Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Toyota Canada Superbike C hampionship, Round 3 • Events By J ohn Hopkins Photos by Co lin Fraser ST. EUSTACHE, CANADA.JULY 11 n a season in which a number of new names a re rising to the top of th e Toyota Canada Su perbike Cham pi onship, Q uebec's Fran cis Martin is d istingu ishi ng himself as perhaps the most impressi ve of th em a ll. The Ca nad ian racer fro m Sherbroo ke scored his seco nd consecu tive series wi n in round th ree at Circ uit St . Eus tac he , n ear Mont real , aboa rd his Kawasaki ZX-7RR, and took over the Superbike points lead. Martin g ra b be d th e le ad fro m Kaw asak i ZX-9R rider Michael Taylor near the end of the opening lap and then held off the close a tte n tion of the tw otim e Natio n a l Su per bi ke C h a m p io n over th e rema in in g 19 laps to score a nar row 1.10-second victory. Jeff Will iams, w ho held the points lea d co mi ng into St . Eustac h e, p laced third on ano ther Kawasaki ZX-7RR, but dropped to third in the sta nd ings . Martin leads with 139 points, while Taylor is second w ith 127 and Williams third with 122. " I tried to ge t away early, but I could see Taylor was still on my rear wheel," . said the 25-year-old Ma rtin, who is in h is firs t yea r as a fac to ry Kawa saki rid er, "so I backed off a little bit and jus t tried to keep him beh ind me." Poor starts hurt Martin in the opening tw o races at Race City Speedway, bu t leaving the line was not an issue at St. Eu stache. In Sa turday' s qua lifyi n g hea t, Ma rt in g rabbed the lead off th e fron t row and pulled away to a 4.79-second wi n over Taylor. H e mad e ano the r good ge taway at the start of Su nday' s feature, but Tay lor na iled the lights to perfection and wa s already pu ll in g awa y f rom th e lin e befo re a n y of th e ot her fron t-row s ta r te rs had e ven moved . Ma rtin go t away in seco nd but moved undern eath Taylor in the rig ht-ha nder opposite the s ta rt / fi n is h straight to take the lea d before the end of the lap . Taylor ran in the you ng rider's wheel tracks but was unable to make a move on the tight and bumpy 1.2-mile circuit. • • "H e (Marti n) was definitely faster in a few sectio ns," Ta ylor admitted . "He made a lot of ground on the exit of the last com er. He was driving reall y we ll on to the front stra ight. The best comers tra di tionally for me are tu rns tw o and three, but near the end I was missin g my apex es ." ~ Taylor migh t hav e had a shot as the lea ders hit hea vy traffi c over the final six laps, but instead Ma rtin pulled ou t some breathing roo m. " 1 really know this track, and maybe it was easier in traffic for me," said Mar,ti n , w h o r a ced ex te nsively a t St . Eus tache as an am ateur. Mar tin and Williams were d eb ut in g World Superbike fram es and swinga nns on their ZX-7RRs. "The new fra me is very stiff," Martin said . "It's very bumpy here, bu t the bike is more stable wi th the new fra me." Neil Jen ki ns, who finished third in ' Saturd a v' s hea t race aboa rd h is fuelinjected Su z uki GSX -R750, g rabbed thi rd at th e s t a rt of the feat u re but " (Above) Kawasaki of Canada teammates Michaet Taylor (15) and Francis Martin (16) fight for the lead early in the Superbike race. Martin ended up the winner, posting his second consecutive win in a row. (Right, left to right) Runner-up Michael Taylor, winner Clint McBa in and thirdplace fin isher David Marcella celebrate the outcome of the Open Sport Bike race. q u ic kly fe ll away fro m th e lea d in g Ka w a s akis . William s, wh o ran fi fth beh in d Benoit Pilon for th e fi rs t fiv e la