Six 'bears' captured at Mosport!

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 29, 2005

Six "bears" captured at Mosport!

OKRA GrandNationals kicks off with six winners on Friday

MOSPORT, ONTARIO  Ontario karters are in hot pursuit of "Bears" just north 
of Bowmanville, at the new Cameron Motorsports Mosport International 
Karting Complex. After two days of practice, the first six bears were 
claimed today. The "Bear" trophy is one of the most coveted prizes in all 
of karting, and a huge number of entries showed up for the first 
GrandNationals at the new track at Mosport.

In World Formula Junior, SRFKC regular Josh Korenyi won by nine seconds 
over Dylan Gibson and Emerson Baker. Rounding out the top five were, 
Michael Sparling and Wes Calaguiro.

In the Novice race, it was a three way battle for the entire distance. 
Garrett Grist led most of the race before loosing it at the line to Luca 
Casario by .031 of a second. The good news for Grist was he beat out Lucas 
Panzica by .122 of a second. Fourth went to Austin Milwain and fifth was 
Vanessa Ostella.

Canada Junior Heavy featured a battle between eventual winner Justin 
Holtom, second place finisher Kevin Monteith and third place man Cory 
Luciano. All three took turns leading, some even having a lead that looked 
like they wouldn't be caught. But time and time again the other two made 
their way back, until Holtom made his way ahead of the other two to finish 
6.306 seconds ahead. Rounding out the top five were Steven Mathews and Chis 
Lane.

Canada Junior Light was a three kart battle. Reid Arnold came out on top 
with a dramatic pass  three times  on the final lap. Second was Andrew 
Waring, who for the most part was able to hang onto the back of the lead 
two, but couldn't do anything with them. He got a break when the pass for 
the lead happened on the final lap in turn nine, and he followed Arnold 
through to second. Coming off third best was Vincent Rago, who led going 
into the final lap, lost the lead twice, but regained it both times and 
then couldn't fend off the third attack from Arnold. Fourth went to Henry 
Schnieder and fifth was Taylor Gates.

Rotax Max Senior is supposed to be a 'driver' class, with everyone having 
the same sealed engines. Someone forgot to tell Eric Gerrits that, as he 
motored off into the distance from lap 1. By lap 20 he had a massive 23 
second lead over Jordan Lynch. Lynch came under pressure from Kyle 
Herder  who had come back from 12th after an incident on lap 1  in the 
final two laps, and a passing attempt by Herder went wrong and he lost his 
sidepod, resulting in an immediate disqualification. It was a sad end to a 
great drive by Herder. With Herder gone, Marco Di Leo inherited third, 
while Cale Bailey and Rob Milwain rounded out the top five.

The final race of the day was Canada Senior Medium, and Pearce Herder won 
handedly over Eric Gerrits and Richard Hibbs. Fourth place man Michael 
Iamundi, seized an engine in the final corner and cruised across the line. 
Fifth was Chris Packham.

There are still two more days of Bear hunting at Mosport this Saturday and 
Sunday.

Photo by Russ Bond/www.canadiankartingnews.com

For more information on the OKRA Grand Nationals contact;
Bill Oakman at billoakman@rogers.com
Or visit www.okra.ca

Release prepared by Russ Bond Agency (www.russbondagency.com) 
r.bond@russbondagency.com
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