Ray Thibadeau takes CCS Southwest Overall Number 1 plate at Firebird West Ray Thibadeau #119 pulled off an amazing weekend to take the Number One plate for the 2007 season. Rory Palmer #111 and his Euro Motorsports Triumph 675 held an eight-point lead going into the final round, but he could not hold off a determined Thibadeau who rode superbly in very tricky conditions. Heavy rain on Friday night saw a water-logged track on Saturday morning, but the CCS Southwest crew pulled a rabbit out of the hat and managed to get the track rideable before 10:00 a.m. Sunday saw periodic scattered showers, which were not always heavy enough to require full wets. But with the sun periodically breaking through and drying the track, tire choice played a huge part in the day’s events. The championship was ultimately decided in the Heavyweight Superbike race, a hard-charging Danny Demel #33 took the holeshot, closely followed by David Siminski #78, Palmer and Thibadeau. Palmer had to win the race to stay in contention for the title, and immediately started to push hard to get to the front. Thibadeau was close behind him, trying to make sure Palmer didn’t break away from the pack. Entering turn 5 on lap two, Palmer pushed his Pirelli front tire a little too hard in the damp conditions, and lost the front end crashing out of the race. Thibadeau managed to avoid the sliding Palmer, and secured the CCS Southwest Championship in the process. At that point Thibadeau backed off and allowed Demel and Siminski to battle it out for the win. Demel was definitely a man on a mission this weekend, showing ever increasing form on his Yamaha R6. Demel followed Siminski around for several laps, and then picked his moment to pull off a very clean and skilful pass to take the win. The changing conditions made for some unexpected results in many classes, most notably Jason McDonnell, a first year amateur who watched the weather closely all day. He gambled on his tire choice and ran full wets in the Lightweight Superbike Class. As the heavens opened part way into the race, McDonnell was able to cruise past most of the pack to take an impressive third place, and earn the first podium finish of his career. There were several racers that crashed out during the day, but thankfully none were hurt and the ambulance stayed parked all day. After all was said and done, and the bench racing was decided for real, the points total saw the final top ten for the 2007 season as follows: 1. #119 RAYMOND THIBEDEAU 2. #111 RORY PALMER 3. #8 NICHOLAS TERRELL 4. #33 DANNY DEMEL 5. #19 ARON WEISS 6. #42 KEVIN WEHNER 7. #62 TED RICH 8. #181 WILL HARFERT 9. #55 DONNY DEMEL 10. #78 DAVID SIMINSKI There are only a few weeks for the riders to prepare for the 2008 CCS Southwest season opener at Firebird Main on January 12th 13th. If this weekend racing was any indication, 2008 is going to be a great year.