Shannonville Motorsport Park
June 12, 2016
Shannonville Ontario
After inclement weather conditions forced the re-scheduling at Round 1 of the R.A.C.E SuperSeries, hopes were high that things would improve for Round 2 this weekend. As it turned out, this summer has been a difficult birth. With rain and bitterly cold wins throughout the weekend at Shannonville Motorsport Park, the conditions remained cool but the racing was hotter than ever.
In Pro Superbike action, it was Elie Daccache into the early lead with series champion Jim Proulx and Royal Distributing rider Michael Leon in hot pursuit. With a tightly bunched lead group heading into the end of the high-speed Fabi straight, Yamaha mounted Marco Souza crashed, sending everyone behind the lead trio scattering onto the safety runoff or off the track. By the fifth lap of the contest, Proulx made a late breaking move to squeeze past Daccache, dragging Leon behind him. With Yamaha R1 mounted Proulx now in the lead, an all out war broke out with Leon on his BMW S1000RR. The two riders exchanged the lead several times until just after the three quarter-point of the contest, when Leon edged Proulx out of the lead. Proulx continued to charge hard, at one point in the grass on the outside of corner one, but Leon maintained the slight lead for the win. Despite his brave efforts, Proulx had to settle for second with Daccache running strongly on his Yamaha R6 to earn the final step of the podium. Perhaps the most inspiring ride of the race however belonged to Steve “Doc” Walker, who was shuttled back to last place in lap one’s misadventures. Walker pushed his BMW R1000RR all the way back to finish in fourth, just shy of a podium finish. Finishing in fifth was veteran racer “Jammin” Jeff Williams from Kingston ON.
Daccache took over right where he left off at season’s end last year in the Pro6 Cycle/Dunlop Tire Pro 600 Sportbike race. Daccache got a great drive to jump into the lead and rode to an impressive win. Behind him, Jeff Williams and Stacey Nesbitt battled race long for the runner-up spot with Williams earning the spot in the latter stages of the contest. Nesbitt had a good ride to earn third while local rider, “Take Mike for Granite” sponsored Mike Raniowski took fourth. Despite missing the dinner bell for the start of the race, Brent Strong entered the contest late but still rode to a fifth place finish.
In West City Powersports Lightweight Production racing, it was Luc Morin who jumped out into an early lead until a miscue heading into Allen’s Corner saw the young rider go off track and put himself out of the contest. Eventual race winner Jared Walker inherited the lead and after a lengthy battle with Honda CBR250R mounted J.P. Schroeder, took the win. In third was Kirk Shergold.
Michael Hood had a great weekend, taking the win in the Am. Superbike contest, well ahead of the rest of the field. In second was Dave Natale with the final step of the podium going to Etienne Lafleche. Kingston’s Chris Fehr finished in fourth just ahead of Aaron Burns. Kingston’s Steve Cole had a tough weekend but did finish in the eighth spot.
In Am. 600 Sportbike action, Michael Hood again took the win, this time besting Chris Fehr and Aaron Burns, setting up what is quickly becoming a season rivalry. In fourth was Dave Natale with Max Kathron earning a fifth.
Racing resumes at Shannonville Motorsport on July 1st. to 3rd. when the R.A.C.E SuperSeries moves onto the short Nelson circuit.