Winnipeg’s Danick Vandale (Russ Hays/Accent Inns) and Peter Disera (Norco Factory Team) dropped the rest of the field after the first lap in the men’s U23 race, before twenty year-old Disera, a third year student at the University of Guelph near Toronto, beat Vandale in a sprint to the line.
“I’ve been in exams all week and I didn’t get to ride much this week, so the first half of the race I didn’t have that extra snap and then during the second half [Vandale] started to fade a little bit and I started feeling better,” Disera explained.
“I wasn’t expecting it to be that tight of a sprint and I wasn’t expecting to go in first wheel. [Vandale] came a wheel length up beside me, then I just gave a little bit extra knowing that I wanted that jersey.”
Quinton Disera (CSAJCC p/b Norco & LG) -the under 23 champion’s brother, won the men’s junior race with a margin of 33 seconds. Gunnar Holmgren from Ontario Province finished second. Last year’s champion, Ollie Evans (Russ Hays/Accent Inns) from Winnipeg, slid out on lap two, chased hard to move up, and finished third.
“It was super hard,” Quinton Disera later said. “My strategy was to go as hard as I could off the start and try to get a gap and make others work to get up to me. I really played the technical sections to my advantage.”
About the brothers’ back to back wins, Quinton Disera said: “It’s a really crazy amount of emotion. It’s like tons of happiness and it just feels like a super successful weekend already, even though we have tomorrow’s [Sunday’s racing]. Dwelling on today is really sweet.”
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