From a press release issued by series organizers:
NODELL WINS ROUND FIVE BARN BURNER
The penultimate round of the Diablo Paintball Can-Am 125GP Challenge took place Sunday at the technical, 2.0-mile Grattan Raceway, just outside Grand Rapids, MI, with Stuart Nodell, aboard the Canada Post Honda 125, fighting off Dave Wright by half a wheel to bring home a hard-fought victory.
While Nodell enjoyed a tremendous weekend, the story was not as joyous for two of the series front runners. Both Corey Sherman and Jeff Chen crashed in Saturday practice and were unable to compete in the Sunday final. Sherman had a nasty get off, badly bruising both ankles. Sherman had wanted to try and make the final but his ankles were too badly swollen to get his boots on.
With Chen and Sherman out of the game, the door was wide open in qualifying. While Stuart Nodell would come away with the Durmach Pole Award, it was not without a serious fight. Nodell was on pole with a 1:24.032, just edging out young gun Nick Cummings, son of Tom Cummings, owner of the TCR Dirt Track team. Cummings clocked in at 1:24.126. The front row was rounded out by Mark Gonyou in third at 1:24.306, and series points leader Dave Wright at 1:24.846.
At the start of the race it was Cummings who nailed the holeshot, but Stuart Nodell on the Canada Post Honda took the point as they went into corner two. Nodell and Cummings had Wright and Gonyou right on their tail as they drove down off of turn four, and towards the jump right before turn five. Over the jump, Gonyou went inside Cummings as they dove into turn five to snatch second place from him.
Gonyou was a man on a mission on the opening lap. As the lead pack went down the back sweeper toward the turn nine bus stop, Gonyou slipped under Nodell, squared off the corner and took the lead as they charged up hill through the esses and onto the 3000 foot front straight.
By the second lap the field had broken up into several groups. The lead pack was Gonyou, Cummings, Nodell and Wright. There was a second pack of five riders about 10 bike lengths back of the lead group. Veteran Jim Struke was bringing along Taylor Knapp, Logan Myers, Darren Womack and Ken Morrison. As hot and heavy as the action was in the lead pack, this second group was having its own battle equally as intense!
Taylor Knapp was trying to make up for a poor start as he was making his way through the pack, and on lap five would take fifth place from Struke.
Once he was clear of Struke, Knapp put his head down and was visibly making up time on the lead pack of four. Up front Gonyou was maintaining his lead, though he was under pressure every lap. Nodell, Wright and Cummings were really pushing the Gonyou, as the lead four riders were clicking off laps within two tenths of Nodells pole time! On lap five the lead group got into some lapped traffic and Nodell took advantage of it by grabbing the lead. Gonyou was stalking him though. Gonyou got a much better drive onto the front straight and pulled a draft and pass as they made the run toward the start finish line. This same traffic would catch up with Taylor Knapp a lap later. Jim Struke navigated through cleanly while Knapp was balked, dropping him from fifth to seventh.
For the next few laps Nodell and Wright would continue to push Gonyou as they would try and make some time in the heavy braking sections, but Gonyou would carry more corner speed in, and out drive the pair out of the corner. On lap eight with Nodell and Wright becoming frustrated with their inability to get around Gonyou, they both threw a Hail Mary pass in at the bus stop. Both riders were very late on the brakes, almost parking it in the corner as they both found room under Gonyou in the corner. As they exited they ran Gonyou wide and Gonyou had to chop the throttle so he didn’t end up on the grass. With Gonyou having no drive out of the corner, fourth place Nick Cummings was also able to get by.
As they made the run up the hill and onto the straight to take the white flag, Nodell lead Wright by half a bikelength with Cummings right behind and Gonyou about three bike lengths back. In the second group, Jim Struke was also holding off a determined Logan Myers for fifth.
