Trevor Bernhardt Takes EMRA Expert Superbike Victory at Castrol Raceway

Round 3 of the Edmonton Motorcycle Roadracing Association season was held this past weekend at Castrol Raceway. Saturday qualifying took place under partly cloudy skies and warm conditions. Expert Superbike point leader Mike Zottmann claimed P1 with a time of 1.19.4 on his ZBM Racing Bow Cycle Kawasaki Canada ZX-10R, followed closely by Justin Knapik riding his Echo Cycle Kawasaki ZX-10R, and Peter Meier on his ZBM Racing Ducati Panigale. Expert 600 Superbike qualifying saw Ryan Boddy take his first ever pole position on his Pet Auto Body Yamaha R6, followed by Jon Bullee on his Riverside Honda CBR600RR and Brian Worsdall on his Honda Extreme CBR600RR. The forecast for Sunday’s races was the exact opposite of qualifying, calling for cool, heavy rain. This forecast left the wet-weather specialist riders cautiously optimistic for race day.

On Sunday, the rain would fall. Morning practice sessions took place under full wet conditions. The grey skies would stay, but the rain would stop; slowly the track began to dry as the racing started. By the time the Formula Thunder race began, the track had mostly dried, but remained damp in a few critical hard-braking areas. Riders in the Formula Thunder race chose to go out on dry tires hoping they would work well enough, riding cautiously through the wet areas of the track. Peter Meier on his ZBM Racing Ducati Panigale got a great start, built a gap in the first three laps, and managed it for the rest of the race. Scott Paras on his Echo Cycle Aprilia RSV and Ryan Taylor riding a Ducati Panigale would battle for the entire race on a drying track. Scott Paras would manage the changing track conditions best and finish in second place ahead of Ryan Taylor.

As the race day went on, the rain returned. Shortly before the Expert 600 Superbike race was supposed to grid, racing was stopped for safety. Heavy rain and lightning in the area forced race officials to call for a delay in proceedings. During this delay, riders would again make the switch to rain tires. When racing resumed the rain had nearly stopped, but the track was left with large amounts of standing water in areas. The stage was set for Trevor Brenhardt and his ZBM Racing Kawasaki ZX-6R to put on an incredible display of wet-weather riding. Having not made it to Saturday’s dry qualifying sessions, Trevor gridded on the Expert 600 Superbike race in last place. Trevor would ride an incredible race and manage his pace and the wet conditions to perfection, finishing in first place with a comfortable lead.

The final race of the day was the Expert Superbike race. The rain had stopped and the track had once again begun to dry. The sun even managed to poke through the clouds, drying the track even faster. Most riders chose to err on the side of caution and remain on rain tires. Current Expert Superbike champion and points leader Mike Zottmann made it to the grid on a borrowed bike, having suffered a mechanical failure with his bike earlier in the day. Justin Knapik, on his Echo Cycle ZX-10R, started the race in P2 and second place in the points standings, and knew he had to take advantage of the opportunity presented to him. The red lights would go out and Justin would jump to a short-lived lead. Trevor Bernhardt and his ZBM Racing ZX-6R started from last place on the grid again, but by the end of the second lap would make a number of incredibly bold moves, taking first place and gapping the field in dominant fashion, even as the drying track began to shred rain tires. Unable to match the pace set by Trevor, Justin Knapik would consolidate second place by building a gap over Mike Zottmann and managing that for the rest of the race. Mike Zottmann would get a slow start, riding another borrowed bike. He would manage to conserve tires well enough to hold off a number of other riders, securing the final spot on the Expert Superbike podium. After the race, an elated Trevor Bernhardt would say “The rain stopped 15 minutes before the race, and monitoring track conditions in the Intermediate Superbike race, showed lots of spray still coming up down the straight, and almost everyone decided to go on track with rain tires on. Having just done 600 Expert Superbike in the wet conditions, I felt I was in a good position as I already had a good idea of where traction in my tires were in the wet, and was sure there would be better grip in the dry. I knew the 1000cc bikes would soon come to terms with their grip levels, and I had to make some inroads while I had the advantage. Down the main straight, Justin Knapik on his ZX-10R would pull 10 bike lengths. Breaking late into corner 1 and 2 would allow me to be right up behind him, I managed to set myself up for an inside pass. I would get enough drive out of the corner to keep ahead on the short start straight, and then try keeping up corner speed, having a small moment and slide. Nervous to have the ZX-10R coming fly by down the back straight I just kept my head down. Coming onto the main straight again, I was surprised to have a 3 second lead already. I would continue to stretch this lead, and win comfortably. A huge thank you to Vass Performance for an amazingly tuned motorcycle that works in all conditions, Pirelli tires, my team ZBM Racing and all our sponsors – OneX Suits, Flexi-Glass, Vortex, Wolf Solutions. What a race, and the highlight of my career so far. Now for Round 4!”

This weekend’s interesting twist of fates has opened up a number of championship point races and paves the way for an exciting Round 4 of the EMRA race season, taking place on August 14th at Castrol Raceway. For more info check out the EMRA website www.EMRA.ca.

