The Norris family battle continued in the Ontario Pro Challenge (OPC), where Tim Norris recorded six wins and eight runner-up finishes, in 16 races, to claim the championship.
Following a 2022 title by Tim’s then 19-year-old son Mike Norris, Tim admitted that he worked a little bit harder on his car this year, getting back to the basics. He says the championship battle looked like it was going to remain close all year before a stop at Full Throttle Motor Speedway.
“I’ve been doing this a long time and it makes you second-guess yourself a little bit, are you doing the right things, should you be trying something new, because he’s running really fast,” said Norris. “But then he had one little crash there and that kind of changed the tone of his challenge for the championship.”
Norris has won about half of the championships in his 20 OPC seasons. With his primary challenger now in the same household, it’s created a different dynamic than he’s used to.
“Both our cars sit beside each other in the race shop and we sometimes bounce ideas off each other,” said Norris. “We practised a fair bit this year. Just a big push to beat him and I know his push was to beat me, so it’s kind of an odd competitive thing when it’s your son… it’s pretty cool that we’re battling hard as a family; he’ll be tough to beat.”
A race that stood out took place on May 27 at Flamboro Speedway, where the Jim Norris Memorial, named in honour of Tim’s father, was held exactly one year after Jim passed away. The family finished 1-2-3 in the first feature, with daughter Emma scoring her first career victory, followed by Tim and Mike.
Looking at the competition, Tim gives a shoutout to Rookie of the Year winner Sterling Hattin, fellow rookies Tenli Pepin, Ty Riopelle, and Jay Linde, and first-time winner Travis Majuery.
