Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Parts Canada Superbike Championship Round 5 : Autodrome St-Felicien By PHO TOS Weich e l actually c rossed th e line third after just being edged out for the runner-up spot by Szoke's Honda , but the Kawasaki failed the postrace Dynojet horsepower test and We ichel was d ropped a positi on . That promoted defending class champ Linnley Cla rke to third on his Suzuki GSX-R600. We ichel now leads Crevier by only four points h eading to the Shannonville finale , 232 -228 , with Szoke a lso in c o nt e nt io n with 222 points . Cl ark e is m ath em aticall y in the c ha m p ions hip hunt with 205 points. Alt ho ugh not qu ite as c lo s e , the Interna tio na l Moto rcyc le S upershow Open Sport bike fig h t will also be resolved a t Shannonville . Trombino picked up his thir d win of the year at St -Fe licie n , ta king the le ad from Tay lor on la p th re e o f 16 a nd pulling away to a 4 .8 -second victory. The win gives the Yama ha rider a 17 point edge over Taylor. 24 1-224 . T a yl o r ran se c o nd until lap six, when he tuc ke d the fro nt e nd of his J OHN H O PK INS By C OLI N FR ASER ST-FEUCIEN. QC, CANADA, AGG. 20 wo weeks after a nasty high-side at Atlantic Motorsport Park sent him to the hospital and cost him the Pa rt s Ca na da Sup e r b ik e C h a mp io nship poi nts le a d , Jordan Szoke rebou nd ed with an impressive victory at Autodrome St-Felicien. The 21 -year -old from Brantford , Ontario, took his Honda RC51 past the Kawasaki ZX-9R of Toronto's Michael Tay lor on lap 16 of the 22-lap featu re ra ce and edged clear to a 1.7 43 -second victo ry. Taylor settled for second. while O wen Weichel , ma king only his seco nd S upe rbi ke s tart o f th e year. pla ced th ird on a Kaw a s a ki ZX-7RR. "It's a wesome ," s a id a beami ng Szo ke afte r h is third win of the season a nd h is third stra ight at the Q ue be c ve nue . "I c o uld n' t have dreamt any bette r weekend for the whole crew. I just wa nte d to prove that I'm all right. I'm the same o ld J or dan ." (Above) Pa rts Ca na da Supe rb ike feature winner Jordan Szoke, a boa rd the Honda RC51. (Left) Michael Taylor (15) leads Frank Trombino (31), Owen Weichel (18), Jeff Williams (7) and Joel McDonald (97) on the first lap of the Int e rn ationa l Motorcycle Supershow Ope n Sportbike contest at the Autodro me St-Fe lic ie n. (Right, from left t o right): Runner-up Jordan Sz ok e , winner Ste ve Crevier a nd thi rd· p laced (but soon t o be fourth-p laced) finish e r Owen Weichel celebrate on th e Yoshimura 600c c Spo rtbike podium. S eri e s points le a de r Steve Crev ier of Port Coqu itlam, British Co lumbia , co uld have c linc he d th e Parts Canada Superbike titl e with a victory a t StF e lic ie n , but h e inst ead fin ished fourth on h is RC51 . Nevertheless, the four-tim e Canadian c ha m p heads to th e season finale at Shann on ville Mot orsport Park with a healthy 36po int le a d over Szoke. 265-229 , with Ta yl or seven p oints back in th ird . Sixty points are o n offer at each series round : 10 for qual ifying on the pole and 50 for the feature win . The RC51 ha sn 't been the sw iftest bike off th e starting line this season , but Szoke got the holeshot at St- Felicien . Ta ylor passed h im before the end of the lap , howe ve r, and qui ckly opened up a lead of almost th ree sec onds by lap five . As the lea de rs started to h it tra ffic on the tight 1.2-mile tra c k , howeve r, Szoke started c utt ing into Ta ylor's margin . "I tried to keep it a s conservative as I could ," Taylor sa id, "[a n d ] p ick m y spots through traffi c . But t h e y come up o n you so fast here, yo u're not alwa ys abl e to place them." An add ed c ompl ication was the tra ck s u rface, wh ich wa s