Edmonton Motorcycle Roadracing Association July 9-10, 2016 @ Castrol Raceway Results

Senior Open:

1. Peter Meier (Duc 1199)

2. Ian Wall (SUZ GSX-R1000)

3. Jason Kolmatycki (Yam YZF-R1M)

4. Darel Mesher (BMW S1000RR)

5. Ryan McGowan (Kaw ZX-10R)

6. Adrian Taylor (Yam YZF-R1)

Novice Open:

1. Jeremy Pompey (Suz GSX-R750)

2. Jeff Sloan (Suz GSX-R600)

3. Adam Boven (Yam YZF-R6)

4. Kevin Neilson (Hon 600RR)

5. Calvin Ozimko (Hon CBR300)

6. Malcolm Gray (Hon NSR250)

Expert 600cc SS:

1. Trevor Bernhardt (Kaw ZX-6R)

2. Shane Fraser (Yam YZF-R6)

3. Ryan Boddy (Yam YZF-R6)

4. Corey Svatos (Tri Daytona 675R)

5. Jon Bullee (Hon CBR600RR)

6. Brian Worsdall (Hon CBR600RR)

Intermediate 600cc SS:

1. Adam Taylor (Yam YZF-R6)

2. Allan Millican (Suz GSX-R600)

3. Cam Winterman (Suz GSX-R600)

4. Lee Depner (Yam YZF-R6)

5. Owen El-Baba (MV F3 675)

6. Micah Reimer (Kaw ZX-6R)

Intermediate Middleweight Twins:

1. Randy Schuler (Suz SV650)

2. Allan Millican (Suz SV650)

3. Brian Oxtoby (KTM 690R)

4. Laurie Stross (Apr RSV1000)

5. Tim Trofimuk (Suz SV650)

6. David Trofimuk (Suz SV650)

Lightweight Open:

1. James Kendrick (Hon CBR300)

2. Brian Worsdall (Hon CBR300R)

3. Malcolm Gray (Hon NSR250)

4. Ryan Brady (Hon CBR300R)

5. Calvin Ozimko (Hon CBR300)

Fast 25:

1. Justin Knapik (Kaw ZX-10R)

2. Ian Wall (Suz GSX-R1000)

3. Trevor Bernhardt (Kaw ZX6R)

4. Ryan Boddy (Yam YZF-R6)

5. Brian Worsdall (BMW S1000RR)

6. Jon Bullee (Hon CBR600RR)

Women’s Open:

1. Lorna Stelmack (Yam YZF-R1)

2. Tricia Reese (Suz GSX-R750)

3. Johanne Bernier (Suz GSX-R750)

Formula 112:

1. Adam Taylor (Yam YZF-R6)

2. Adrian Taylor (Yam YZF-R1)

3. Ray Steel (BMW S1000RR)

4. Thad Klassen (Suz GSX-R750)

5. Greg Taylor (Suz GSX-R600)

6. Eric Russnak (Hon CBR600RR)

Formula Thunder:

1. Peter Meier (Duc 1199)

2. Scott Paras (Apr RSV4)

3. Ryan Taylor (Duc 1199)

4. Corey Svatos (Tri Daytona 675R)

5. Brian Oxtoby (KTM 690R)

6. Randy Schuler (Suz SV650)

Intermediate Open Sportbike:

1. Glen Gregoire (Kaw ZX-10R)

2. Ryan McGowan (Kaw ZX-10R)

3. Nick Sosniuk (Suz GSX-R1000)

4. Adam Taylor (Yam YZF-R6)

5. Allan Millican (Suz GSX-R600)

6. Cam Winterman (Suz GSX-R600)

Expert Open Sportbike:

1. Brian Worsdall (BMW S1000RR)

2. Mike Zottmann (Kaw ZX-10R)

3. Ian Wall (Suz GSX-R1000)

4. Dana Draper (Yam YZF-R1)

5. Jon Bullee (Hon CBR600RR)

6. Ernie McCafferty (Yam YZF-R1)

Lightweight Superbike:

1. Brian Oxtoby (KTM 690R)

2. Steele Bizuk (Kaw 300)

3. Randy Schuler (Suz SV650)

Intermediate 600cc Superbike:

1. Allan Millican (Suz GSX-R600)

2. Cam Winterman (Suz GSX-R600)

3. Lee Depner (Yam YZF-R6)

4. Eric Russnak (Hon CBR600RR)

Expert 600cc Superbike:

1. Trevor Bernhardt (Kaw ZX-6R)

2. Ryan Boddy (Yam YZF-R6)

3. Brian Worsdall (Hon CBR600RR)

4. Jon Bullee (Hon CBR600RR)

5. Corey Svatos (Tri Daytona 675R)

Novice Open:

1. Jeremy Pompey (Suz GSX-R750)

2. Adam Boven (Yam YZF-R6)

3. Tricia Reese (Suz GSX-R750)

4. Kevin Neilson (Hon 600RR)

5. Calvin Ozimko (Hon CBR300)

6. Johanne Bernier (Suz GSX-R750)

Intermediate Superbike:

1. Glen Gregoire (Kaw ZX-10R)

2. Ryan McGowan (Kaw ZX-10R)

3. Nick Sosniuk (Suz GSX-R1000)

4. Allan Millican (Suz GSX-R600)

5. Robert D. Haynes (BMW S1000RR)

6. Ray Steel (BMW S1000RR)

Expert Superbike:

1. Trevor Bernhardt (Kaw ZX-6R)

2. Justin Knapik (Kaw ZX-10R)

3. Mike Zottmann (Kaw ZX-10R)

4. Brian Worsdall (BMW S1000RR)

5. Jon Bullee (Hon CBR600RR)

6. Peter Meier (Duc 1199)