This partnership, managed by Pascal Picotte, will be back in the Superbike and Supersport classes of the 2009 Parts Canada Superbike Championship, with the new 2009 GSX-R1000 and the 2009 GSX-R600, an evolution of the 2008 model, for new rider Brett McCormick.

Despite the reduction in the budget, Picotte has set lofty goals for the team. "The economy is not healthy these days, which has forced us to cut back to only one rider. This has forced us to look long and hard at potential riders, and I feel that we have come up with a winning solution. Brett has shown exceptional maturity in 2008, his first year on a Superbike, and we know that we can give him the machines he needs to win in both classes this year. We are looking for both championships, that's for sure!"

The spring will be a busy season for the Picotte Performance Blackfoot Team Suzuki staff. As Pascal pointed out: "We need to prepare two new 1000s and two 600s. We were winning races last year with the 2008 600, and the new machine is a better version of that machine, so we have a good head start there. The 1000 is an all new machine, so we will have to work hard to get ready and competitive for the first race. We will go to the US for some early testing and to get Brett back in "race" shape, as well as to pick up useful information on the bikes and the Öhlins suspensions from major AMA teams running the same machines, such as Yoshimura and Michael Jordan Racing."

The 2009 season will kick off at Calabogie, near Ottawa, from May 21 to 24, and the second race will mark a return to Quebec for the series, which will race at ICAR, on the site of the Mirabel airport, from June 11 to 14.


Photo Credit : Parts Canada Superbike