By John Hopkins / Photo by Bob Szoke
SHUBENACADIE, NS -- Amateur National action was nothing if not bizarre at round five of the Canadian Superbike Championship by Parts Canada at Atlantic Motorsport Park last Sunday.
In the Inside Motorcycles Amateur Sport Bike race Kristopher Garvie (above) took command of the class point standings with his second win in a row aboard the Tracksport Technologies / Kahuna Powersports Kawasaki ZX-6R while his two closest title rivals heading into the race, Jody Greening and Amzy Nawaz both crashed out on the opening lap.
But that was nothing compared to the K&N Filters Amateur Superbike race at the end of the day, which was held in heavy rain. A lightning strike brought out the red flag with the field having completed two of a scheduled eight laps and local racer Paul Whitehead found himself in the winner's circle on the Rampage Racing / DW Mathesons Honda CBR600RR.
After a tough day in qualifying on Saturday, everything seemed to fall Garvie's way in Sunday's Amateur Sport Bike race. The Caledon, ON racer had been moved back to the second row of the grid after exceeding the class horsepower limit in post qualifying tech and was sitting in fourth place after two laps of the race, with Greening and Nawaz ahead.
Then things took a turn. The red flag came out for a crash involving Robert Blickstead and the race was restarted, to be run over 10 laps instead of the originally scheduled 14. Greening's BFE / ProStar / Strugess Cycle Honda CBR600RR went down in turn one and then Nawaz, the polesitter, crashed his Velocity Sportsgear Kawasaki ZX-6R at the entrance to pit lane.
Greening was able to remount and ride back to the pits. As he toured in he looked back to see Nawaz's Kawasaki being pushed in by a marshal and shook his head -- one can only imagine what he was thinking...
Garvie found himself in the lead, and he steadily opened the gap while a fierce duel over second developed between the Hill Gage Racing Yamaha YZF-R6 of Riley Gage Dawe, the Sherbrooke Harley-Davidson Suzuki GSX-R600 of Samuel Proulx and top local Caleb Noiles on his Ayden Lee Racing / Pro Cycle Kawasaki ZX-6R. As the trio entered the Carousel on lap seven Noiles made his move down the inside of Proulx, but instead clipped the rear of Gage Dawe and both the Kawasaki and Yamaha went down while Proulx continued, now in second.
Garvie continued on at the front, meanwhile, finally finishing 5.881 secs. ahead of Magog, QC's Proulx, while Edward Rudkowski of Toronto found himself a surprise third at the finish on his Suzuki GSX-R600, just beating the Yamaha of Breslau, ON racer Luke Bauer.
Dominic Dupont picked up fifth on his Kawasaki ZX-6R, just ahead of Whitehead. Only eight of the 14 starters made it to the end.
Garvie's win gave him 233 points heading to the season-ending doubleheader at Mosport International Raceway in two weeks, 70 more than new second place man Rudkowski, while Proulx moved into third with 162 points.
After almost perfect weather all weekend heavy rain moved in shortly before the start of the Amateur Superbike race, and by the time the riders took their warm-up lap the downpour was torrential. The distance was reduced from 14 laps to eight, and 10 of the 14 qualifiers ventured on to the grid.
Greening led at the end of the first lap but Whitehead was in front as the field completed its second tour. Greening led again as the leaders completed lap three but then the lightning hit and the red hurriedly came out. Since not all the field had completed its third lap the results reverted back to lap two, giving Whitehead the win from Greening and Noiles. Garvie was fourth and Nawaz sixth.
“It was fun out there, for a little while at least,” Whitehead said. “There was some standing water on the track so you had to be really careful with your lines.”
Despite missing out on the win Greening extended his lead in the Amateur Superbike standings to 35 points over Garvie, 200-165, with Nawaz two points further back in third.
