CSBK - Welland’s Battle of the Border Short Track event this Saturday in Niagara

Welland’s Battle of the Border Short Track event this Saturday in Niagara

Details: Category: Other Racing News; Published on Tuesday, May 30, 2023 08:51 EDT; Written by Colin Fraser

Former CSBK front runner Doug Lawrence, a long time top Flat Track competitor, is moving into event organizing this weekend at his regular stomping ground, Welland County Speedway. “Fresh” is the host, and a top competitor, the “Battle at the Border” event, the warm-up for the upcoming Flat Track Canada National Series.

“I have been looking at this sort of thing for a while now,” explains the popular Lawrence, who represented Canada at the Las Vegas Super Prestigio event in Las Vegas in 2015. “We’ve been planning for a long time, but with COVID and border restrictions, it wasn’t until this year that we could pull all of the pieces together and do something special with Welland.”

The feature event at Welland on Saturday, June 3 will be a fight between seven American aces and the top Canadians, with eight thousand dollars of prize money on the line. Leader of the southern invaders will be long time AMA flat track ace Sam Halbert, as well as the likes of Florida’s Ryan Wells, Michigan’s Branden Kitchen, Connor Smith, and several others.

According to his Progressive American Flat Track bio, “the hard charging ‘Slammin’ Sammy Halbert’ is one of the most gifted, aggressive, and exciting races in all of Flat Track.” The former works Indian racer is 35 years old and hails from Graham, WA.

Top Canadian racers expected to star a venue that typically favors the locals includes Kurt Bieger Honda’s Dustin Brown, the former Flat Track Canada number one. As well, Lawrence will be riding a new Honda CRF450 single, after years spent often winning Welland on an earlier version of the popular multi-discipline DTX-style racer.

A popular riding destination just south of the close-to-Welland border, American Harley-Davidson of North Tonawanda, New York will sponsor the “Dash for Cash” event, with a payout in American dollars!

This event will start Superpole style, with each Pro racer doing timed laps solo before staging for a short race. The “Dash for Cash” program kicks of the main part of the show at 6pm, with practice starting at 4 in the afternoon.

As well as popular U.S. dealer American Harley-Davidson, Lawrence also has help staging the “battle at the Border” from Alliance Tire, Pro Plates, Tammy10 Media, KYT Euro Race, and the Steel Town Garage, as well as all the members of the Welland County Club that have maintained and managed the popular moto venue for many years.

Welland is the spiritual home of Canadian Flat Track, and a summer’s evening Feature event at Welland is one of the classic experiences in Canadian motosport.