Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Toyota Canada Superbike Championship, R ound 6 Events By John Hop kins Photos by Co lin Frase r . ST. -FELICIEN, QUEBEC, CANADA, AUG. 15 ordan Szok e co ntinue d his midseason mast er y o f th e Toyota Canada Superbike Cham p io ns h ip at Autodrome St. -Feli ci en , s co ri ng his third straight win aboard th e Erion-built Honda CBR900RR. But Sherbrooke, Quebec's Francis Martin put himself in an excellent position to claim his first national Superb ike crown wi th a second place finish, just 0.98 of a second behi nd Szoke, in th e 20-lap Honda Superbike Chall enge . Ma rtin' s resu lt on his Kawa saki ZX-7RR, combined with a disappoin ti ng fift h for Michael Ta y lor , gives Martin a 34-poirit lead, 281-247, over the two-time series champion heading to the season finale at Shannonville Motorsport Park on Sept ember 5. Ten points are awarded for a qualifying-h eat win , and the feature victor gets 50 at each To yota Canada Superbike round. Third -placed finisher Jeff Williams of St. -Felicien and Szoke also go to Shannonvill e with a mathematical shot at the title . Williams is n ow just 11 p oints behind Tavlor, with 236, whi le Szoke has closed to {vithin a poin t of the Kingston, Ontario, rid er, with 235 . Martin had edged Taylor, Williams and Szoke for the win in the 1Q-Iap qualifying heat after he an d Tayl or eng aged in a dramatic sideby-sid e duel late on the final lap . Martin also se t a new lap record in the race, a 56.09. Soon after, how ever, Taylor damag ed his Kawa saki ZX-9R in a p ractic e cra sh und er br aking for the tum-seven .hairp in. "I had softened up the front suspension, hit a bump under braking and lost th e fr on t e n d, " th e To ront o rider exp lained. Taylor was forced to borrow a fram e from fellow ZX-9R rid er Clin t McBain and sw itched to his spa re engine . Szoke, meanw hile , had run into transmission trouble with the CBR900RR and hi s crew put in a new unit after Saturday's qualifier. A minor electrica l mishap on Sunday morning a lso limi ted his practice time. The defendin g .series champion was still nursing a brok en bon ein his foot, th e result of a d irt bike in cid ent shortly before th e previ ou s round in Shuben acadie, No va Scoti a. Althou gh th e in jury mad e shi fting gears a little trick y, it seeme to ha ve little effect on d Szoke' s riding. . Taylor grabbed the lead at the start of Sunday' s feature but immediatel y came und er pressure fro m Martin , a heavy favorite with the French-Canadian crowd . The points lead er sent the fans into a frenzy by takin g the lead exiting the hairpin leading onto the front straig ht at the end of lap two, and by lap six he was pulli ng away from Tay lor's rebuilt ZX-9R, lower.ing his lap record to 55.95 seconds in the process. Szoke, meanwhile, had started in fou rth, but he passed Neil Jen kins' Fast Co m pany Suz uki GSX-R750 on lap four and closed in on Taylo r. On lap eight, the Kaw asaki slid very w id e exiting turn seven an d the Ho nda rider go t und erneath and int o second . Within a lap, Szoke was on Martin's tail and look ing for a way by. On lap 12, Szok e go t inside in turn s e ve n, and th e pair ran si de by si de through the tum-eight sweepe r and the final co rner. Martin w as ge tting better drive ou t of the last tum, how ever, and (Left)Jorda n Szoke hangs it out on his Erion Honda CBR9000RR on his way to a third straight Canadian Superbike victory at the Autodrome St.Felicien. (Below) Duck, duck, duck, golden goose: Kawasaki riders Francis Martin(16), Michael Taylor (15) and Jeff Williams(7) line up next to Honda pilot Jordan Szoke (1) at the Superbike start. he pull ed clea r as th ey completed the la p. On la p 14, ho wever, Sz ok e ou tbraked the Kawasaki head ing int o turn one and took over the lead . "I had a little more mot or ," Sz ok e said, "b u t I was spi nning the rear tir e co m ing o n to t he s t ra ig h t. But I was d est ro yin g him (Martin) on the brakes into turn one." Once in the lead , Szoke put his head down and set so me blistering laps, lowering the lead record to 55.31 seconds on his 