Steeves Racing

Happy Holidays!

Brad — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:39:14 +0000

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick note to wish everyone Happy Holidays and a happy and prosperous new year. Please stay tuned as we will be launching a new site and announcing our exciting plans for 2010.

All the best,
Steeves Motorsports

Steeves on fast track to recovery

Brad — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:57:01 +0000

Steeves on the fast track to recovery

For immediate release

September 18^th, 2009

Halifax, NS After sustaining several injuries in a freak accident during Atlantic Roadracing League’s Round 4 competition that included a broken neck at C6, and a fractured shoulder, Vicious Cycle Kawasaki Rider Terry Steeves is pleased to say that he is recovering well and quicker than expected. Steeves reports that he is pain free and working hard on his recovery; doctors feel the bones will heal strong with no lasting effects. Doctors prescribed a neck brace for up to 6 months, but almost 2 months into his recovery they feel with his current progress it could come off as soon as early December. Terry’s doctors expect him to make a full and complete recovery, and will continue to assess his progress weekly.

Terry is currently attending physiotherapy and easing back into training. The staff and trainers at Slim Gym’s in Halifax have done everything they can to get Terry back into the Gym, and regaining strength lost in his arm due to some minor nerve damage. Early results are encouraging. “…everyone is helping me out so much, it’s awesome. I’m stronger every day thanks to the support from my friends, fans and sponsors.” Terry attributes his rapid recovery in large part to his dedicated trainers at Slim Gym’s in Halifax. Credit also goes to the expert and caring staff at the Queen Elizabeth II hospital. “I feel like I’ve had a team of Doctors following me since the beginning. They have always gone the extra mile to make sure we understand the nature of the injuries and exactly where I’m at in the recovery process.”

Despite his injuries, Terry is in good spirits and attended the final round of the Atlantic Championship, at Atlantic Motorsports Park in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia. Though he missed being on the bike and racing, he enjoyed watching and catching up with everyone. He is already talking about the 2010 season, and looking forward to getting back on track.

Terry extends his sincere thanks to all the great staff and doctors and now friends at the QEII for their help and care through all this. He would also like to thank all his friends and fans for all the cards, calls emails and best wishes. A special thanks of course to his fiancé Nicole for her support and understanding.

Strong weekend for Steeves goes bad.

Brad — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:45:43 +0000

Strong weekend for Steeves goes bad

Coming off of his best races of the season two weeks prior at Mosport, Halifax Nova Scotia rider Terry Steeves was excited to get back on track for Round 4 of the Maritime Championship at AMP, followed the next weekend by Round 5 of the Parts Canada Superbike Championship.

As usual, Terry rode in the customary Friday pre race weekend track day. It is a good opportunity for all racers to shake out the cob webs and get up to speed for the coming race weekend. Also taking advantage of the track day were the considerable number of National series riders who made the trip down to participate in ARL Round 4 competition, using it as a warm-up for the National round the weekend following. The day was spent converting the bike back to something that worked at the short, tight, twisting Shubenacadie circuit. Quite a contrast to the fast, flowing Mosport International Raceway.

Thankfully Saturday dawned sunny and bright. The morning would see Terry practising, with the first of the weekends 2 Pro Superbike races in the Afternoon. In ARL Pro Superbike competition the grid is set based on points. This means there is no qualifying. Terry was set to line up 4^th on his Vicious Cycle Racing Kawasaki ZX-10R, while the riders from away would be starting at the rear of the grid.

After some precision cutting of a sprocket involving a photographer, a pair of vice grips, a grinder, and Terry, everything was ready to go for the weekend.

