Canadian riders on track down south

By Frank Wood

SANTO DOMINGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC -- Canadian riders entered in the Amatuer and Pre Expert classes were on track Wednesday for their first test of the 2.6km, 11-turn Mobil 1 race track under warm and windy conditions. Experts will not be allowed on track until Friday for their first official timed practice sessions in the morning and then official qualifying in the afternoon.

This facility has seen significant improvements since the Canadian Women's Cup riders were in the Dominican Republic two years ago and trackside upgrades continued into the night before the first test.

In spite of a concerted clean up, the track was quite slippery in the morning and the first rider on track, Ray Gauthier found that out very quickly when, in spite of low speed and caution, he crashed the Capital Motorsports/Pete’s Sales and Service-sponsored Yamaha in turn four. Gauthier’s ride, which he is sharing with Samantha Goyer, received front end damage and a holed radiator. While their main mount won’t be ready until Friday both Gauthier and Goyer made the best of a bad situation by getting important track time on borrowed bikes.

Other riders on track included Joey McCrae on the Kahunna Powersports/Graves Yamaha/Fast Co. Yamaha, who recorded his personal best with a lap time in the one minute, 20 seconds bracket.

Paul Hollister mounted on the Select Tool/Seamont/Acme Slate Honda, made his first on track appearance of 2010 and raved about the track.

“There are places the traction is questionable but for the most part it’s great," he beamed. "It’s flat but technical and there’s nowhere you can really relax. I’m really looking forwards to racing here, it’s great to be racing again.”

Hollister did not race in Canada this year as a result of business commitments.

Sylvain Dery came up to speed quickly and posted an unofficial lap time of 1:21.6. Dery is mounted on the Hyundai Shawinigan-sponsored Yamaha.

Brian Kamp made several sojourns on track as he came up to his personal pace and like the others found that there would be challenges both from competition on track and from the weather. The Canucks have had an early taste of winter at home and were now in, for them, oppressive heat conditions.

“It’s hot out there,” said the racer 5/Rider’s Choice.ca/Blue Streak Racing-supported jockey as he retired to a lawn chair, water in hand. “It’ll take us a while to get used to this heat.”

Vanessa Gareau-Dominguez comes into this final round of the Dominican National Championship in second place in class with a distinct opportunity to capture the crown. Gareau-Dominguez and her husband Franklyn (leading the superbike standings) are the organizers of the Canadian assault and have been extremely busy in pre race weekend preparation and especially pre race promotions.

The Latin American championships have been getting an inordinate amount of publicity as a result of their efforts. Radio, television and newspapers have given great exposure of this competition to the Dominican public.

“Organizing something like this is always a lot of work, and we need remain focused on our own championships, but we’ve got a great group of riders with us," Gareau-Dominguez said. "We have been taking advantage of down time, and managed to get in a Dominican national baseball game, complete with front row seats and a mention of the Canadian racers on the jumbo screen. We are treated like celebrities everywhere we go.”

Andrew Nelson has had his photo in several newspapers and is touted as the man to beat this weekend. He spent the practice day at the track preparing his BMW Motorrad Canada/Hindle/Quinte Furniture-supported BMW S1000RR superbike and coaching the other riders on the track layout and bike set up.