The Canadian Motorcycle Hall of Fame have confirmed the new inductees that will be recognized at their 18th annual event at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Mount Hope, Ontario, Saturday, October 25.
Famed tuner and bike builder Rob Egan, owner of Brooklin Cycle Racing in Whitby, leads this year’s nomination group. Egan has owned a performance shop and dealership since the late 1970s and built bikes and ran teams for top racers including Steve Gervais, Norm Murphy, Paul MacMillan, Francis Martin, Micheal Taylor (class of 2015) and Kevin Lacombe.
Legendary Flat Track builder and tuner George Evans supported son Chris Evans (Class of 2015) career and found time to assist top Pros including Doug Lawrence and the late Tyler Seguin, the 2023 Pro National Champ on an Evans prepared Honda.
Scott Miller has been a main stay of the Kitchener Waterloo two-wheeled performance scene since the 1970s, toiling at Zdeno’s Honda and the famous Cy-Jo Cycle Palace. Miller started building bikes for local races including Mark Kowalski and Neil Jenkins, mostly for Yamaha Motor Canada. He rose to fame on the unlimited Formula USA WERA tour south of the border in the early 1990s, achieving success for Chiropractor Mark Brubacker’s “Barely Human” Race team at Road Atlanta with the late Fritz Kling of Michigan at the controls.
Miller eventually built Suzukis for the Cronoa Beer backed Ebsco Media Suzuki squad in the U.S., taking the squad to success at the Suzuka Eight Hours World Endurance round, with riders including Canadian legend Jordan Szoke (Class of 2023).
Miller built Hondas for Szoke in 2010 for the Parts Canada Superbike Championship, scoring a perfect season in Superbike and coming up one race short in the middleweight Sport Bike category. Miller currently runs the Economy Lube and Tire team for BMW Motorrad Canada, with Alex Dumas currently leading the points on that tour.
Doug Hoover won his first Motocross race in 1978 at the age of 13 and was a Schoolboy Champ the next year. He eventually raced for 11 years, retiring at the age of the 24. “The Sweeper” eventually won the 1981 125 cc National Crown and all classes in the Ontario Pro Series. By 1984, he was second Nationally in 250 cc and 125 cc Nationals as well as Supercross runner-up. He earned the CMA National 125 cc crown in 1985, and was second in the Grand Prix of Canada, and joined Team Canadian in Europe that fall.
London Ontario’s Inglis Cycle currently sells Yamaha, Suzuki, Triumph, CFMoto and Kawasaki machinery. Mike, Gord and Lori Inglis very much follow in the footsteps of their great grandfather George William Foster, who owned a motorcycle manufacturer and parts business in London, England, in the early 1900s. The Inglis family, with fifth generation members Alan and David now part of the team, have supported the sport and racing since their business started in London 1978.
A top Motocross racer from a forgotten era of the 1970s, Jay Kimber started on a Bultaco, before switching to CZ, winning the 1972 125 cc Ontario Senior title. Kimber eventually joined Carl Bastedo’s powerhouse works Kawasaki team, and achieved success in their 125 class, including at World Championship events in the U.S.A. at Mid-Ohio (1977 – 12th) and Unadilla (1979 – 12th). He retired in 1981 and started stock car racing.
A star of flat track in Canada and the US, Doug “Fresh” Lawrence is a competitor who sets the standard in his discipline of competition. Now 40 and still racing and organizing events at his home venue (as well as commentating), Welland County Speedway,
Lawrence has raced every type of bike and track (including the X Games for American television), and achieved his best success on Harley-Davidson and Honda equipment built and tuned by his father, Doug Sr. Lawrence also had solid success in a brief roadracing career in 2016 and 2017, shortly after qualifying for eight AMA National Flat Track main events in 2014.
This year’s Canadian Motorcycle Hall of Fame Historical Inductee is Ab Everest, the late owner/operator of Ab’s Cycle outside Oshawa, ON, east of Toronto who passed away in 1997. A central figure in Canadian racing, Ab’s supported a number of competitors, the shop actively supporting top Pro Frank Trombino in the 2000s, before the Harley-Davidson and Yamaha dealer closed in 2002 after 40 years in business.
For 2025, the Bar and Hedy Hodgson Award will go to former Flat Track competitor and current Canadian event announcer and television host Frank C. Wood. Wood raced on the ovals in the 1970s and then turned his attention to announcing a variety of activities, including the legendary Corduroy Enduro. Bar and Hedy Hodgson are the founders of the International Motorcycles Supershow and initial supporters of the Canadian Motorcycle Hall of Fame.
This year’s Ambassador Award will be presented to John and Dominique Bondar, the couple who purchased Shannonville Motorsport Park in the fall of 2019. Initially built by former shop owner and racer John Nelson (Class of 2006), S.M.P. (“The birthplace of champions”) will celebrate it’s 50th anniversary of competition next year – the first race at the then just-updated and expanded venue was a motorcycle event held on Thanksgiving, 1976.
