FIM North American Championship | Round 1 at Motopark | Photo Report

Photos and Story. by Billy Rainford

We were at Motopark in Chatsworth, Ontario, for the first round of the FIM North American Continental Championship this past weekend. I could only make it up there on the second day of racing on Sunday so my coverage is from the 2nd motos of each class, of which there were 22.

This event was an attempt to get some friendly competition going between Canadian and American racers and give riders another chance to get themselves in front of the industry and fans. Unfortunately, the strictness at the border kept American riders from venturing north for Round 1 and so rider numbers were low.

In fact, several classes were down in the single digits, but the racing was still good up at the front in most of them.

The fact that numbers were what they were had an affect on the payout structure for the cash classes. Promised to the Pro Sport and All Star classes was a purse of $5000.

We’re told the AMA and CMA rules require at least 5 riders to constitute a class and there weren’t 5 riders in the Pro Sport classes. The original allocation was $3,000 for Pro Sport and $2,000 for the All Star classes.

We have been told that they paid out $3,000 which, again, we’re told, was more than they were officially required to.

Either way, it wasn’t the way anyone was hoping the first try at this event would go.

And now we’re told that the AMA with MX Sports and the CMA with Motopark have collaborated and have decided to not only payout the original amounts as if there were at least 5 riders per class, but they will honour results of round 1 should riders decide to head to High Point for Round 2. Good stuff.

Let’s have a look at the winners and some of the racing action.