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Parts canada SupEl'blkE Championship
Rounds 4-5: Mosport International Rae6Wil1l
Return of the King
By JOHN HOPKINS
MOSPORT, ON, CANADA, JULY 16-17
T
o those who wrote off Pascal Picotte's chances at a third
straight Parts Canada Superbike Championship after he was
injured at the season opener - shame, shame, shame.
The "Granby Flyer" silenced his doubters and jumped nght
back into the points race by sweeping the doubleheader at
Mosport International Raceway on his Picotte Performance
Yamaha YZF-R I. With his second straight Mosport sweep,
Picotte leapt up to fourth in the series standings, just 19 points
behind leader Francis Martin after five of eight rounds.
Picotte led all 13 laps of Saturday's race and finished more
than fove second clear of Jordan Szoke, on the Fast Company
Honda CBR IOOORR, and the SnobgirlslL.aval Moto Suzuki GSX-
RI000 of Martin.
Picotte put in a similar display on Sunday, again leading from
flag to flag to beat the Team SuzukVBlackfoot Suzuki GSX-R I000
of Clint McBain by 5.460 seconds. 5zoke settled for third.
Despite a fall, Martin recovered to finish sixth on Sunday and
left Mosport with a narrow two-point lead owr McBain In the
standings, 198-196, with Szoke just another two points back in
third, with 19-4. Picotte sat ominously In fourth with 179 points.
"1hat's what we had to do. We had to get the most out of it,"
said Picotte after his second win in as many days. "There was no
other way to tum the championship around. This puts some
pressure on the other guys."
Picotte was still nursing the broken nbs and wnst he had
suffered in a practice fall at the season opener in May, but his
health had improved slgnlficandy In the two weeks since the
previous round in Calgary.
In hot and muggy conditions on Saturday, Picotte got the
hoIeshot and tore away from the pack, breaking his own track
record on lap two with a time of one minute, 21.160 seconds,
around the 2.459-mile circuit.
Sunday's conditions couldn't have been more different, with
heavy rain dousing the track late In the morning and leaVing
sections on the back s1ighdy damp by race time.
Picotte again led off the line, but this time Tom Kipp hung
dose in second for the forst few laps on his Canadian Kawasaki
Motors Kawasaki ZX-I OR. But the Ohio rider went down in tum
five on lap six, and Picotte was again left to cruise to the win,
despite nearly suffering a fall of his own in the tricky tum five late
in the race.
Calgary's Chns Peris continued to build on his promising
AMA appearances by sweeping both Hindle Exhaust Pro 600cc
Sportblke features at Mosport on the factory-backed Topllne
Yamaha yzf-R6. In the first race, he took the lead from McBain
on the final lap, while In the second he came back from a fall on
the wet track to pass Kipp for first two laps from the finish.
Despite a pair of rough outings, Steve Cn!Yier, winner of the
first three races this season on the Diablo Honda CBR600RR,
maintained his series lead. He left Mosport with 216 points, to
McBain's 193 and Pens's 185.
GIll
Mo5POllT 1_ _ RAclwAY
Mo5POllT, ONTARIO, CANADA
Rnuus: July 16-17,2005 ( 1 _ 4-5)
PlIO 5IBlt RACE I: I. _ _ (Yam); 2.)onIon Szoke (Han); l. moo.
_
(Suz); 4. 10m I(;pp (Kaw); 5. _
e:.- (Han); 6. _ Trombino (Yam);
7........ U