--press release--

Team Suzuki OTSFF Motorsports Gavin Gracyk showed everyone the strength of the Suzuki RM-Z450 with a convincing double-moto victory at the final round of the CMRC Canadian Motocross Championships in Walton, Ontario on Sunday, August 21, 2005. Gracyk's stunning victory saw him finish the points chase with a second place ranking, a position that was battled for right to the final moto of the season.

Gracyk proved earlier in the season he has what it take to win a moto in the highly competitive MX1 class. He finished both motos of the prestigious Walton TransCan Grand National with over 30 seconds to spare at the checkered flag, leaving no doubt the Gracyk/RM-Z450 combination is a force to be reckoned with. In both motos, Gracyk took control of the lead position early on and basically checked out. In moto two, he registered lap times that were two seconds per lap faster than Huffman.

"I knew I could do better than the results were showing early in the season so I kind of regrouped and pulled it together. I had the bike, I just needed to become the rider to ride it," said Gracyk. "As the season progressed I just got more comfortable with the RM-Z450 thanks to Team Suzuki Canada, team owner/manager Andre Laurin of Ocean Transport and rider manager Ron Ashley. Its about surrounding yourself with good people and Im up here today because of those guys."

In the first moto, Huffman, Craig Decker, Gracyk's teammate Keith Johnson, and Evan Laughridge were docked five positions for jumping a step-up while a Red Cross flag was being waved for a downed rider. They were in second, third, fourth and fifth position respectively. Huffman, Decker and KJ were all in a tight points chase with Gracyk for runner-up in the series and racing was intense.

KJ, who inadvertently jumped the step-up under the Red Cross flag caution, rode to a solid fourth place finish in moto two, carding fifth overall on the strength of 9-4 motos. Third Team Suzuki rider, Mike Treadwell, once again proved his mettle by registering another strong ride to book eighth overall on the strength of 13-5 motos.

Johnson recorded an outstanding fourth place final ranking, two positions up from 05. Iron Mike, meanwhile, finished the series with a noteworthy tenth overall ranking.

"Were extremely overjoyed with the results Gavin, KJ and Mike put into the record books for Team Suzuki/Ocean Transport this season. We had hoped to break the top-five in the series but to get second and fourth, and seal the top ten as well, is beyond our expectations. Never mind KJ and Gavin winning motos earlier in the season and a clean sweep by Gavin in Walton," said team manager Ron Ashley. "Then, again, I never doubted our guys werent capable of top results because they all have such heart and fighting spirit as well as heaps of talent. They and everybody on the team from mechanics and support staff and especially Andre put a lot of hard work into this."

In the MX2 East/West Shootout, Jake Weimer led the first lap until another rider ran into him. Weimer rejoined the fray in 15th place, which he turned into a fifth place by the time the checkered was waved. Weimer who finished tenth for Team Suzuki OTSFF in the MX2 West Championship unfortunately suffered a DNF in the second moto. He still carded a respectable tenth overall for the day. His MX2 teammate Jean Yves Allard finished the first moto in 11th position. Allard was also victimized by a second moto DNF, chalking up 19th overall.