After what seemed like a full season of rain dates during the Canada Heads Up – Shootout Series (CHU) presented by Speedwire Systems, Nash Competition Engines, Head Rush Tattoo and Apparel and Cynergy Composites, Mother Nature let us finish the season off, at the end of September, with some close racing and some close Points Series finishes!
The staff at Toronto Motorsports Park (TMP) kept the track ‘on kill’ for all the classes, all season long, which let the racers set records and run quick, right through the final race weekend of 2024.
SUPER STREET
Tony Piselli took his ‘68 Camaro to the Winner’s Circle on Sunday beating out the 2024 series points champion in the finals with an awesome side-by-side run. Ralph had his (new for 2024) Camaro running great all season. He ended the season winning the points battle by just over 6 rounds!
EZ STREET
Rob Orofiamma has been a leader in the class for the last couple years and he finished the 2024 season with a class win over Brandon Silva and won the points championship!
Rob set multiple new ET records this season, posting up a season’s best 4.37 ET for the class record. Rob became the first EZ Street car in the class to post up a 4.3x pass, is the only Nitrous combo to run over 160 mph and has left the rest of the class with tons of homework to do over the winter.
STREET275
This class continued to grow in popularity this season with many new cars making a run for the points championship. The final race was dominated by Steph Mallais coming to the Winner’s Circle from the #3 qualifying spot and taking out Breanna Edwards in the finals. Jacob Edwards is the points champion for 2024 and won the points chase by less than one round of racing!
PRO BIKE
This is another class that saw solid growth in 2024. JP Caladra came out for the last event and took it right to the finals beating out 2024 Points Champion Jesse Vanbetlehem for the win.
SWB BIKE
Todd Sills came back out for the final events… and he was on a mission. Todd took out the class points champion, Mickey Dinnoo, in the finals to earn the class winner’s cash and big cheque!
4.50 INDEX
Lenny Farinacci claimed the 4.50 Index points championship at the end of Race 4! It looked like he was on his way to another class victory in Race 5, however, Lenny and his Pro Mod Corvette came up one round short as Dave Bogusat and his Pro Charged 2000 Camaro took the win in the final round to cap off his awesome year!
5.50 INDEX
Randy Hodges – driving his Dodge Daytona – was back in action in the finale after missing Race 4. In the final, he took the event win over Ernie Graziano and his S10 pick up. John Stornelli took home the Points Championship award as he was able to stay just under 2 rounds ahead of CHU new-comer Jim Marshall.
SPORTSMAN CHAMPIONS
7.90 Bikes – Ryan Fogan; High8s Bike – Mike Dawe; 6.0 Index – Alex Cournoyea; 6.50 Index – Frank Guillaume; 7.0 Index – Tony Sloot; 7.50 Index – Jason Jean and Jr. Dragster – Connor Ridler.
Congratulations to all the champions, race winners, and everyone who competed. And thanks to the team at TMP, all the series officials, as well as all the team members, supporters and fans! Plans are already underway for the 2025 Canada Heads Up season. We’ll see you all March 7, 8 & 9 at Motorama!