With a shot at third in the Championship, Terry’s aim was to make a good start and put his head down. Right from the start Terry was locked in a fierce battle with National rider OTSFF Yamaha’s Royce McLean. Terry and the 14 year old from Coaldale, Alberta were stuck behind Sport Colette rider Martin Grande. Eventually Royce made a desperate move up the inside of Grande in turn 7, forcing the Quebec rider out wide. Steeves capitalized on this, pulling along side Grande. They would remain side by side though turn 8, and into turn 9. Neither was budging, but Terry had the advantage of the inside line. Coming out of turn 9 Grande had to either concede the spot, or run into the grass. As they say, discretion is the greater part of valour, and Grande conceded the spot. Meanwhile, McLean took advantage of the brief scrap and pulled a small gap. Terry gave it all he had, but wasn’t able to catch the young teenager. He ended up 5^th overall, enough to move him into 3^rd in the championship. To top off a good day, Terry did his best time of the year, a 1:10.7

Once again we were greeted with sun and blue skies Sunday morning at Atlantic Motorsports Park. The morning would see each group get a 15 minute warm-up session, than racing would commence for the day. After finishing 5^th in Saturday’s race, Terry would line up 5^th in today’s race.

As in Saturday’s race, Terry was instantly embroiled in a fight for position with some of Canada’s brightest talent. Unfortunately, Terry’s race would come to a premature end after he was involved in a racing incident. Thanks to the fast response of the corner marshalls and the EMT team, he was quickly stabilized and transported to the Queen Elizabeth II hospital in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Upon arrival at the hospital Terry was diagnosed with a broken neck at the C6 vertebrae, a fractured shoulder, a badly sprained ankle, and a concussion. Terry will remain in a neck brace for 3-6 months, but is expected to make a full recovery.

Regrettably, this will put an end to Terry’s 2009 racing campaign. A big thank you is extended to everyone who helped support us in 2009, and to everyone who came out to watch. It is much appreciated.

Terry would like to extend a special thanks to all the corner workers, EMT’s, hospital staff at the QEII, and Nicole. Also to everyone who called and sent well wishes via the computer.

Steeves out for rest of season.

Brad — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:59:02 +0000

Local rider suffers a setback, unable to compete at home event.

For immediate release
August 5th, 2009

Halifax, NS

Sitting third in ARL Pro Superbike points and coming off his two strongest weekends of the year, Vicious Cycle rider Terry Steeves was involved in a racing incident Sunday afternoon during ARL Round 4 action at Atlantic Motorsports Park. During the second of the weekend’s Pro Superbike races, Steeves was involved in a race long fight for position with some of the country’s brightest young stars. Just past half distance Steeves and another rider made contact, with both riders going down.

Steeves was secured at the track, and transported to the Queen Elizabeth II hospital in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was later diagnosed with a shoulder fracture, a broken neck at the C6 vertebrae, a concussion, and a badly sprained ankle. Steeves expects to make a full recovery and will remain in a neck brace for the next 3-6 months.

Regrettably, this will put an end to Terry’s 2009 campaign.

“I’m disappointed because we have had so many people supporting us and it feels a little undone. My focus now is getting healthy again, then I’ll decide where we go.”

A special thanks is extended to the Medical Rescue Team, all the corner marshalls, and the staff at the QEII hospital for their expert care.Terry would also like to thank his team and his girlfriend Nicole, for all their support

Nova Scotia ace Steeves pleased with Mosport Double header weekend

Brad — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 18:51:42 +0000

Halifax, NS After various problems kept the Vicious Cycles race team from competing at rounds 2 & 3 of the Parts Canada Superbike Championship, the team was anxious to get their Championship back on track at the traditional July double header at Mosport International Raceway in Bowmanville, Ontario.

After nearly 24 hours in a truck, rider Terry Steeves arrived at the track Wednesday evening. Upon arrival, he met with Ron Munroe, and Gene McKay. Munroe would be making his debut at the track, while Gene was to aid both riders over the course of the weekend. After setting up, everyone retired for the night, catching some much needed sleep!

Thursday morning would see everyone arriving at the track early to complete work on the bikes and get through technical inspections.

The first session of the day was Thursday morning. Terry rode both the ‘A’ bike and the ‘B’ bike in this session to try and feel out which was working best around the fast and flowing 2.4 mile Mosport circuit. After turning a lot of laps in the session, Terry was relatively pleased. He knew that with a bit of work setting up the bikes the lap times would fall.

Before the afternoon session Terry spoke with both Gene McKay, and his suspension technician John Sharrard of Accelerated Technologies. They had some ideas to try in the afternoon session.

In the Afternoon session Terry was once again putting in the laps. He would go out on one bike and do several laps to assess the changes made, come in and tell the crew what the bike was doing, than get on the other bike and do it all over again while the crew worked on the bike he just brought in.

