Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Parts Canada Superbike Championship Round 2: Race City Motorsport Park "The rain he lped a lot," s a id Mar ti n, wh o was n ot even ex pected to ra c e in Ca lg a ry. "I'm not even s uppos ed to be he re ." Cre vie r caught fire on the last six laps, pass ing Kevin Lacombe's R6 for fifth on la p 11 and taking fourth from Taylor on lap 13, but the damage ha d been done, and the Maple Ridge, British Co lumb ia , racer d rop p e d 10 poi nt s be hi nd Weichel in the Parts Ca nada Superbike point standings, 106-96. Ta ylor settled for fifth, wh ile Benoit Pilo n c om p leted the t o p s ix o n his Ya m a ha Yl F- Rl, passing a n im p res s ive La combe two laps from home. T h e Yo sh imura 60 0 c c Sp ortb ike fina l had ta ken pla ce in s im ilar co nd ition s, only th is tim e t he rain starte d before the ra ce began. In a prelude to his S uperbike rom p , We ic he l pu t his Kawasaki ZX-6R in the lead on la p two of 12 and m a rc he d away , event ually winni ng by 2 .103 second s after lea d ing by eig ht seconds at ha lf-distance. Crevier dogged ly held on to sec ond on his Honda CB R6 0 0F4 i u ntil lap nine, when Cyr got ahead on his Yamaha YlF-R6. Cyr settled for sec ond, while local s tar Clint Mc Bai n com pleted the podium on his S uzu k i GS X-R6 0 0 , passing the Hon da of Michael Leon two laps from the finish . Crevier slid down to fifth and saw his points lead over Weichel trimmed to just one, 99 -98. Internationa l Motorcycle S u pershow Open Sportbike provided the race of the da y, as defending cha mp Frank Trombino held off a la te charge by c rowd fav orite McBain to claim his s econd win of the ye a r. Trombino put his Yamaha YlF·R l in the lead on lap four of 12 and soon had pulled out a four-second a dvantage . Howev er, McBa in , mak ing his first start on a GS X-R 1000, c ha rged up to s e cond by la p eight and erased Trombin o 's marg in in three la p s . McBa in passed Trombino on the long front straight to start the final la p , only to be repassed by the Yam a ha rider in the ch icane leading o nto the back straight. From there, Trombino held on for a 0 .364-second win . Ta ylor was third on his Hon d a CBR929RR. Tromb ino leads the Open Spo rt bike standings with a perfect sc ore of 120, wh ile Honda rider Jeff Willia ms sits second with 8 1 after finishing fifth in Calgary. CN (Left) Owen Weichel (center! ce leb rates hi s first Yo shi mura 600cc Sportbike win of the yea r, along with runner-up JeanFrancois Cyr peft) and the third-place finisher, local hero Cl int McBain (ri ght). IS AW'I U" I 1 By J OHN H OPKI NS PH OTOS B Y C O LI N F RA S E R CALGARY AB,CAN , JaNE IO , ADA n the span of 24 ho urs , Owen Weichel went from the agony of "de-feet" to the thrill of victory. The Toronto r id e r took his Kawasa ki lX - 7RR t o .a convin cing win in the second ro und of th e Parts Canada Supe rbik e Champ ionship a t Ca lgary 's Rac e Cit y Motorsport Park and grabbed the le ad in th e seven race series . A d ay e a rlie r, victory had loo ke d like a fa int hope a fte r We ichel suffered a na sty high -sid e in qualify ing. He d isl o cated o ne o f his toes and sustained s o m e b ruise s . His bike wa s somewhat wors e off , and the swingarm , trip le clamps and forks had to be poached from his ba c kup lX7R R, a chore that kept his Tony Rus s e ll-led crew up until the wee hours. "T he team was up until three in the m o rn in g putting th is b ik e b a c k together while I was th inking I'd lost the championship," said We ic he l after his first career National S u p e rb ik e victory . "It' s so a we s o m e to get a result after an effort like that. T h is win is for them ." Ironi cally , Weich el didn 't e ven need to be riding on Saturday, having locked up h is first career pole position in Frida y 's opening qualifying session, which set the fro nt row of the grid . His time was a track -record one m