GATINEAU, QUEBEC “” 6th place finish for Team Gym-Max/Hybrid Racing sponsored rider Roxanne Gravelle in her first Expert race! ICAR circuit in Mirabel, Quebec was the sight for round 2 of the Parts Canada Superbike Championship. For motorcycle road racer Roxanne Gravelle her weekend started with some exciting news straight away. Upon arrival at the track she was informed by the Women’s Cup Challenge officials that her rider status had changed from Novice to Expert starting that weekend. Gravelle, who was was coming off of a win in the 2nd round of the WCC, was flattered by the announcement but was also caught a bit off guard. With the information of the status upgrade behind her all sights were set on making a strong impression in her first Expert race. The weekend was going relatively smooth, Gravelle’s Gym-Max sponsored Yamaha R6 was running flawlessly. In her first outing to ICar Roxanne managed to secure a 1:39.813 by Friday afternoon practice. “I am really pumped about my lap times as they are competitive with the times of the other Expert women.” Said Gravelle. Sunday morning was sunny with no clouds in sight at the ICAR circuit. The great weather was a welcome sight after a Saturday that saw the Team Gym-Max/Hybrid Racing loose the front of her Yamaha R6 while trail braking to deep into turn 1. Gravelle’s confidence was bruised along with a few spots on her right arm and left hand. However, despite the minor discomfort, Roxanne is a racer and decided to work on her confidence during the race. The plan, besting the previous best lap time of the weekend. In the race Gravelle got an amazing start and finished 6th with a best time of 1:37.774, exceeding her objectives. “I had a great time out there. My R6 was running incredibly strong as usual which really helped get my confidence back. I’m really happy with my lap times and happy that I was able to be strong in corner #1 which had been my strength all weekend before Saturday morning’s crash. Everything considered it was a good weekend at ICAR and I’m glad to go home with a smile on my face.” Roxanne would like to thank Pascal Beauchesne, Philip Masse, Simon Blue and Ken Pieschke for the help they provided this weekend, it was absolutely invaluable. In addition she would also like to give special thanks to the Toyota-Yamaha Factory Racing Team crew for going out of their way to help find parts to fix Gravelle’s Gym-Max sponsored Yamaha R6. Now with renewed confidence Roxanne is looking forward to competing in Round #4 of the Pro Honda Women’s Cup Challenge at the Parts Canada Superbike Championship from July 16 to 19, at the Mosport International Raceway. (http://www.mosport.com/home/home.asp). More, from a press release issued by Vicki Schouten: Kahuna Powerports Report on Round #2 of Parts Canada Superbike Series: Another Top 10 finish for Schouten VAUGHAN, ONTARIO – Kahuna Powersports rider Vicki Schouten experienced a challenging, yet successful weekend at the second round of the Parts Canada Superbike Series at Le Circuit ICAR this past weekend, with a 7th place finish in the Armour Bodies Amateur Sportbike class, propelling Schouten and her ZX-6R to a tie for third place overall in the highly competitive National Amateur Sportbike class. Schouten also took home a third place finish in the Women’s Cup Challenge. Riding aboard her Kahuna Kawasaki ZX-6R, and freshly equipped with additional support from Motul, Pit Bull and Galfer for the remainder of the season, Schouten was excited to test Quebec’s newest racetrack, a track she had never experienced before. Schouten noted, “I am really glad to see the series return to Quebec. The fan base in Quebec is really strong and enthusiastic, and it is great to see another racetrack in this beautiful province.” Like so many other teams challenged to learn the layout of this new racetrack, Schouten, along with her crew of Jim Brooks and Dave Shirley, worked steadily to adapt the ZX-6R to the demanding and technical conditions of Le Circuit ICAR. “Jim and Dave, along with Accelerated Technologies’ John Sharrard, must have worked countless hours to set up the bike,” explained Schouten, “We kept making more and more changes to adapt to the track conditions and each time we saw better results and the Kawasaki ZX-6R was running solid as usual.” However, Schouten was thrown a bit of a glitch on Saturday afternoon during qualifying when she had some challenges with a faulty tire. “There is some different speculation as to what the issue might have been,” said Schouten, “but for whatever reason we were not having success with the Pirelli front during qualifying for AM600, and the bike just was not tracking properly.” After a small low-side during qualifying, and post-inspection by the Pirelli tire experts, Pirelli offered to exchange the front tire for Schouten. “Pirelli was really good about it. We’re not really sure what the issue was, but it definitely seemed to be a tire problem, and Pirelli was really great about giving us a new one, if nothing else to instill my confidence again.” Schouten qualified in 14th position for Sunday’s Amateur 600 race. “I