Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Events Toyota Canada Superbike Championship, Round-S (Above) At round five of the Toyota Canada Superbike Champions hip, Jordan Szoke (t') leads Neil Jenkins (3), who crashed soon after, and Jeff Williams (7). Williams placed third and Szoke took the win. (Left) Early in Open Sport Bike action, Benoit Pilon (2) heads eventual victor Michael Taylor (1) and David Marcelia (8). By Jo hn Hopkins Photos by Colin Frase r SHUBENACADIE, NS, CANADA, AUG. 8 unner-up finisher Michael Taylor d escrib ed it as "proba bly the best race in Ca nada I've ever been in," and ther e were few who wo u ld arg ue w ith the veteran tw o-tim e Ca nadian Superbike Cha mp ion . Indee d, the fifth round of the Toyo ta Canada Su pe rbi ke Champions h ip at Atlan ti c Mot orspo rt Park w as an abs olute cla ssi c from s ta r t to finis h. Defending series cham pion Jordan Szoke claimed his second-straigh t win aboa rd the Erion-built Honda CBR900RR after tradin g the lead with the Kawasaki ZX7RR of Jeff Williams no fewe r than three tim es on t he fi na l lap . T a yl o r, on a Kawasaki ZX-9R, gra bbed second fro m William s exiting the last turn and finished just .07 of a second behind Szoke . Williams settled for third. The se th re e h ad d isputed th e lead over th e fina l eig ht lap s of the 18-lap race aro und th e 1.6-m ile circu it n ear Halifax. For the first 10 laps, Tay lor and William s ha d fou ght it out for the top spot, trading the lead fou r times in the opening eight laps. • Ea ch of the top three fi n ishers eclipsed Don Mu nroe's la p recor d of 1:09.91' during th e co urse of the race, [;d 40 with Tayl or seiti ng th e new mark at 1:09.49 on lap seven. "Yesterday I was whining that it was difficult to pass here," Tay lor said wi th a sheepish gri n in Victory Lane . "Today ther e we re passes in corners I've never seen it hap pen before." The racing was so good at the front that it was inadvertently allowed to go an extra lap. The race was scheduled for 17 laps, but at the end of the 17th tour, the last-lap flag was d isp layed . To fu rthe r complicate mat ters, Dan Kru ger crashed mid way thr ough the 18th lap, bringing out a red flag. Since 13 of the 20 finishers ha d already tak en the checke re d flag before the red was displayed, the resul ts were declared official after 18 laps. Altho ugh Szoke was the lead er at the e n d of b o th th e 17 th and 18 th laps , Williams had been second after the 17th, but third when the race officially ended. " We di d th at ex t r a lap a nd I go t caug ht ou t," said the fru strated Kawasaki rider. "I was read y for the checkered flag (a t the end of lap 17) a nd when I didn't see it, I got confu sed." Wh en the Du n lo p sta r t ing li gh ts swi tc hed to g reen , Will ia m s got th e h ol eshot, w it h Tayl or in secon d, a nd these two made an early br eak from the pack. Tay lor took the lead at the en d of the second lap, but Williams was back in front on lap four, an d Taylor grab bed it again on lap fiv e . The Toron to rider . sta ye d- in fron t fo r three la p s befo re Williams go t by again on lap eight. "I wa s impressed by h is pace," said Taylor of th e scrap with Williams . "I was surprised to see him come through . I assumed it would be Francis (Martin) or Jordan." On two occasions, the Kawasak i rid ers actually mad e contact. Exiti ng t~m two, Williams got sideways and Tay lor gave him a n udge. Then , on lap 11, he hit Williams' rea r tire throu gh the backstraight Rollercoast er. The second in cide nt allowed Szoke to join the scra p. Szo ke got ahead of Taylor on lap 12 and the n took the lead from William s a . lap later. He stayed in front for tw o lap s before Williams regained the top spo t. "O nce I go t in to the lead I tried to slow the pace down, but he (Williams) came back by me," Szo ke said. William s led laps 15 and 16. Then, as th e lea ders comp le te d lap 17, Szoke pulled alongsi de the Kaw asaki and took the lead on the front straight. Williams fou ght back and rega in ed th e lead in turn four, but Szoke got bac k alo ngside on the back straigh t and comp leted an ou tside pass in turn eight. "I really wa nted to pass on the ou tside line," Szo ke explained. "It wasn't as bumpy thro ugh there." Szoke