Beattie Brings Home the Bacon
Round six of the Flat Track Canada series saw action take place on the beautiful half mile in Leamington. After a sketchy weather forecast and a bit of a delay due to early afternoon showers, the Erie Ramblers and Flat Track Canada crew got things together and put on a great show in front of a huge crowd.
One rider that was extra happy that the races were able to run was Steve Beattie. Not only did Beattie take the win in the Dash for Cash but he was also able to grab the victory in the Open Expert race as well. Defending series champ Don Taylor grabbed the holeshot in the Open final but disaster struck early for Taylor as he aggravated an old injury when he twisted his knee. As Taylor slowed coming out of turn four, Beattie grabbed the lead and was never really challenged on his Harley Davidson XR 750. With Taylor out of the race Tyler Seguin and Chris Evans were able to complete the final two steps on the podium.
As per usual in Leamington the Intermediate class was stacked with talent. Joining the regular fast guys in the class were Kyle Vanconant from Michigan as well as Morgan Monroe from Indiana. Once again however the class of the field was Dave Pouliot from Quebec. Monroe made Pouliot work hard in the Production Frame race as she held the lead for over half the race before Pouliot was able to make his move. In the Open class it was all Pouliot though as he stretched out his lead on hometown boy Brodie Buchan who was taking part in his first race since wrist surgery.
Once again Steve Ball was the master of getting off the line first and he used his great start to take the victory and stretch out his points lead in the vet class. Local rider Trent Pickle took his first victory on his 450 after a great battle with Kyle Sheppard. Heading into the last lap the riders were pretty well side by side heading into turn one. Sheppard decided to go high while Pickle stuck with the bottom. Pretty well equal down the back straight, Sheppard once again decided to go high into three. Unfortunately for Sheppard he went a bit too high and made contact with the bales. This resulted in a nasty looking end over end crash that knocked Sheppard out for a bit. After a lengthy delay, Sheppard was transported to the local hospital where the original prognosis wasn’t very good regarding a shoulder injury. After getting a second opinion however, Sheppard is hoping he can be on the starting line in Woodstock. Alan Arseneault got some incredible photos of the crash sequence and they can be seen on his website www.chaletstudio.ca or on his Facebook page.
Youth class action was all Hunter Bauer as he went three for three on the night riding his 65 and 85 machines.
Leamington Round Top Three:
Expert Open: Steve Beattie, Tyler Seguin, Chris Evans
Expert DTX: Don Taylor, Devin Pfeiffer, Tyler Seguin
Intermediate Open: Dave Pouliot, Brodie Buchan, Kyle Vanconant
Intermediate DTX: Dave Pouliot, Morgan Monroe, Brodie Buchan
Novice Open: Alex Dunmore, Collin Duquette, Trent Pickle
Novice DTX: Trent Pickle, Alex Dunmore, Todd Musson
Vet: Steve Ball, Rob Churchill, Tom Goodford
Youth 250: Hunter Bauer, Shawn Rupert, Jimmy McCullough
85: Hunter Bauer, Jimmy McCullough, Brandon Newman
65: Hunter Bauer, Jimmy McCullough, Boyd Deadman
All Photos are courtesy of Chalet Studio Photography. Huge thanks for their great shots from Leamington.  Head over to their website and facebook to give them a shoutout.
Current point standings can be found here.
The Flat Track Canada Series returned to Welland County Speedway for round five and the #73 machine of Doug Lawrence proved once again that he has the quarter mile oval dialed. After riding from the back to a fine third place finish in the previous round, Lawrence made it look somewhat easy on this night taking both the Open Expert and Production Frame wins over current number one plate holder Don Taylor. Lawrence did have to work a bit in the Open final after being pushed to the high side of the track early in the final. After making his way to the front within a couple of laps however, Lawrence seemed to put it on cruise control as he led the pack to the checkers.