By John Hopkins / Photo by Bob Szoke
SHUBENACADIE, NS – Stacey Nesbitt of St-Lazare, QC won her second straight race in the Honda CBR125R Challenge at Atlantic Motorsport Park last Sunday and took over the class points lead after Falmouth, NS racer Austin Shaw-O’Leary was penalized for a jump start and relegated to third in the results.
Nesbitt will take a three-point lead over Shaw-O’Leary to the final round at Mosport International Raceway in two weeks.
Shaw-O'Leary took over the lead on lap two of the 10-lap race and held off Nesbitt and Richmond, ON's Eric Green the rest of the way. But the jump start meant the local ace was penalized five seconds in the final results. Green got second, 0.267 secs. behind Nesbitt.
"I was trying my best not to let Austin pull away because I knew he had the jump start," said Nesbitt after her third win in eight races this season. "I wasn't sure I was safe until the last lap."
Shaw-O'Leary was remarkably poised after the race, having been denied his first career victory by the narrowest of margins for the second day in a row. On Saturday Nesbitt had snatched the win from him on the final lap.
"Jump starts happen to the best of us," admitted the hometown hero. "It was my fault. I don't think I gained any advantage but those are the rules. It's unfortunate that it happened here."
Behind the top three, Scott Lingelbach of Wellesley, ON edged Kemptville, ON's Leah Vignale for fourth place by just three tenths of a second after their own race long battle. Lingelbach is third in the CBR125R Challenge standings, 15 points clear of Green, while Vignale moved up to fifth in the standings.
Birthday boy Connor Warnell of Dartmouth, NS came out on top of a three-way battle for sixth with Guelph, ON's Karolina Pelc and Halifax racer Lauren Hill, who were seventh and eighth, respectively.
Race Results
1. Stacey Nesbitt, St-Lazare, QC 10 laps in 16:04.855
2. Eric Green, Richmond, ON +0.267 secs.
3. Austin Shaw-O'Leary, Falmouth, NS +4.845***
4. Scott Lingelbach, Wellesley, ON +16.326
5. Leah Vignale, Kemptville, ON +16.625
6. Connor Warnell, Dartmouth, NS +27.212
7. Karolina Pelc, Guelph, ON +27.717
8. Lauren Hill, Halifax, NS +28.490
9. Leah MacInnis, Charlottetown, PEI +1:07.303
10. Philip Warnell, Dartmouth, NS +1:07.705**
11. Malcolm Mackay, Dartmouth, NS +1:17.545**
12. Matt Chandler, Richmond Hill, ON +1 Lap
Fastest Lap: 1:29.860 by Eric Green on lap 9
* -- All riders aboard Honda CBR125R motorcycles
** -- ineligible for series points
*** -- penalized five seconds for jump start
Honda CBR125R Standings
1. Stacey Nesbitt 313
2. Austin Shaw-O'Leary 310
3. Scott Lingelbach 252
4. Eric Green 237
5. Leah Vignale 180
6. Lauren Hill 168
7. Shay Gauthier 162
8. David MacKay 144
9. Karolina Pelc 144
10. Matt Chandler 130
11. Cedric Martineau 114
12. Seth Van Dongen 94
13. Timothy Kennedy 68
14. Brian Alexander 59
15. Connor Warnell 54
16. Leah MacInnis 42
17. Sean Smith 36
18. Kyle Mistibachner 29
19. Sam McManus 27
