Nesbitt wins second CBR250R national

By John Hopkins

SHUBENACADIE, N.S. – Stacey Nesbitt of St-Lazare, Que. claimed her second victory of the season in the Honda CBR250R National Race Series at Atlantic Motorsport Park on Sunday and closed the gap to points leader Ryan Roche with the season half over.

Nesbitt actually crossed the line second, right behind Roche, but the Pickering, Ont. rider was penalized for rough riding, as he made a sudden cut across Nesbitt’s bow in the run to the checkered flag.

Connor Warnell of Dartmouth, N.S. completed the podium.

Nesbitt grabbed the holeshot for the 12-lap race and held off Roche and Peterborough, Ont.’s Tomas Casas as the laps wound down. Casas, who won Saturday’s race at AMP crashed in turn two on the final lap, leaving Nesbitt and Roche to settle matters. Roche pulled alongside on the backstraight with his Brooklin Cycle-backed machine and completed the move for the lead with a daring run around the outside into the turn nine Carousel. But as they accelerated onto the front straight Roche made a sudden move to the left in front of Nesbitt, for which he was penalized.

“It was a good race and I love Shubie,” said Powersports Canada-backed Nesbitt, who swept a pair of CBR125R Nationals at AMP last year. “The lead is never the best place to be at the start of the last lap. I had wanted to save it until then.”

Roche now has 278 points to Nesbitt’s 274 at the halfway point of the CBR250R season.

“It didn’t turn out the way I wanted but it was still a fun race,” he said. “There were a few times I thought I was going to go down in turn two but I managed to hold on.”

Ballie Ives of Hants County, N.S. grabbed third spot at the start from Casas and Warnell, and it took Casas two laps to work his way into third. He then did an impressive job of whittling down the gap to Nesbitt and Roche, setting the race’s fastest lap at 1:20.618 on lap six.

After Casas pulled clear Ives came under pressure from Pro Cycle-backed Warnell, who finally got ahead two laps from the end.

Ives settled for fourth while Sean Smith of Calgary took fifth and reclaimed third place in the series point standings.

For the second day in a row Rob Harris of CMGOnline won the Media Challenge, but Costa Mouzouris from Inside Motorcycles, who didn’t make the trip east, continues to lead the standings.

Race Results

Point Standings

Media Challenge