Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Parts Canada Superbike Champ ionship Round 3 : Autodrom e St-Eustache By J O HN H O PK IN S PH OT OS By C O LI N f RA SER ST-EUSTACHE. QUEBEC. CANADA. JULY 9 g o t i ts b id f or an . u n p r e c e d e n t e d 10 th stra ig ht Na tional Super b ik e cro wn ba c k o n track i n impre ssi v e style in a wet round t h ree of t h e Pa rts Ca na da Sup erbik e Cha m p ionship at the Au to drome St -Eustache, near Mon tr eal. D efendin g series champ io n f ra n cis Martin led all 20 lap s of the fea ture race on h is lX - 7RR to score hi s seco nd st ra ig ht v ictory o n th e 1.2 m il e roa d cou rse and pull h im self into seco nd p lac e in the po int standings . Th e 26 - y ear - o l d resident of Rock F or es t , Que bec , for whom St E usta ch e is so m et h i n g of a home tra ck , fi ni shed 4.74 seconds ahead of Kawasa k i ZX -9R rider Michael Taylor of Toronto. St -J ero m e, Quebec, racer Benoit Pilon was third on his Yamaha Yl F-R 1. "To come back here and have all my fr iends see me win again - that's very good ," said an emotional Martin, who w as joined in Victory Circle by his 9 -month ·old son , Jacob. "M y son , it' s the f ir st time he's come to the races, and I win here. It' s for him, th is o ne - fo r J aco b. " M art in was in i m p r e s si v e form throug hout the wee ke nd . b reaking T ayl or 's 3 -year -o ld tr ack record with a lap at 47 .05 2 seconds in th e o pe ning qualify in g session and th en lo we ring t hat m ar k to 4 6 .7 23 sec o nds in the fi nal ti med per iod . Jordan Szok e, wi n ner o f t he openi ng t wo rou n d s , w as sec o nd q u ick est on his Hon d a RC51 with a 4 7 .0 52 . wh ile Taylor and RC5 1-m ounted St ev e Crevier comp leted the front row of the g rid . Heav y ra in throughout the lunch per iod and the Yoshimura 600 Sp ort Bike suppo rt race on Sunday left the track very wet by the tim e the Superb ikes were rolled out for their fea ture. Szo ke and C rev i er bo th e lected to ride the ir CBR600 F4 s rather than the RC51 s on the t ight, 1.2 -mile track . and sec on d - ro w qu a l i fi e r Li n nl e y C larke chose h is Suzu k i GSX -R600 for the damp condit ion s. Martin s t aye d wit h h i s lX - 7RR Supe rb ike, how ever , an d when the Dunlop Starting Lights switch ed to green, he to re off into the l ead . He w as mo re than a seco nd ahea d of T a y l o r after the opening lap and almost six seco nds clear by lap three. "lwa s very aggres si ve, and t he bike was s ticking well. " Martin explained. "I wanted to ha ve a big gap in the beg inning . It wo rked ." Martin stretched the advantage up to I 0 sec o nds by halfway, the n sirn - , I awas a k i I .~ pl y mainta ined his cushion th e rest of th e wa y . . " It's th e first ti me I tr ied th is bike in th e rain," he said. "It 's awesome, very good. J eff [C omello, crew m ember ] and Miche l [Merc ier . coach ] g av e m e g a ps, and when I sa w I had a big advantage, I slowed down a little bit. Je ff then tol d m e Ben and Mike were co mi ng , so I acce lerated a lit tl e b it m or e. Bu t th e tire stuck well." Tay lor, o n his lX-9R Sport B ik e af te r h is Superb ik e suffe red a tran s mi ssi on fa ilu re , ini tia lly ran second, with the Ho ndas of Crevier and Szoke be hi nd . Crevier, howeve r, was nursing a knee injury , and Szoke couldn 't see through his helmet visor properly, T ayl or took over the lead of the International Motorcycle Supe rs how Op e n Sp ortbi k e standings w i t h an impressive win aboard his lX-9R . The race was held in the best co ndi tions of the day, with a very clear, dry line around th e track . Like Martin in the Su pe rbi ke rac e. T a y l o r exploded into the lead fr o m the pole and opened up a margin of 3 1/2 sec onds in three laps. Trombino, w inne r of the seaso n opener, ran second early on aboard his RI , bu t he was passed by defend ing champion Pilo n on lap eight. Pilon closed up o n T ayl or in the lat e stages of th e 14-lap race but lost a shot at vi ctory wh en th e pa ir o f th em ca m e up on hea vy tra ffic two laps from the end. " I ha v e a good un dersta ndi ng of the tra ction here, on a wet/d ry trac k," T ayl or