NEWS: 5th Place at Atlantic Motorsport Park

Thursday, August 6, 2015

Last weekend, the Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship visited Atlantic Motorsport Park, located in Shubenaciadie, Nova Scotia, for Canada’s most Eastern round of the series. The Royal Distributing Superbike Team was on hand to compete in the Pro Superbike class with their Royal Distributing / Pro 6 Cylce / Multi-Tact Inc. / BMW S1000RR machine and rider Michael Leon. He finished 5th after a somewhat difficult weekend.

The short and bumpy Shubie circuit proved to be a challenging track for Michael during his first visit on a 200 horsepower superbike. “I certainly had to learn to respect the throttle pretty quickly. We had a bit of a Wheelie Monster at the start of the weekend. The hardest part for me was to continually meter the throttle, even on both straights. In the end, I figure that I was only able to open to full throttle for about 3 or 4 seconds per lap!” commented Michael.

Crew chief, Kyle Blakely, and suspension guru, Jonathan Cornwell, were able to make improvements to suspension setup throughout the weekend. A key change to the S1000RR’s setup prior to qualifying on Saturday made a huge difference and allowed Michael to drop his lap time by almost a full second. It was good enough for 6th, a third row start, at the narrow Shubie track which used a 3,2,3 starting grid configuration at this event.

During the opening laps of the Sunday final, Michael ran in sixth place in a group of riders that included Daley, Hornblower and Casas. As is often the case at Shubie, the race was more a war of attrition than an outright battle. Hornblower retired with bike problems and Casas ran off track on the roller coaster section. Fortunately, the young rider was able to get back on track safely without crashing, although dropping a few positions. After 22 laps, at the checkered flag, Michael finished 5th.

“Honestly, I’m a little disappointed. I’ve had great results at Shubie before and was hoping to be more competitive than I was. At least we started to get things sorted on Saturday. I really enjoy the technical aspect of making changes to the motorcycle and experiencing the improvements in the way that the bike works which helps make up for the result. I guess I shouldn’t complain, 5th is better than crashing out, like at Edmonton. I can’t wait for Mosport, I haven’t been able to use 6th gear yet all year!”

The Royal Distributing Racing Team would like to thank Royal Distributing, BMW Motorrad Canada, Pro 6 Cycle Dunlop, Multi-Tact, Shoei Helmets, Speed & Strength, Hindle Exhaust, Gianmajor Inc, Armour Bodies, Vortex Racing Sprockets, Forsaken Motorsports, Windmill Motorsports, Dr. Laflamme-Leblanc Dentistes, and Mac

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