CONCORD, Ont. – Steve Crevier regained the lead of the Canadian Harley-Davidson XR1200 Cup and John Ross MacRae scored his first career victory in a dramatic pair of races at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park last weekend.
The series opened the double-header weekend races on Saturday in front of its largest crowd this year and under perfect racing conditions.
The 3.95km 10-turn track was in fine shape with some slight repaving and greatly improved safety modifications. Racers were eager to ride the improved conditions, but although lap times were fast, the improved conditions did not appear to improve lap times from previous years, based on results from the practice and qualifying events that took place on Friday.
Saturday’s race was considered the tightest battle over the 14 laps this year. There were several lead changes and rider order swaps – many within the same lap.
The race was won by the existing number one plate holder, Steve Crevier on his MotoSport Plus Harley-Davidson® XR1200® bike, trying to make up for his last round tumble at Atlantic Motorsport Park.
“These guys made me work for it today,” said the sweating but happy Crevier.
Michael Taylor came across in second place, only 0.133 secs. adrift of Crevier. Taylor was obviously disappointed with his finish, but commented, “that was all I had, but I came up a little short.”
Taylor now trailed Crevier by 21 points with 148.
Invited rider Jon Cornwell used the opportunity to move from suspension tuner to rider for the Ruthless Racing team.
“I was just trying to stay out of the way, let the boys go for points,” Cornwell said. “Turns eight, nine, 10 was my strong area. Everybody gave room. There was some bumping, but it was a fun ride.”
Coming out of retirement for the race, he also posted the fastest lap of 1:31.025 – a new lap record.
Unfortunately, Darren James, the points leader coming into the weekend who was part of the four-rider battle, was leading on lap 11, but failed to come around for lap 12, coming off hard at the exit of the high speed turn one.
“I had a good lap, got into one, and the front went out. The bike bucked up and threw me off. I was going to win or crash, but I didn’t really expect to crash,” commented the bruised but smiling Ruthless Racing rider.
Action continued Sunday and the second race was another outstanding battle between five riders for the first half, which was then narrowed down to a four-rider break as the 14 laps wound down.
With four laps left to go, the new leader was Cornwell aboard his Ruthless Racing XR1200® model. Cornwell was celebrating his birthday by changing his role with Ruthless Racing from suspension tuner to un-retired rider. But things went wrong when amongst the frequent and multiple lead changes, Cornwell was relegated back to fourth after he went wide on the last turn and developed a tank slapper that pitched him to the ground going into turn one and caused a red flag.
The race was considered final and went back to the last full lap, so the win went to 24-year-old John Ross MacRae from the Ruthless Racing team sponsored by Deeley Harley‑Davidson® Canada, giving him his first step on the top podium spot.
Crevier of Maple Ridge, B.C. finished second, and the MotoSport Plus backed rider extended his points lead to 28 points over Toronto’s Taylor heading into the Mont-Tremblant season finale. Taylor finished third in the race for the Mackie Harley-Davidson® team.
Cornwell was transported to the local hospital with a broken leg.
James showed true racer spirit by managing to finish fifth – in a great deal of pain – behind Elie Daccache.
Action continues with the final round in Mont-Tremblant, Que. on August 23-25.
–From Harley-Davidson Canada
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