SAMANTHA GOYER (CAN): WCC round #04 & R.A.C.E. Superseries #05, Shannonville

The weather did not cooperate in the least this past weekend at Shannonville Motorsports Park. The wind and the rain made for a challenging weekend.

Saturday morning's practice sessions were off to a good start, but by the afternoon qualifying sessions the wind picked up and the clouds were rolling in. The wind was so strong, and with signs of a severe storm rolling in, at around 2pm the track officials made the decision to close the track for the remainder of the afternoon. Thus, the Novice 600 qualifying session was cancelled.

Goyer qualified a strong 3rd in the Women's Cup Challenge heat race. "I was disappointed in my lap times for sure. I was two seconds off my best time. The wind was so strong it nearly pushed me off the track and made it really hard to get the bike turned in some of the corners," Goyer explained.  The Saturday morning practice times were used as qualifying times for the Novice 600 class, putting Goyer 7th on the grid. She stated: "My times were weak during Saturday morning's practice session. I hadn't been on the bike for six weeks, so I was just trying to get a feel for the bike again. But I was on the second row, so it wasn't so bad."

Sunday brought a whole other set of challenges. It was sunny, then rain, then sunny, then rain again. The track was completely dry 30 minutes before the Novice 600 race, and just when the tire warmers were ready to come off, it poured rain and the track was completely soaked. With no time to change to rain tires, Goyer did not start the race. "I felt really bad that I wasn't out there. To top it off the track was about 80% dry by the time the race was done," Goyer stated. The sun stayed out and the track was dry, but right before the Women's Cup Challenge race, the sky opened up again and the track was soaked. Ten minutes was allotted to change to rain tires. With the help of four people, Goyer managed to change to rain tires and made it to pit lane on time for the 1st lap. The race was red flagged and restarted 25 minutes later, by which time the track began to dry up once again. Goyer finished 3rd on the podium, with rain tires on a mostly dry track. She explained: "I know I would have done much better with DOT's on. I have no experience in the rain and I didn't know how much grip a rain tire has on dry pavement. But this weekend was an experience to learn from."

The season is coming to a quick end with one more round of the R.A.C.E  regional series left, on September 26, 2010.