Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Events Toyota Canada Superbike Championship, Round 7 Taylo r exp lained . " I go t on the g~s a bit m o r e a n d it un w ei gh ted th e fr ont eno ug h to cause it to wash ou t." Trombin o too k o ve r th e lead w he n Taylor w en t d own and rode clea nly to a 10.33-second victo ry, hi s fir st ca re e r natio na l pro win . Pi lon he ld seco nd u ntil Szo ke passed him on lap eig h t of the 10-lap race, but he secu red the titl e w ith a third-p lace finish . Linnl ey Clarke had alr ead y wrapped u p the Yosh im ura 600cc Spo rt Bike title before the fina l rou nd, bu t he and Owen We ich el w a ged a fier ce battle for th e race wi n a t Sha nn on ville. . Cl a rk e h ad h is Ya m a ha YZF-R6 in front as th e pai r sta rted the final lap, bu t We ich el to ok hi s H yd -M ec h Saw s / Transpro Freight lJann a Sys tems Hond a C BR600F4 do w n the inside e n teri ng turn seven, and C la r ke fel l. Wei ch el went on to score his third win of th e year, 12 .25 seco nds ahea d of Ma r k Orchard on the Durmach R6. "I kne w I had to lead o nto the back By John Hopkins Photos by Co lin Fraser m en en en N '" Q; .c E G> ii G> rn 46 S HANNONVILLE, aNTARia, CANADA, SEPT. 5 C hael Taylo r ended a frustrating eyota Can ada Su perbike ChamJions hi p seas on in style by dominating th e fina l ro u nd at Sha nnonvi lle Motorsport Park. The Toronto rider took his Kawa saki ZX-9R to convincing w ins in both the qualifying heat and feature race at th e H onda Motorcycles Dunlop Challenge an d bro ke the series ' old est lap record along the wa y. How e ve r, the lat e flo u rish w as no t eno ugh to preven t Fra ncis Martin fro m clinching th e 1999 titl e . With a ca reful rid e to fift h a boa rd his Kawas a ki ZX7RR, Ma r ti n was assu re d of h is fi rs t na tional pro road racing crown. " It was th e lon ges t r a ce of m y ca reer," sai d th e 25-year-old M a r tin , who was p resen ted ~'it h the keys to a Toyota Tu ndra fu ll-sized p ick up fro m th e series sponsor, Toyota Ca na da, on the podium. "I only wanted to finish the race, no t push too hard ." Ou tgoing seri es ch amp ion Jo rd an Szoke placed second on his Waznie Racin g H o nd a C BR900 RR, 5.52 seco nds beh ind Tayl or afte r 14 laps of the 2.5mile Sha nnonvill e "Long Co urse," and slip ped ahead of Jeff Willia ms for third in the final sta ndings. Fra nk T ro m bi no sco red ' h is bes t ca ree r nati onal Su perbike resu lt by tak ing thi rd on his Kawasaki ZX-7RR. Martin w as we ll-placed to sea l up the Su perbike title w he n th e se ries arrived at Shan nonvi lle, although w ith 60 po ints available a t the final rou nd (10 for a hea t w in and 50 fo r victory in th e ' feature), three rid e rs s till had a ma th ema tic al shot at ov erh auling him. Taylo r sa t second in th e stand ings with 247 poin ts, 34 behind Martin's 281. Williams wa s third with 236, and Szok e, winner of the previou s three ra ce s , w as ju s t a p o int behind in fo urth. If Taylo r wa s go ing to go down to d ef ea t, however, he was g oi ng to go down fightin g. He put on an impressive display in Saturday's eight-lap qu alifying race , lead in g by two seconds af te r the opening lap and eventually beating Szoke by 520 seconds. Martin settled for third . - Szoke got six points for his runnerup result and move ahead of Williams d into third in the stand ing s. Williams ha d fa llen in tu rn nin e on the second lap, rem ounted and placed 18th. Martin ea rned fou r p oin ts for h is he a t-ra ce fini s h . With his lead now trimmed to 28 po ints, the French Canad ian needed to p lace eighth or better on Sunday to lock up the title. Taylor rep eated his heat pe rformance in the fea tu re eve nt. He led into turn one after the Du nlop s tarting lig hts sw itched to green, and that wa s the last the rest of the field sa w of him . By the end of lap two, the tw o-time Su pe rbike champion wa s already th re e seconds clear, thanks in part to a scintillating seco nd la p of 1:45.27 that bea t Pascal Pico tte's 6-yea r-o ld national Superbike tra ck record of 1:45.32. By lap eight, (Above) Kawasak i joc key Michae l Taylor dom inated round seven of the Toyota Canada Superbike Champ ionship, setting a new track record at Shannonville Motors port Park, but he cou tdn't quite ca tch teammate Franc is Martin