Islanders win Atlantic titles

Burke, Taylor crowned champs following final race of season

Island racers Liz Burke and Kurt Taylor were crowned Atlantic Canadian champions recently at RiverGlade MX park in Salisbury, N.B., as part of the Motosport Racing Canada (MRC) Atlantic Series.

Burke, from Rollo Bay, finished first overall in the Ladies Division and clinched the Atlantic Canadian title. It came a few weeks after Burke finished third on the Rockstar Triple Crown Canadian Series in the women’s pro class. Burke finished fourth in Canada last year, so the third-place finish is a good improvement and she is looking forward to next year and continuing to grow in the sport. A formal presentation of her Atlantic Canadian title will be made at the Motosport Racing Canada annual awards banquet early in 2019.

Burke recently returned to university to continue her studies in kinesiology.

Taylor, from North Wiltshire, clinched the series championship title in the 40-Plus Division. He had a stranglehold on this series before the last two races of the season, and only needed to finish a clean race to win the title. His game plan going into the final race was to get a good clean start, race safe and hopefully avoid any high-speed mistakes. Taylor raced exactly to his game plan, and finished fifth at RiverGlade to earn the season series title.

Taylor also raced to a fifthplace finish in the vet pro class, earning him second place overall for the MRC Atlantic series. There were several other Islanders racing at RiverGlade in the last race of the season. Rookie racer Logan Gregory of Stratford had a strong day, finishing two races in seventh and fifth to earn fifth-place overall in the 85cc class. Gregory raced in four of the eight races this season and is looking forward to racing the whole Atlantic series next year when he will move up in class to race with kids older then him in the 12- to 16-year-old class. Other Island racers included: Arron Corrigan, Pleasant Grove, finished 13th in 40-Plus Division.

Joey Desroches, Borden-Carleton, finished sixth in the Vet Pro Division.

Nick Clements, Charlottetown, finished fourth in the Vet Junior Division.

Shawn Livingstone, Miscouche, finished eighth in the 40Plus Division and sixth in the Vet Junior Division.

Jack Donald, Kensington, finished 12th in the junior GP Division and ninth in the Junior MX2 Division.

For more information about the Atlantic Motocross racing series and other regional and national racing series visit www. mrcracing.com.