Since I was a child, I dreamed of meeting my flying hero in his working
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| (Photo: Dany Flageole, Flagworld) |
costume. Not on TV or in an old movie, but in the flesh. Well, that time has come! On Sunday, June 4th, I saw Pascal Picotte on the asphalt for the first time in my life. If Superman really exists, I'm pretty sure that's him!My friend and mentor, Pierre Lecours from the Journal de Montréal, often talked to me about him, and I think I've already seen him once or twice in motorcycle on ice races in Sherbrooke. But now, I saw Superman Picotte in what he does best and I'm still amazed. What a passionate guy!If I told you that I know about Superbike races, about the Parts Canada Superbike series and its classes, about who are the most recognized racers and what their teams and manufacturers are, you could call my a liar. In fact, I know absolutely nothing about this sport. I know that we
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| (Photo: Dany Flageole, Flagworld) |
have Quebecker pilots that are stars, like Piscal Picotte and Miguel Duhamel, that others are aspiring to become stars like the young Carl Daigle and Kevin Lacombe, but that's all. I'm a car enthusiast, an open-wheel formula guy!Invited and accredited as a media at a recent weekend at Tremblant, I didn't know what to expect. However, my son-in-law Jean-Philippe Mercier, a motorcycle fan, warned me that I would be surprised by the speed of these machines; he was right. The guys and gals who ride these infernal rockets probably all have headstones instead of hearts, and don't know what fear is.Saturday, June 3rd, was a disappointment. The qualifications of the bigger classes were cancelled, because the track was judged to be too
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| (Photo: Dany Flageole, Flagworld) |
dangerous for the PRO 600 and superbikes. That was sad, because I really wanted to see them in action, and hear them too. I wasn't planning on coming back on Sunday, for family reasons!A change of plans during Saturday evening and after negotiations with my wife, she accepts that I come back on Sunday. Super! So I'm back on highway 15 North, heading up to Tremblant at 7 o'clock in the morning. It's still cloudy, but the more I approach the circuit, the more the sky clears up. There's hope. We'll have light for pictures... and dry asphalt for the bikes... I'm crossing my fingers!
Superman hits the track! At first glance, Picotte seems in very bad shape, and I'm wondering if he'll make it to his Picotte Perfomance Yamaha bike that his mechanics placed at his position at the starting grid. Pascal gets out of his box and climbs over the concrete wall that separates pit lane from the track. First sign of pain! With much difficulty, he gets to his ride on which he gets assistance
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| (Photo: Dany Flageole, Flagworld) |
to climb on. I get directly in front of him and take a few snapshots before the signal for everyone to leave the track, the start of the race being two minutes later.I hop over the wall and observe Pascal closely. He blasts off from the 2nd row and I lose sight of him in the Turn 1. I'm already impressed to see the herd of 28 competitors eat up the track. I quickly walk to Turn 15 and the Namerow, two spots that I adore on this circuit, but I can't even get to Turn 15 at the entrance of pit lane on time that the leaders are already flying past me, racing at an infernal speed through and start/finish line.My god, what speeds are they racing at? I've never seen a two-wheeled rocket go so fast. The first thing that crosses my mind is this: I must check this out ASAP and compare them with the lap times of the powerful Ferraris and Porsches that were on the track the weekend before.