Crevier takes second straight XR1200 crown

By John Hopkins

BOWMANVILLE, Ont. — Steve Crevier saw his perfect run of Deeley Harley-Davidson Canada XR1200 Cup race wins come to an end at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on Saturday, but second place was enough for him to clinch his second straight class title for the MotoSport Plus / Dominion Lending team.

After claiming the Tactical Products Canada LUMINOX Pole Award in qualifying on Friday, Michael Barnes of Boca Raton, Fla. scored the race win on his Ruthless Racing / Deeley Harley-Davidson Canada entry, finishing the 14-lap race 9.890 secs. ahead of Maple Ridge, B.C.’s Crevier.

Elie Daccache of Newcastle, Ont. completed the podium on the Harley-Davidson de l’Outaouais-sponsored entry.

Crevier got the holeshot at the start of the 14-lap race but Barnes muscled his way by into turn three and was never headed from there. He led Crevier by 4.5 secs. at half distance and continued to stretch that margin. He set the fastest lap of the race, a 1:31.223 on his fourth tour.

“Steve and I had a little dicing match at the start,” Barnes said. “I got a good run out of turn two and I thought I had room, but these wide bars must take up some space…”

Crevier admitted he couldn’t match the pace of the slender Barnes on the backstraight.

“I had nothing on the straight and it was pretty frustrating,” the six-time Superbike champ said. “But I realized I just need to survive this and win another championship. Hopefully we can do a bit better tomorrow.”

Crevier presented his number one plate to crew member Dan Thomson, himself a former racer in the XR1200 class.

John Ross MacRae started third on another of the Ruthless entries but crashed in turn five on lap two, just after snatching second from Crevier. That put Daccache into the final podium spot and gave him his best finish of the season.

“I was hoping to race with JR but after he went down I just wanted to put in six or seven clean laps,” Daccache said.

Despite breaking his femur two weeks ago at Mont-Tremblant, Toronto’s Michael Taylor put in a remarkably brave ride to claim fourth for the Mackie Harley-Davidson team.

Taylor still trails Darren James of Ruthless Racing by 35 points for second place in the XR1200 Cup standings heading into Sunday’s final race. The Deep Cove, B.C. racer, competing with a broken tibia suffered last weekend, salvaged sixth behind Don Taylor’s Clare’s Cycle of Niagara entry.

Blaise Fougere was seventh for the Maritime Harley-Davidson Dealers team, riding on a bike borrowed from Lee Kuhn after his own lost its engine in the morning warm-up.

Race Results

Point Standings