was actually really worried about starting on row 4″, noted Schouten, “I really wanted to be close to the front as the competition is tough and this racetrack affords few passing opportunities.” Thanks to the efforts of her team, and the fine equipment backing her, Schouten was able to pilot her Kahuna Kawasaki ZX-6R to a 7th place finish overall in the Amateur 600 class, putting her in a tie position for third place overall in the National class after two rounds of competition. “My team and my sponsors have worked really hard to help get me here, and I know we are going to continue to have our work cut out for us as the competition is tough, but I have no doubt the Kahuna Kawasaki ZX-6R will be in contention for the rest of the season and we’ll continue to be strong.” said Schouten. Come and see us in action again at Round #3 of the RACE Superseries this coming weekend at Shannonville Motorsports near Belleville, Ontario. For further information please visit www.canadianracergirl.com More, from a press release issued by Zöe Rem: AFM’s Ladies Class, Fomrula AFemme, is here to stay! The board of directors for the AFM have approved the Formula AFemme to run for the rest of the season. No longer running just as an exhibition class, these ladies have proven they’re worthy of the real thing. The third round of the Formula AFemme saw eight ladies flying around Thunderhill on June 13th. As they gridded up on the front line Joy Higa took pole position with her Dunlop clad Cederland Cycles R6. But it was Shelina Moreda on her ZX6 who took the hole shot and led the whole first lap. With great drive out of turn 15 Joy managed to get Shelina into turn one and took off, dropping down to 1:59s and a tremendous lead by the end of the race. After hitting neutral on the start, Zöe Rem on her Motion Pro SV650, with the new assistance of Bridgestone tires, managed to catch up to Shelina and Joy by turn 10, but Shelina held her off for another lap before she ran away with second position. Shelina tried to grab it back in both turn 10 and turn 1, but Zöe held out, braking late and going around Shelina into 1 and taking the race line. After that the race for third was where the excitement fell with Shelina on her 600 and Jenn Lauritzen and Christy Cooley on their SV650s. Despite the vast difference in engine sizes, these girls still produce great racing and a spectator’s dream: watching the ladies duel it out for free track days from Keigwin’s @ the Track, gift certificates from Viets Perfomance, tires from Michelin and Bridgestone and cold hard cash donated in memory and honor of the men and women in the military, fire and police who have fought for us so that we can continue to race motorcycles. The Formula AFemme is grateful to their sponsors and all the women who come out and ride! Results 1st Joy Higa 2nd Zöe Rem 3rd Shelina Moreda 4th Kristy Miller 5th Jennifer Lauritzen 6th Christie Cooley 7th Shandra Crawford 8th Lisa Mazurkiewicz More, from a press release issued by Zöe Rem: Zöe Rem reminds both the boys and the girls of the AFM that she’s coming! After a rough and tumble weekend with OMRRA at PIR, involving acting as a speed bump for another rider, Zöe Rem completed another AFM weekend with only a few mishaps. The fractured foot and sprained back sustained at PIR weren’t slowing Zöe down as she flew around T Hill on her Motion Pro SV 650. A switch to Bridgestone tires has led to huge confidence improvements in Zöe’s riding, as well as some great coaching from Big B Racing. In the first race of her weekend, Formula AFemme, Zöe, managed to hit neutral instead of 2nd gear and headed into turn one in the back of the pack. She started picking the girls off and was in third coming around the first lap. As she headed up the hill into turn 5 she was right behind leader Shelina Moreda and Joy Higa in second. Though unable to keep up with the two 600s on the front straight, Zöe was right back with them by turn 2. As Joy took first position and flew away with it, Zöe closed in on Shelina and managed to grab second. Shelina tried to pass on the straight before turn ten but got shut down. Again on the front straight Shelina came up the inside, but Zöe’s drive out of 15 and late braking into turn one let her go around the outside of Shelina and steal the race line, hitting her apex and walking away. Though first position was nowhere in site at this point, Zöe managed to hold onto second and make a decent gap on third. Though Sunday started with a dirt excursion into turn 10 during Formula IV, Zöe was back on the bike for Open Twins, finishing 13th among all the 1098s. Zöe started at the 37 bikes ahead of her on the grid for 650 Twins, wondering how she many she could take in the short six lap race. After working her way up to around 20th, she was back and forth with Brad Woods and couldn’t get around Jenn Lauritzen until the 5th lap. Zöe was finding it frustrating to try and pass 30 people in only six laps and had to settle for finishing 16th. More points this round however will mean a better start next month when AFM is back at T-Hill. Find more info at zoegoesracing.com