Canadian SuperBike 2001 - Round 5

Flying Frank Trombino left an entire field of SuperBikes grounded as he took off from pole position and finished a shocking 14 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor. Frank Trombino led all 16 laps on his Yamaha Motor Canada YZF1000R1. The Rob Egan tuned motorcycle, dusted the Superbike lap record with a time of 1:22:140. An astonished crowd looked on as Frank cruised to victory, taking this his 2nd career Superbike win at the Mosport facility. Luckily for the fans looking for a good dice in Superbike, it was provided by Kawasaki ZX7RR pilot Owen Weichel and Suzuki GSXR1000 Mounted Francis Martin.

With both riders in contention for the Superbike title, and current points leader Steve Crevier (Honda RC51), behind them, the two riders battled to the last lap for the valuable 2nd place points. Weichel made a decisive move on Mosport's daunting turn 2. A blind, downhill, decreasing radius turn, with very little runoff, only to have the Suzuki of Francis Martin motor past him, and grab the 2nd podium spot. These crucial points put the Scott Miller tuned, Suzuki Canada machine ahead of the Kawasaki of Weichel in the SuperBike points standings, and 2nd overall.

While Trombino left the dicing behind him, both the Factory Kawasaki and Factory supported Suzuki were able to gain a little ground in the SuperBike championship as Steve Crevier finished off the podium in 4th. Crevier's 3rd place in qualifying gained him 4 championship points, somewhat offsetting the damage of both Martin and Weichel.

Early in the weekend things looked great for Honda. While Trombino set a new track record in qualifying, the 3 Honda pilots swept the final 3 remaining front row positions.

Suzuki and Kawasaki, both encountered technical problems and managed to secure their spots on the 2nd row come Saturday. But to add to their difficulties, Ben Pilon (Yamaha), out qualified Weichel and it looked like the Suzuki and Kawasaki teams would have their work cut out for them, if they where to gain any ground against the Honda Juggernaut on the front row, and now the Yamaha team showing their strengths. With Trombino favoured to win, Ben Pilon might be the spoiler, and steal some points from the other factory racers.

As it turned out, all Honda front row starters, failed to capitalize on their starting positions. Jammin Jeff Williams took his CBR929 to the line behind the RC51 of Crevier, while Ben Pilon came across the line in 6th on his Yamaha YZF-R1 ahead of the RC51 of Mike Taylor, whom had qualified a strong 2nd.

Rounding out the top 10 were Yamaha supported riders Greg Boki (Yamaha YZF-R1) and Jean-Francois Cyr (YZF-R6), as well as the Kawasaki aided Martin Hamel, with a strong effort on his ZX9R.

Yamaha Motor Canada had their best weekend as both Frank Trombino and Benoit Pilon qualified 1 & 2 on their YZF-R1s in the INTERNATIONAL MOTORCYCLE SUPERSHOW OPEN SPORTBIKE. Trombino went on to victory and extended his points lead over Francis Martin and his Suzuki GSXR1000. Lap records were broken in qualifying by Trombino, Pilon and Jeff Williams on the Honda CBR929. All times were in the 1:24:** range, and marginally aided by increased horsepower and decreased weight limits for the class in 2001.

Jean Francois Cyr, made it three for three for the Yamaha camp. This weekend Yamaha machinery swept all three pole positions and set new lap records in all three classes. J.F. Cyr's pole time of 1:25.405 not only shattered the 600 class lap record which was 1:28.19, it would also be a competitive lap time for a SuperBike at this high speed circuit. While the 600 class horsepower regulation was increased 5 horsepower to 110, and weight lowered from a minimum of 370 to 360, this cannot take away from a truly impressive lap time.

However, leave it to Steve Crevier to spoil the Yamaha party , as he reminded everyone that he and the Honda CBRF4i are the most dominant racing machines in 600 sportbike. Crevier wasn't afraid to impose his opinion on an unwilling J.F. Cyr with an eyebrow raising, last corner pass to the checkered flag. With 4 wins in 5 races, Steve Crevier has a strangle hold on the YOSHIMURA 600 Sportbike Championship.

Final Results Superbike
1) Frank Trombino (YZF-R1)
2) Francis Martin (GSXR1000)
3) Owen Weichel (ZX7RR)
4) Steve Crevier (RC51)
5) Jeff Williams (CBR929)
6) Ben Pilon (YZR-R1)
7) Mike Taylor (RC51)
8) Greg Boki (YZF-R1)
9) Jean Francois Cyr (YZF-R6)
10) Martin Hamel (ZX9R)