inute , J 7.847 seconds . Michae l Tay lor too k sec o nd s pot with a ti m e of o ne m in u te, 17 .9 9 9 seconds, on h is Honda RC51 , whi le d e fend in g class cha m pio n S t e v e Cre vie r lined up third wit h his RC51 aft er s e tt ing a t ime o f on e min ute, 18 .21 3 se conds. Fr ancis Martin com- the Kawasaki jockey was in the lead a nd already pulling awa y. . "This bike works rea lly good here, a nd I'm comforta ble in the rai n: sa id We ichel , who earlier in th e day had wo n the 600 c c Sportb ike fe atur e in s im ila r cond it io ns. "I pushed a litt le bit hard in the first few la ps ." Weichel s tretched his le a d at the rate of a second per lap until by ha lfd istance he was six seco nds to the good. From there he just paced himself and crossed the line 5 .3 4 8 seconds ahead of Jean- Francois Cyr 's Yamaha YlF-R6 . De fending class champion Frank Trombino (1) scored h is seco n d Int ernatio nal Motorcycle Supenshow Open Sportbike w in of the year at Race City Motonsport Park. pleted the fro nt line on a S uzuk i GSXR 1000 with a time of one minute, 19.898 seconds , the former champ still hobbled by a bro ke n pelvis suffered in the sea son opener. Rain wa s threatening at the start of the 16-lap S u p e rb ike fea ture , and when t he Dun lo p S ta rti ng Light s switched to green, Taylor and Crevier were off the line smartly, while Weichel was cautious in his th ird-ever Superbike launch. Crevier was in the le ad by th e end of the opening lap a nd was stretching h is margin on la p two . Then the heavens opened and within minutes ra in and ha il descended on th e tra ck, bringing out a red flag . The field reformed 20 mi nutes la t er to tr y again . The rain had stopped , but the track was s odde n. Th e Ho nda twins wer e again quick off the line , but Weichel was ma rgin a lly bette r on this attem pt a nd by the time the fie ld re a c he d the Bus Stop ch icane nea r the end of the first la p, "It was mor e comfortable for me to sit on the motorcycl e than walk around ," sa id Weichel of h is injured feet. "The rain was a bonus , too . It would have be en more tax ing to ride in the dry than in conditions like this." Cyr had cla imed second from Crevier near the end of th e first lap and quickly pu lle d awa y, his smaller R6 reveling on the wet track . "The R6 was just awesome, " he smiled. "It helped me get into the corners a nd out faste r th an the big bikes." The Hondas, meanwhile, struggl ed in the dam p conditions. By lap four , Crevier had sunk to sixth , wh ile Tay lor ran th ird . Taylor soon c a m e under pressure from Martin 's Suzuk i, and th e Rock Forest, Quebec, rider took th ird on la p six. As the track dried in the late laps, the Suzuki rider closed in on Cyr, and Ma rtin set the race 's fastest lap on la p 13 , of one mi nute, 26.491 seconds . He wa s still two secon ds behind Cyr at the finish . II: U II: I e Race City Motarsport Part Calgary, Alberta, Canada Results: June 10. 2001 [Round 21 PRO 5 /BK : I . Owen Weichel (Kaw) ; 2. Jea nFra ncois Cyr (Ya m): 3 . Francis Mart in (Suz) ; 4 . Ste ve Crevier (Hon); 5. Michael Tayl or ( Hon ); 6 . Benoit Pilon (Ya m) ; 7 . Kev in Lacombe (Yam) ; 8 . Greg Sak i ( Ya m ); 9 . F ra n k T romb ino (Ya m); t o. Andre w Nelson (Hen). PRO 600 SPT/ BK : I. Owen Weichel (Kaw) ; 2. .Jean -Francol s Cyr ( Yam ); 3 . Clint McB ain (Suz) ; 4 . M ich ael Leon ( Ho n) ; 5. Steve Crevie r ( Ho n) ; 6 . Greg Sa k i (Ya m) ; 7 . Ke vin L ac omb e ( Yam) : 8 . J eff Will iam s ( Ho n); 9 . Joel McDonald (Yam); 10 . Martin Ham el (Kaw) . PRO OP EN SPT/ BK: 1. Frank Trombino (Yam) : 2. Cli nt McB ain (S UI); 3. Micha el Ta yl or (Hon); 4 . Fran ci s Ma rt in (Suz) ; 5 . Je ff Willi llms ( Hon); 6 . Jean- Fran cois Cyr (Ya m); 7. Beno it Pilon (Yam); 8. Brian Nielsen (Yam): 9 . Peter Holzinger (Yam ); 10. Andrew Ne lson ( Hen}. n e _ 50 • J U NE 27.200 1 63

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