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Volume 25 • No. 7 • 2011 MOYLE WINS TLR CUP TITLE 25 G NI IN N GE TH E ED E AZ 19 86 M AG I N E • SIN C WE’VE GOT MORE! http://www.thewinningedgemagazine.com THE WINNING EDGE MAGAZINE © 2011 Reproduction prohibited YOUR TOTAL MOTORSPORTS PUBLICATIONS 1 FINAL DIAMOND CLAIMES VICTORY AT LINCOLN MOYLE CAPTURES TLR CUP IN FINALE ROB DIAMOND (CENTER) CELEBRATES WITH DUSTIN WAHL AND GARY MOYLE FOLLOWING HIS FIRST TLR CUP PRO CHAMP 440 VICTORY.WAHL FINISHED THIRD, MOYLE GRABBED SECOND PLACE. 42 YOUR TOTAL MOTORSPORTS PUBLICATIONS © 2011 Reproduction prohibited THE WINNING EDGE MAGAZINE GARY MOYLE, #33. JOEL DIAMOND, #02 FINISHED FOURTH IN POINTS. Lincoln, Mich., February 26, 2011; - Gary Moyle of Houghton, Michigan knew their would be little room for error if he wanted a chance to win the First Annual Tommy Lipar Racing (TLR) Cup Championship. Trailing Malcolm Chartier by 22 points going into the final race of the season it appeared Chartier had the title pretty well locked up, however, Moyle had other ideas as he drove his 2011 ski-doo Pro Champ to a 10 point margin of victory to claim the Championship and $20,000, over Chartier who finished second in the standings on a Houle/ski-doo. Dustin Wahl rounded out the top three in the final standings on a Wahl/Polaris. Overcast sky’s and light snow greeted drivers at the Alcona Recreation Site for the sixth and final race of the new series founded by businessman Tommy Lipar. Despite having to deal with increased dust caused in part by falling snow, drivers had no trouble rounding the iced half-mile oval at near record speeds. Qualifying second to fellow ski-doo ace Joel Diamond of Lapeer, Mich., for the final Moyle appeared poised and ready to give everything he had to take the race and the championship. Diamond who had yet to win a TLR Cup final had other ideas. At the drop of the green flag it appeared it would be all Moyle as he exploded off the line into the lead well ahead of Diamond in second. Finding good clean ice to run Diamond began to gain on Moyle going into the corners. Coming out of turn two going for the white flag Diamond took advantage of lap traffic and made his move to take the lead. Exiting out of turn four down the front straightaway, side by side the two nudged each other on two separate occasions before Diamond pulled out front for good going into turn one. Despite an impressive effort Moyle and his sleek black ski-doo were never able to close the gap as Diamond sailed to victory. Dustin Wahl of Greenbush, Minn., finished third on a Wahl/ Polaris followed by Nick Van Strydonk of Tomahawk, Wisc., in fourth on a T & N Racing/Polaris. MOYLE RACING OF HOUGHTON, MICHIGAN CELEBRATES THE 2011 TLR CUP CHAMPIONSHIP. THE WINNING EDGE MAGAZINE © 2011 Reproduction prohibited YOUR TOTAL MOTORSPORTS PUBLICATIONS 43 DRIVERS ARE INTRODUCED JUST PRIOR TO TLR CUP FINAL IN LINCOLN. JOEL DIAMOND HOLDS OFF GARY MOYLE GOING FOR HIS FIRST TLR CUP VICTORY. Malcolm Chartier of Fair Haven, Mich., rounded out the top five on a 2011 Houle/ski-doo. Joel Diamond is certainly no stranger to the Alcona Recreation Area (ARA) oval. Back in the late 1970’s, 80’s and early 90’s his father Rob put many miles on the track competing in the Lincoln Lions 250 mile enduro. Joel and brother Mitch have also made their mark on the track in recent years with both drivers taking several wins in the sprint classes. In 2007 Joel captured the Michigan Cat 500 lap enduro on a Yamaha. While he has pulled out of enduro racing to focus on his Pro Champ ski-doo, he remains active on the sport working behind the scenes helping Mitch who continues racing in the Soo I-500 and Michigan Cat 500. After coming up shy of the winner’s circle on the TLR Cup tour Joel was eager to close out the season in Michigan before home state fans on a track he knew so well. “ In the last three weeks we’ve really stepped up our game. We’ve been fighting all season. Today we finally got everything to come together in our favor winning all three heats and the main event. I can’t believe it but as heavy as