For the fifth time this season, Harley-Davidson Laval Buell rider Michael Leon finished on the podium. Leon rode his Buell XB-12R to a second place finish after starting from pole position in round 6 of the Canadian Thunder Championship, held August 12 at Atlantic Motorsport Park located in Shubenacadie Nova Scotia

Michael set a new lap record during Saturday’s qualifying session, with a time of 1:11:303, lowering the record that he set last year by 0.677 seconds.

After a less than stellar start, Michael was third at the beginning of lap one following BMW riders Michael Taylor and Michael Ferreira. Within a few laps, Leon was able to pass Ferreira and chase down Taylor setting the fastest lap of the race in the process, a 1:11:435. After repeated unsuccessful passing attempts by Leon, Taylor was able to use his wealth of experience to stay ahead for the win.

Joining regular crew members, Carlos Carrascosa and Jonathan Payan was team engine builder Alex Grupp of Milestone Motorsport. With results being so critical at this point of the season, Alex made the trip from Whitby ON to Nova Scotia, by motorcycle to spend the weekend at the track. The crew worked hard from start to finish, swapping out motors twice in order to break in and try a new engine configuration, not to mention crash repair efforts from a lowside tumble on Thursday. Our results this weekend, and throughout the season, would not have been possible without Alex, Carlos and Jonathan’s hard work.

Elka Suspension’s Stephane Lepine provided valuable suspension tuning advice via telephone as the team battled initial rear traction issues.

With one round remaining, the team still leads the Championship, now by only 5 points, over Michael Taylor. The Championship will be decided on Labour Day weekend at Shannonville.

Note that live feed of the track announcer is now available during the race events at cdnsuperbike.com. The Thunder race is usually the second race of the day held at approximately 2:00 pm. Tune in on Sunday September 2 and lend your support!

H-D Laval is sponsored by Deeley Harley-Davidson Canada, Milestone Motorsports, J Precision Racing Heads, Elka Suspension, Revolution Performance, Les Importations Thibault, Bell Helmets, Hal’s Harley-Davidson, Primatek, Indigo Powder Coating, Woody Airbrush, Flexi-Glass, and Gianmajor.