Morin sweeps Pro finals at XTown for Rock Maple Racing snocross series
Brunelle, Todd split Semi-Pro classes
MIRABEL, Quebec (Jan. 18, 2010) — Any time you host a snowmobile race in the province of Quebec, the natives make a little extra effort to win in front of the home crowd.
And when it’s a points race in front of a huge audience just outside Montreal, that effort goes up a notch.
Although Mathieu Morin has gone on to achieve a great deal outside of his hometown of Val-D’Or, his desire to win at home has never been stronger. Morin swept the Pro finals over the weekend, as Rock Maple Racing (RMR) completed Round 3 (Pro and Semi-Pro teams) on the 2009-10 snocross schedule Sunday afternoon at XTown.
Last weekend’s race drew the top snocross riders in the eastern U.S. and Canada to the popular motocross venue. Sunday’s action was capped by a $2,250-to-win “Dash for Cash” for the Pro riders, won by Dave Allard of St. Felecien. With the top riders from SCM, CSRA and RMR, fans enjoyed plenty of aggressive, side-by-side racing both days.
The track at Mirabel was much larger than what RMR teams are used to, with lap times of over one minute. The big jumps and challenging downhill section required finesse and focus for racers to succeed.
For Rock Maple teams, points were awarded on Saturday for Stock classes while Open classes earned points on Sunday. Morin (Ingles Performance/Ski-doo) went wire-to-wire in Saturday’s Pro Stock final, with Bobby LePage (Hulten Speed Sports/Polaris) second and defending champion Danny Poirier third. While LePage worked his way forward after a slow start, Morin simply checked out. After Poirier’s domination last year, Morin is replacing frowns with smiles on the faces of Ski-doo racing directors.
Corin Todd (D&Z Racing/Ski-doo) continued his 2010 hot streak north of the border. Todd, of Otego, NY, held off a hard-charging Lucas Brunelle for top honors in Semi-Pro Stock. Ash Woskob finished a solid third, with Lincoln Lemieux and SCM regular Pierre Fillion completing the top five.
Sunday’s finals brought more of the same for Morin, as he completed the sweep in Pro Open. After nailing the holeshot, Morin blasted into another time zone as LePage tried to run him down. The Minnesota native ran out of time and settled for second, while Allard claimed third. With two native sons on the podium, the fans cheered so loud you could have heard them in Sherbrooke.
In the Semi-Pro Open final, Brunelle, who lives just 40 minutes from the track and had practiced there prior to the race, dominated with a flag-to-flag victory in front of the Quebec faithful. Lemieux put on a whale of show in pursuit but ran out of time, while RMR veteran Michael George came home third. The Semi-Pro riders from Rock Maple looked impressive against the SCM regulars, grabbing the hardware on their visit to Canada.
Several other RMR regulars made the trip to Mirabel last weekend to stay sharp and hone their skills. On Saturday, Leo and Hunter Patenaude both earned a win in Junior competition. And on Sunday, Leo Patenaude won the Sport Stock 600 final.
Other RMR regulars who raced in Mirabel include Chris Ingles, who put in a career-best performance in the Sport division; Brennan Berardo, Jason Stone, Renaud Alexandre, Garret Mees, Robert Graeber, Cody Flach, Joe Lemieux, Steffanie Lemieux, Montana Jess, Melanie Acker, Wade Acker, Paige Calderwood, Daryl Nutting, Danny Graves, Jarett Catlin, Andrew Collins and Tim Randall. While they weren’t racing for points, every rider in the support divisions gave it their all at Mirabel.
RMR would like to extend a since thanks to Marcel Fontaine of SCM and the staff at XTown for hosting such a world-class event. Next up for teams here in the states is the debut of snocross at The Lodge at Belmont, Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 23-24. Located on the site of a former dog racing facility, The Lodge at Belmont will offer amenities for fans not seen at most winter motorsports events.
For full results in all classes from Mirabel, please go to www.scmracing.com. For more information about Rock Maple Racing, go to www.rockmaple.com.