I am, I actually spun out of 44 YOUR TOTAL MOTORSPORTS PUBLICATIONS TOMMY LIPAR/DIAMOND RACING CREW: ROB DIAMOND,TOMMY LIPAR, ROD DIAMOND, GEORGE SHERRARD, JACK GASSEL,TERRY MACDONALD. DRIVERS: MITCH & JOEL DIAMOND. DUSTIN WAHL #74 FINISHED THIRD IN THE FINAL AND THIRD IN POINTS. © 2011 Reproduction prohibited THE WINNING EDGE MAGAZINE CHARTIER A Special Thanks to all of our Proud Sponsors AJAX The Future is Riding on Ajax. TM THE WINNING EDGE MAGAZINE © 2011 Reproduction prohibited YOUR TOTAL MOTORSPORTS PUBLICATIONS 45 Out of the six TLR Cup races this is the second one we’ve held fast time. We were the number one qualifier in Weyauwega, third fastest in Valcourt , Quebec, today we were able to stay on top right through the final. The last three weeks have really shown our improvement I’m happy. In 2007 Mayne / Diamond Racing co-sponsored by Yamaha won the enduro race. I actually drove 448 laps out of the 500 laps. Over the years between enduro and sprint races I’ve recorded thousands of miles on this oval. I love this track!! Darcy Rosentreter out of Winnipeg, MB Canada built our motors and pipes, he has done a heck of a job. Our chassis is a Wahl Brothers Chassis, I’ve had to do some tweaking to get it to my liking, I’m getting to where I like it now. The TLR Cup is great! Realistically snowmobile racing as a whole needed something to bring a little fire back. It needs something to make people raise their eyebrows a bit and notice the sport. Just like anything else money does that, when you NICK VAN STRYDONK #13 FINISHED FOURTH IN THE FINAL AND FIFTH IN POINTS. the hole and gave up the hole-shot. The hole-shot has been our number one key all year long so when Gary (Moyle) started getting away in the TLR Cup final I honestly didn’t think I could get him back. I was blowing a corner down in turns one and two. I couldn’t see the groove I wanted to run. During the plow they filled that groove in with a lot of snow dust. When I hit it my sled would skate and take off on me, as a result I would lose ground. I finally just kept moving down to clean ice until I had gone through the rough stuff to get it to bite. From that point on I was able to start making up ground. I could see Gary getting closer, the closer he got the more it lit the fire inside me and I finally reeled him in. Coming off of turn two we encountered some lap traffic going for the white flag I used that lap traffic to my advantage to run side by side with him into turn three. When we came off of turn four we were side by side, I thought I had cleared him but when he nudged me, we hit coming for the white flag. We bumped twice pretty good but I managed to clear him going back into turn one, from that point I was unable to put some distance between us on the last lap. It was an exciting race, no doubt about that. SEVENTEEN-YEAR OLD SPENCER GRAFF #97 CAPTURED SIXTH IN THE FINAL ON A SKI-DOO. HE PLACED NINTH IN POINTS. MALCOLM CHARTIER HAD A GREAT SEASON FINISHING 5TH IN THE FINAL AND SECOND IN POINTS. 46 YOUR TOTAL MOTORSPORTS PUBLICATIONS © 2011 Reproduction prohibited THE WINNING EDGE MAGAZINE CURTIS BOIVIN #19B TOOK 10TH IN THE FINAL, SIXTH IN POINTS ON A WAHL / POLARIS. MASTER FLAGMAN AND FORMER “TEAM HIGHLAND” ENDURO RACING LEGEND ROGER BRITT GIVES DRIVERS THE GREEN AS THEY HEAD DOWN THE FRONT STRETCH IN THE TLR CUP FINAL. THE WINNING EDGE MAGAZINE © 2011 Reproduction prohibited YOUR TOTAL MOTORSPORTS PUBLICATIONS 47 MALCOLM CHARTIER WITH CHECK IN HAND CELEBRATES WITH HIS CHARTIER MOTOR SPORTS TEAM AFTER TAKING SECOND PLACE IN THE TLR CUP FINAL POINT STANDINGS. start throwing large dollar amounts people are going to pay attention. I know Tommy Lipar is working hard to increase the dollar amounts and bring more people into the series. Tommy is a successful businessman who is dedicated to this series. There is no doubt in my mind he’ll make it go. Gary Moyle, Dustin Wahl, Malcolm Chartier and all the guys that run this series are the best there is as far as competition goes”, Diamond explained. Will Diamond return to the enduro circuit and perhaps join his brother Mitch? “There