Highest of Highs and Lowest of Lows
You might have heard someone say that racing is a drug. Like drugs, racing makes you experience the highest of highs and lowest of lows. This was our weekend at Bridgestone CSBK round 4 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
With a Liqui Moly Pro Sport Bike race on Friday to replace the doubleheader of Shubenacadie, we needed to get the maximum points possible to make up for our absence from round 1 at Shannonville. Having qualified first, we were in a good position. Rain played havoc with the schedule and we finally hit the track at the end of the day. Sebastien had the unfortunate opportunity to experience his personal record in turn 1 of the third lap. Regrettably, that record was for his biggest highside of his career! Points: Zero. Nada. Zilch.
Saturday was Liqui Moly Pro Sport Bike round 4 race 1. We had qualified first on Friday. Technically still in the points, the bike, which was rebuilt overnight, experienced an electrical problem during the warm up lap. Points: Zero. Nada. Zilch.
Championship chances, as slim as they were, have now evaporated.
Lets now treat the rest of the weekend like a big track day!
We decided to go race the GP Bikes Pro Superbike class for a few reasons. One with Trevor Daley out mending his injuries, Suzuki had less exposure, so another Suzuki on the grid wouldn't hurt, we wanted to ensure our bike was ready for Sunday's race and getting more seat time on our Suzuki Canada steed can't hurt.
Sunday was Pro Sport Bike round 4 race 2. Starting from pole again, we quickly understood that to keep in front of the rivals ponies we needed to push hard in the turns to compensate for time lost in the oh so long and famous Andretti back straight! The effort paid off. First victory of the season was a delight, both for Sebastien and the team!
We are ecstatic to finally put the Suzuki Canada GSX-R600 on the top step of the Sport Bike podium. Something that, from my fading memory, hasn't been done in a while.
See you all at the series finale in Shannonville!
Special thanks to: Suzuki Canada, Bridgestone, CSBK, Turcotte Performance, Bickle Racing, Hindle, ST Motosport
Team Shaker!
From a press release
