JANUARY 7, 2008
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Toyota Yamaha Nex-Trax Arenacross Photos Presented by SixSixOne Canada |
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Report and Photos by James Lissimore
While the big boys of Supercross were blasting off down in California, Canada had it's own indoor action to look forward to in Chilliwack, British Columbia as rounds 5 and 6 of the Toyota Yamaha Canadian Arenacross Series came to the Heritage Park Center. The racing didn't disappoint, as a packed house witnessed plenty of bar banging action out on the John Verdonk and Al Snow created track. Here's what went down in Chilliwack. |
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| Blackfoot Yamaha's Colton Facciotti again swept both Open mains over the weekend, keeping his perfect streak alive. Facciotti had a close call though during Friday's race, as he fell while leading and handed the lead to Kyle Beaton. The power of the 450 would prove too much though, as he caught back up and made the pass on his fellow Yamaha rider. He also had a good battle with Beaton during Friday's Lites main where the two swapped the lead before Beaton took the win, but a fall during Saturday's Lites main relegated Facciotti to a fifth place finish. |
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| Big Top Powersports' Lee Coutts again rammed his way to the Head to Head win on Saturday night, ensuring that he's won at least one round of the Head to Head races every weekend since the series began. The big guy will be heading to England soon for the Liverpool SX so it will be intresting to see what the Euro's think of Coutts' wide open, hard hitting style. |
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| Alberta's Cole Varty made the trek out to BC to race. He finished second in the 85cc 7-11 class and third in the 65cc class on Friday and then won the 65cc class on Saturday. |
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| Clearbrook Yamaha's Kyle Beaton, along with Colton Facciotti provided some great battles for the lead all weekend. Beaton again proved to be the best of the Lites class, taking both wins after some back and forth action with Facciotti. He also lead parts of both Open mains and will be looking to try to end Facciotti's win streak next weekend before he heads to California to race AMA Supercross. |
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| RTR KTM's Kris Foster had a solid night on Saturday, finishing second in the Lites main and third in the Open main. The podiums moved him into second in the Lites points and fourth in the Open standings. |
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With Clearbrook Yamaha the title sponsor of Saturday night's racing, Yamaha riders Kyle Beaton, Colton Facciotti and Shane Wiebe took a hot lap during the opening ceremonies in a Yamaha Rhino. Beaton was overheard remarking that he wanted to use it for the Head to Head race to protect himself from Lee Coutts. |
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Leading Edge Kawasaki's Brock Hoyer was solid all weekend, finishing third in Saturday's Lites main. He sits third place in points in both classes. |
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Travis Hayward was the man in Supermini, taking the win both nights. |
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Ryan Lockhart was looking to rebound from the horrible luck he suffered over the first two weekends and things were looking bright for the Nova Scotian after finishing third in both main events on Friday night. But just as things were looking up with a trip to the final round of the Head to Head racing on Saturday, during the Open main Lockhart would find himself on the losing end of a collision with Lee Coutts that sent Lockhart into the fence. Ryan would end up heading to the hospital with what appeared to be a couple of broken fingers and a banged up ankle. Here's hoping that Ryan can get healed up soon and back on the track battling for podiums like he's proved he can do. |
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Denny's Holeshot Kawi's Rachel Springman won the Ladies class both nights. |
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RTR KTM's Ryan Millar was the top Intermediate rider again at Chilliwack, taking the 125 Int win on Friday and finishing second on Saturday. The Manitoban also finished 6th in the Lites class on Saturday. |
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Tyler Gibbs won the 50cc 4-6 class on Saturday. |
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Kirk Haws had some great battles with Colton McLean in Open Intermediate. Haws grabbed the win on Friday and finished second on Saturday. |
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Beaton, Facciotti and Lockhart: This was the podium in both classes on Friday. |
