Two of the most formidable programs in Canadian road racing have joined forces.

_{source: John Hopkins}

Team Suzuki / Blackfoot Racing has merged with Picotte Performance to form a superteam that will battle for the 2007 Parts Canada Superbike Championship.

Team Suzuki / Blackfoot Racing / Picotte Performance, as the new squad will be known, will race Suzuki GSX-R1000 and GSX-R600 equipment in the Parts Canada Superbike feature class and the Hindle Exhaust Pro 600 Sport Bike national support division.

Pascal Picotte and Francis Martin, both two-time Canadian Superbike champions, will ride for the team.
"I think we're going to have a pretty strong powerhouse," said Nathan Naslund of Suzuki Canada. "Pascal is well known throughout North America and he brings a lot of recognition with him. Francis is a champion and a longtime Suzuki rider. He's very excited about this."

Between them, the Team Suzuki / Blackfoot and Picotte Performance teams have won 17 of 31 Canadian Superbike feature events between 2003 and 2006. During that period Picotte Performance ran Yamaha equipment.

In Picotte, Suzuki and Blackfoot are getting one of the most accomplished competitors in Canadian road racing history. The 36-year-old racer has won 16 national Superbike features, third on the all-time list and more recently established himself as a successful team owner and manager.

A rising star in Canada, Picotte was hired by the U.S.-based Ferracci Ducati team in the 1990s and rode for the Ducati, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Harley-Davidson factory teams between 1991and 2002.

"Back in 1997 when Pascal was racing for Yoshimura Suzuki in the U.S., we went out for dinner with him at Daytona and I joked about how great it would be to have him race for Suzuki in Canada," Naslund said. "Now, 10 years later, we've got him."

After a successful career in the United States in which he twice placed fourth in AMA Superbike points, Picotte returned to the Canadian racing scene in 2003 and formed the Picotte Performance team. He won both the Parts Canada Superbike and Hindle Exhaust Pro 600 Sport Bike titles in 2003 and 2004 running Yamaha equipment, but injuries marred his two most recent campaigns. He failed to win a Parts Canada Superbike feature last season and finished third in the final point standings.