Provost powers to second straight win

By John Hopkins


MIRABEL, QC -- Natalie Catherine Provost scored her second straight Pro Honda Oils Women's Cup victory at Circuit ICAR on Sunday.


The Laval, QC racer started from pole and grabbed the lead from Vanessa Gareau Dominguez on the opening lap before pulling clear to a convincing win on her Les Soeurs en Vrac Honda CBR600RR.


Provost finished the 12-lap race 6.664 secs. clear of Genevieve Lesieur on the Sport Patoine / Laval Moto Suzuki GSX-R600 and the Seamont Brokerage Suzuki GSX-R600 of Gareau Dominguez.

"I didn't want to make any mistakes so I slowed the pace down," said Provost, who made the pass for the lead exiting turn three. "Then I got the signal that Gigi [Lesieur] was catching me and I had to pick it up again. But everything was perfect. I made no mistakes and the race went super well."

Lesieur grabbed second from Gareau Dominguez on lap five and immediately started to close the gap on Provost, getting to within three seconds by half distance. But Provost turned her fastest lap of the race, a 1:30.818, on lap eight and opened up her lead again.

"It was a really fun race," said Quebec City's Lesieur. "I worked hard to catch Vanessa, but I couldn't catch Natalie. She was too fast today."

Despite being penalized five seconds for a jump start Gareau Dominguez took a safe third. The Montreal racer did well to recover from a crash on Saturday that badly damaged her new GSX-R600.

"I had a small crash in turn three that turned into a big crash when my bike hit the guardrail," she explained. "But the racers in this paddock are incredible. My bike was in pieces but so many people helped out. Clint McBain even brought me a new shock. I'm happy I was able to bounce back like this today."

After originally being part of the battle for second Amy Szoke of Brantford, ON dropped back to a lonely fourth place finish on the Waznie Racing Honda CBR600RR and Ottawa's Samantha Goyer completed the top five riding a Suzuki GSX-R600.

Race Results
1. Natalie Catherine Provost, Laval, QC, 12 laps, Honda CBR600RR
2. Genevieve Lesieur, Quebec City, QC, +6.664, Suzuki GSX-R600
3. Vanessa Gareau Dominguez, Montreal, QC, +16.407, Suzuki GSX-R600 (includes five-second Jump Start penalty)
4. Amy Szoke, Brantford, ON, +24.816, Honda CBR600RR
5. Samantha Goyer, Ottawa, ON, +39.551, Suzuki GSX-R600
6. Roxanne Gravelle, Gatineau, QC, +1:26.324, Yamaha YZF-R6
7. Michelle Tennier, Trenton, ON, +1 Lap, Suzuki GSX-R600
8. Sunny Park, St. Thomas, ON, +1 Lap, Suzuki GSX-R600
Fastest Lap: 1:30.818 by Natalie Catherine Provost on lap 8