Altona Manitoba was a hub of activity this past weekend with the annual Sunflower Festival in full swing.  The MMA added to the entertainment options with Moto Park X hosting round three of the Fall Provincial Championships brought to you by Royal Distributing.

Report and photos by Doug Engstrom

Carson Wiebe is starting to hit his stride on a big bike.  Wiebe, who graduated from an 85 this spring, had his strongest day of the season with a pair of top five overall finishes in Altona, taking fourth in MX-2 Junior and fifth in the Youth B main..

Holy tie breakers Batman!  Stefan Rohm came out on top of a five way tie for first overall in the MX-1 Junior class by virtue of his 6-1 finishes.  Dylan Mollot (4-2), Russ Suderman (3-3), Jake Klippenstein (2-4) and Preston Punton (1-6) completed the logjam.

Mikkel Grabinski made a podium appearance with a third place overall finish in the 65cc 10-11 class.

Richmond Morin continues to follow up his second place WCAN finish with solid rides in tough classes.  Morin took home the 85cc 12-16 overall with a 1-2 day and third overall in the Supermini class with 2-5 finishes.

RTR’s Ryan Millar showed up in Altona to test out a recent wrist injury.  Millar looked strong on his way to a perfect day in the Youth and MX-1 Intermediate classes.  A rear shock issue ended his day early in the MX-2 Intermediate class.

Renold Sawatsky seems to have increased his pace of late.  Sawatsky left Altona with a third overall in the 40+ class to go with his fifth place finish in the Vet Master class.

The 85cc 7-11 class has seen some great battles all season long.  Donald Fossay ended up at the top of the list this week with 2-1 moto scores.

Local boy Ezra Ginter went 6-6 for sixth overall in 50cc 4-6 class racing.

The Ladies class was a runaway victory for Bev Bryce-Leger in Altona.

Aaron Pfrimmer put his gregscustom.com Suzukis at the top of both Pro class podiums.  Pfrimmer took the MX-1 overall with a 1-2 ride ahead of the 4-1 finishes of Westside Honda’s Adam Pfeiffer.  In MX-2 Pfrimmer went 2-1 to give him the tie breaker over Pfeiffer’s 1-2 day.

Brent Peters took home second place hardware in the MX-2 beginner class with 2-3 moto finishes.

Duane Giesbrecht was unmatched with a 1-1 day for the overall in the MX-1 Beginner class.

Ryley Paterson was flying on his way to third overall in the 50cc 7-8 class.

Dryden Ontario’s Nick Kiewning has been a less frequent visitor to Manitoba this season but his absence hasn’t slowed him down.  Kiewning put together a 3-6 day for the last step on the box in the 65cc 7-9 class.

Preston Punton appears to be learning to put the power from the big 450 Zook to the ground better each week.  Punton took third overall in the MX-3 Junior class and picked up a moto victory in the MX-1 Junior class.

Jesscia Bell put a pair of second place finishes on the board for second overall in the Little Ladies class.

All too often this sport is all about the results and, based on these reports, I’m as guilty as anyone.  That said, I’ll close this report with a photo of a racer who makes me smile each time I see him on the track, not because he throws a huge whip for the camera or wins his motos by huge margins.  Almost two years ago Vet Junior racer Mel Penner suffered a serious femur break that led to a long and hard recovery.  I observed Penner struggle while limping around the track early in 2007, while watching his son and wondered if he’d ever make a full recovery, never mind ride again.  In 2008 Penner is back on the track and I know I’m not the only one smiling about it because I can see it on Penner’s face each lap as he passes by.

See you at the races…

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