July 28, 2008
Ottawa, ON. - July 28 2008 -- Ottawa-based Elie Daccache of 53-Racing does a guest appearance in CAN-AM championship round and scores professional best at RACE regional round at Shannonville Motorsport Park!
Elie accepted an invitation from Chris Chapelle to race his Honda RS125 in the CAN-AM GP championship round held at SMP this past weekend. Elie qualified 7th and finished 7th. "How could I say no to Chris! I knew the bike would be good for a mid-pack finish! What I didn’t know was that I could go as fast as 1:55s on such a small little machine! I can’t wait to ride one again!"
In the Pro 600 Race, Elie had to start at the back of the grid. "I was put to the back. I was kind of angry because I worked hard all weekend on bettering my lap times- but I guess I focused too much on setting up the GP bike and missed the 600 practice that they based the starting grid on." Elie held 6th pace for the most of the race and then moved into 4th place to finish the race with almost a 2 second margin over the 5th place finisher. "I got a wild start and cut through everyone like a hot knife through butter! Karl and Alex were in my sights for most of the race but once I checked out from the group behind me I focused on putting down some consistent laps, the fastest laps of my weekend by the way- a string of 1:48's!"
"I used to hate long track! Now I love it!" Elie exclaims, "I was always riding on poorly handling or heavy, underpowered bikes which are not good bikes for a circuit with a lot of turns- but let me tell you since I've been racing my Ottawa Goodtime Centre Kawasaki ZX6R, Long Track is fun again!"
When asked about the momentum he's gained this season, he answers: "It was a slow start to the season due to personal, work commitments and a crash at Barber but this train is full of steam, there’s no stopping it, and I just keep feeding it the coal and we're going faster than we ever have before!" Elie is already in negotiations for 2009 support and hopes to be on another Ninja ZX6R for next year. "My sights are aimed pretty high next year. I hope to secure some more support to show that I can be one of the best racers, on the best bike."
Elie would like to thank the sponsors that support him - Ottawa Goodtime Centre, Motovan, Kanata Collision, The Ottawa Valley Bike show, Vortex, and Canadian Kawasaki Racing.
Photos courtesy of Flair Photo.
For up to date news, pictures and results for Elie Daccache visit http://www.53-racing.com