Wright on his Bear Chair sponsored Honda was giving Canada Post’s Nodell fits in the infield section of the track trying to put a wheel under him where ever he could, but Nodell was determined to take the win at Grattan after just missing out at round four in Shubenacadie. As the lead pack of four came towards the checkers Wright tried to put the draft and pass on Nodell, but came up half a wheel short at the line as Nodell took his first win of the season. Nick Cummings was just a bike length behind Wright as he just held off Gonyou for the final podium spot.
Jim Struke came home fifth as he led the second pack of four home followed by Myers, Knapp and Ken Morrison. There was only one DNF in the race as Dave Thompson had to pull off with a mechanical.
The final round of the Diablo Paintball Can-Am 125GP series will be held on the 2.54 mile Long Track at Shannonville August 30th-September 1st, running in conjunction with the final round of the Parts Canada Superbike Series. With the Superbike series championship tied up, four or five of the series top stars are currently negotiating with their teams to be allowed to run in the final round of the Can-Am series! You may see current and former multiple time series champions on board the Grand Prix machines next weekend. A crowd of 50,000+ is expected for the weekend’s event.
QUOTES:
Mark Gonyou (Fourth Place):
“I wanted to take the lead early and try and break away. On about lap three I had a +1 on my board and had done some mid 24’s. About two laps later the group had closed the gap and Nodell tried to out brake me into turn one. He just shot for the apex and ran wide. I let him through and squared it off to retake the lead. After this happened three or four times I started to protect the inside at turn one and the bus top. With two laps to go Nodell pulled the same move at the bus stop, he was in too hot to make the corner. This time there was no room to square it off so I had to pick the bike up to avoid a collision. As he tried to make the corner it took me to the edge of the track. I either had to start banging elbows, run off the track, or chop the throttle. I choose to chop the throttle. By the time I slipped the clutch and got going again I was fourth, and my race was over. I have to thank my sponsors, BOB Development, Craftmaster Homes, and Castrol who make it possible for me to run this series. On a more positive note I can’t tell you how proud I am of Nick Cummings, Logan Myers, and Taylor Knapp. This series was created with the intent of giving young riders a chance get their first roadracing experience. These three riders have gone from being lapped at the end of last year too threatening to win. It won’t be long before these three are unbeatable.”
Nick Cummings (Third Place):
It was fun out there, these guys rode very defensively so it made it tough. If it wasn’t for Larry Cohee and my dad I couldn’t have put the Cummings Harley Davidson Honda on the box today. To qualify second and finish third, it was a good weekend.
Dave Wright (Second Place):
That was a great race! Stu and I were just battling it out all race. We were trying to out corner each other out there because we are two of the bigger guys and we give a little bit away on the straights, but Ben Gardner had Stu’s bike just rockin and I was having trouble staying in his draft. I pulled out every trick in the book I had, but he must have saw it coming. Its always tight when the two of us are going at it, but he got the better of me this time.
Stuart Nodell (First Place):
Earlier in the race, maybe about the half way point, our Canada Post RS125, Mark Gonyou was leading us, and there was a window of opportunity, so I figured Dave Wright was going to take it, because he was just in front of us, but I was able to get by both of them, but Mark got us both back on the straight. For the rest of the race I think he knew thats where we would try to get him, but he would do a good job of blocking that line. Finally the one time I was able to carry a little more speed and was able to get under him and stuck it in and probably blocked a bit of his drive. The last lap I knew Dave Wright was going to come up on me as we crested the jump there were a couple lappers there and I was able to slip by them and I was hoping that was going to be enough to hold him off. I saw him on the outside as we came into the bus stop, so I just pinned it and was just able to hold him off. Every one of these Can-Am races had been a real barn burner, its all about strategy at the end of the race and fortunately for us it fell our way this time
TOP TEN FINISHERS
Stuart Nodell
Dave Wright
Nick Cummings
Mark Gonyou
Jim Struke
Logan Myers
Taylor Knapp
Ken Morrison
Scott Trautman
Larry DeVore
TOP FIVE POINTS (After 5 of 6 Rounds)
Dave Wright (203)
Stuart Nodell (185)
Corey Sherman (170)
Jim Struke (142)
Chris Peris (142)