KARTING: ‘Bear’ hunt ends at Mosport

OKRA GrandNationals a huge success

Courtesy The Russ Bond Agency

MOSPORT, ONTARIO With the final day of the 2005 OKRA GrandNationals now in the books, a case could be made that Pearce Herder was the best ‘bear’ hunter in attendance. The Stouffville driver took home a coveted bear each day of the event, collecting three in total. With over 240 entries over the three days, there is no doubt that Cameron Motorsports, the OKRA and all the volunteers from the clubs did an amazing job with the 2005 edition of the OKRA GrandNationals.

In Rotax Max Senior, Eric Gerrits had the pole, but an incident in the first corner brought out the red flag and Gerrits was unable to continue as he had a broken radiator. On the restart, Kyle Herder took the early lead over Mark Kitchen, Jason Keen and Marco Di Leo. On lap five, both Kitchen and Di Leo got past Herder to take the top two spots. Herder caught them back up in the late stages to make it a three way battle for the win, but Kitchen was able to hang on for the win ahead of Di Leo and Herder. Jason Keen came home fourth and Jordan Lynch rounded out the top five.

In Rotax Max Junior, Michael Vincec took the lead at the drop of the green and never looked back. Vincec had a healthy lead big enough that he spun and still kept the lead and came home with the checkered flag. Behind him came Brad Forbes and Joshua Korenyi. Fourth was Dylan Gibson and Steven Mathews rounded out the top five.

Honda Masters was all Fred Jordan as he went wire to wire for the win. Bruce Panes and Doug Bedford enjoyed a race long battle for second and third. Blair Harrison and Dave Jackson rounded out the top five.

In Canada Junior Heavy a group of four made the original break from the pack. Brad Forbes, Justin Holtom, Kevin Monteith and Chris Lane all battled amongst themselves before Forbes took control in the middle stages and went on to win by six seconds. Holtom, Monteith and Lane followed Forbes across the line with Steven Mathews rounding out the top five.

Canada Senior Light was Pearce Herder’s domain. He led from the drop of the green and cruised home to capture his third bear of the weekend. Rob Oakman had some difficulty early on, but he bounced back to finish a distant second behind Herder. Third and fourth were the Bradburn brothers, with Corey leading Jesse across the line. Fifth place went to 67 year old Kees Kroon, and he received a huge ovation when he accepted his fifth place trophy.

It took three days for Adriano Bilotta to take home a bear, but he finally did it. On Saturday, Bilotta was leading when his exhaust fell off, and this time he wasn’t going to be denied. He took the win ahead of Paul Carvahlo on the track, but Carvahlo was assessed a one position penalty that dropped him to third. That penalty elevated Corey Usher to second. Andrew Deaves was fourth and Wilson Tessari Neto was fourth.