Podium for Grande in Atlanta

From Sport Collette

Montreal racer Martin Grande took part in the WERA Grand National Final at Road Atlanta on Oct. 8-12, picking up a podium finish in the event.

Grande was invited to take part in the 600 Stock, 600 Modified, 750 Stock and 750 Modified classes. In all events he rode his Suzuki GSX-R600.

"The experience was awesome on a very fast and nice race track," said the 2007 Suzuki SV650 Cup Canadian champion. "The first two days were in the heavy rain but this was helpful for me to learn the lines and the track."

Grande's best performance, in 600 Stock, ended with a black flag after two of eight laps while he was running in fourth spot. The reason for the flag was that he had gridded one row ahead of his assigned spot, in 14th rather than 15th position.

The star of the 2008 Armour Bodies Canadian Amateur 600 Sport Bike national series crossed the line third in 600 Modified but was penalized six positions for missing the chicane on three consecutive laps. That penalty has been contested by Grande.

It all came good for Grande in 750 Modified, where he finished third after starting 19th in the field.

"The bottom line of this tremendous weekend was that I have a thousand good memories, a great race experience and a third place trophy in a National level WERA race," Grande added. "I met some very nice riders, lots of good corner workers, team owners, endurance team directors, lots of racing fans and of course all the WERA staff."