Our drive started out Friday about midday after feverishly going over all the gear and bikes the night before, making sure not to forget anything. Over the years I have had a lot of practice packing the truck/trailer for a weekend race getaway, but no matter how many times I do it I always manage to forget something and this time it was the second pair of tire warmers. Good work!
My brother Albert and myself began the long trip down the 401 headed to the belle province ,making a quick stop to pick up a fellow bombsquaders Pat and Mike. The combination of a truck full of guys, coupled with the 11 or so hour drive multiplied by Paddy’s hankering for cheese curds just outside Kingston and Mikey’s choice of beef jerky and I knew we were in for an exciting weekend. The drive was long and tiresome but once we got through Montreal traffic and started heading north past Trois Rivieres the scenery changed and the beauty of the mountains made us all happy. We knew it wouldn’t be long before we arrived in La Tuque.
La Tuque is a special town in the fact that the cities whole economy is driven by a paper mill and has been that way for many years. The population is small but the municipality is more than willing to close down the streets for supermoto and quad racing. Luc Boucher and his team did an amazing job laying out the track for the two day event. The race sanctioning body is Supermoto Quebec with François Cominardi at the helm of his team of organizers. I want to take a second and thank them all for their hard work and despite the obvious language barrier we were made to feel welcome during the weekend. The supermoto and superquad races are only the first part of the 12 hours of endurance in La Tuque. The horsepower festivities continue the following weekend with endurance racing both with motorcycles and quads.
The course layout was very challenging with a lot of rough pavement in the infield chicane making it very tricky indeed. The dirt section consisted of a double jump with a kicker which shot you out onto the infield, followed by a surprisingly huge back straight for a drag race complete with cheering section. A fast left handed turn perfect for backing it in brought you back to the dirt section, where on Sunday the cheering could be heard over the full throttle of engine under hard acceleration. The cheering was a welcome gift from the fans because the ruts on the double were deep enough to scrape foot pegs by the end of the 12-15 lap finales! It was a very challenging course indeed!
With the first Canadian National in the books it looks like the season is going to bring some very hard fought battles. It is nice to see all of the old riders bringing their A-game, and lots of new faces in the paddock. A great enthusiasm can be felt around the Supermoto scene that extends beyond provincial borders and that is good for the sport! Supermoto Ontario has been working really hard on the dirt section at Shannonville and it looks amazing, great job guys for all your hard work. Make sure you come out to support on June 16th and 17th at Shannonville to see some exciting racing.
Results from La Tuque can be found online at www.trackresults.com
Our drive started out Friday about midday after feverishly going over all the gear and bikes the night before, making sure not to forget anything. Over the years I have had a lot of practice packing the truck/trailer for a weekend race getaway, but no matter how many times I do it I always manage to forget something and this time it was the second pair of tire warmers. Good work!
My brother Albert and myself began the long trip down the 401 headed to the belle province ,making a quick stop to pick up a fellow bombsquaders Pat and Mike. The combination of a truck full of guys, coupled with the 11 or so hour drive multiplied by Paddy’s hankering for cheese curds just outside Kingston and Mikey’s choice of beef jerky and I knew we were in for an exciting weekend. The drive was long and tiresome but once we got through Montreal traffic and started heading north past Trois Rivieres the scenery changed and the beauty of the mountains made us all happy. We knew it wouldn’t be long before we arrived in La Tuque.
La Tuque is a special town in the fact that the cities whole economy is driven by a paper mill and has been that way for many years. The population is small but the municipality is more than willing to close down the streets for supermoto and quad racing. Luc Boucher and his team did an amazing job laying out the track for the two day event. The race sanctioning body is Supermoto Quebec with François Cominardi at the helm of his team of organizers. I want to take a second and thank them all for their hard work and despite the obvious language barrier we were made to feel welcome during the weekend. The supermoto and superquad races are only the first part of the 12 hours of endurance in La Tuque. The horsepower festivities continue the following weekend with endurance racing both with motorcycles and quads.
The course layout was very challenging with a lot of rough pavement in the infield chicane making it very tricky indeed. The dirt section consisted of a double jump with a kicker which shot you out onto the infield, followed by a surprisingly huge back straight for a drag race complete with cheering section. A fast left handed turn perfect for backing it in brought you back to the dirt section, where on Sunday the cheering could be heard over the full throttle of engine under hard acceleration. The cheering was a welcome gift from the fans because the ruts on the double were deep enough to scrape foot pegs by the end of the 12-15 lap finales! It was a very challenging course indeed!
With the first Canadian National in the books it looks like the season is going to bring some very hard fought battles. It is nice to see all of the old riders bringing their A-game, and lots of new faces in the paddock. A great enthusiasm can be felt around the Supermoto scene that extends beyond provincial borders and that is good for the sport! Supermoto Ontario has been working really hard on the dirt section at Shannonville and it looks amazing, great job guys for all your hard work. Make sure you come out to support on June 16th and 17th at Shannonville to see some exciting racing.
Results from La Tuque can be found online at www.trackresults.com
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