are times that I miss it. I can’t tell myself yet that I wouldn’t want to run the Soo again, in fact I’ve even considered running the 500-lap enduro here again but you never know. I never say never so we’ll have to see what happens in the future”, Joel Diamond said. Joel Diamond is sponsored by Tommy Lipar Racing (TLR) ski-doo and Woody’s. Crew members include; Team Owner Tommy Lipar, Crew Chief: Rob Diamond Crew Members: George Sherrard, Rod Diamond, Jack Gassel and Terry MacDonald. Team web site www.liparracing.com Being a sprint racer Gary Moyle had not recorded near the laps Joel Diamond had on the Lincoln oval, however, he knew enough from past experience on the track what it took to get the job done. With a points title at stake, Moyle would have his best day of the season and a little luck to get the job done. Failure was not an option! “Coming out of Valcourt going into Lincoln I knew I had a very fast sled, all we had to do is make sure we didn’t screw up and cross the line by getting greedy with speed. We just needed to 48 YOUR TOTAL MOTORSPORTS PUBLICATIONS JOEL DIAMOND AND TOMMY LIPAR WERE ALL SMILES AFTER DIAMOND LED HIS TLR / DIAMOND RACING SKI-DOO TO THEIR FIRST VICTORY IN THE SERIES. © 2011 Reproduction prohibited THE WINNING EDGE MAGAZINE , s r e t o m o r P , s t n a p i c i t r a P u o Y Thank s n a F & s n o i t a i Race Assoc . n o s a e S l a r u g u a n I e l b i d e r c n i n a r o F TLRcup.com e l y o M y r a G s n o Congratulati 2011 TLR Cup Champion THE WINNING EDGE MAGAZINE © 2011 Reproduction prohibited YOUR TOTAL MOTORSPORTS PUBLICATIONS 49 MEMBERS OF CHARTIER MOTOR SPORTS HAD A BIRD’S EYE VIEW OF ALL THE ACTION FROM THE TOP OF THEIR TEAM RACE TRAILER. be conservative yet fast enough. The big plan was simply to win all the heats and the final. We would have to just give it our best and see where the cards fell. Turns out I could only win two heats. I wasn’t comfortable enough with the small distance between Dustin Wahl and myself so we decided to try something different for round three, we ended up second to Joel Diamond. Lincoln is a true NASCAR style big track with high corners and fast straightaway speeds. A track like Lincoln is really fun for the driver because of the speed, but also for the tuner because actual driver effort is less than at other tracks like Weyauwega where you are always in a turn and still doing speeds in the 90s. In Lincoln we were hitting over a 100 mph and carrying tons of speed through the corner. It’s really a great track! MIRA and the Manning’s do an excellent job. I’m glad they keep building a track for us to race on. We were kicking ass in the final for two thirds of the race, then my infamous ignition started capping my engines rpm, there was nothing I could do to stop Diamonds march to the front. He drove hard and fast, so did I, but in the end I had nothing for him. It was fun for me up until the last lap, but hey that’s racing! Yeah about that - sorry Joel! I thought I had a great chance to make a real run at him through turns three and four but I just couldn’t get my sled to shoot out of the corner 50 YOUR TOTAL MOTORSPORTS PUBLICATIONS like I wanted. As J.V (Jacques Villeneuve) would say “we met” and that’s that. I hate getting passed near the end of a race and I wasn’t giving it to him easily. He drove smart and hard and thinking about it right after it happened I’m glad it was Diamond I bumped because he doesn’t move and doesn’t lift, had he done either probably would have been cart wheeling down the front straight away”, said Moyle. Looking back does Moyle or his teammates wish they had done things differently? Well we would have put a new stator in right away for the weekend just to be very conservative but who thinks of that? My hindsight is great, but really Diamond had a better set up and drove it home. He won fair and square. I was just focused on the TLR Cup. Actually all I could think of was “where did Malcolm finish? Once I saw him pull to his trailer instead of the top three presentation I knew I had it and I was damn excited. The TLR Cup covered a great