From a press release issued by series organizers:

PICOTTE TARGETS REPEAT

TORONTO, ON Pascal Picotte is going for an encore performance at this weekend’s sixth round of the Parts Canada Superbike Championship at Atlantic Motorsport Park in Shubenacadie, NS.

A victory at AMP last year put the Granby, QC racer into the points lead for good en route to his first series title. Should he manage the feat again this weekend, Picotte would have an almost insurmountable advantage in the 2004 national Superbike standings.

Riding the Team Yamaha / Picotte Performance Yamaha YZF-R1 Picotte has an 89-point lead over his closest rival in the series standings, Brantford, ON’s Jordan Szoke with two rounds to go. A total of 56 points is available at each Parts Canada Superbike round. Following Sunday’s race the tour moves on to Le Circuit Mont-Tremblant Aug. 22 and Shannonville Motorsport Park Sept. 5.

Picotte is also trying to grab a share of history at AMP by winning his fifth straight Parts Canada Superbike round. He swept both ends of doubleheaders at Race City Motorsport Park and Mosport International Raceway earlier this season.

Only Szoke and Steve Crevier have won five in a row in the history of Canadian Superbike racing. Crevier did it first in 1992 and Szoke equaled that mark in 2002.

While Picotte is the defending AMP Superbike winner, the track has been good to Szoke recently as well. The last time he was here, in 2002 the Honda Canada / Fast Company Honda CBR1000RR rider matched Crevier’s mark of five consecutive national Superbike wins and clinched his second career title.

Szoke is in a tight scrap for second in the Parts Canada Superbike standings, however. He is only three points ahead of Calgary rider Clint McBain (Coors Light Racing / Blackfoot Suzuki GSX-R1000), five in front of Maple Ridge, BC’s Crevier (DXS Diablo Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000) and 10 ahead of Kevin Lacombe of Granby, QC (Lacombe Racing Yamaha YZF-R1).

With five career AMP victories, Crevier has won more Superbike nationals at AMP than any other racer but he is coming off a nasty crash at the most recent race at Mosport.

This weekend’s action will also include the sixth round of the Hindle Exhaust Pro 600 Sport Bike Championship. Picotte is the defending champion in that category as well and leads the standings by 65 points over Crevier with McBain in third.

AMP will also host the fourth round of the six-race International Motorcycle SUPERSHOW Amateur 600 Sport Bike Championship. Yamaha riders Rudy Raposo of Mississauga, ON and Darren James from North Vancouver are in a tight points battle after James edged Raposo for the win last time out at Mosport.

Qualifying for all three national classes will take place Saturday afternoon with races on Sunday.

This weekend’s event will be televised on TSN on Oct. 2 at 3:30 p.m. EDT and on Quebec’s RDS on Oct. 9 at 11:30 a.m EDT. The action will also appear in one-hour format this fall on TORONTO1 and A-Channel stations in Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton.


All Time Atlantic Motorsport Park Superbike Wins

Steve Crevier (Maple Ridge, BC) 5
Don Munroe (Halifax, NS) 3
Rueben McMurter (London, ON) 2
Jordan Szoke (Brantford, ON) 2
Gary Goodfellow (Vancouver, BC) 1
Miguel Duhamel (Repentigny, QC) 1
Michel Mercier (Thetford Mines, QC) 1
Mark Kowalski (Kitchener, ON) 1
Pascal Picotte (Granby, QC) 1

Atlantic Motorsport Park Fast Facts

…In addition to being his fifth straight triumph, a win on Sunday by Pascal Picotte would give him 13 career national Superbike wins, putting him alone in third place on the all-time list just one win behind Jordan Szoke. Steve Crevier leads with 22 victories.

…Last season marked the 11th time in Canadian Superbike history that the AMP winner has gone on to claim the national title. It was also the fourth straight time that has happened. Before Picotte last year, Crevier did it in 2000 and 2001 and Szoke accomplished the feat in 2002.

…Last year’s race around the tight and challenging AMP circuit continued a long tradition of spectacular battles at the track. Picotte edged Crevier for the win by just under half a second after a racelong scrap that at one point included no fewer than 10 motorcycles.

2004 Point Standings

Parts Canada Superbike: 1. Pascal Picotte (Yamaha) 259; 2. Jordan Szoke (Honda) 170; 3. Clint McBain (Suzuki) 167; 4. Steve Crevier (Suzuki) 165; 5. Kevin Lacombe (Yamaha) 160

Hindle Exhaust Pro 600 Sport Bike: 1. Pascal Picotte (Yamaha) 246; 2. Steve Crevier (Suzuki) 181; 3. Clint McBain (Suzuki) 173

International Motorcycle SUPERSHOW Amateur 600 Sport Bike: 1. Rudy Raposo (Yamaha) 115; 2. Darren James (Yamaha) 111; 3. Tyler Kennedy (Honda) 92

Provisional Weekend Schedule

Saturday August 7

2:05 p.m.-2:30 p.m. Hindle Exhaust Pro 600 Sport Bike Qualifying

2:50 p.m.-3:50 p.m. International Motorcycle SUPERSHOW Amateur 600 Sport Bike Qualifying

4:00 p.m.-4:45 p.m. Parts Canada Superbike Qualifying

Sunday August 8

1:00 p.m. Hindle Exhaust Pro 600 Sport Bike Race 16 laps

2:00 p.m. International Motorcycle SUPERSHOW Amateur 600 Sport Bike Race 12 laps

3:00 p.m. Parts Canada Superbike Race 22 laps