Masse and Daley set Amateur pace

By John Hopkins

MONT-TREMBLANT, Que. – Philippe Masse and Trevor Daley claimed pole position in qualifying for the Inside Motorcycle Amateur Sport Bike and Bazzaz Amateur Superbike classes, respectively, at Le Circuit Mont-Tremblant on Saturday.

Masse turned a lap at 1:46.812 on his racingphil.com / Pete’s Superbike Kawasaki ZX-6R, over two seconds quicker than his nearest challenger, to claim his second pole of the season in the Amateur Sport Bike class. He also stretched his lead in the class point standings to 36 over Austin Shaw-O’Leary, who is not at Mont-Tremblant due to the leg injury he sustained at the previous round at Atlantic Motorsport Park.

“The first time out I destroyed the rear tire but we made a bunch of changes and after that the bike worked good,” said St-Hyacinthe, Que.’s Masse. “Tomorrow I’ll put new tires on and push hard. I’d like to get a good gap but I need to think of the championship.”

Sarnia, Ont.’s Will Hornblower qualified second with a time of 1:49.085 on the Hornblower Racing / Blue Streak / ProPulsion Yamaha YZF-R6. With the three points he gained, Hornblower closed to within three points of Shaw-O’Leary for second place in the class point standings.

Eric Gagnon of Ste-Sophie, Que. and St-Eugene de Lamartine, Que.’s Hugo Fournier complete the front row for Sunday’s race. Gagnon turned a best lap of 1:49.418 on the Extreme Superbike Team Suzuki GSX-R600 and Fournier recorded a 1:49.910 on his Yamaha YZF-R6.

In the Amateur Superbike class, points leader Daley claimed his first pole position of the year on the OneSpeed / Riders Choice Suzuki GSX-R1000.

“This is a fast track and I’ve always been good with these sorts of tracks,” said the Mont-Tremblant first-timer from Mississauga, Ont. “We got some new pieces for the bike for this race and we worked hard before the weekend to set it up for smooth tracks like here and Mosport [Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, host of the season finale]. I’m still learning the limits and there’s a bit more speed in there.”

Stephan Houle of Gatineau, Que. had recorded the second fastest time of 1:45.153 on his 613 Motorsports / Jim Keay Ford-Lincoln Suzuki GSX-R1000, but the Gatineau, Que. rider was penalized seven positions when his bike ran out of fuel during the mandatory post-qualifying dyno run and he will start ninth.

That promoted fellow Gatineau rider Tim Robinson to second on the Amateur Superbike grid after turning a lap time of 1:45.386 on the Robinson Racing / Gym-Max BMW S1000RR.

Series newcomer Stephane Brisebois of Mirabel, Que. was third fastest with a 1:46.000 on his Honda CBR1000RR and Masse completes the front row for Sunday’s race.

Daley now has a 33-point lead over Masse, 141-108, heading into Sunday’s race.

Amateur Sport Bike Qualifying Results

Amateur Superbike Qualifying Results