ROYAL WIN FOR MISTI HURST Named Queen of Mosport after Women’s Cup Victory Bowmanville, ON: Misti Hurst enjoyed a near flawless victory during round 7 of the Pro Honda Oils Women’s Cup Challenge at Mosport International Raceway Saturday. The Lions Bay, BC., rider took her Turn 2 Racing Honda CBR 600RR to the top of the box after leading 8 of the 10 laps, crossing the line with a considerable lead. On her first visit ever to Mosport, and despite the scorching heat, Hurst took quickly to the fast and flowing circuit, dropping her times considerably each practice session. Gridded according to overall championship points, Hurst started in second place flanked by series leader Catherine Nadeau and third place rider Shawna Aron. Aron grabbed holeshot with Hurst hot on her trail. Going into turn 5 Hurst made a bold move and passed Aron for the lead, but Aron retaliated on the back straight and rocketed into the lead once again. In an interview after the race Hurst explained, “I knew Shawna’s bike was very, very fast and that she would continue to draft past me on the straight so I had to make a new plan.” Calculating her move carefully, Hurst stayed glued to Aron’s rear wheel and waited until the long back straight to take her own drafting pass, shooting by in a high speed pass going into 8. “From there I knew I had to put some distance between us or she would get me right back so I put my head down and rode as hard as I could”, smiled Hurst. By the next lap Hurst had pulled out a 10 bike length lead that would continue to grow for the rest of the race. Catherine Nadeau passed Shawna Aron for second place and Aron finished third. On the podium Hurst was presented with a very special award that was created just this year to acknowledge the growing women’s field, the Queen of Mosport trophy. Traditionally, the King of Mosport title is presented to the rider who accumulates the most points in the Canadian National classes throughout the race weekend. This year will mark the first year that they have crowned a Queen. From the podium Hurst grinned at her team, Turn 2 Racing, who were gathered to celebrate her first win of the season. “I want to thank George Budacki and my amazing team, you guys are so awesome!” she exclaimed. “My Honda CBR 600 was working great this weekend, thanks to Lester Racing, Parts Canada the California Superbike School, and all my other sponsors. The racing today was so much fun!” Hurst is also running in the Parts Canadian Amateur 600 Sportbike Championship and on Sunday enjoyed an outstanding 12th place finish. She qualified 14th and a poor start in the daunting heat saw her in 15th for the first few laps as she battled two riders directly in front of her. Once she got by, Hurst put her head down and chased down the next in line who had managed to pull away about 20 bike lengths, taking nearly a second and a half off her previous day’s race time to reach a very credible 1:28.668. By the last lap she had caught up to the number 35 of Simon Blue and attempted to draft by. The two riders crested the top of the hill side by side with Blue just managing to hold onto his 11th place, while Hurst finished 12th which moves her up to 15th overall in the championship points. For more information please visit www.mistihurst.com or www.turn2racing.ca More, from a press release issued by Can-Am Challenge Series: 12 YEAR OLD PHENOMENON TAKES TWO WINS IN 125 GP, BRUNET AND COOPER SHARE 250 GP VICTORIES. The Can-Am Challenge Series Rounds 3 & 4, July 14th-16th At Mosport International Raceway Hot, more hot, and hotter; that’s how the weekend went for this third and fourth round of the Can-Am Challenge series this past weekend. Temperatures soared to upwards of 36 degrees for this doubleheader, and the heat only got turned on more due to the on-track action these riders generated for the crowds! Friday’s heat race determined how the grids would be set for the following finals; 12 year old phenomenon PJ Jacobsen of Team Celtic sailed into pole position for the 125 class, and Eddy Brunet grabbed pole for the 250 class. The combined race saw 23 riders in total on track, and the mix produced some great action between the classes. Included in this bunch was Angela Hiba; Hiba suffered a serious mishap last year on this very same weekend, and has made her return to racing under the Team Celtic colors. Although still recovering from her injury, Hiba is determined to return to her place in 125GP racing. Welcome back, Angela! Saturday’s ten lap final took place under picture perfect skies; the 250s were gridded ahead of the 125s and