SpECiAL FEATurE: mEmOrABLE mOmENTS
Early in the 1995 Superbike feature at Mosport, Michael Taylor leads Mark Kowalski (54) and eventual winner Jeff Sneyd (34). After a dra-
matic race Sneyd would claim his only national Superbike triumph. PHOTO BY COLIN FRASER
i
By John Hopkins
always think of myself as a newcomer to the canadian road racing scene. no matter how long i’ve been around i always feel that my experience in the sport is pretty fresh. if some- one were to ask me about a particular race or moment in
motorcycle racing history, i will inevitably think it took place just two or three years ago, when in fact it traces back more than a decade. I think this is partly due to human nature.
After all, we are always reluctant to acknowl- edge how much time has flown by, especially as we get older. I also blame my condition on fellow motojournalist Colin Fraser, whose ex- tensive background in the sport always makes me feel like I am only just scratching the surface. But the fact of the matter is I’ve been pro-
fessionally following Canadian Superbike rac- ing since 1990, and covering it regularly since 1997. That means I’m coming up on 25 years of involvement with the sport; I’ve been in this business for roughly half of my life. There’s no way to sugarcoat it – I’m an oldtimer. Being an oldtimer means I’ve seen a lot of
races and a lot of racers. I did some tallying and I figure I covered my 100th Superbike na- tional some time last year. If you had asked me how many races I’d been at I probably would
6
Benoit Pilon (2) holds off defending Superbike champion Michael Taylor (1) at Autodrome St-Eustache in 1997. Pilon rode his Yamaha to a popular home victory on this occasion.
PHOTO BY COLIN FRASER
have guessed 50 or 60. One hundred? Yikes! So I guess I’m as qualified as anyone, even Fraser, to select
some favourites from among those 100 races. In some cases the racing itself is what I remember, but in others it’s the people in- volved in the action. While motorcycle racing is a very technical sport, to me the fascination comes from the people involved – how they perform under pressure, how they respond to setbacks, how
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