www.iratherberacing.com GP 125 John Dempsey

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The weather was favorable, with the sun shining and cool temperatures. One rider of particular interest, Michele Danese, a 22 year old Italian brought in by Frank Pate of Infinity, was present in the paddock, generating a buzz among the Can-Am riders. Danese brings with him Moto GP experience, along with impressive finishes in both Spanish and Italian Championships. His appearance with the Can-Am was much anticipated, and many were anxious to see what the somewhat elusive Italian would bring to the table.

John Dempsey, last year’s 2nd place finisher in the Can-Am championship, set to work immediately, turning a 1:12.300 in the first session. Danese had a rough introduction to the Pro track with an unfortunate get-off after corner 2; he returned later that day to turn laps in the low 1:12s, with the rest of the field following with 1:14s and up.

Saturday morning’s weather provided near perfect conditions for these GP bikes; sunny with great temperatures cooled slightly by a mild wind. Practice times for the most part were similar to those from Friday’s practice sessions, with the exception of Danese who served up a time of 1:10.180; the current lap record for Pro GP125 is held by Corey Sherman, at 1:09.99. Dempsey pursued Danese’s time with a 1:11.620, the next best 125 time belonging to Tim Harrington with a 1:13.541.

Angela Hiba, 3rd in last season’s championship, made an appearance this weekend after sitting on the retirement fence throughout the winter. Corner marshals soon alerted R.A.C.E. officials that there was smoke coming from her ’99 Honda RS, so the decision was made to show her the black flag. She unfortunately didn’t make it that far, as she suffered a fall just after the chicane, causing a red flag and the subsequent end of that session. Hiba was taken to the hospital where she was diagnosed with a broken collarbone and toe, and a mild concussion. An oil leak was found to be the cause of her fall. Simon Kirby also had the misfortune of crashing in corner two, his half-breed Suzuki RM125 damaged too much for hopes of making the final race on Sunday.

After lunch, the last corner coming onto the front straightaway suffered an oil spill during the Group A Amateur 600 Qualifying session. As the clouds rolled in and started to drop rain, the spill turned the corner into an area too treacherous for officials to feel comfortable with continuing the rest of the day’s sessions, despite clean-up efforts of cement dust, soap and pressure washing; neither 125 or 250 got their qualifying sessions.

Sunday, with no qualifying to make the final grids with, Can-Am officials used the previous day’s last practice session to grid the field. A decision by the young upstart Alex Welsh to sit out that session resulted in his position at the back of the grid. Morning practice sessions went without incident, with the exception of light drizzle, which would continue on and off throughout the rest of the day, no sun in sight.

Danese started the race with the coveted pole position, with Dempsey beside him, and Tim Harrington and Rick Bulmann finishing off the front row. Danese jumped into the lead with a hole shot start, Dempsey quick to challenge going into corners 1 and 2. As the field stretched out, Danese used his European-bred racing talent to lengthen his lead over Dempsey with each passing lap, while Welsh rode unchallenged in third.

Christian Rose retired from the race in the fourth lap with mechanical problems. It seemed the gremlins affecting his ride also got to Danese’s Honda; in a disappointing twist, the Italian was seen to be slowing down markedly on the front straight coming into the fifth lap, looking down at the bike. He was forced to pull over at corner two, transmission woes being suspected in the breakdown. Meanwhile, Dempsey took full advantage of his new found lead, and maintained a substantial distance over Welsh, now running in second. Matt Cooper consequently found himself moved up into an unchallenged third place position, Tim Harrington having Cooper in his sights, but not quite enough push to get out of fourth position, and Rick Bulmann rounded out the top five.

The race within the race was furiously going on between Joe Melchionda, Frank Pate, John-Ross Mac Rae, and Mark White; this foursome barely had two bike lengths between each other battling for sixth place. An exciting race to watch, especially when Pate added to the drama by low siding in the essess on the last lap, leaving Melchionda, Mac Rae and White to finish the race without him. Dane Walther, Craig Johnston and Don MacPhail took the checkered flag in ninth, tenth and eleventh.

Podium presentations took place after a victorious burnout by Dempsey on the front straight and Diablo Energy drinks.

The Can-Am Challenge was happy to introduce a new addition to the series for 2005, the 250 GP class. With thirteen riders entered, it was the largest 250 group gathered at Shannonville for quite some time. 125 and 250 riders were able to take advantage of some extra track time, as they were permitted to practice in each other’s sessions. Alain Brault led Friday morning practice sessions with 1:12.326, followed by Nick Colley in the 1:13s, and John Crook in the 1:14s.

Saturday’s practice sessions went without incident, with Brault once again coming out on top with his times, this time with a best of 1:11.827. Colley was again behind Brault with a 1:13.260, however Gord Mackay stepped it up a notch to take over Crook’s previous time with a 1:13.55.

Frank Pate of Infinity had been entered in both the 125 and 250 classes, but after some deliberation, the decision was made to put some Italian spice into the mix; Michele Danese’s numbers were put on the bike, and he was entered to ride in Pate’s place. As with the 125 grid, the 250s were appointed their positions based on Saturday’s last practice session times. This meant that Danese would start from the back of the grid.

Brault started the race from pole position, with Colley beside him. Rounding out the front row was MacKay and Crook. All eyes were on Danese, who sat on the last row with Mark Jaeckle; Jaeckle found himself unfortunately at the back of the grid as a result of having no times for the last practice session the day before.

As the light went from red to green, Danese, perhaps looking to avenge his DNF in the 125 final, sliced through the field, passing nearly everyone on the outside of corner one. Crook managed to keep in front of the Italian for the first lap, but was overtaken by him in the second; Rosario Tomaino suffered a mishap in the hairpin on the first lap, but was unhurt. Danese, as he did in the 125 final, began to stretch his lead substantially. Colley was next in line to knock Crook back a position, then Brault took his turn. Gord MacKay found himself unchallenged in fifth, maintaining this position for the remainder of the race. Oliver Brama and Brian Waterman provided some entertainment with their dogfight for sixth position, with Waterman pressuring Brama the entire race. Brault moved up to second on lap 6, and stayed put until he crossed the finish line, with Colley in hot pursuit. Crook finished fourth, MacKay in fifth. Waterman edged Brama out for sixth at the line, followed by Joe Melchionda, with Al Cane, Jaeckle, Jerry Sadler and Laird Shingleton rounding out the finishers. Danese dominated with his first place finish, fifteen seconds ahead of second place, his best lap a 1:09.642.

More info and pictures www.canamchallengeseries.com
Race results www.mylaps.com

The Can-Am Challenge Series would like to thank Infinity GP Racing, RACE Superseries, Diablo Energy Drink, Flair Photo, High-Side Health Services, Hjelm Motorsports, and Bickle Racing.

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