Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Picotte Performance Yamaha’s Pascal Picotte earned pole position for round seven of the Parts Canada Superbike series during qualifying Saturday at Le Circuit Mont Tremblant in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, Canada.

Riding a Dunlop-shod Yamaha YZF-R1, Picotte’s time of 1:38.930 was not only good enough for the first spot on the grid but it was also well under Picotte’s old lap record of 1:40.240.

Picotte did a 1:39.263 (on his race tire) within the first few minutes of the 60-minute qualifying session, before coming into the pits, sitting and waiting for several minutes. When DXS Diablo Suzuki’s Steve Crevier posted a 1:39.328, Picotte mounted a soft-compound rear tire, went back out, recorded his 1:38.390, returned to the pits and sat for the final 20 minutes of the session.

“We waited until the end to go for a lap time in 600cc (Sportbike) qualifying, and it almost didn’t work. We said we wouldn’t do that again, so we tried to do our fast time as soon as possible,” said Picotte.

Crevier’s soft-tire-aided time held up for second on the grid. Honda Canada’s Jordan Szoke qualified third with a 1:40.191, which was also under the old lap record. Completing the front row for Sunday’s 15-lap final was Brooklin Cycles Yamaha’s Kevin Lacombe, who has continued to make chassis improvements to his YZF-R1 throughout the weekend.

Provisional Parts Canada Superbike Qualifying Results:

1. Pascal Picotte (Yam YZF-R1), 1:38.930
2. Steve Crevier (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:39.319
3. Jordan Szoke (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:40.191
4. Kevin Lacombe (Yam YZF-R1), 1:40.315
5. Clint McBain (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:40.593
6. Jeff Williams (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:40.740
7. Frank Trombino (Yam YZF-R1), 1:40.917
8. Francis Martin (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:41.739
9. Matthew McBride (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:42.395
10. Andrew Nelson (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:42.613
11. Chris Peris (Suz GSX-R750), 1:43.453
12. Hugo Brisson (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:44.313
13. Zenon Nelson (Suz), 1:45.952
14. Yanick Beaureguard (Hon), 1:46.017
15. Dave Young (Suz), 1:46.336
16. Bill Card (Hon), 1:46.412
17. Stuart Nodell (Kaw), 1:46.532
18. Craig Dixon (Yam), 1:46.551
19. Barry French (Yam), 1:46.867
20. Sebastien Michel (Suz), 1:47.343
21. Philip Onisto (Suz), 1:47.344
22. Larry Orde (Yam), 1:47.436
23. Yannick Morin (Kaw), 1:47.719
24. Jim Proulx (Kaw), 1:48.219
25. Elie Daccache (Suz), 1:48.239
26. Dan Henri (Yam), 1:48.445
27. Jeremy French (Hon), 1:48.547
28. Steve Scott (Yam), 1:48.975
29. Jeremy Burgess (Suz), 1:49.072
30. Terry MacPhee (Hon), 1:52.250
31. Andrew Murray (Kaw), 1:52.735
32. Matt Binns (Duc), 2:24.199