variety of tracks and geography, it was awesome for the sport. Having a true Pro Champ Tour set our schedule before the season started. If Tommy Lipar wouldn’t have ran with his great idea we literally were planning on only hitting a handful of races and that’s it. The tour got our team very excited. We decided the week after Beausejour, MB this was the series we were racing for this year. I was aiming for another Eagle River World Championship too of course, but the TLR Cup was just as serious. Normally I don’t care about points racing, it really affected how my team and many others approached the season, it was for the better for sure. I’m happy with the number of races but of course I’d like to have Eagle River on the schedule to help my chances!! More races on this tour would probably get to be a little too difficult to find enough teams to swing the whole series. It takes a lot for the teams, their families, their businesses and their pocket books. Six is a good number of races to have. I just want to thank my crew and their families, my family, and all my sponsors and friends. This sport is about a lot more than snowmobiles - it’s about families and like-minded people getting together on weekends to see who is faster. It sounds simple and maybe it is, but that’s what I love about it, the people. Winning is only great if you beat good people and losing is only slightly tolerable, but still somewhat tolerable because good people beat you. If nothing else came from this season, all of us involved with the TLR Cup know that when every race counts you try harder and in the end are better off for it. The season isn’t quite over yet but so far this has been my most challenging and most fun”, Moyle said. Moyle Racing is sponsored by; United States Marine Corps, Ski Doo, Amsoil, Hooper Race Engines, Mike Houle Racing, Woody’s, Moto Tassinari, NGK Sparkplugs, Met-Tec, Dayco, Millennium Technologies, Camoplast, Skinz Protective Gear, Scott USA, Super Seer, River Valley Bank, Boat Car Club of America. Crew Members; Mike Hill, Dan Ghazale, Dick Baccus, Andy Moyle, Tom Moyle and Amy Moyle. Malcolm Chartier was pretty fired up going into Lincoln where for the first time this season he would have a chance to compete in front of Michigan race fans and perhaps come home with the TLR Cup. Known as “Mr. Consistent” throughout the Cup series Chartier racked up second place finishes at Rock Rapids, IA, Amherst, Wisc., and in Weyauwega, Wisc., while posting a fifth place finish in Wausau, Wisc., and fourth place in Valcourt, Quebec, Canada. A native of Fair Haven, Mich., and a former pro-am driver on the Midwest International Racing Association (MIRA) circuit, Chartier knew exactly what to expect from the oval at Lincoln and what he needed to take the championship, sadly things didn’t work out. Qualifying fourth for the final Chartier was unable to make a run for victory as he finished fifth for the second time this year on his ski-doo. “Going into Lincoln I was in a good position to win the cup, but the day did not go as I planned. On Friday during testing my Mike Houle Racing/Team Woody’s Champ was flying. I was able to hold it deep into the corners, I only had to burp the motor for a second. The top speed we thought would be competitive for Saturday. Testing is a great tool, but until race day you © 2011 Reproduction prohibited THE WINNING EDGE MAGAZINE don’t know how you will stand against the competition. Gary at Eagle, racing for the cup we had to be more reserved and and Joel were both getting through the corners smooth. One not take the sled and myself to the edge. thing that did bother me was having no hay bails in the corners I want to thank all the people who helped the team achieve this as we reached speeds up to 100 + mph. That is not my excuse success this year. Todd Chartier, Mike Houle, Mark Nabozny, for the results, it just helps me think clearer while racing. Gary Greg Scheiman, Mike Laparl, Bill Phare, and Mike Zimmer. Also had a great day, I didn’t, plain and simple. I am still very happy if anyone has a chance please check out our website