Laval, Quebec’s Team Couturier Racing headed to the newly improved Canadian Tire Motorsports Park with very big expectations.
Friday’s qualifying went great with Lacombe grabbing the coveted PRO SBK pole position edging Jordan Szoke by slightly over half a second. Fellow teammate Samuel Proulx left the track early due to a family emergency.
With Lacombe starting from pole position the grid got into position for Saturday afternoons round five final. Lacombe pushed the limits of his BMW S1000RR and dominated the race, crossing the line in first place, despite a handful of attempts by Szoke to make a pass. This was to be Lacombe’s first win of the season.
Sunday morning the pits we’re buzzing with controversy with the news of monitored obligation to compete with the Sunoco GT Plus spec fuel in all superbikes. Team Couturier Racing having built & tuned their machines to use unleaded pump fuel, which was tested, approved & cleared to use by CSBK before the season began, had quite a dilemma to deal with. Sunoco was purchased and one of the S1000RR’s was brought to the dyno to attempt to safely map the engine, unfortunately issues with the dyno made for the mapping unsuccessful, as well as the bike overheating in the morning’s practice. Following that an executive decision was made by team owner Mr. Couturier and head mechanic Mr. Goyette with one concern at hand, the safety of all riders on track if a blown motor was to happen if the Sunoco fuel was used, when Lacombe was going be leading the pack.
The final Sunday afternoon was just that shear domination on Lacombe’s part, only swapping a couple of times the lead with Jordan Szoke during the 20 laps. On the last lap, desperation was felt and Jordan made a very tight pass swapping paint along the way at the bottom of the straightaway pushing the 2 riders wide allowing Alex Welsh to capitalize giving him his 1st superbike win, with Szoke and Lacombe crossing the finish line 2nd & 3rd.
Following the podium, the bike’s we’re brought to the “impound” (tech inspection) and gas was pulled from the top five finishing motorcycles. The colour of gas from 2 of the bikes was obviously different, which lead to several hours later the disqualification of Lacombe from his 3rd place finish.
An appeal was made and a committee is currently reviewing the decision. The decision to run the pump fuel was made in all fairness to ensure everyone’s safety & to stand for justice to all riders. Team Couturier Racing truly hopes all supporters & sponsors of the Team Couturier understand & support their decision.
Team Couturier Racing would like to thank: BMW Motorrad, MPG (Patrice Goyette), Acier St-Michel, Martin Brickwood Performance (MBP), TSBK, ProFuel, Ohlins, Importations Thibault, Arlen Ness, Puig, Suomy, Spectro, Puma, Hindle, K&N, D.I.D, Ferrodo, AFAM, HotBodies, Taz Grafix.
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