Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

WSMC 125cc Grand Prix Champion and Roadracing World “Young Gun” Chris Peris, 16, tested with the Honda Canada factory team March 30-31 at North Florida Motorsports Park in Jennings, Florida and has been tentatively offered a 600cc Sportbike ride for the 2002 Parts Canada Superbike Championship series.

“Basically, we put him on a 600,” said Honda Canada Team Manager Kevin Graham. “Very, very casual test. It wasn’t a tryout at all. We’ve just heard a lot good stuff about him, and we decided to bring him in and put him on one of our 600s, something that’s actually equivalent to what Steve Crevier won the Canadian (600cc Sportbike) Championship on last year, which is a FIM-spec CBR600F4i.

“We decided to bring him in, put him on the bike, no pressure, no stopwatches, just to see what he could do and get an idea for what his dad was like too. I’ve been talking to him on the phone a fair bit of time, but we wanted to see if he was like a ‘Hockey Dad’ or an easy-going guy. They were both great, very easy to work with.

“I feel like Chris has a lot of potential, not only in his initial speed, but just his maturity was fantastic. He did exactly what we asked him to do. He did a great job. It’s somebody that myself and the mechanics on the team felt that not only has potential but (is) someone that can add to the team. It’s worth us investing a little bit in as far as the development of a rider. So we’re in the process right now of putting a deal together for the rest of the season for him to compete in the 600cc Sportbike class.”

If the deal works out, Peris would become teammates with defending Canadian 600cc Sportbike and Superbike Champion Steve Crevier and defending Canadian Open Supersport Champion Frank Trombino. Crevier rides a RC51 Superbike and CBR600F4i. Trombino will ride a RC51 in the Superbike class and a CBR954RR in the Open Supersport races.

“So we have Frank (Trombino), Steve (Crevier) and Chris is kind of our future,” added Graham, the equivalent of American Honda’s Chuck Miller. “Basically, it’s an opportunity for him to learn. He’s got two great teammates to learn from, good equipment, no pressure. We just want to see what he can do, but we have a feeling that he’s going to progress rapidly. Hopefully, we can keep him in the country for another year.”

When asked what he thought of the new North Florida Motorsports Park, Graham exclaimed, “Fantastic! I think my riders are going to get spoiled testing there is the problem. We don’t have anything that smooth (in Canada). We have some nice tracks, like Mosport, but that track (North Florida Motorsports Park) is like a billiard table. I’d say it’s got to be the best track in North America for motorcycles. It’s perfectly flat, good pavement, good sight lines, complete run-off; there’s nothing to hit. You couldn’t ask for better.”

Roadracingworld.com was unable to reach Chris Peris, or his father Fernando, before post time.