Suzuki’s Francis Martin won the 15-lap Honda Motorcycles Challenge, the final event in the 2001 Parts Canada Superbike Championship, at Shannonville Motorsports Park Sunday, September 2. Martin, riding a Suzuki GSX-R1000, won by 4.681 seconds over Honda’s Steve Crevier. Frank Trombino finished third on a Yamaha YZF-R1. The race marked Martin’s first win of the 2001 season and was the first Canadian Superbike win for Suzuki since 1991. Martin finished second in the 2001 Championship behind Crevier.
Crevier came into the final round with a large points lead and wrapped up his second consecutive Canadian Superbike Championship by winning the pole position, and the 10 bonus points that come with it, in Saturday’s 45-minute qualifying session. “I’m just so happy. I’m relieved to get it over with,” Crevier was quoted in a press release, issued by the race organizers, as saying after clinching the Championship. Crevier earned the pole with a time of 1:45.809 while riding his back-up, 2000-model RC51 after engine troubles sidelined Crevier’s A-bike.
Kawasaki Canada’s Owen Weichel qualified second with a 1:46.043 and was running third in the race before Trombino made up a six-second gap and passed Weichel on the final lap to take the last spot on the podium. Weichel finished fourth in the race but third in the Championship. Trombino took fourth in the final Championship standings.
Crevier’s teammate Michael Taylor qualified fourth with a 1:46.676 on his Honda CBR929RR but crashed out of the race unhurt on the second lap.
Starting from the pole position, Martin also took the victory in International Motorcycle Supershow Open Sport Bike on his GSX-R1000, but Trombino won his second Open Sport Bike title with fifth place on a Yamaha YZF-R1. Taylor took the runner-up spot in the Open Sport Bike race on his CBR929RR and 18-year old Kevin Lacombe scored a third on a Yamaha YZF-R6.
Lacombe made another trip to the podium at Shannonville in the Yoshimura 600cc Sport Bike race finishing third on his YZF-R6. Pole-sitter Clint McBain took second on a Suzuki GSX-R600 behind race winner Crevier on his Honda CBR600F4i. Crevier had locked up the 600cc Sport Bike Championship before coming to Shannonville by winning five out of six previous races in the seven-race series.
Action from the 2001 Parts Canada Superbike Championship will be shown on The Outdoor Life Network starting Friday, September 14 at 11:00 a.m. EDT with the Mosport season preview.
Parts Canada Superbike Championship Round Seven Race Results:
1. Francis Martin, Suzuki GSX-R1000
2. Steve Crevier, Honda RC51
3. Frank Trombino, Yamaha YZF-R1
4. Owen Weichel, Kawasaki ZX-7RR
5. Jeff Williams, Honda CBR929RR
6. Benoit Pilon, Yamaha YZF-R1
7. Michael Leon, Honda CBR600F4i
8. Ugo Levert, Honda CBR600F4i
9. Martin Hamel, Kawasaki ZX-9R
10. Bruce McDonald, Yamaha YZF-R1
Superbike Qualifying Results:
1. Crevier, 1:45.809
2. Weichel, 1:46.043
3. Martin, 1:46.062
4. Michael Taylor, Honda CBR929RR, 1:46.676
5. Trombino, 1:47.659
6. Williams, 1:48.583
7. Pilon, 1:48.793
8. Jean-Francois Cyr, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:49.798
9. Kevin Lacombe, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:50.055
10. Andrew Nelson, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 1:50.347
Superbike Final Point Standings (After 7 of 7 rounds, all 7 count):
1. Crevier, 354 points
2. Martin, 300 points
3. Weichel, 274 points
4. Trombino, 213 points
5. Pilon, 185 points
6. Taylor, 183 points
7. Cyr, 159 points
8. Williams, 139 points
9. Hamel, 117 points
10. Nelson, 108 points