Hamblin wins fierce battle

From CMRC Racing

MIDHURST, ON -- Close to 500 entries tore up the RJ Motosport Park in Midhurst, ON last weekend. It was a perfect day for racing.

Two Wheel Motosport arrived on Sunday with some heavy hitters aboard Suzukis. Team Rockstar’s Sean Hamblin and OTSFF/Suzuki’s Ryan Lockhart from Nova Scotia arrived ready to lock horns with Machine Racing’s Kyle Keast and Ryan Gauld in the Pro / Am class.

In moto 1 Hamblin stormed to the lead and quickly gapped the field to take an unchallenged win. Yamaha's Gauld came across the line in second and continued his great start to the 2006 season. Working hard to get his outdoor legs back under him was third place Lochart, who spent the winter in the U.S. Supercross series. Keast sampled the RJ soil a few times and charged back to finish sixth.

In moto 2 Gauld jumped to the lead with Hamblin, Lockhart and hard-charging Keast in fourth. By lap 4 the four riders were within one second of each other. Gauld was first to drop off with a flat tire, handing the lead to Hamblin. Keast soon stormed by Lockhart and began chasing the Two Wheel-backed Hamblin. Keast and Hamblin gapped the field until a few laps from the end. In the back section of the track Hamblin clipped a rock and went down, handing the moto win to Keast.

Hamblin (1-2) took the overall, Keast was second (6-1) and Lockhart third (3-3).

In round 2 of the ATV Provincial Championships Honda's James Banks (2-1) took the overall in front of Yamaha's Greg Gee (1-2) and Keith Bokla (4-3).

Other notables included Suzuki's Cory Brooks, who was the big winner in 250 Intermediate with a perfect 1-1. The 250cc Junior was won by Andy Burke with a 2-1 and Brandon Phinney swept the Supermini and 80cc 12-16 classes with a perfect 1-1-1-1.

The great day did have a sad note. Junior rider Andre Huard suffered a serious back injury (see related post). Huard is currently in Hamilton Hospital. A trust fund has been set up to help him and his family with some of the costs they are trying to manage. All of our thoughts are with Andre and his family during this difficult time.

CIBC Branch
Account Name: In Trust for Andre Huard
Bank: CIBC
Account number 06752/72-71530

Next weekend's CMRC-sanctioned racing in Southwester Ontario moves to Grand Bend Motor Speedway in Grand Bend, April 23.

For a complete listing of results from RJ Motosport, please visit www.cmrcracing.com.