In a thrilling fight to the finish, Kawasaki twin mounted Chad Cose score his second Flat Track Canada National victory of the season, holding off Steve Beattie’s Harley-Davidson XR750 in the seventh round of the series at the Flamboro horse race facility near Hamilton, ON.
With the high line turning out to be the place to go on the fast half mile facility, Cose jumped out to a good early lead, before Beattie hunted him down. Twice Beattie got beside Cose exiting the second turn, but could not make the move stick. The two also had a great duel in their heat event.
“I was expecting Beattie, and he can really ride the crap out of a bike,” explained Cose in the Winner’s Circle, post race. “His fitness is super good, so I knew he would keep up the pressure. I had to change things up, drop down the track a little, it was so close.”
Cose had previously filled in for injured former points leader Don Taylor in the first Leamington round in mid-July, taking victory on the Sehl Racing entry. On his own bike in Flamboro, victor Cose thanked veteran racer Steve Ball for his help in working on the Kawasaki.
Petrolia, ON’s Beattie continues to hold the overall National series points lead, and wasn’t happy to come up just short at the finish of 15 laps.
“He really gapped me pretty good at the start,” explained the sometimes-retired Beattie. “But I had a plan, and I started to work on him.”
“Then he moved down a bit and it was game on,” smiled Beattie, who was inches from the bales at the top of the dirt oval. “I think in another lap or two, I could have snuck by, made something work. It was a good race, just too much time behind Chad!”
After a good battle, Brodie Buchan earned third aboard the Honda Canada/KBR Racing single framer, pulling clear of reigning National Champion Doug Lawrence with the # 1 Parts Canada Harley-Davidson XR750. On the podium, rising star Buchan thanked Intermediate level racer and former Mopar CSBK National Superbike Champ Jodi Christie for his help, and said he was happy that “I kept Lawrence from gunnin’ me down!”
Christie, shaking off the effects of a big crash the previous weekend at Leamington, scored two fifth place finishes with his KBR/Honda Canada 450F, in the Intermediate Open and Intermediate DTC classes. Dustin Brown and Cody Marentette earned the wins.
In the crowded Expert DTX class, Quebec’s Dave Pouliot on his Kawasaki lead most of the way under constant pressure from Buchan’s KBR Honda. Late in the race, Buchan started jamming his way under Pouliot exiting the final corner, and he made that move work on the last lap to score a dramatic victory. Buchan leads the Expert DTX standings, just ahead of Pouliot.
Saturday night’s events at Flamboro marked the second-ever Flat Track at the facility, the previous effort back in 1983. Next round of the Flat Track Canada Nationals is Saturday night, August 13, in Belleville, ON.