after a clean start, the real business of the day began with Matt Cooper knocking down the first lap in first place, only to be overtaken by Eddy Brunet in the second lap. Dempsey was in third until about lap 4 when Alain Brault pulled out all the stops to keep in touch with the blistering pace that Brunet and Cooper were keeping up, and was running in a solid third place. John Dempsey ran comfortably in fourth, and was unaware of the battle a few seconds behind him between Jim Bergey and Gord MacKay. Brault started to lose touch somewhat with Cooper and Brunet, who were in a world completely of their own, when Brault lost the front end of his TZ 250 in corner three, and was unable to continue in order to salvage some points; disappointing for Brault, who had a one point lead over Cooper in the standings going into this final. John Crook, the defending 250 champ, has had a mechanically trying year, and it got worse for him as his Yamaha TZ suffered a major seizure between corners eight and nine, sending him into the gravel in a spectacular crash; Crook walked away unscathed, although the same could not be said about his TZ. Cooper would finally see a way to get around the crafty Brunet on the last lap, and was able to take a more advantageous line around a lapper then his challenger. Cooper held off Brunet in the last couple of turns to take his first Can-Am win, forcing Brunet to accept second place. Dempsey capitalized on Brault’s demise by picking up third place, recovering and returning to racing after a broken Sternum. The 125 race was not any less action-packed; PJ Jacobsen did leave the rest of the 125 field behind quite early in the race, but it was great to watch him hound a few 250’s on his way to first place. The fight behind him for second place was exactly what the Can-Am series promised fans; Mark White, Angela Hiba, and Dean Hoelscher stuck to each other’s tail sections for the entirety of the race, before White’s RS125 gave up on him, leaving Hiba and Hoelscher to scrap it out for second. Hiba managed to keep the challenging Hoelscher behind her to take second place, while Crystal Campagna of Team Celtic battled for some time to get around the four stroke of Richard Irwin. Sunday’s final was no less dramatic, although the players in the top three battle somewhat changed. Jacobsen again made quick work of leaving his contemporaries behind him, to yet again go hunting for 250s. Mark White had a score to settle from the pervious day’s mechanical disappointment, and Hoelscher was in no mood to settle for less then second. Hiba was left to spend much time in getting through some traffic and was unable to get the other two riders back in her sights. White decided to make his move on the last lap, and made use of his thirty years’ experience with a dive boom move in the last corner to make a point in taking second place away from Hoelscher before the checkered flag. Hoelscher was given no opportunity to answer back, and accepted third place. The 250 race for first was almost a mirror image of the previous race from the day before; Brunet, on a mission to keep a win-hungry Cooper behind him, kept a very tough pace. Cooper threw everything he had but the kitchen sink at Brunet, and would manage to momentarily take the lead, only to have Brunet take it back. Brault found himself to be safely in third. Dempsey also maintained his fourth position; the fight behind him had MacKay and Bergey at it again, but Nick Colley decided he wanted in on the fun as well and joined in on that battle. In a last ditch effort to get another Can-Am win under his belt, Cooper attempted a last lap pass but wasn’t able to make it stick. Brunet came out on top, with Cooper three to four bike lengths behind him across the line. Brault ran a solid finish to third. Finishing Results Saturday Round #3 125 GP 1. PJ JACOBSEN 2. ANGELA HIBA 3. DEAN HOELSCHER 4. CRYSTAL CAMPAGNA 5. RICK BULMANN 6. DAVE MONAHAN 7. LAIRD SHINGLETON DNF-MARK WHITE DNF-RICHARD IRWIN DNF-DANE WALTHER 250 GP 1. MATT COOPER 2. EDDY BRUNET 3. JOHN DEMPSEY 4. JIM BERGEY 5. GORD MACKAY 6. NICK COLLEY 7. JOE MELCHIONDA 8. DAVE BISONETTE 9. MARK JAECKLE 10. JERRY SADLER DNF- ALAIN BRAULT DNF JOHN CROOK Sunday Round #4 125 GP 1. PJ JACOBSEN 2. MARK WHITE 3. DEAN HOELSCHER 4 ANGELA HIBA 5. CRYSTAL CAMPAGNA 6. JOE MELCHIONDA 7 RICHARD IRWIN 8 RICK BULMANN 9. DAVE MONAHAN 10. LAIRD SHINGLETON 250 GP 1. EDDY BRUNET 2. MATT COOPER 3. ALAIN BRAULT 4. JOHN DEMPSEY 5 NICK COLLEY 6 JIM BERGEY 7. GORD MACKAY 8. JOHN CHEMELLO 9. MARK JECKLE 10. JERRY SADLER DNF DANE WALTHER DNS JOHN CROOK