held the lead through the turnn ine carouse l a n d the turn- l 0 ri ght han d ed sweeper. On the uphill turn-ll left-ha nder, Williams tried to mount an attack, bu t instead got out of shape and had Taylo r sneak alongside . The ZX-9R won the race to the finis h to claim the ru nner-up spot. "I think he tried too hard in the last corner and I had a bit more horsepower on the straight," Tay lor said . Althoug h very much a pa rt of the lead scrap, Taylor had spe n t the last six laps in third place. A morning practice crash had dama ged the front-brake lever on his Kawasaki and he had been forced to borrow a replacemen t from Szoke's team . "I had a lo t of p robl ems with m y hand p u mpin g up . I go t a litt le b it tired," Taylor explained . "The new lever became ha rd to rea ch for . Especially in tum two , I wa s losing my gr ip on it." Superbike points leader Ma rtin had in ju red hi s ankle in a fa ll in th e Yoshimura 600 Sport Bike featu re earlier in the d ay . Th e Sh erbrooke, Quebec, rider co m p leted th e openin g lap in third, bu t then suffe red a near high-side in tu m fou r on lap two and was passed by Szo ke. From there he elected to play it safe, and he settled for a four th-place finish , m ain ta in in g h is series poi nts lead. He left AMP wit h 229 points to the 212 of Taylor. Williams is thir d with 195 points and Szok e is fourth on 185. Frank Trombino, s till racing with a b ro ken sca p h oid b u t wea ring a new cast , enjoyed his best run of the year and took fifth on his ZX-7RR. Spo rt Bike action got off to a distressin g star t at AMP when 16- yea r -ol d Kev in Lacom be crashed heavily while leading Saturday's In ternational Motorcycle Supersho w Open Spo rt Bike qua lifier . Lacombe lost control of his Ho nda CBR600F4 enteri ng tum thr ee on the sec; ond lap and flew off the track, the bike hitting him in the head in the process. The Gra nby, Quebec, native received prompt tracksid e med ical assistan ce an d was airlifted to a Halifax hosp ital with head injuries, a broken pelvis and a dislocated shoulder: Lacombe remained in a light coma Sa turday night, but w as awake and a le r t Sunda y . He h a d surgery on his pelvis that afternoon and was ex pected to make a full recover y from his injuries. Taylor wo n the Open Spo rt Bike featu re, sco ring his first victory of the season, and closed to wit hin two poin ts of se ries lead er Belo it Pilon, who place d second . . " It was a very, very enjoyable ride," said Taylor , who was at his healthiest this weekend after spendi ng most of the su m mer recovering fro m assorted leg injuri es. "I finally started usin g my legs to steer again. We di d a lot of wo rk this w eek on the suspension and engine , and _ it obviou sly we nt very wel l." Linnley Cla rke came close to clinching the Yoshimura 600 Spor t Bike title with his third win in a ro w aboa rd the Yama ha YZF- R6. The Barrie, O nt ario , native took the lead from [ea n-Fra ncois Cyr in turn four on the opening lap and was not head ed the rest of the way. Owen Weichel, rid ing wi th a broken finge r and bro ken rib sus tained in a Friday practice crash, took second on his Honda CBR600F4, just .78 of a se cond beh ind Clarke. eN Atlantic Motorsport Park Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia, Canada Res ults: August 8, 1999 (Round 5 of 7) S/ BK : 1. Jorda n Szoke (Hen): 2. Micha el Ta ylor (Ka w), 3. Jeff William s (Kaw) : 4. Fran cis M artin (Kaw ): 5. Frank T ro m bi no (Ka w) : 6. Beno it Pil o n (Yam ); 7. Kevin Gra ham (Yam ); 8. Fran k Wilson (Suz): 9..Dave Ma rcel la (Yam ); 10. Micha el Lavallee ,(Su z); 11. John Sharrard (Yam); 12. Martin Ha mel (Kaw): 13. Fra ncois Dum as (Kaw) : 14. And rew Dunla p (Ka w ): 15. Tim Samso n (He n). TO YOTA CANADA SU PERBIKE C SH IP POINT STA ND INGS (Afte r 5 of 7 rounds): 1. Fran cis Martin (229); 2, Michael Taylor (212); 3. Jeff William s (195); 4. Jo rd a n Szoke (185); 5 . Ben oit Pilon (151) ; 6. Fra nk Tro mbin o ( 29 ); 7. Ne il jen kins ( 27 ); 8. Frank Wilso n (l 17); 9. Ke vin Gra ha m (88); 10. John Sharrard (87); 11. Martin Ga udreault (74); 12. DaYI;;' Ma rcella (63); 13. JeanFra ncois Cyr (47); 14. Phili ppe Ca ntin (45); 15. Francois Dumas (41).

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