At the end of Thursday, the team was pretty happy over all. Terry had already gone faster on day one than he had all weekend last year, they were dropping time each session, and the bikes were working great. After a nice dinner in town, everyone retired for the night relatively pleased.

Friday morning would see everyone qualifying for the weekends double header races. Riders in the Parts Canada Superbike feature class would get 40 minutes to qualify, with the top 10 moving into the afternoon Superpole session. With the help of John Sharrard, Gene McKay, and Andrew Murray Terry was able to qualify in an excellent 21^st out of 35 riders, and go over a second faster than he did Thursday. Everyone on the team was excited for what was shaping up to be a great two days of racing.

Saturday morning would see Superbike competitors have a short warm up, than the first of two 20 lap feature races of the weekend. The morning warm up would see Terry 21^st fastest, but pleased with the bike and his riding.

As they day wore on, the excitement was mounting for the first Superbike feature race of the weekend. After the national anthems were sung, and the roll out & rider introductions finished, the riders lowered their visors, and set off on their warm-up lap.

Starting from 21^st on the grid, Terry didn’t get a great start. He picked his way back through the field, and latched onto the back of Sean Huffman. Steeves and Huffman were set to have a race long battle. Steeves was stronger in some areas than Huffman, and Huffman stronger than him in others. Neither could make a pass stick. From about lap 4 onwards, there were spots of rain in several parts of the course. As the race went on, the rain eventually started to fall heavier. Terry was working out a pass in the final corner, when the race was stopped because of the rain. The results were made official after 11 of the scheduled 20 laps. In the end, Huffman took the position over Steeves. Steeves would finish the race in 22^nd position, just shy of .4 of a second back. Although Terry was frustrated by his bad start, he was pleased with how he rode and enjoyed racing against Huffman.

“I had a bad start on Saturday, but ended up in a race long battle with Huffman. We exchanged the position a few times, but I could never make it stick. I was setting up to try to take him before the front straight when the race was stopped due to rain.”

After the race, Terry started questioning his tyre choice. He felt the tyre was tearing badly, and wasn’t lasting the distance. After consulting with suspension technician John Sharrard, Terry decided to try a harder compound tyre in the morning warm up. The tyre worked wonderfully, so he mounted up a brand new set for the weekends second Superbike race.

Terry would once again start from 21^st on the grid. After a poor start in Saturday’s race, he was determined to get a better launch in today’s race. He did make a much better start and found himself in a large group consisting of Franklyn Dominguez, Larry Orde, Sean Huffman, and Andrew Dunlap. Dominguez broke away from the group early, leaving the 4 to battle for position. Andrew Dunlap worked his was past Steeves, Huffman, and Orde, but crashed out a lap later. Steeves and Orde would quickly work past Huffman, and have their own race long battle. The harder compound Pirelli SC2 slick tyres gave Terry much more confidence than his previous SC1 tyres, and he was able to push hard to try and pull a gap on Orde. With 3 laps to go Steeves and Orde caught and passed Dominguez. Coming into the final lap, Steeves was leading Orde. He was pushing trying to pull out enough of a gap that Orde wouldn’t be able to get into his draft down the long, fast Andretti straight. Steeves edged ever closer, and coming into the final turn he attempted to pass on the inside. Orde was able to close the door, and hold off Steeves for the position.

“In turn 4 I tucked the front and almost threw it away…Larry (Orde) went through but I was too far back to grab the draft. I thought if I could close the gap on the brakes in Turn 8 I might be close enough to get through on the last turn. I tried but he knew I was coming”

Terry and the whole team are well pleased with the weekend over all.

“I’m pleased overall, we were faster every session and the racing was awesome and that’s thanks to our whole crew on the weekend, Gene, Ron, Andrew, Cheryl, Brad and John”.

Thanks to all the fans and sponsors for making the weekend not only possible, but also a great success.

BizDev Management

Vicious Cycles

Freedom Cycle

Atlantic Roadracing League

Pirelli

Mission Trailers

Accelerated Technologies – John Sharrard

Kawasaki

Dionne Signs

Suomy Gear

Brad Boutilier Photography