Coelho wins crazy race

By John Hopkins

MONT-TREMBLANT, Que. – Longueuil, Que.’s Alex Coelho won a wet and wild fourth round of the Inside Motorcycles Amateur Sport Bike Championship at Le Circuit Mont-Tremblant on Sunday.

Riding the Black Sheep Racing / A.C. Graphics Kawasaki ZX-6R, Coelho took the lead from Luc Labranche on lap five of the 10-lap race and held on for a 1.817-sec. victory over the Team Extreme Superbike / Ricky Bobby Racing Kawasaki rider.

Nuno Almeida of Newcastle, Ont. finished third aboard his Noodles Racing / GP Bikes / Eurocorsa Performance Triumph 675.

“I just wanted to follow the pace of the guys ahead to get a sense of the conditions, and I felt really comfortable,” said Coelho, who spent the first three laps in third place behind Labranche and Almeida. “I wanted to have the lead just before halfway in case there was a red flag, and I just rode an easy and calm race.”

Coelho did have one anxious moment on the wet track as he battled Labranche for the lead, nearly highsiding.

The win was Coelho’s first in the Amateur Sport Bike class, although he did take the victory in the first Amateur Superbike national of 2011 at Circuit ICAR. His charge from ninth on the grid to the race win earned him the Performance Under Gear Performer of the Race Award.

It was a tough day for the contenders in the Amateur Sport Bike title battle. Championship leader Philippe Masse had qualified on pole over two seconds quicker than the rest of the field on a dry track, but he crashed his racingphil.com / Pete’s Superbike Kawasaki ZX-6R on the opening lap and again on lap four. He still managed to salvage seventh at the finish and the St-Hyacinthe, Que. rider actually stretched his lead in the standings to 43 points over Will Hornblower heading into the season finale doubleheader at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in two weeks.

Hornblower had qualified second on the Hornblower Racing / Blue Streak / ProPulsion Yamaha YZF-R6 but the Sarnia, Ont. rider faded to a ninth place finish.

One of the stars of the race was Hugo Fournier on his Yamaha YZF-R6. The St-Eugene de Lamartine, Que. rider charged from ninth at the end of the opening lap up to second by lap seven, but crashed in turn eight on the next lap. He did have the consolation of setting the fastest lap of the race, a 1:59.944 on his seventh tour.

Race Results

Point Standings