http:// with my second place in the cup chase. www.chartiermotorsports.com/ and visit the links to my sponI would compare the Lincoln to the track of Weyauwega, sors websites. Without them all of this could not have hapWisc. Lincoln may have longer straight-aways but the corners pened”, Chartier said. are similar in respect to width. I wish I had rode at Lincoln like I Chartier Motor Sports Racing is sponsored by; Team did at Weyauwega, where we finished second. Woody’s, Hydro X, Mike Houle Racing, Grace Performance, I feel that my crew is the hardest working group of guys at Fast Concepts, M.L. Chartier, HMK USA, Scott Goggles, Tuzthe track. My team did everything possible that day to win. As inowski Landscape, Pamar Enterprise, Ajax Paving, DP Excaa driver I struggled to get in the groove of things and adjust my vating, Kerr Alber Office Supplies, Active Tree Experts, RCS, sled appropriately. Sometimes you have good days and someTek-Vest, TD Motor Sports and Loctite. times you have bad days bad. I think mine was somewhere in Dustin Wahl, 25 of Greenbush, Minn., broke ski-doo’s domithe middle. nance in the standings. Driving a Wahl/Polaris Dustin qualified Consistency was a huge factor in our team’s results in the third, finished third in the final and grabbed third place in the TLR Cup. Looking back at it now there are a lot of things we TLR Cup championship standings with 411 points. One of the may have changed. I feel the factory MHR/Team Woody’s race top stars in the series. Wahl took the second race of the season team did a great job this entire season, we focused on the task Amhurst, Wisconsin January 2, 2011 with a victory over Gary at hand and never over thought the what ifs. I was dealt some Moyle. Thanks to an incredible amount of racing history and great cards this year and I would not want to change a thing”, experience on the Wahl team you can rest assured Dustin Wahl Chartier explained. will be a major contender in the 2012 chase for the TLR Cup. How does he feel about the TLR Cup Dustin Wahl is sponsored by; Jimmy John’s, Polaris, Micro I think Tommy Lipar went above and beyond what he promBelmont, T.G. Design, FXR, Fox Shox, NGK, Super Seer, Moto ised to oval racing. It takes a lot of time and effort to have a six Tassinari, Millenium Technologies, Red Line Oil, Camoplast, race series. I am young and plan on racing for a long time. I Woody’s, Carlisle Belts, Oakley, DRB Fabrication, TrackTek. hope to look back and point to this series as the starting point Team Owner Wahl Bros. Racing Crew Chief: Dave & Durmont that put oval racing back into the spotlight of snowmobile comWahl Crew Members: Jeff Wahl, Terry Wahl, Jeremy Wahl petition. In just one season the TLR Cup has really helped oval and Aaron Holtan. To learn more about Wahl Brothers Racing racing. visit their website www.wahlracing.com I am not sure if I would like to see more races added. A lot Thanks to hard work and dedication by Tommy Lipar, his crew changed throughout the series. I think five to six races is a nice and some of the finest snowmobile race teams in the world, number. I did find that the points and purse money together the 2011 TLR Cup Series was a total success. Plans are in the added more pressure on the driver, more than I have encounworks for a bigger and better program for 2011/2012. tered oval racing. Eagle River is enough pressure alone on a To learn more about TLR Cup Championship Oval Racing driver, I feel the cup will only add to that. I want to take chances visit their website http://www.tlrcup.com/ CHARTIER MOTOR SPORTS LET FANS AND FELLOW DRIVERS GET A GOOD LOOK AT THE MIKE HOULE SKI-DOO WITH A NICE DISPLAY IN THE PITS. THE WINNING EDGE MAGAZINE © 2011 Reproduction prohibited YOUR TOTAL MOTORSPORTS PUBLICATIONS 51 TLR CUP • RACE 6 • LINCOLN, MI GARY MOYLE, #66 GETS THE HOLE-SHOT AT THE START OF FINAL AHEAD OF JOEL DIAMOND, #02. 52 YOUR TOTAL MOTORSPORTS PUBLICATIONS © 2011 Reproduction prohibited THE WINNING EDGE MAGAZINE TLR CUP • FINAL POINTS THE WINNING EDGE MAGAZINE © 2011 Reproduction prohibited YOUR TOTAL MOTORSPORTS PUBLICATIONS 53