The Acceleration | Suzuki | Motovan Race Team was back East this past weekend to tackle the lengthy high speed tarmac at the Mosport International Speedway. Matechuk moved closer to securing Pro Rookie of the Year earning valuable points with his ride and secured a solid top 5 placing in the Title chase for the Superbike Championships.
Thursday and Friday's practice sessions provided little opportunity for the Acceleration crew to work on suspension and traction set-up after heavy rains interrupted plans. The downpour was relentless and while the young Acceleration Racing pilot was new to these conditions, he chose to brave the wet weather to polish up his wet track set-up and riding technique. The track conditions improved by end of day but not enough to run any qualifying sessions.
In the 20-lap featured Superbike event Joe Rocket clad Matechuk looked to try and improve the top ten finish from Round 1 at Mirabel and was able to do so in the first race. Dropping into the 1:24's, the rookie Pro rode just off pace of Honda factory team mounted Jodi Christie to secure a solid 7th place finish. For the second Superbike race, the team made more changes looking to keep the Pirelli tires even more planted through the high speed turns at Mosport. As the start lights prepared to flash green, Matechuk along with BMW's Ferreria crept slightly forcing both teams to take a 5-second moving penalty. By race end Matechuk's 5-rider battle had not opened up and that 5-second penalty forced him from 8th to 12th as the checkered flag waived. "I knew I moved slightly and would have to make up the 5 seconds. I really pushed to breakaway from this pack but just couldn't get enough of a jump before the back straight to pull away." Team owner Clint McBain added, "It's been a tough 2 days losing so much practice and set-up time on Friday but hey, that's racing. This is only the 3rd time Cody has rode this track and the first time on a 1000cc bike.Experience makes a big difference here." Race Tech's Lenny Albin came up from the U.S. to help negotiate the set-ups for the blistering fast track at Mosport. "I had a chance to check out more of the track yesterday and this layout has some incredibly challenging turns and elevations," shared Lenny. "It is really fast here." The team leaves rounds 4 & 5 with a top-5 series position in both Pro classes and eager to head back to Shubenacadie in August for the final two rounds of the series.