17th tour. Marti n, meanwhile, mindful of the cha mp ions hip, had settled in to second place. "When I saw it was a Honda behind me, I started thinking about the cha mpions hip a little more," he admitted. "The guy I needed to beat was Michael." Szoke stre tched his lead to almost two seconds with two laps to go , but traffic on the final lap nea rly gave Ma rtin a shot at regaining the lead. "I was just so pum ped, I missed a gea rshift and I couldn' t ge t the dri ve on the lapped traffic," Szok e exp lained . Martin, however, was unabl e to take advantage and settled for the runner-up finish . Tay lor held third until lap 14, when he fell int o the clutches of Jenkins a nd Williams. Both p assed Tayl or cle anly and du eled over the final podium spot. Jenkins doggedly kept Williams beh ind him until the sta rt of lap 18, w he n he b raked too late for turn o ne a nd s lid wide. Jenkins settled for fourth, his best finish since round thr ee at St.-Eus tache on th e fue l-in jec te d GSX- R750, whil e Tay lor capl e home fifth . Frank Trombino overcame a rou gh Saturday to finis h sixth in the feature. After contamina ted fuel in his ZX-7RR end ed his Satu rday practice early, the Woodbridge, Ontario, ride r swi tche d to his ZX-9R spo rt bike, only to ha ve it d ev el op transmissi on trou ble. Back on the ZX-7RR, Trombino rose from 18th on the grid 'in the Su perbike feat ure. Cr ew chief Shawn Doucet pic ked up the Schwinn Toyot a Tundra Hard Luck Awa rd for his perseveran ce. Lin n ley Clarke b e came th e fir st Na tio na l Cha m pi on to be cr owned in 1999 when he wrapped up the Yoshimura 600cc Sport Bike title a t St-Felicien. T h e Barri e , O ntario , rider to o k his Yamaha YZF-R6 to a fourth-place finish - his worst res ult of the year - in the 15lap feature, w hic h was won by Toronto ' s Owen Wei ch el , ridin g th e Hyd Mcch Saws / Ja nna Systems /Tra ns p ro Freigh t Ho nda CBR600F4. "I'm a littl e fru strated - I'm not used to no t raci ng fo r th e ie a d , " C lar ke ad m it ted after his fir st Na tio na l ti tl e since 1992, which also came in the 600cc class with Yamaha. "But wit h the way things happened in the race, it was mor e impo rtant for me to collect points. N ow tha t it's done, look out at Shannon ville." Welch el, nursing a br oken finger and broken ribs sus tained in a pr actice crash at th e p revious round , edged M iss issa uga, Ontario's Jeff Sneyd , also on a C BR600F4, by 0.59 of a second for his second win of the year. St.-J erom e, Qu eb ec' s Benoit Pil on took a d e ci si ve s tep to w a rd hi s fir s t a tio nal crow n b y w in ni ng his th ird International Mo torcycle Su pers ho w Open Sport Bike fea tu re of the year at St-Felicien , Pilon led all the wayan his Yama ha YZF-RI and beat the R6 of Cyr by 0.22 of a second . Defcndingcharnpion Taylor was third on his ZX-9R, after an in tense battle with Cvr. Pilon now has 295 Points to Tay lor's 276 heading to th e d ecisi ve ro u nd at Shannonville. eN Autodrome St.-Felicien St.-Felicien, Quebec, Canada Res ults: August 15, 1999 (Round 6 of 7) S/B K : 1. Jo rd a n Szoke (He n): 2. Fran cis Marti n (Kaw) : 3. Jeff Williams IKaw ): 4. Ne il jenkins (Suz ); 5. Michael Taylor (Kaw) : 6. Fran k Trom b ino (Ka w): 7. Ben oit Pilon (Yam); 8. Kev in Gra ha m (Yam); 9. Frank Wilson (Su z): 10. Joh n Sbnrr nrd (Ya m); 11. Fran cois Dum as (Ka w ): 12. Mar tin Hamel (K.1w); 13. Micha el . Laval lee (Suz) : 14 . Dan Kr uger (Su z ); 15 . Alain Blanchard (Suz ): 16. Corey Warren (H en ): 17. Dan iel Bergeron (Dud; 18, Dean Osbo rne (Yam). TOYO TA CA N A DA SU PER BI K E CH A M PI O N· SH IP POI NT STANDINCS (Af ter 6 of 7 rou nd s): 1. Fr ancis Martin (28 t); 2. Michael Taylor (247) ; 3. Jeff Willi am s (236); 4. Jord an Szoke (235); 5. Benoit Pilon (l 76); 6. N eil Jenkins ( 59); 7. Frank Trombino (156); 8. Fran k Wil so n ( 38); 9. Ke vin Gra ha m ( 11 ); 10. John Sharra rd ( 06); 11. Mar tin Ga ud rea u lt (7 4); 12. Dave Ma rcella (63); 13. Fran cois Duma s (58); 14. Martin Ham el (55); 15. Iean-Francois Cyr (47). ~ ClJ .a E ClJ 'E. ClJ en 43

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