In the points battle. (Right) On the rost rum, from left to right: Jo rdan Szoke, who placed seco nd; new Canadian cham p Francis Martin; round seven's victor, Michael Taylor; and thirdplaced Frank Tromb ino. his ad van tage was up to eight seco nds, "I was worried a bou t jordan ," Taylor said . " I'd heard he wa s fast in pra ctice, and I w as worried that if I didn't build a good cushion, he w ould give me so me trouble." But Szoke w as nev er a facto r. Afte r putting in so me impressiv e laps in th e mornin g pra cti ce , th e Br a nt ford , Onta rio, rider struggled with his Erion built CBR900RR in the feature. He spe nt the ea rly laps in third place, a cou p le of seconds behind Trombino , but closed onto the tail of th e Kawasaki by lap se ve n and took seco nd pla ce en te ri ng turn two on the penultimate lap. " I' m thankful [ finished lik e [ d id ," Szoke sa id. "The bike w as g rea t this mo rnin g and we w e re ncar th e lap rec or d , bu t this afternoon I cou ld n' t get any d rive anywhere. Seco nd is a lot be tter than I thou ght [ wou ld ge t halfway through the race." Trombino briefly tried to regain secon d o ve r the final lap and a ha lf, bu t elec ted inst ead to settle for th ird . The Woodbrid ge, O n ta rio, rid er had been raci ng w ith a badl y broken sca pho id all season, but had a lighter cas t put on for S ha n no n vil le th at a llowed hi s wri st grea ter mobility. The ca utious Martin fell beh ind bot h Neil Jenk in s ' Fas t Co m pany Su zuk i GSX-R750 and the Pepsi Yamaha YZ FR1 of Kev in Gra ha m on the o pe ning lap, leaving him sixth. Jenkins, turning his fastest laps of the w e ekend o n t h e improv ed Su zuki , qu ickly pulled away from Graham and Martin and ran a lon ely fourth the rest of the wa y. Ma rtin go t around Grah am on la p four and was soon caught by Williams, wh o had m ad e an im pressive cha rge 'fro m 17th on the g rid . Wi lliams took sixth, and his comeback from the pr ev ious day 's ad versity earned his team the Schwi~n Toyo taTundra Ha rd Luck Aw a rd . The bat tle for the Intern ational Motorcycle Supershow Open Spor t Bike tit le wa s mu ch closer than that for the Superbike crown co m ing into Sha nno nvi lle. Pil on led Ta ylo r, the d ef end in g cla ss champ ion, by 19 poin ts, and tha t ma rgin came d ow n by four w hen Taylor bea t the SI. Jerome rider in Saturday's hea t race. As in Su pe rbike, Taylor cha rged into the lead w it h his ZX-9R a t the start of Su nday's feature, but Taylo r's titl e bid ended on the second lap w hen he fell in turn six. " I braked a little too soo n and was a litt le bit too far insid e for the corner," straight to have a cha nce to win ," Weiche l _ explaine , "I feel unfor tun ate he (Clarke) d fell. 1didn't want it to end that way." [ean- Fr an co is C yr, on an other R6, ca me out on top of a fanta st ic three-bike battle for the final podium spo t, passing the Suzuki GSX-R600 of Neil Jenki ns in the hairpin on the final lap an d then ge tting around Sco tt Spi ce r' s Team Cops Hon d a CBR600F4 two corn ers from the finish . CIII Shannonville Motor sport Park Shan nonville, Ontario, Canad a Res ults : Se ptember 5, 1999 (Roun d 7) S/BK: 1. Michael Tavlor (K,1W); 2. [ordan Szo ke (Ho n): 3. Fra nk Trom bim ; (Kaw): 4. Nei l fcnkin!> (Suz): 5. Fra ncis M artin (K.1W); 6. lctf W i lli.lm~ (Kaw), 7. Frank Wil son (Suz) ; tt Benoit Pilo n (Ya m ); q . M.ntin Hamel ( K.1\\' ); 10. Co rey w a rren (Hon ); 11. Da n Kruger ISuz): 12, Stephan Bergeron (5u 7); 13, Franco!.. Duma s (Knw): 1~ . Dea n O sborn e (Ya m ): 15. D,Wt, Hod ge (SU7); 16. Ala in Blan char d (Suz ); 17.lA>n·k Va r nm us (Ho n}. T O YO T A CA N A D A SU I' ER BI KE CH AMPIO NS HII' J-lN AL POINT ST AN DINGS (After 7 of i rou nd s); 1. Franci s Mart in (314); 2. Michae l Taylor (3U7) 3. jordan Sl:okc..· C o>;". [cff Willi.lms (263); 5. Ik'mlit ; U Pilon (199); b. Fran k Tro mbino ( 93); i . Nl'il [enkins, (191); So Fran k Wilso n (1&3); 9. Kevin Gra ham (111); 10. John S ha era rd (lOb) ; t 1. Ma rt in Hamel (in) ; 12. Marti n Ca u d re a ul t (7·0 ; 13. Fran coi s Duma s (it) ; 14. 0.1\'1:' Ma rcel la (63); 15. lean -Francois Cy r (47); l b. Philip pe Cantin (45); 17. Michael Lavallee (43); 1X Dim Kroger (43); . 19. c....a ba w erner (39); 20. Allin BI.lnch.ud (28). .

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