Wojo Claims Commanding Win in Parry Sound This past Sunday saw the most technically challenging and physically demanding Cross Country in Ontario take place at the storied property just outside of the vacation community of Parry Sound. Fortunately, cooler temperatures moved in and a significant amount of rain fell the day before providing relief from the typical intense heat and extreme dust for which this event is known. Traction was as good as it gets on this course that has a mixture of deep sand, huge rocks, root infested trails and fast open grass sections. The day started off with Connor Taplay once again taking the win in the Pee Wee class on a revised and challenging course. Filling out the podium was brother Nathan Taplay in second and Matthew Wojnarowski (where have we heard that name?) in third spot. The Mini course was without doubt the toughest yet. There was much time spent by the organizers determining the level of difficulty that the Mini course should have. Due to the moisture we were blessed with, it was decided to use a longer and technical course rather than an easier and abbreviated version. Our Mini Junior racers attacked the rocks and roots and made excellent time with little drama. Christian Wiesner took a convincing win followed by a stellar ride by Ryan O’Neill. Liam Smith rode like a champ to fill out the podium. Mini Senior had an incredible battle between KTM Canada’s Jamie Baskerville and Kawasaki Canada’s Wolfgang Wiesner. The speeds these two were carrying on some of the gnarliest trails in the province had all spectators in awe. Jamie’s sharp motocross skills and Wolfgang’s prowess in mountain biking showed well and translated to their exceptional ability to get these high strung two strokes around this course. The pair took turns making mistakes and having the distance between the two expand and contract over the hour. In the end Jamie took the checkers first and Wolfgang settling for second. These two great sports congratulated each other on the finish line. Luke Smith, brother of Mini Junior racer, took the final step on the podium with a fantastic effort. The morning race program featured another great showdown in the beginner Class. First place was traded a number of times between three great up and coming racers. Sheldon Block, in his first Cross Country ever took a surprising win over perennial front runner Mike MacLennan. The two took turns leading the race with Sheldon leading on the last three laps but being pressured by Mike until the very end. Adam Dickie who is pushing hard for the Championship took third just narrowly off the pace. In Vet Junior action Terry Schaubel put in 14 laps, one more than his closest competition, Mike Bulgarelli who fought hard for second place with Michael Toneguzzo who was third by 30 second at the end of two hours. In Vet Senior Keith Bichard led the majority of the race although he said later that he spent most of the race on the ground rather than making forward motion. He was eventually passed by Noel Hutchinson near the very end of the event so Keith settled for second. Andre Du Plessis firmly took third spot on the podium with a fantastic ride showing that he is getting accustomed to the abuse Cross Country racing can put on an aging body. In Super Senior it was Bryan Hill who was first out of the gate and leading the first lap into the scoring lane. Shortly thereafter Brian West regained his composure and settled into his typical dominance and moved into first place and never looked back. The Super Senior podium ended up as Brian West in first, Dave Filer second, and Bryan Hill in third position. Alex Franklin, photographer extraordinaire, impressed many with her determination in taking the Womens class. There was no shortage of spectators remarking on her excellent ride. After the event however, Alex admitted it was not the most fun she has ever had. There was only a brief riders meeting required to prepare the afternoon race program riders for what lay ahead. An extra section of trail was added for these fortunate riders that was equally ugly as the rest of the course that was now sufficiently “broken in”. Junior Class was chosen at this event for the Wiesner Insurance $100 Fastest Lap Award. Tanner Lay not only won this award handily, he lead the race from start to finish showing that he is destined for Intermediate Class next year. Stephen Tew and Nathan Bottema took second and third respectively. Intermediate Class was chosen for the Inglis Cycle Amateur Holeshot Award and it was none other than fan favourite Jason Kleingeld who took home $100 from Inglis Cycle. Kevin Blok however dominated the class with a convincing win over second place finisher Andrew “Monkey” Millson and third place finisher Tyler Thiessen. In Vet Master it was Rob Hewitt who rode in a class of his own easily taking the win. Keith Billings took a while to get going with a slow start but a very strong finish. Had Keith found his rhythm earlier the race may have had a different outcome. Taking third spot in Vet master was course designer Barry Billings. Barry invested a great amount of time in making this course as great as it was with the assistance of well known Parry Sound resident Mike Hurst. Barry made it clear that he was responsible for all the good sections of the course and it was Mike (who wasn’t present on race day) who was responsible for all the evil sections. It Pro it was really the ‘Wojo Show” as the race began with Brian Wojnarowski winning the Wiesner Insurance $100 pro Holeshot award and then staying comfortably ahead of the rest of the Pro contingent for the balance of the race. Brian finished a lap ahead of his closest competition and then put on a display play riding on the steep rock cliffs and sand hills in front of a crowd of spectators. Adam Millson finished second making it a Yamaha Canada 1 -2 sweep. KTM Canada’s Kevin Cockayne took the final spot on the podium three minutes behind Millson. Pros were all awarded their pro payback money as they are given at every round and it appeared Millson was buying the cheeseburgers that nigh with his payout. The reputation of this event grows every year as a “can’t miss” event that is a classic off-road challenge. Thanks must be given to Barry Billings and Mike Hurst for their efforts setting up this course. Coming up on August 24th and 25th are the first two rounds of the CXCC taking place at Gopher Dunes. These National events also pay points to the Provincial championship so these are races that all racers need to attend. As the Gopher Dunes and Walton double header races are National Championship events, all race licenses are honoured at registration including CMRC, CMX, Off Road Ontario and TVR. This opens the door up for a number of motocross racers and racers of other series to try their talents in the WEC Cross Country series.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Aug 2013 02:01:19 +0000
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