said . " I' ve had si m ila r races like th at here before , so I k ne w whe re to go. I was qu it e surprised. the first t ime I l o oked back , to see how far ahead I was ." La rr y Denn ing was fourth on the 4&6 Racing RI aft er a race- long battle with Honda CBR929 RR-mou nted Cyr, who took fifth . Ta y lo r leads Trombino , 112 -93 , in th e Open Sportbi k e standings as th e Na ti onal t ou r heads to Mosp ort International Rac ewa y for its next eve nt, July 2 1-23. eN (Above) Fran c i s M a rti n broke track records en route to the Su perblk e win at the Pa rts Canada Superblke Championship. (Left, left to right) M ickael Tyler , M a rtin and Be n o it Pilo n celebrate on the podium. an d th ey both sli pped d own the order. Pilon moved up to th ird on lap five and pass ed Ta yl or for seco nd a lap lat er. Tay lo r also fell beh ind Cl ark e, who was fly ing on th e GSX -R600 . As a dry li ne started t o eme rge so on a ft e r h a lf -dis tance , ho we ver , Cl ark e l o st h i s ed g e and T a y l o r rep assed him for thi rd . He then took" seco n d fr o m Pilon on l a p 17 , and use d some la pped tra ffic to open up a bit of a gap to the Yamaha rider. "I was just getting c omfortable on the b ike ," Ta y lor said of hi s early slip down to fo urth . "I knew it was going to be a lo ng race. It beca m e easier. The fast er I went, th e smoo ther the bike got." Pilon t ook the fi nal p od ium spot , althoug h he had Clarke cl osing up at the f in ish . Sz ok e settl ed for fi fth , ahead of a fly ing Owen Wei chel, wh o sta rte d fro m the back of the grid on his 4 & 6 Racing Yamaha Yl F -R6 bu t slic ed his way through th e field. Jeff W il li am s cros se d t h e line in seventh on his l X - 7 RR, but he was p e n al i zed for a j u m pe d start a nd dropped back to 11th ..Th at gave sev enth to sec on d -year Pro Mart in Ham el o n a lX - 9R , with C r e v i e r ei g h t h , Frank Trombin o ninth on an R I , and Ho nda rid er .Jean -Fra ncois Cyr l Oth , Ma rtin almost dou bled h is po ints score w ith the 60 he ea rne d fo r q ua lify ing on po le and tak ing th e wi n , and he cl o sed to w ithi n 21 po in ts of Szoke in the Part s Canada Superb ike sta nd ings, 145 - 124 . Crevie r fe ll from sec o nd to th ird w ith III points . whil e Cla rke li es fourth with 98. Szoke won the soaking Yoshim ura 600 Spo rtbike feat ure on h i s CBR600F4 and pul led into a tie for the points lead with Weichel , who fin ished second on the 4&6 Yamaha . Szoke took the lead from Crevier on la p two an d led the rest of the way in the 14-lap race, while Weichel worked his way up from a slow start to sixth by lap three. "I' m happy in the rain; I' ve al ways been good in th e rain ," said the 2 1year-o l d S zo k e . " I r id e so much m ot ocross, so much trials. I gu ess it tran sfer s ov er. " D efend ing class cha m p io n Clarke was third on hi s Suzu k i GSX - R600 , with im pressiv e rookie Gregoire Soki fo urth on an R6 . Crevier sli pped back to fifth at the fin ish . Th e sensati on of the rac e was littl e- k no w n roo kie Ch ris O l s on of Kana ta , On tar io , wh o had his Yamaha up to second p lac e by la p fou r but f ell in turn one on la p eight, fortunate ly w ithout injury . cue I e Autodrome St-Eumche St-Eustache, Q , Canada C Results : July 9, 2000 (Round 31 S/BK: 1. Franci s Martin (Kaw) ; 2. Mich ael Taylor (Kaw) ; 3 . Ben oit Pilon (Ya m); 4 . Linn ley Clar k e (Suz) ; 5 . J o rda n Szok e (Ha n); 6 . Owen Weiche l ( Vern ); 7 . Mart in Ham el ( Kaw ) ; B. Steve Crevie r (Han) ; 9. Frank Trombino (Yam ); 10, .Jeen -Francois Cyr ( Han); I I. Jeff W illia ms ( Kaw) ; 12 . Lar ry Denning (Yam) ; 13. Clint McBain (Hon); 14. Franco is Dumas (Ka w) ; 15 . Neil Jen kins (Kaw ) ; 16 . Derek Vam m us (Kaw); 17. Steve Dufresne (Suz): 18. Marc Tremblay (Yam) : 19. Nicolas Audet (Yam); 20. Eric Guim ont (Kaw); 21. Dean Osborne (Yam) . 600 SPT/B K.; 1. Jordan Szoke (Hon) ; 2. Owen Welchel (Yam ); 3. Linnley Clarke (Suz) ; 4. Gregoir e Boki (Yam); 5. Steve Crevier. O PEN. SP T/ B K : 1. Michael Tay lo r; 2. Ben oit Pilon ; 3. Frank Tro m bin o; 4. Larry Denni ng (Yam ): 5. J ean -Francoi s Cyr (Hon) . n e _ S • J ULY 26. 2000 61

• Cover