Two candidates began to separate themselves in the fight to represent Canada at the FIM World MiniGP Final on Sunday, as Jager Stockill won a pair of thrilling battles over championship leader Lincoln Scott at Lombardy Raceway, presented by Pirelli and Motul.
The second half of the ten-race season kicked off with Scott carrying a 27-point lead over Stockill and defending champion Michael Galvis, but the momentum would shift dramatically as the series returned to Lombardy, just east of Smiths Falls, Ontario.
Championship leader Scott would top the opening Q1 session on a mostly dry track after the morning was plagued with rain, but his time didn’t hold up as conditions improved in Q2 and the pace began to ramp up.
That allowed Galvis to earn pole position for the afternoon doubleheader, leading Q2 with a time of 48.113 seconds – just shy of Scott’s lap record – with Stockill moving to second and Scott completing the front row after having to settle for third in the combined timesheets.
Race one would prove to be perhaps the most pivotal event of the season, as Stockill grabbed the holeshot over Galvis with all three championship contenders running noseto-tail for almost the entire race.
Galvis would begin to heap plenty of late pressure on Stockill, but the eleven-year-old defended beautifully as Galvis had a pair of scary moments pushing the rear of his Ohvale GP-160.
The late attack wouldn’t be enough as Stockill escaped with a narrow victory at the line over Galvis, with Scott seemingly settling for third once again. That would have cut Scott’s championship lead to 18 points, with Galvis slipping 23 points back of the front.
However, mandatory post-race tech inspection would reveal that Galvis had violated the engine restrictions of his Ohvale machine as specified in the series rule book, disqualifying him from the results and promoting Scott to second.
Roman Darby would step onto the podium after finishing fourth on-track ahead of debutant Mateen O’Brien.
The disqualification would instead limit Stockill’s deficit to 22 points and shunt Galvis into a tie with Darby for third, a comfortable 47 points behind Scott entering race two.
Galvis would hop aboard a series-approved Super Sonic Road Race School Ohvale GP-160 for the last event of the day, and it initially appeared to help matters as he grabbed the holeshot on a fully wet track.
His lead would be short-lived, however, as he ran wide in turn three and allowed both Stockill and Scott through and began to fade into the arms of a charging Darby.
Stockill and Scott would resume their battle at the front, running together for virtually the entire race as Scott desperately looked for a move to open up, though the mistake never materialized as Stockill held on for another impressive victory.
Darby would pass Galvis and begin to stretch away in third, before Galvis reeled him back in late to try and salvage his day with a podium. His efforts would also be denied, though, as Darby held on for another third-place finish over the reigning champion with O’Brien completing the top five.
The “daily double” proved to be a massive one for Stockill, who’s first two victories of the season will see him close to within just 17 points of Scott for the championship lead with three races and 75 points remaining.
More importantly, Stockill will move 34 points clear of Darby for the second provisional spot in Spain, as the top two finishers advance to the FIM MiniGP World Series Final at the last MotoGP round in Valencia.
Galvis, who represented Canada in Valencia a year ago, will have a tough time repeating as one of the two competitors as he drifts to 37 points behind Stockill and 54 points off the championship lead.
The series will now get just four days off before they close out their season on Friday at Lombardy, this time on the reverse layout with a tripleheader on deck.
More information can be found on the Super Sonic Road Race School website.
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