned to Georgian Downs on September 2nd. While many familiar names made their way to the front of the pack as expected, it was a blast from the past who ended up with the checkered flag at the end of the night.
Off the start in the Open Expert race, an incident in turn one at the start of lap two would see a red flag when front runner Dave Pouliot went down after some contact as the pack dove into the corner. With Pouliot relegated to the penalty line for the restart, the race to the checkers seemed like it could be wide open with one of the early contenders now starting from the back.
When the lights flashed green, it was Dominic Beaulac charging to the front as the field tried to sort out positions behind him. As Beaulac circulated at the front, Dustin Brown had settled into second with points leader Tyler Seguin close behind in third. Meanwhile Brandon Newman was trying to move forward as he found himself in fifth place behind the unretired Brodie Buchan. On lap four, Seguin made his way past Brown as Buchan and Newman edged a little closer to the third place battle. Just two laps later both Buchan and Newman made their way past Brown but Buchan now had his hands full with Newman who seemed destined for more. Indeed just a couple of laps later, Newman got around Buchan who at this point might have been suffering from a bit of fatigue in his first race in years. With Beaulac
still running untouched at the front, Newman made a couple of valiant efforts to get by Seguin with no success. Lap 14 saw Brown get back around Buchan and one lap later it was heat race winner Brandon Seguin getting by Buchan after making up for a less than perfect start. Nothing would change in the final five laps and at the line it would be Beaulac followed by Tyler Seguin and then Newman while Brown just barely held off Brandon Seguin.
Expert DTX saw Tyler Seguin take off from the pack at the start and early on it looked like he had things well in hand. Halfway through the race however Seguin’s exhaust started to come loose and that was enough to allow Dustin Brown to muscle his way past for the lead with an aggressive pass going onto turn one. With two laps to go Seguin then fell victim to Brandon Newman and at the line it would be Brown, Newman and then Seguin despite the fact that Seguin’s exhaust went cartwheeling down the front straight near race end.
Intermediate action once again belonged to Liam Caskie as he was the head of the class in both races and was virtually untouchable all night. In the Open final the top three for most of the race were Caskie followed by Kevin Pouliot and then Ty Rahm. This order stayed the same until Tyler Brown made his way past Rahm and at the checkers the top three would be Caskie, Pouliot and then Brown. In the DTX final it was Caskie out front all race long and totally unaware of the drama playing out behind him. Brown was holding on to second while off the start it was Pouliot in third. Lap five saw Rahm make his way past Pouliot and at this point it looked like the top three had been decided. Logan Wilson had other ideas however and with a last lap pass on Rahm that would make the running order at the finish Caskie, Brown and then Wilson.
Novice open action saw Quebec speedster Loic Nadeau lead the race from start to finish. Points leader Seth Little was briefly in second, but by lap two Jordan Beaulac had taken over that position after an impressive charge from the back row. The top three positions would remain the same for the remainder of the race as Nadeau did a masterful job of holding off Beaulac while Little held on for third. In Novice DTX action Nadeau once again jumped into the lead but this time he was unable to hold off a charging Beaulac. Beaulac made his move to the front on lap five and by race end it was a sweep for Quebec riders with Beaulac taking the victory followed by Nadeau and then Mateo Racine.
Next up for Flat Track Canada is a return to Trois-Rivières on September 16th. For ticket information as well as updated point standings, please visit flattrackcanada.com.
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