Coming into the final round of the season at Humberstone Speedway, both of our championship contenders had plans made that they hoped would lead them to a title. For Dave Pouliot it was simple, either finish ahead of Tyler Seguin or right
behind him and the title would be his. For Seguin the plan was a bit trickier as it would need to involve some other riders if he were to grab the title, as he would not only need to finish ahead of Pouliot but get some riders in between them as well. The importance of the championship was noted early in the day when Pouliot announced that he would be signing up for the Open Vintage class just so he could get a few more practice laps on the track. As clay has generally been Pouliot’s nemesis throughout
his career, this proved to be a brilliant move as a couple more laps of practice seemed to be just what the doctor ordered for bringing the Quebec rider up to speed.
Perhaps another indication of the importance of the title for Pouliot came when it was announced that he would be skipping the Dash for Cash. Despite an excellent qualifying effort which saw him qualify for the race with some bonus cash on the line, Pouliot made the smart decision to sit out the Dash instead of risking a possible crash or a mechanical problem on the bike that he planned on running in the main event.
When the lights flashed green for the race that would decide the national champion, the pace was hectic right from the start. Seguin led the first two laps with Pouliot and rookie Boyd Deadman hot on his heels. As the three riders started putting some distance between them and the rest of the pack, lap three would see a shuffling of the deck as Pouliot jumped into the lead and Tyler dropped briefly to third. Just one lap later, Deadman would grab the lead and would hold onto it for four laps as Seguin and Pouliot battled behind him. Unfortunately for Deadman he made hard contact with the wall exiting turn four, and despite an amazing job of staying on the bike, the race was eventually red flagged with twelve laps complete to check on the rider. While this looked like it may have been the break that Seguin needed as the field was once again bunched up for the restart, it wasn’t meant to be as once again the two contenders left the rest of the riders in their dust when the race restarted. Seguin did all he could and rode to an amazing victory, but Pouli
ot put in an impressive ride to finish second in the race which gave him the title by a slim two points over Seguin.
This was Pouliot’s first ever Open Expert title and coupled with his DTX championship it proved to be quite the year for the Kawasaki mounted rider from Quebec. Pouliot would like to thank his sponsors Kawasaki Canada, John Parker Racing, Moto Vanie
r, Magic Screed, Garrtech Inc., Inglis Cycle, MD Distributions, RP Race, 6D Helmets, Garret 64, 26 Suspension, Extreme Measure Custom Paint, Menuiserie Pouliot, Saddlemen, FXR, Webcams, Hinson Clutch, Brian Koster Orthoflex Custom Bracing, Lightshoe, and his awesome mom. He would also like to thank his training crew (C2 Training Crew), which kept him in tip top shape and was coached by Kyle Thompson and included the likes of Doug and Steve Beattie, Jared Mees, Ben Young, Alex Dumas, John McKenney, Trevor Daley, Matt Deroy, Glen Fenwick, and Wes Westesson.
A special shout out goes to Taia Little in the Open Expert
class. After circulating the track for much of the race in sixth place, Little made her way past Fred Duchesneau with a couple of laps remaining to grab third place at the finish. By finishing third, Little had the opportunity to join in the champagne celebrations with her uncle (Seguin) as well as Pouliot.
Seguin took the victory in the DTX race as well with Deadman and Duchesneau chasing him to the finish line. Deadman did have some redemption in the Dash however as he beat Seguin to the checkers by inches.
Tyler Brown and Rod Scott proved to be the class of the intermediate division as they put on an incredible show for the fans as they battled for the win in both races. Scott wound up with the victory in the DTX class while Brown won the race to the checkers in the Open race. Jesse Isherwood took the final podium position in the DTX race while Adrian St. Amand rounded out the top three in the Open race.
Liam Caskie was once again the star of the Novice division as he grabbed the checkers in both classes on the same night he celebrated his 13th birthday. Connor Thompson crossed the line in second in both races while Eric Orosz managed to pick up two thirds.
With the season now complete, please visit flattrackcanada.com to view the final national standings in each class.
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