ps, ca ugh t him on lap eig ht and the tw o battled for the final podium spo t the rest of the wa y. It was not until two laps from the end, wi th ' the duo hitting traffic, that Williams wa s finall y able to get by coming off the back straight. " I g ot stuck behind Benn y for a while, so when I did ge t past , I knew I had to put m y head d o wn," sa id Williams, who was running a so ft Dunlop rear tire to Jenkins' med iu m. Jenkins settled for fourth and moved in to fourth place in the Toyota Canada .Su p e rb ike po int standings with 102 point s. Defen ding series champion Jordan Szok e, riding the Erion-built Honda CBR900RR, took fifth fro m Kevin Graham ' s Peps i Yamaha YZF-Rl on th e final lap. Graham wa s penalized for a ju m p -s ta rt, however, and dropped to 10th in the official results. Pilon was promot ed to sixth, the Rl rider battl ing suspension troubles on his bike all weekend, and Fra nk Trombino pl a ced seven th o n hi s Ka wa sa ki ZX7RR. After re tiring from the heat race and s ta r ting fr om th e back of the 33 -b ike Superbike gr id, Frank Wilson put on a trem endous rid e to gra b eig h th on th e BMR Racing/ All Canada Express Su zuki TLl DOOR twi n. His crew received the Toy o ta T un d ra Schwinn Hard Luck Awa rd for its perseverance . Joh n Sha rrard p laced an impressi ve ninth on his Yam aha YZF-R6 af ter his Rl lost its transmission in the qualifier. Ca lgary racer Cli n t McBain sco re d his second consecu tive fea ture win in the International Motorcycle Supershow Open Sp ort Bike r a ce a boa r d h is Kawasaki ZX-9R. Defending se ries champion Taylor grabbed the lead on his ZX-9R, only to run off the track at the start of lap th ree. : "On ce I saw Mike go o ff, I knew I had my oppo rtunity," said McBain after his firs t national victory away from his hom e tra ck of Race City. Tayl or fell into a ba tt le with th e Yama ha Rl of Dave Marcella bu t held on for second and took ove r the poin ts le a d fro m Ma rt in Ga ud r ea u lt, w ho injured his hand in a testing fall earlier in the week and did not com pete. Taylor now has 137 poin ts to the 127 of Pilon, w ho finis he d fifth her e, a nd McBain' s 108. Szoke was fo u rth on h is H on da CBR 900RR, w h ile Jeff Sn eyd p ass ed Trombino on the final lap to gra b fifth at the line. Both Sneyd and Tro mbino were p enaliz ed , h ow ev er. Sn eyd ' s Honda CBR6ooF4 came in und er the 380-po u nd minimum-wei ght limit , whil e Tromb ino was called for a jum p-s tart. They were d ropped to sixth and 10th, respectively, in the final results. Liml'ley Clarke extend ed his lead in the Yoshimura 600cc Sport Bike standings with his first win of the seaso n. The Yamaha YZF-R6 rid er passed Sneyd on lap three of 15 and su rvived challenges from Martin's Kawasa ki ZX-6R and the R6 of [ean-Francois Cyr. Cyr fin ished just 0.66 seconds behind Clarke in second place, w hile Martin held off Pascal Pi cotte prote g e Ke vin La combe for fourth . 'This track is so hard to pass on, you ha ve to g e t to th e fro n t e arly ," said Cla rke. '1 rod e at 100 per cent for those firs t three o r fou r laps, th en turned it d own a bit." Preseason fa vorite Owen Weichel , w in ne r of th e opening ro und a t Race City, d ro p p e d o u t o n la p tw o wi th cl u tch t rou bl e o n h is H yd M ec h Saws / Tra ns pro Freig ht / Janna Systems CBR600F4 and fell to fifth in the series standings. Clarke al rea dy has a massive se ries lead wi th 154 points to the 95 of R6 rider Ma rk Orch a rd , who wa s s ix t h at St. Eustache, and to Cyr's 92. CI/I C> C> C> U> ::> Cl ::> < 37

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