Diablo Racing

Canada’s largest privateer roadracing team has already begun preparing for the 2002 season. The Diablo Performance racing team will be testing and competing in California, throughout the winter. An affiliated transport company, Diablo Express, was used to ship three race bikes to the California Diablo paintball distributor. The machines will be stored at Diablo Performance’s new facility located at Willow Springs International Raceway.

Diablo Performance Racing team owner Richard Italia, team manager Eddy Brunet and front running Canadian Pro Michael Leon competed in the November 18 and December 16 Willow Springs Motorcycle Club races as well as practiced at the Fastrack Riders track days prior to the events. Eddy and Richard each competed on Honda RS 250s while Michael used the same Honda CBR600 F4i that he used in the Canadian 2001 racing season.

At the November 18 event Richard finished 3^rd in the Novice lightweight class. Eddy scored a 4^th in Formula 40, finishing within seconds of Roadracing World’s John Ulrich and Fastrack Rider’s Tom Sera. Michael charged to 6^th in 600 Modified Production starting from the 36^th spot on the grid, finished 6^th in 750 Modified Production and 11^th in 650 Superbike. All three riders were pleased with their first visit to Willow Springs.

The December 16 event had mixed results. Eddy struggled with carburetor troubles all weekend. He limped to 6^th place in Formula 40. Eddy was unable to complete the Formula 2 race due to a float sticking open and filling the air box with liters of fuel. Eddy’s bike trouble grounded Richard, whose countershaft had broke Saturday in practice. Richard was planning to use Eddy’s 250 in the Novice Lightweight race. Disappointing, considering that Richard’s practice times would have put him at the front of his race.

Michael had much better luck. Starting from the second row in the 600 Modified Production class, Michael was second into corner one and challenging Kenny Kopecky for the lead into the infamous turn eight with Jacob West following closely in third. Observers were surprised to see a new rider mixing it up with West and Kopecky who were battling for the class championship with one point separating them. After a restart, West took the win, and championship followed by Kopecky with Michael finishing 3^rd. Michael’s other results were 6^th in Open Modified Production, 7^th in 750 Modified Production and 8^th in Formula 2.

Richard, Eddy and Michael also took side trips to visit the Las Vegas Guggenheim Art of Motorcycle Show, Freddie Spencer’s Race School facilities and the Erion Racing headquarters.

The team will continue to compete and test once a month until the Canadian season begins. As soon as 2002 plans solidify, the team will ship new machines to California to begin testing.

Diablo Performance Racing’s sponsors include: Diablo Paintball, Protech Suspension, Teknic, Erion Racing, Armour Bodies, EBC Brakes, Sticky Grafix and Afterburner.