Out of the Blue - Shelby Turner takes Kamloops

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I’m not surprised that Shelby Turner, Karly Podznekoff, Rachel Springman and Denaye Giroux were the front runners at the first western round of the Royal Distributing Women’s Nationals. Supposed amateur sensation Taylor Miller from Alabama was a no-show and Amy Aspell was out with an injury. I believe everyone else I included in the DMX west preview lined up for the national class last Sunday at Kamloops. Courtney Stelter was present, yet a huge wipeout in Saturday’s amateur race kept her on the sidelines for the national motos.

Shelby is really excited with her win at round one, with moto 2 just perfect in her mind. The first moto had Schrader's Motors' Denaye Giroux riding out front the entire moto for the win. According to Denaye, she had a really good start and felt really comfortable on a good pace. Newway Motorsports Kawasaki's Karly Podznekoff told me that she was nervous for the first moto and rode really tight, struggling with arm pump and losing her grip on the bike. Nevertheless she finished fourth behind Rachel Springman.

Rachel had the holeshot in moto 2 and was out front for half the lap before Shelby made a pass and stayed in front for the win. Denaye didn’t end up with a good start in the second moto, but was able to work her way into second and on the last lap got caught up with a lapper and slid out. She finished third for second overall. Karly made some minor adjustments after the first moto and felt more in tune for moto 2. Karly: “I was riding much more like my self, more aggressive & in control.” She had some close calls on the rough track and managed a second in moto 2 after Denaye fell in a corner on the last lap.

Denaye would like to thank: Schraders, Yamaha, GYTR, Yamalube, TLD, Gaerne, Oakley, Pirelli, Lime Nine, Perform X, Yorkton Dodge, Supertracs, ORB Clothing, Gareth Buchanan and his family for putting her under his big rig, and of course, her dad.

Shelby Turner is a spit fire on that Lethbridge KTM 2-stroke. Kamloops was her first national. Lissimore photo

Denaye (#3) ran away with the win in moto 1, but Shelby (#50) dominated moto 2 and took the overall win. Karly (#5) was third overall. Lissimore photo

Denaye Giroux was really glad to get the first round out of the way. She's noticed that the rest of the pack has stepped up their game which will make for some exciting racing this year. Lissimore photo

Karly Pozdenkoff was very pleased with her results at Kamloops. She is especially happy for Shelby, who she's been racing with for a long time and our members at the same local club. Karly said it was cool to stand next to her on the podium. Lissimore photo

Karly chases Holeshot Racing's Rachel Springman Lissimore photo

It was a first national for Bailee Podznekoff (#59), Karly's younger sister. Bailee was racing with the 85cc's last year. Lissimore photo

Spunky's Camille Baker and Denaye share a laugh before a moto. Camille finished sixth overall. Rick Bradshaw photo

Amber Giroux finished 5-6 for fifth overall. Expect her to push for a better result at Edmonton. Rick Bradshaw photo

Courtney Stelter was injured on amateur day at the Kamloops National and was unable to race the national ladies event the following day. Courtney: "I either hit a kicker off a table or over jumped it I'm not too sure but I hit the braking bumps and my handle bar got caught underneath my helmet strap and ripped of my helmet and then I went over the bars and landed on my head with out a helmet. I think I twisted my knee and bumped my head pretty hard but it's good now I'll for sure be riding at Castrol."

Courtney manages a 15th in the Ladies amateur class and was running even better the second moto before she crashed. Alabama's Loretta Lynn amateur star Taylor Miller was not able to make it to Kamloops. Perhaps you'll see her at the line at either this weekend in Edmonton or Calgary... I'm waiting to hear back from her. Amy Aspell hurt herself pretty bad at a race in Nanaimo the weekend before Kamloops. According to Amy: "I was leading and undershot a pretty big triple...wasn't too bad until I hit a bunch of breaking bumps going into the corner and swapped out hard straight onto my neck and head, ended up with a good concussion and a compression fracture in my vertebrae just about where you shoulder blades end so it's still pretty rough getting dressed! Figured I should stay off the bike for at least a couple weeks." She was planning on heading to Edmonton, but will most likely not have everything together in time.

She had also planned to head to Kamloops to cheer on the BC girls, but got super sick and forced herself to stay home. Amy: "A couple days after, I figure I had scared myself enough and I already have two other vertebrae and my tailbone, which are badly mangled, so I invested in a Leatt brace. Better late than never.. right?"

Amy will most like race Port Alberni this weekend and then hopes to make it to Calgary for the final western round of the nationals. "By the way, awesome ride, Rachel and Camille. Ended up listening to the sad broadcast of the women's races though. I guess its pretty good they even broadcasted at all, but still pretty sad.."

Results from Kamloops national:  

The MMRS national was the May long weekend. The ladies class was divided into two classes: Pro and Intermediate. and Isabella Poncia-Myre gave me the scoop on the pro ladies race:

MMRS was really good, the turn out was alright, enough girls, but more would have been better! Still, the event was pretty well organized, and we even got practice on days we weren't supposed to, which I found really nice of John to let us do that. Ohh, and the purse! I got 115$, with a 4th place overall, which was awesome, that they finally give a little recognition to the women's class. I also rode Schoolboy, and Youth Beginner, and let me tell you that was a challenge...the three classes were almost all back to back on the schedule, every day! So I had to do back to back races for Ladies and Schoolboy, then a one-race break, and had to go back out for Youth. Honesly though, I actually liked it, after I got over how hot it was, it was really good training. All in all, I loved the event, the track was pretty good, and the purse was an added bonus.

MMRS National

Ladies Pro

1. Kirsten MacDonald 1-1-1

2. Erica Solmes 2-2-3

3. Mischa Wright 7-4-2
4. Isabella Poncia-Myre 3-5-5
5. Chloe Poncia-Myre 4-6-6
6. Jensen Amyotte 5-8-4
7. Christie Chorley 6-7-7
8. Lindsay Clayton DNS-3-DNS

Ladies Intermediate

1. Leah Ricard 2-1-1
2. Lindsey Bradley 1-2-2
3. Taylor Davis 6-3-3
4. Colleen Moore 4-4-4
5. Elizabeth Jones 5-5-6
6. Ali Pasternak 3-DNS-5

Ami Houde

Ami was in France recently to race the GP,  but landed on her shoulder in practice and dislocated it (yet again). She's currently in California.

Find her: http://www.mxinmotion.be/2010/06/foto-gp-of-france-friday/