From a press release from the Parts Canada Superbike Championship series:

Connell grabs 600 Sport Bike pole with new lap record


July 20, 2002

Arclight Racing Suzuki’s Craig Connell from Queensland, Australia grabbed the pole position for Sunday’s combined Pro Honda Oils / Yoshimura 600 Sport Bike final with a new 600 Sport Bike lap record this morning at Mosport.

Connell’s time of 1:24.521 is almost a second faster than Jean-Francois Cyr’s previous record of 1:25.405 set here last year. In fact, the top seven qualifiers were under Cyr’s old lap record.

“We made some changes last night to the front forks that made a difference,” commented Connell following the 25-minute timed qualifying session. “But, it all comes back to the tires, my Pirellis were working great.”

Owen Weichel put his Canadian Kawasaki ZX6-R second on the grid with his time of 1:24.634.

Current Canadian series points leader Clint McBain set the third fastest qualifying time of 1:25.002.

Kevin Lacombe crashed his Orion Motorsports Honda CBR600F4i in turn 9 just past the half-way point in the session. Lacombe was unhurt in the fall and pushed his machine back to pit lane. His time at that point was good enough to hang on to a fifth place qualifying time of 1:25.232, just behind Cyr’s time of 1:25.011.

Craig Recore of Peru, NY also fell unhurt early on in this session.

Final F-USA Pro Honda Oils/Yoshimura 600cc Sportbike Qualifying Results:


1. Craig Connell, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:24.521
2. Owen Weichel, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 1:24.634
3. Clint McBain, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:25.002
4. Jean-Francois Cyr, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:25.011
5. Kevin Lacombe, Honda CBR600F4i, 1:25.232
6. Michael Barnes, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:25.256
7. Jeff Williams, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:25.344
8. Lee Acree, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:25.655
9. Larry Pegram, Suzuki GSX-R600,1:25.825
10. Jeff Wood, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:26.405
11. Matthew McBride, Honda CBR600, 1:26.554
12. Ugo Levert, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:26.565
13. Scott Greenwood, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:26.753
14. Eric Wood, Buell Firebolt XB9R, 1:27.057
15. Bruce McDonald, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:27.324
16. Chris Peris, Honda CBR600F4i, 1:27.343
17. Ray Bowman, Honda CBR600, 1:27.831
18. Francis Dubuc, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:27.886
19. Greg Boki, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:28.048
20. Cory West, Honda CBR600F4i, 1:28.442
21. Joe Temperato, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:28.451
22. Joel McDonald, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:28.457
23. Jerome Plourde, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:28.699
24. David Lamb, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:28.901
25. Martin Hamel, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:29.350
26. Victor Paiva, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 1:29.576
27. Darrin Mitchell, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:29.669
28. Peter Marsh, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 1:29.825
29. Craig Recore, Honda CBR600, 1:30.298
30. John Lounsbury, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:30.351
31. Zenon Nelson, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:30.575
32. Joseph Rozynski, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:32.060
33. Paolo Mariano, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:33.505
34. Patrick Blouin, Honda CBR600, 1:33.863

DQ* Richard Kjar, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:30.871

* Disqualified due to leaving pit lane during Qualification session