Teen enjoying successful sophomore season
Taia Little in the running to win three titles at motorcycle track
Taia Little is turning victory lane at Welland County Speedway into a reserved parking spot.
The 14-year-old from Welland is topping the point standings in two divisions and is a competitive third in another in only her second full season racing motorcycles at her hometown track.
Little’s winning ways continued last Saturday night when she took her fourth checkered flag in a row in the Youth 250 racing class and third straight in Open Novice.
Only blemish on an otherwise winning weekend? Her fifth-place
finish to fellow Wellander Jacob Rainville in the 450 Novice feature.
Little, the daughter of one-time racer Paul Little and niece of Brandon and Tyler Seguin, regulars in the track’s Open Expert division, enters a two-week break leading points races in Youth 250 and Open Novice.
With 112 points and only three weeks to go in the season, she enjoys a commanding lead over Justin Ball of Rochester, N.Y., and Adrian St. Amand of Burlington, who have each amassed 76 points. Chris Pittaway of Selkirk, Ont., and Blake Silenzi of Welland have 74 and 73 points, respectively.
Rainville, with 104; Ryan Scavuzzo, Rochester, 94; and Little,
89; are the front-runners for the track championship in 450 Novice.
Ball, with 93; St. Amand, 92; Silenzi, 86; are in the running to win the points race in 85 cc.
Only one point separates Muskoka’s Dustin Brown and Port Colborne’s Don Taylor in Open Expert, the track’s top class.
Right on their heels, only five back of Brown, is Jordan Station’s Chris Evans, with 86 points.
Brown, with 91 points so far this
season; also tops the 450 Expert standings, though not by much. With 23 points awarded to the first-place finisher and 20 and 18 for second and third, respectively, Evans, 88; Taylor, 86; and Tyler Seguin, 85; are all very much in the running.
In 450 Intermediate and Open Intermediate, the battle for 2018 bragging rights is down to a twoway race between Chippawa’s Hunter Bauer and Welland’s Dustin Lambert. Bauer leads Lambert 101 points to 98 in 450 Intermediate, while Lambert’s lead in Open Intermediate is 107102.
Chuck Graham of Embrun, Ont., southeast of Ottawa, is 4-0 and has 92 points in both the Open ATV and Production ATV classes and is well ahead in the points race in each. Mickie Vance of Fort Erie is top runner-up earning 74 and 70 points, respectively.
Sam Manyon of Akron, Ohio, can also end the season with two track championships. He is 4-0 and leads Muskoka’s Glen Brown 92-72 in the Vintage class, and has a 106-98 advantage over Hamilton’s Rick Gunby in the Veterans division.
Also undefeated so far this season is Liam Caskie of Brantford, who is 5-0 for 115 points in the 65 cc division. Seth Little, 98, and Seth Parsons, 80, are second and third in points.
Parsons, with 107; Jayda Brauweiler, 86; Brandon Carrel, 38; and Cooper Smith, 36; make up the top four in the 50 cc, chain-drive standings.
This weekend’s race program has been cancelled. Weather permitting, racing returns Saturday, July 21.
Closing out the season will be the track championships Saturday, Aug. 25, and the Fall Classic Saturday, Sept. 8.
Welland County Speedway is on Netherby Road, east of Highway 140, in Welland.