Canadian SuperBike 2001 - Round 6 - Atlantic Motorsport Park
| Steve Crevier's last lap pass on
team-mate Mike Taylor along the back
straight of Atlantic Motorsport Park in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia,
extended Crevier's remarkable Canadian Superbike career wins to 20, as he
held off Taylor to the checkered flag. The Weekend nearly saw Crevier
become the 1st Rider to win 6 Canadian Superbike Championships, but that
will have to wait for next round, as the victory became four points short
of clinching the Superbike Championship. For Steve Crevier and Honda Canada, the weekend was full of ups and downs. On Friday, the RC51 had a mechanical failure. In Canadian Superbike, the front four are "locked in" during Friday timed qualifying. Not only that, but points are awarded to the top 3 qualifying positions. These points are of significant value in the Canadian Series, with 10 awarded for Pole, 6 for 2nd and 4 points for being the 3rd fastest. Digging down deep, Crevier took the Honda Canada CBR600F4i out to complete qualifying. He rode the wheels off the little 600, and if not anything else, proved that Honda did have an amazing 600cc motorcycle. However, Crevier did more than that, he got a lock on the front row of the Superbike grid, qualifying the 600, fourth overall in the superbike class. However, fourth place awarded the points leader no championship points. Yamaha Canada Factory Rider Frank Trombino took pole position, surprising many with his qualifying effort at this tight bumpy track with the YZF-R1. Qualifying 2nd was Mike Taylor on his factory Honda RC51. Third fastest was Francis Martin on the Suzuki GSXR1000, scoring 4 valuable championship points. Saturday Qualifying locked in the rest of the field, and Owen Weichel the Kawasaki ZX7RR led row #2. Flanking him was Jean Francois Cyr who also put in a marvellous effort on his Yamaha YZF600, and Honda mounted Jeff Williams. Come race day, more changes happened in the Honda Camp. Honda may let racers race, but championships are very important, and Honda wasn't about to let this slip away by allowing their championship leader to race outgunned. Mike Taylor's Open bike was fast enough to allow him to take the pole position in the Open Sportbike Class on Saturday. It was the 1st time this year that the Honda CBR929 took the pole position of the open class. Honda did a shuffle, and Mike Taylor found himself on his 929 for the Superbike Race instead of the RC51. The bike is competitive to run at the front of Superbike and Taylor's championship hopes had long been dashed. The RC51 went to Crevier come race day. Now let the racers race. As fate would have it, Taylor may have had his best Canadian Superbike Race of the season, and it happened on his Honda CBR929.. Following Mike Taylor to the line in 3rd, was Frank Trombino, the pole sitter, on his Yamaha YZF1000R1. The Taylor/Crevier bike switch and Honda 1 and 2 finish was enough to dislodge Francis Martin from another podium result. The Suzuki Canada Factory rider, found himself off the box in fourth. While losing many championship points to Crevier in the final, he is the only rider with a mathematical chance to take the Superbike Championship away from Crevier in the final round. A 5th place finish for Owen Weichel on the Kawasaki ZX7RR ended his and more importantly Kawasakis Championship hopes for 2001. In other Action, Steve Crevier clinched the 600 Sportbike title on the Honda CBR600F4i with his 5th win of the year. Challenged by an on form J.F Cyr. before he crashed with only two corners remaining. But
J.F. Cyr then went on to win the Open Sportbike Class
onboard his YZF-R6 over the Honda CBR929 of Mike Taylor.
Frank Trombino, who had
qualified 7th, completed the final podium spot on his Yamaha YZF-R1,
Francis Martin on the Suzuki GSXR1000 finished 4th. |