Thanks Boris for helping to make Supermoto X-Fest the best event in Canada.
Our top Canadian national #1 past plate holder, Dave Arnold and present holder, Maxime Sylvestre were ready for the challenge .
Unfortunately Dave's trany broke. I decided to lend him my 450 to keep him in the big international challenge.
All was looking good as Dave got used to my setup and was running same lap times as Boris and Max in the practice laps.
The plan was to win the first heat race in Sm1 Open and then pass the bike to Dave and he would do the same in Pro open. We had a real shot at it.
The track was heavily watered before my heat race with standing water after the table top jump. I was sure someone would go down in the mud.
The carnage off the table top after the start was the worst ever. Came over the jump in 4th or 5th to see bikes and body's flying everywhere.
Every one crashed.
I landed on the stacked bikes putting a big hole in my engine case. When I tried to get up my leg was stuck in another bikes rear wheel.
Ended up with a squashed thumb on my throttle hand but amazingly that was it. 3 riders would not make the rest of the day with injury or dike damage.
It was such a bad break for both Dave and I as Dave would not be able to be in the big show of the day and my tied for 2nd in SM1 would also take a hit.
I still had the opportunity to ride my 250 in the SM1 open to salvage some points.
We have never been to a race where the track was so dry and dusty. The water truck ran steady both days, trying to keep the dust down.
My wife Pauline, was kept very busy in the extreme heat and humidity, making sure I was hydrated and core body temp was ok, along with many other details.
The SM2 250 qualifier on Saturday had me winning by 4 seconds. Before the final 250 race on Sunday, the 2nd place qualifier rode past my trailer. He slowed down and with a big smiling grin said he was going to kick my ASS this time. He then came back to get a go pro helmet camera to video the ASS kicking. LOL. If you want to get me fired up to win a race from start to finish just tell me you are going to do the ass kicking thing. Guess what!! start to finish, 17 second lead, at the finish.
The funny thing about Mecaglisse is that there is an echo in the valley and it sounds as if there is some one right on your tale
.
I was sure this ass kicker was right in my blind spot the whole race so I just held it pinned, rode hard tight lines and never looked back
. Even the Phantom rider, could not kick my ass this day. LOL.
The thing about racing is that the unknown factors are ready to make or break the day. Dave Arnold emailed me later thanking me for the ride and also noted the odds of both our bikes being side lined that day were as close to 0 as it gets.
I hope Franck will be able to bring other international stars to the bigest supermoto race in Canada again next year. The battle between Maxime and Boris was more than we could have imagined. The two champions changed leads many times with Boris passing on the pavement and Max re-passing in the dirt. The crowd ran back and forth to see every second of the crazy battle. In the end Boris went down in the dirt section and could not remount fast enough to re challenge.
Pictures courtesy of Pauline Scharfe and Alexandre Poitrais (alexandrepoitrais.com)
The Next National H-Games are to be held in Montreal on Friday Aug 24, and Saturday Aug 25
What a showing as to the level of skill our Pro Canadian riders have against top world level competition