st ill wet in spots from a s udden rain show er ju st befor e th e st art of th e Superbike rac e . "E ve n th ough m ost of th e tra ck was dry at th e e nd, there were s e ct io n s wh er e I kept g etti ng s tuc k b ehind guys , and there was reall y only one wa y into the corner and one way out," Taylor sa id. At the start of la p I S, Taylor had a big mom ent when the ba ck e n d stepped out a s he tried to a cc elerate past a coup le of slower rid ers. That put Sz ok e o n h is tail , and a s th ey negotiated the turn-five ha irpin on lap 16 , th e Ho n d a rid e r g ot in side th e Kawasaki and pulled ahead . Taylo r tried to reply but got o n th e ga s too hard and instead lost ground to Szoke. Taylor stayed with Szoke for a few laps, but traffic and fading tires spoiled his hop es of rega ining the lead . "We were stro ng at th e e nd ," sa id Szoke, who set the ra ce 's faste st la p , a 55 .754 , o n the 19 th tour. "It wa s skating around pretty go od, but the twin is s uc h a gre at b ike here ." Frank Trombino in itiall y ran th ird on his Yam a ha RI, but by lap e ight he was under pre ssure from both We ich el a nd Crevie r, who had qualified on pole bu t ended the first la p down in sixth. Crev ier go t past We ichel on lap 10 and took th ird from Tromb ino t he n ext time around . Weich el als o passed Trombino and set to wo rk on Cr evier, taking over th ird on lap 14 and giving Kawasaki teammate Tay lor a bit of a bo ost in his title bid. "I wa s just pacing mysel f behind Frank," sa id We ich el , who had qua lifie d an impressive third , b eh ind Cr evi er a n d Tayl or. "T h o se gu ys [T a y lor a n d Szok e] started t o pull away fro m Frank , but I've got limited e x pe rie n c e on slicks and in the s e co nd itio ns I was just happy . Then , wh en Stev e got in th er e , it was tim e to step it up. " T ro m b in o ran a lo n e ly rac e the re s t o f th e wa y t o plac e fifth and solid ify h is fourth plac e in th e Parts Canada Superbike standings . Th e b attle for th e Yos himur a 6 0 0cc Sportbik e tit le tightened dr a mat ic al ly a t St -Feli ci en a s Cr e vier pic ked u p his sec o n d stra ight win a boa rd th e Honda CBR 600 F4 and po in ts le a d e r We ich el s ettl ed for fourth on his Kaw a s aki ZX-6R. c U c • e n ZX -9R in turn se ven and fe ll. He remounted in 12th and c ha rged back up to sixth by th e finish. Williams fini sh ed s e c ond after We ichel tumbled on the fina l lap , and Ca lga ry 's Clint McBain was third on a Honda CBR929RR. Fell ow Honda ride r Jean -Franc ois C y r pla ced fourth in t he ra c e and k e p t h imself in co n t e n t io n for the Open Sportb ik e t itl e . He heads to Shannonville th ird in po ints with 189 , 52 few e r tha n Szo ke . eN Autodrome St-Felicien Sl-Fel cien, Quebec, Canada i Results: August20, 2000 (Round51 PRO S/BK: 1. Jordan Szoke (He n) ; 2. Michael Tay lor ( Kaw ) ; 3 . Ow en Weich el (Kaw ) ; 4 . Ste ve Crevi er ( Hen); 5 . Frank Trombin o (Yam ) ; 6. Je ff Willia ms ( Kaw); 7. Nei l Jenkins (Kaw) ; 8 . Linnley Clarke (S uz) ; 9. C saba Werne r (Hen) ; 10 . Jea nFrancois CYf (Hen) . PRO 600 SPT / BK: 1. Steve Crevier (Han) ; 2. Jordan Szoke (Han ); 3 . Linnley Cla rke (Suz) ; 4 . Owen Weichel (Kaw); 5. Jeff Williams (Kaw); 6 . Scott Spice r (Han) ; 7 . Joel Mc Donald (H an); 8 . Jo hn S he rra rd (Yam ) ; 9 . .Jeen -Francols Cy r (Han); 10. Andrew Nelson (Yam) . PRO OPEN SPT/ BK: 1. Frank Trombino (Yarn) : 2. Jeff William s (Kaw) ; 3 . Clint McB" in (Han ) ; 4 . .Jeen -Fran cols Cyr (Han); 5. Scott Spicer (Hen) ; 6. Michael Taylor ( Kaw); 7 . John Sharrard (Yam ); 8. Andrew Nelson (Yam); 9. Kevin Lacombe (Hen); 10. Joel McDonald (Han). e _ S • S EPT EM B ER 13. 2000 61

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