Photos and text by Alexandra Franklin 

An absolute “classic” event was just what was delivered. Fantastic weather combined with impeccable organization by KW Cyclesport made for a great day at the races. The 135 riders that came out were treated to a 28.5 kilometre course that was very technical. Top pro riders were doing the loop in a hair under one hour so that gives indication of how challenging things were out there.

Sean Wiesner flew back from last weekend’s CEC in Alberta to referee the final event of the Spring Series of the WEC Ontario Cross Country Championship. It was impressive to see the WEC guy’s time keep things so perfectly, even with most of their staff out west at the British Columbia round of the CEC this weekend. Stephen Van Klink AKA “The Klinkster” had the electronic scoring system functioning like a well-oiled machine. He was even posting results on the board as the race was still going!

The morning started of with a fierce contingent of Pee Wee racers that circulated their own custom grass track of about 1 km in length.

It was a great spectator friendly set up with parents cheering the youngsters on from the sidelines. Stan Elliotson photo 

The Mini Junior and Mini Senior classes had an abbreviated version of the full course but still a significant undertaking at about 18 kilometres. Coming out on top making a clean sweep of four wins in the Spring Series was Wolfgang Wiesner on his “Travis Pastrana replica” Suzuki DRZ 125. Ryan Maenz topped the podium in Mini Senior once again showing his stellar riding proficiency and excellent sportsmanship.

The main program was an interesting shake up. Kevin Cockayne was happy to score the Wiesner insurance Holeshot Award and earned himself a very quick $100 for the decisive launch to the first turn. Kevin also took the Pro overall with first place cash winnings. It was a good payday for this hard charging Pro Rider. We were happy to be graced by the presence of Clarke Peters who has been suspiciously absent from the race scene for a while. I am going to assume his four-pre school children he had with him may have something to do with his temporary hiatus. Regardless, we were all happy to see him and he gave Kevin Cockayne a serious run for his money with the lead changing up a couple of times during the day. 

Another notable surprise on the day was the “King of Smooth” Paul Andratis being knocked down from his typical spot at the top of the Vet Master podium. Randy Zuest had what it took to snatch the win in that very competitive class. Paul had to settle for third but I believe Paul has the Championship.

In Super Senior we saw Brian West edge out the aggressive Gary Richards for top honours. These guys are real motivation for us to stay in shape as we all hope to be so incredibly athletic after 50. Stan Elliotson photo

Perhaps the coolest thing of the weekend was the fact that Richards was racing his vintage bike! We were stoked to see Offroadmotorcycles.ca test rider Matt McCarthy take the WEC Ontario Cross Country Championship JR. Spring Series title! This is a great time to thank you all for showing your support for Offroadmotorcycles.ca and turning the cheering section into a sea of blue! 

After the race a huge table of prizes courtesy of Royal Distributing and Apex Cycle were raffled off. Seriously good swag was picked up including many beautiful helmets and other top notch accessories.

It was announced that rider advancement will be posted on the WEC website during our summer break before the Fall Series starts up August 22 in Wingham. We were told that champions will be presented their awards for the Spring Series at the Wingham event so its another great reason to get out to that new venue. 

All detailed results will be posted on the World Enduro Canada website, www.worldendurocanada.com A special thanks to Dave Kube, Stephen Topham, John Boomer and the whole KW Cyclesport Club. They demonstrated they are a truly professional organization.

WEC Ontario Cross Country Championship, round-four

Pro: 1.Cockayne 2.Peters 3.Griffith

Int: 1.Grummet 2.Filer 3.Franko

Jr: 1.Wilson 2.Messier 3.Macleod

Beg: 1.Kleingeld 2.Lius 3.Williams

Vet Mstr: 1.Zuest 2.Jones 3.Andratis

Vet Sr: 1.Holloway 2.Imeson 3.Boon

Spr.Sr: 1.West 2.Richards 3.Golden

Vet Jr: 1.Martin 2.Taplay 3.Oomen

Mini Sr: 1.Maenz 2.Dearing 3.Thiessen

Mini Jr: 1.Wiesner 2.Pichard 3.Fisher