Willard wins Shootout; Gracyk's clean sweep

From Bullseye Media

WALTON, ON -- A muddy Saturday didn't affect the great ambience the Walton TransCan Grand National is known for. The MX2 East/West Shootout on Sunday more than lived up to expectations with one major twist added into the mix.

Dusty Klatt, the odds-on-favourite to win the event, found himself docked five positions in moto 1 for passing Mike Willard under a yellow flag, effectively costing Klatt a clean sweep and the overall win. Willard, the reigning MX2 East champion was in the lead when reigning MX2 West champ, Klatt, passed him under yellow at the halfway mark of the moto.

KTM Canada's Willard, who had grabbed the first moto holeshot, lost the lead for a few laps to Suzuki OTSFF's Jake Weimer and then reclaimed it to take control until he was passed by Klatt. Honda Canada Blackfoot Fox Racing's Klatt had to chase down Willard from a fifth place starting position and a duel of epic proportions was ensuing when Klatt inadvertently passed Willard under the yellow. Protests were raised by Team Blackfoot about the legitimacy of the flag infraction but CMRC officials stuck to the penalty they imposed on Klatt.

Richmond Racing Kawasaki's Colt Facciotti and Willard's KTM Canada teammate Pierce Chamberlain benefited from Klatt's penalty by moving into second and third respectively. Unfortunately for Facciotti, he would suffer a DNF in the second moto which saw him end the shootout in ninth place.

In the second moto, an on fire Klatt blasted his way to the holeshot and then checked out. The battle everyone had expected between west coaster Klatt and east coaster Willard never materialized. Willard took satisfaction with a third place finish, a position he held from lap 6 onward, to nail down the overall win.

Behind Klatt, a battle for second ensued between Richmond's Jeff Northrop and his teammate Kyle Chisholm. Klatt, meanwhile, who said from the podium he had a point to make, did just that by finishing some 45 seconds ahead of Chisholm.

With 6-1 moto results, Klatt carded second overall for the day. Chisholm, runner up in the MX2 East title hunt, eventually took a hold of second and finished there. A 24th place in the first moto, however, saw him card seventh overall. Chamberlain, who suffered through a tepid '05 MX2 East campaign, rode another impressive moto to snare third at the checkered, finishing the day with a well-deserved third overall.

To the disappointment of the thousands of fans in Walton, the final round of the MX1 points chase was without Jean Sebastien Roy on the track. Roy, who clinched his fifth consecutive MX1 title at Round 8 in Ste-Julie, QC, announced he was not going to race the MX1 because of a rib injury he sustained in Ste-Julie. Although he rode his qualifier on Saturday, he said he was in too much pain to ride the final two motos of the season.

With the mighty JSR out of the picture fans were treated to a one-man show by Team Suzuki OTSFF's Gavin Gracyk. The 21-year-old American convincingly won both motos with more than 30 seconds to spare at the checkered. Gracyk's domination put an end to Blackfoot's winning streak of 17 overalls, which they had accumulated since the final round in Walton in 2003.

It was up to Blackfoot's Damon Huffman to keep that winning streak going, but the Californian was no match for Gracyk, who had already proved he could win motos earlier this season. With 7-2 motos for the day Huffman, who announced his retirement from motocross after the second moto, climbed the podium in third overall.

Blackfoot was dealt a second blow when Huffman was penalized for a Red Cross flag infraction while running in second place during moto one. Also penalized for jumping while the medic's flag was being waved were Craig Decker, Keith Johnson and Evan Laughridge. The trio was behind Huffy in third, fourth and fifth respectively. Again, protests were launched in every direction, and again CMRC officials held steadfast in applying the rules.

In addition to Gracyk, local hero Doug DeHaan proved to be the other big revelation of the day by carding second overall on the strength of 4-3 motos. An emotional DeHaan said from the podium the season couldn't have ended better for him because he had started the series with a second overall in Mission. The Yamaha Canada rider received a standing ovation from the many fans crowded around the podium.

With JSR already crowned MX1 champ, the final showdown of the season was for runner-up in the series and that spot went to Gracyk, thanks to the awesome ride he put in on the highly demanding Walton track. Huffman finished the points chase in third. Gracyk's Team Suzuki OTSFF teammate Johnson snared fourth, while Morgan Racing Yamaha's Decker rounded out the top five.