Todd Vallee is the official Flat Track Canada announcer and has been announcing motorsport events for over a decade. He has written for Inside Motorcycles for 12 years with roughly 120 articles combined in print and online. Happily married for 30 years, Todd is also a proud father of two, and soon-to-be first time grandpa. Off the track, you can catch Todd riding his Suzuki SV650, watching racing or hockey, or travelling to a new destination.
August 5th saw Flat Track Canada return to Flamboro Downs just outside of Hamilton. One of the most anticipated stops on the schedule, the racing at Flamboro Downs did not disappoint as there was feverish action from start to finish.
After missing most of last season to a broken leg and fighting hard to hold on to a third place finish a couple of weeks ago, three-time champion Dustin Brown was looking to make a statement on this day. Brown managed to work his plan to perfection as he took the victory in both the DTX Expert race as well as the Open Expert race, leading each race right to the end.
In the Open Expert final Brown jumped out to an early lead but that would be erased quickly when a red flag came out as Fred Duchesneau had found his way into the fence between turns one and two. During the red flag there was some drama as Dominic Beaulac, considered one of the contenders for the win, took off to the pits to change bikes with his original ride suffering what appeared to be terminal damage. However, with the rules stating that you are unable to change bikes after the race has started, both Beaulac and Duchesneau found themselves reduced to spectators and the main event would be restarting short one of the potential frontrunners.
Off the restart Brown jumped to the front once again which was bad news for everyone else in the field. On a strange night where for the most part the high line of the track wasn’t being used, Brown was proving to be the master of skittering along the bottom of the track. While Brown opened up a gap in front, Tyler Seguin was in third place trying to figure out a way past Justin Jones. Jones did an amazing job of keeping Seguin at bay but finally with just a handful of laps left Seguin found his way around the New York native. At this point Brown had opened up too much of a gap and despite Seguin twisting the throttle as hard as he could, finishing order at the line would be Brown, Seguin, and then Jones.
The DTX race would see the same riders finish one, two, three, as they held onto their finishing positions for virtually the entire race. Brown might have thrown down the gauntlet at the finish of this one when exiting turn four he climbed onto his seat in order to wheelie across the line.
In Intermediate action Liam Caskie and Ty Rahm were looking to renew their rivalry after some intense battles at the previous round. Phil Little was looking to play spoiler on this day and an excellent start saw Little lead lap one in the DTX final. Rahm made his move to the front on lap two but by lap six Caskie had made a move to the front. The top three held their positions until
Felix Dandurand made his way past Little with two laps to go making the finishing order Caskie, Rahm, and then Dandurand.
In the Open final Little once again had a great start and jumped to the front while Caskie wasn’t so fortunate. Little would lead the first couple of laps with Rahm in second but then Caskie made his move to the front on lap three after making his way through some traffic. It looked like Little may hold onto the final spot in the top three in this one but this time Dandurand made the pass for third on the final lap after stalking after chasing him down during the final portion of the race.
The Novice DTX final was all Loic Nadeau as he would lead from start to finish in a flawless ride. Behind him the racing was intense as Nathan Peacock, Seth Little and Mateo Racine were shuffling the deck to fill out the remaining positions in the top three. Peacock held second place briefly until Little made his way past by the fourth lap but just one lap later Racine slipped past Little to take over the position.
Racine would follow Nadeau across the line while Little was able to hold onto third as he disposed of Peacock in the final couple of laps. In the Open final it looked like Nadeau would have his way again as he would lead the first seven laps. Racine had other ideas and would jump to the front for the remainder of the race with Nadeau finishing second followed by Jordan Beaulac.
Next action in the Flat Track Canada national series is this coming Saturday, August 12, at Ohsweken Speedway. For start times and ticket information, please visit flattrackcanada.com.
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