CSBK - VRRA at Shannonville Motorsport Park

VRRA at Shannonville Motorsport Park

Details: Category: Other Racing News; Published on Thursday, September 17, 2020 07:38 EDT

The Vintage Road Racing Association held their sole event of the 2020 season at Shannonville Motorsport Park, September 4-6, with primary support coming from Westex Coatings. The VRRA event at SMP was spectator limited due to ongoing COVID-19 pandemic concerns.

The first race of the event was Friday’s two-hour Endurance race, won by the middleweight Blackstock Motorsports Yamaha FZR600 team Ludicrous Speed, ridden by VRRA’s Competition Coordinator, Kirby Crosby, and sometimes CSBK Tech staffer Darrell Cooney. Both riders competed with RACE in Canada in the late 1980s.

There are multiple divisions within the Endurance race - Heavyweight, Middleweight, Lightweight. Within each of those divisions’ performance indexes are applied to encourage those members with older machinery to come out and compete on a level playing field. The only class without any indexing is the Modern Lightweight Class.

The Heavyweight Division was won by the owner built, custom-framed, Suzuka-style, air-cooled early 1980s GS Suzuki of Foley and Duncan, known as 2 Drinks Racing, with the same 86 lap count as Heavyweight runners-up Spare Change with their Suzuki GSX-R. Third in Heavyweight belonged to the Kawasaki ZX-7R Ninja of WCR Racing.

The greatest distance travelled (91 laps) in the uninterrupted Two Hour belonged to the Middleweight class winning team Ludicrous Speed.

Runners-up honours in the Middleweight Division belonged to the Yamaha RD350LC of 2 Heads Racing, operated by the husband and wife team of former Canadian Superbike front runner and Canadian Motorcycle Hall of Famer Kathleen Coburn and her husband, Jonathan Head, a former ISDE competitor and newly converted road racer. Third Place went to the FZR600 powered team of Iffy Shifters.

The lightweight class saw the continued rivalry between Team Mount Pleasant (1981 Kawasaki GPz550) in first, Mountain High Racing (Ducati Desmo twin) second and Half Fast Racing (Yamaha FZR400) in third.

1980s CSBK Pro Superbike National star Norm Murphy on his Period Four Suzuki GSX-R is a VRRA regular. [Photo: Colin Fraser]
Current CSBK Pro ace Jean-Marc Bilger joined the VRRA ranks at Shannonville on Labor Day weekend aboard a pair of rapid Ducati Desmo twins. [Photo: Colin Fraser]
In Friday’s VRRA Two Hour Endurance race, the Extreme Chaos team entered this sharp Period 4 first-gen Honda CBR600F, placing sixth in class with 71 laps. [Photo: Colin Fraser]
Busy Shannonville Endurance Pit lane action with overall victors Ludicrous Speed refueling their Yamaha FZR600 in the foreground, while second in Middleweight 2 Heads Racing push start their Yamaha RD350LC in the background. [Photo: Colin Fraser]
VRRA Practice at SMP features the Endurance front-running Ducati of Quebec’s Joe Bar Team in front of former 250 G.P. star Darrell Cooney on his just-completed Period 5 Suzuki GSX-R600. [Photo: Colin Fraser]
Veteran racer, and CSBK Director of Competition two decades ago, Benoit Filon continues his association with the popular RZ Cup era Yamaha two-stroke twin. [Photo: Colin Fraser]
Former CSBK National competitor Dan Henri showed good pace on his Kawasaki Ninja 500-based twin-cylinder racer. [Photo: Colin Fraser]
The Vintage Road Racing Association Two Hour gets under way at Shannonville Motorsport Park on Friday, September 4. [Photo: Colin Fraser]
A busy field of VRRA team streams into turn one at the start of the Two Hour Vintage Endurance race. [Photo: Colin Fraser]
1990s WERA National Endurance R.A. Racing Team leader Tim Ruhl aboard the unique chain drive flat-twin BMW of Team Opa in the Two Hour – Gunther Schwartz built the bike. [Photo: Colin Fraser]
Mike McNeil, a National front runner in the 1980s, is the man to beat in Period Four Heavyweight aboard this popular Honda CB750F-based Superbike. [Photo: Colin Fraser]

Modern lightweight saw NFG’s new Kawasaki Ninja 400 in first, Team Shoulder Check 2.0 (Yamaha YZF-R3 twin) in second, with Fat and Furious (Yamaha YZF-R3) in third.

The Ducati Desmo twin of the Joe Bar Team was led by CSBK Pro ace Jean-Marc Bilger, and the big twin controlled the early laps of Endurance. The squad eventually suffered a penalty for a refueling issue, and after three pits stop, placed fourth in the Heavyweight division in their VRRA debut. Bilger placed eighth in the Liqui Moly Pro Sport Bike National at Calabogie in July aboard a Kawasaki.

Former CSBK racer Dan Henri showed well on his Woody’s Kawasaki EX500, turning some of the fastest laps of the weekend on his way to a win in the Period 4 Formula One Heat race.

Cooney rode a just-completed P5 GSX-R600 to win the Open class, after a battle with Bilger’s Ducati, the Italian machine eventually penalized for a flag infraction. In Period 5 Formula 2, Bilger won by .3 of a second over Cooney, who had the consolation of setting a new lap record. Bilger also won Period Five Formula One.

Mike MacNeil was top gun in Period 3 aboard his potent CB750F-based big bore Honda, while Period Four Formula Two showcase the very quick Honda GT650 Hawk of winner Daniel Rinfret.