Team Canada heads to Dominican

By Frank Wood

While their counterparts are getting ready for winter a group of Canadian motorcycle road racers are preparing for their final races of 2010 in the Latin American Championships to be held in The Dominican Republic Nov. 13-14.

The Canadian team is taking part by way of invitation from the ULM (Union Latino-Americano Motovelocidad) which represents the Latin-American motorcyclists to the FIM and by Multemedia Acelerando (acelerandotv.com).

“We are very excited to have representation from Canada," said event organizer Diego Campos, who was in Canada for the Parts Canada Superbike Championship race in 2009 at Calabogie Motorsport Park. "Canadian riders have proven to be great competition for our local riders, including Andrew Nelson who took home first place in the 600 class at round one.”

Canada’s team is comprised of Nelson (second in the 2010 Parts Canada Superbike Championship) and Jean Francois Cyr. While Parts Canada Superbike competitor Franklyn Dominguez spearheaded this program, he will be racing alongside his Canadian counterparts under the Dominican flag. In addition to his team representation Dominguez will also ride in the D-R National championships, where he is leading the Superbike championship chase.

Team Canada is sponsored in this endeavour by Seamont Brokerage of Montreal and Pirelli Tires.

In addition to the Canadian Superbike team Sylvain Dery, Brian Kamp, Joey McRae and Raymond Gauthier will compete in the Pre-Expert class of the D-R championships, and Paul Hollister, Samantha Goyer and Vanessa Gareau-Dominguez will race in the Amateur division. Gareau-Dominguez is in second place, just five points behind the leader.

Other countries that will field teams include the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Mexico, Venezuela, Columbia, Panama, Costa Rica and Honduras. Pre-entered riders include AMA Pro competitors Fernando Amantini and Marco Martinez.

The championship will be decided by a four-race format, two rounds running on the Saturday and two on Sunday (World Superbike format) and the champion determined by aggregate points. All four races will be held at the Mobil Oils-sponsored Autodromo Mobil 1 track in Santo Domingo.

The event, officially billed as Campeonato Latinoamericano de Motovelocidad and hosted by Multemedia Acelerando TV, will have a large delegation of ULM and FIM representatives in attendance. Canadian riders will ride under license from the Canadian FIM affiliate the Canadian Motorcycle Association.

Media coverage for the team will be provided by Inside Motorcycles and there will be daily updates and photos from the Dominican races on insidemotorcycles.com as well as a complete write up in an upcoming issue of Inside Motorcycles magazine.