TYLER SEGUIN CROWNED 2023 CHAMPION AT HUMBERSTONE

By Todd Vallee

Todd Vallee is the voice of Flat Track Canada 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 father of two, and very proud first time grandpa. Off the track, you can catch Todd riding his Suzuki SV650, watching racing or hockey, or travelling to a new destination.

After taking the victory there last season, Tyler Seguin was hoping to make it two in a row at the Flat Track Canada season finale at Humberstone Speedway. The script went according to plan, and in a repeat of last year, Seguin proved to be the master of Humberstone, taking not only the victory but securing his first Open Expert Championship as well.

With the drama of three separate starts in the championship deciding race, Seguin refused to wilt under the pressure. With all three green lights, the scenario was the same for the number 22 machine as all three times he nailed the start and would spend the entire race pacing the field at the front of the pack. While Seguin was looking fast and smooth up front, things were quite hectic behind him as five riders tried to sort out the final two positions in victory lane. At one point Brandon Seguin made a move into second place and it looked like the Seguin boys may finish first and second on the night. Sadly though off the final restart Brandon found that he had lost some traction and got passed by first Justin Jones and then Doug Lawrence in two consecutive laps. Lawrence meanwhile was putting on a tremendous charge after starting on row four off the original restart due to a tumble in turn three.

Getting past Brandon on lap sixteen, Lawrence set his sights on Jones and with just one lap to go he would make the pass into second place. Nothing changed in the top three on the final lap and when the checkers were waved it was an elated Tyler Seguin getting the nod followed by Lawrence and then Jones.

Expert DTX action would see the same three riders on the podium, just in a slightly different order than the Open race. Jones grabbed the lead at the green light, with Lawrence finishing the first lap in second, followed by Tyler Seguin in third. Considering that throughout the race there seemed to be six or seven passes each lap, strangely enough every time the leaders crossed the line the running order in the top three remained the same; Jones, Lawrence and then Seguin. Nothing would change on the final lap and these three would secure podium positions despite monumental attempts to crack the top three by Hunter Bauer and Brandon Seguin.

Intermediate Open action saw Justin Crumb grab the lead early, but that position would be short lived as on lap two Tyler Brown jumped to the front on a borrowed bike. With Crumb now in second place and Liam Caskie in third, the rider on the move seemed to be Loïc Nadeau. Nadeau made his way past Caskie for third, but Caskie would rebound just a few laps later to take over third place once again.

While Nadeau would take a few more shots at Caskie he was unsuccessful making the results at the line Brown, Crumb and then Caskie. In DTX action it was Caskie leading from start to finish while Nadeau, Brown and Adrian St. Amand tried to sort out second and third. St. Amand held second briefly but on lap three it was Nadeau taking over the position. St. Amand would then hold onto third place for a few laps but by lap seven Brown had made his way past and at the checkers it was Caskie, Nadeau and then Brown.

Novice action saw the same three riders occupy the top three spots in both races. Aaden Johnson would lead both races early on but by the midpoint of both races it was Nathan Peacock moving to the point position. While Johnson would give a solid effort to hold on to second place in both, the man on the move was Mateo Racine. Racine would find a way around Johnson in both main events and the finish of both races would be Peacock, Racine, and then Johnson.

With the 2023 season now complete, please keep up to date with what's going on with Flat Track Canada at flattrackcanada.com or on Facebook and Instagram.

Official results from the season can be found at https://www.flattrackcanada.com/results.