Amateur Sport Bike Race Results
1. Kristopher Garvie, Caledon, ON (Kawasaki ZX-6R) 11 laps in 13:08.606
2. Samuel Proulx, Magog, QC (Suzuki GSX-R600) +5.881 secs.
3. Edward Rudkowski, Toronto, ON (Suzuki GSX-R600) +17.165
4. Luke Bauer, Breslau, ON (Yamaha YZF-R6) +17.452
5. Dominic Dupont, Laval, QC (Kawasaki ZX-6R) +24.173
6. Paul Whitehead, Baddeck, NS (Honda CBR600RR) +24.655
7. Geoff Cole, Elmsdale, NS (Yamaha YZF-R6) +58.589
8. Caleb Noiles, Upper Cloverdale, NS (Kawasaki ZX-6R) +3 Laps
Did Not Finish
Riley Gage Dawe, Toronto, ON (Yamaha YZF-R6) 6 Laps
Dominic Mongeon, St-Andre-Auellin, QC (Yamaha YZF-R6) 4 Laps
Jody Greening, Burlington, ON (Honda CBR600RR) 1 Lap
Amzy Nawaz, Thornton, ON (Kawasaki ZX-6R) 0 Laps
Richard Thompson, Milford, NS (Suzuki GSX-R600) 0 Laps
Did Not Start
Robert Blickstead, Alexandria, ON (Honda CBR600RR)
Fastest Lap: 1:11.429 by Kristopher Garvie on lap 3
Amateur Sport Bike Point Standings
1.Kristopher Garvie (Kawasaki) 233
2.Edward Rudkowski (Suzuki) 163
3.Samuel Proulx (Suzuki) 162
4.Amzy Nawaz (Kawasaki) 152
5.Jody Greening (Honda) 149
6.Philippe Masse (Kawasaki) 109
7.Aubrey Bailey (Honda) 108
8.Natalie Catherine Provost (Honda) 101
9.Dominic Dupont (Kawasaki) 100
10.Riley Gage Dawe (Suz/Yam) 94
11.Alex Coelho (Kawasaki) 90
12.Jean Francois Aubin (Suzuki) 83
13.Luke Bauer (Yamaha) 82
14.Etienne Deblois (Kawasaki) 72
15.David Tremblay (Suzuki) 60
16.Dominic Mongeon (Yamaha) 57
17.Pierre Patenaude (Suzuki) 56
18.Francois-Michel Belval-Lacoste (Suzuki) 42
19.Jordan Cardozo (Suzuki) 41
20.Stavros Grekos (Kawasaki) 40
21.Paul Whitehead (Honda) 27
22.Eric Gagnon (Suzuki) 26
23.Geoff Cole (Yamaha) 25
24.Raymond Gauthier (Suzuki) 25
25.Caleb Noiles (Kawasaki) 23
26.Rob Cousineau (Suzuki) 21
27.Mario Bourget (Kawasaki) 15
28.Luc Labranche (Kawasaki) 13
29.Eric Trudel (Honda) 12
30.Reiner Griese (Triumph) 8
31.Jean-Sebastien Perreault (Kawasaki) 6
32.Joe Rodrigues (Suzuki) 4
33.Simon Hamel (Suzuki) 3
34.Samantha Goyer (Yamaha) 2
35.Chris Dopke (Honda) 1
Amateur Superbike Race Results
1. Paul Whitehead, Baddeck, NS (Honda CBR600RR) 2 Laps in 3:07.253
2. Jody Greening, Burlington, ON (Honda CBR600RR) +0.487 secs.
3. Caleb Noiles, Upper Cloverdale, NS (Kawasaki ZX-6R) +0.845
4. Kristopher Garvie, Caledon, ON (Kawasaki ZX-6R)
5. Edward Rudkowski, Toronto, ON (Suzuki GSX-R600) +3.650
6. Amzy Nawaz, Thornton, ON (Kawasaki ZX-6R)
7. Luke Bauer, Breslau, ON (Yamaha YZF-R6) +20.861
8. Mario Dumouchel, Ottawa, ON (Suzuki GSX-R1000) +25.314
9. Nicolas Hurley, Marystown, NL (Suzuki GSX-R750) +32.727
10. Geoff Cole, Elmsdale, NS (Yamaha YZF-R6) +54.319
Did Not Start
Richard Thompson, Milford, NS (Suzuki GSX-R600)
Riley Gage Dawe, Toronto, ON (Yamaha YZF-R6)
Dominic Dupont, Laval, QC (Kawasaki ZX-6R)
Dominic Mongeon, St-Andre-Auellin, QC (Yamaha YZF-R6)
Fastest Lap: 1:35.503 by Paul Whitehead on Lap 2
Amateur Superbike Point Standings
1.Jody Greening (Honda) 200
2.Kristopher Garvie (Kawasaki) 165
3.Amzy Nawaz (Kawasaki) 163
4.Edward Rudkowski (Suzuki) 119
5.Alex Coelho (Kawasaki) 113
6.Aubrey Bailey (Honda) 107
7.Alain Lefebvre (Suzuki) 105
8.Jean Francois Aubin (Suzuki) 97
9.Stephan Houle (Suzuki) 86
10.Luke Bauer (Yamaha) 71
11.Natalie Catherine Provost (Honda) 68
12.Riley Gage Dawe (Suz/Yam) 59
13.Eric Gagnon (Suzuki) 56
14.Philippe Masse (Kawasaki) 53
15.Paul Whitehead (Honda) 50
16.Caleb Noiles (Kawasaki) 37
17.Trevor Daley (Ducati) 36
18.Tim Robinson (Honda) 32
19.Etienne Deblois (Kawasaki) 27
20.Mario Dumouchel (Suzuki) 23
21.Nicolas Hurley (Suzuki) 21
22.Geoff Cole (Yamaha) 19
23.Pierre Patenaude (Suzuki) 19
24.Mario Bourget (Kawasaki) 17
25.Eric Fiset (Suzuki) 15
26.Reiner Griese (Triumph) 15
27.Eric Trudel (Honda) 13
28.Dominic Mongeon (Yamaha) 12
29.Jean-Sebastien Perreault (Kawasaki) 10
30.Richard Thompson (Suzuki) 1
