The 19th annual Canadian Motorcycle Hall of Fame Induction Banquet and Reunion took place in Trois Rivieres, Quebec, Saturday, October 24, primarily sponsored by Honda Canada. Two-time Canadian National Superbike Champion Francis Martin was inducted, as well as Robert Genereux, the first star at the just opened Nelson International Raceway (now Shannonville Motorsport Park) in the late 1970s.
Martin was joined on stage for his interview by Michel Mercier (Hall of Fame, Class of 2008), the former owner of the Shannonville-based FAST Riding School, the institution that launched Martin into roadracing in the mid 1990s. Also on hand were former Martin tuners Scott Miller, Patrice Goyette and David Oakley.
Martin’s big break came when two-time CSBK National Superbike Champ Don Munroe (class of 2008) made a surprise decision to retire from his lead role in the factory Canadian Kawasaki Motors squad, and Martin was poached from a development role at Honda, Martin immediately winning his first number one plate on the dominant ZX-7R Ninja in 1999.
(Don Munroe’s father, former racer and Atlantic Motorsport Park venue co-founder David Munroe, was also inducted in Trois Rivieres. The Senior Munroe was unable to attend the Gala event, held across from the famous fair ground that hosts a half mile oval used for ice racing and flat track as well as the first street auto road racecourse built in Canada)
Fan favorite Martin was injured during a Mosport test and lost the Kawasaki ride, joining the revamped Fast Company Suzuki squad run by Miller in 2011. That combination won the Open Sport Bike title in 2002, Martin partnered by winningest-ever Canadian Superbike racer Jordan Szoke (Hall of Fame, class of 2023). After a one-year return to Kawasaki, Martin joined the new Diablo Suzuki program in 2005 as team mate to Steve Crevier (Class of 2019), earning his second number one plate in the premier Superbike division.
Martin would later race for the Blackfoot-Pascal Picotte Suzuki program, and the Couturier BMW
equipe, before retiring from regular National action in 2013. Martin next started a shop, MPG, with Goyette, and now works at Importations Thibault, one of the sponsors of the Bridgestone CSBK National series, Martin still occasionally competes, including an appearance at Shannonville a month ago on a historic GSX-R1000 entered by Miller.
Former American National roadracer for Kawasaki, Suzuki, Harley-Davidson, and Ducati, Picotte (Hall of Fame, Class of 2014) was on hand to interview Inductee Dominic Beaulac, a racer Picotte’s Yamaha and KTM shop have supported for years, including when Beaulac won the Lima AMA National in 2006. Beaulac’s son Jordan is now a front runner in flat track.
One largely unknown Canadian from “back in the day” got some attention at Trois Rivieres, Robert Genereux inducted after success as a youngster in motocross and an impressive but short career roadracing. Genereux family owned a Yamaha and Honda dealership, St-Cesaire Motorsports, his father purchased a MT125 Gand Prix bike (on display at the awards in unrestored, perfect condition) for a switch to pavement competition at nearby Sanair International Raceway in 1977.
Soon Genereux was dominating and moved up to Expert, competing in an era of rival sanction groups beyond the FIM-recognized CMA. At the end of 1978, he was awarded the National number one plate, even though no Nationals had been staged – a controversy at the time. Genereux received support from promoters the Eastveld brothers and their Warlie Racing sanction group and was the racer to beat in two-Stroke G.P. class competition at the newly opened Shannonville Motorsport Park, not far west in Ontario.
In the winter of 1978-1979 he raced the 125 in Cuba, then headed to Daytona with a FIM entry in the International 250cc G.P. race, only to be black flagged from the track for the fact he underage by AMA rules! Some benefit came from the Florida trip, since he purchased an ex-Randy Mamola C & J framed Yamaha 250 at D.I.S. for $ 5,000, replacing his production TZ.
He dominated in Canada on the new bike; at the AMA National at Loudon in June of 1979, Genereux ran up front with Freddie Spencer (Kanemoto-Yam) and Mike Baldwin (Kaw) in 250 G.P., only to crash out. Shortly after that Genereux, still a teen-ager and also a Pro level hockey player, opted to quite racing to work at the shop and help on the family farm.
Genereux’s daughter Joanie eventually married former Honda factory racer Kevin Lacombe, a protégé of Picotte, with Lacombe (now a M/X Tech) likely to join the Hall of Fame the next time the event occurs in the Province of Quebec.
Also receiving honors during the event was Daniel “Chico” Chicoine who earned the Ambassador Award. “Chico,” a childhood friend of Duhamel manager Alan Labrosse (Hall of Fame, Class of 2012) is a former racer and industry insider in Quebec, and was a Director of Sales at Honda, also serving with various aftermarket distributors, as well as working as an announcer at circuit events.
The Bar and Hedy Hodgson Award, named after the Hall’s co-founders, went to Costa Mouzouris, a Montreal based builder, racer, journalist, instructor, race staffer, and frequent competitor, especially on Twins class machines. Mouzouris’ exploits on a Buell XB9R were a feature on the now-defunct CMG online web site, and Costa was a good friend of CMG founder, the late Rob Harris.
Mouzouris was also a great supporter of the gone-but-not-forgotten “Mad Bastards” small displacement Scooter Rally. He talked many people into competing, and often raced with his own, small displacement mopeds!