East meets West in Walton Amateur showdown

From Tite Racing Promotions

WALTON, ON -- The IMX East/West Amateur Shootout for the IMX Canada Cup is one of the most exciting initiatives we have come up with in years. It fully compliments the MX2 Pro East/West Shootout and adds a crowning touch to the week of amateur competition.

There will be two teams, an East Team of riders with residence in Ontario, Quebec or the Atlantic Region and a West team with riders with residence in Manitoba and all regions west of that including the North. The Shootout is open to Canadian citizens only. Riders with a Pro license categorization are not eligible. Each team member will receive a commemorative bib in team colours to be worn while racing.

A manager will be appointed to manage rider notification, develop team strategy and present a rider list to the clerk of the course as well as submit and respond to any protests. The decision of the team manger for team members and alternates will be final. Each team will appoint a Captain who will be spokesperson for the team and be prepared to receive the Canada Cup.

There will be two motos run as part of the Sunday pro program, a Youth moto and an Amateur moto. The Youth moto includes riders under 16 years of age. Eight riders will be drawn from each of the 60 7-12 peewee, 80 7-12, 80 13-16 and Supermini classes for a total of 32. The top riders in each class for that region will have first rights to a gate position. A maximum of five members of each team maybe in the 13-16 age group.

The Amateur moto consists of riders drawn from the remaining 12 amateur classes. Each team will consist of up to 21 riders for a total of 42. The top rider in each class for that region will have first rights to a gate position. The manager will select additional riders so that his final team has a maximum of seven juniors, seven intermediates and seven age or gender determined class riders. If a rider qualifies for two categories the manager may make a strategic decision as to which categories a rider may fall under.

Scoring will be on the usual 25-22-20-18-16-15 etc. system but points will be assigned to teams rather than riders so that the winner of an individual moto will be the team with most accumulated points. The overall Canada Cup winner will be determined by the aggregate score of the teams in the two motos.

As a prelude to the Sunday competition there will be an 'IMX Leader of the Pack' presentation following each amateur moto at the winner’s circle during the week. As part of the post race radio interview of the top three in each moto the winner will be presented with the appropriate East or West team bib to be worn during the subsequent moto for that class so that spectators will easily identify him/her as the previous moto winner and with his/her team.