Defending Canadian champ Jordan Szoke traded superbike race victories and second places with Calgary’s Clint McBain at Mosport’s double-header July 18-19.
Szoke and his Canadian Kawasaki ZX-10R beat McBain’s Acceleration Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000 by 0.058 seconds on Saturday, then was edged by McBain by 0.306 seconds on Sunday.
The Sunday event was called at half-distance due to rain moving in. McBain said, "It’s tough when the weather’s like this; it really plays on a rider. We made some changes after yesterday’s race and that gave us a little bit extra on the back straight."
Brantford, Ont., native Szoke said, "The bike was perfect. I felt really comfortable and I felt like I was having to take the fewest risks," after leading two of the 11 laps. "But with weather like this you never can tell. I should have tried to lead every lap."
Szoke’s results did increase his healthy lead in the series points. With just three races remaining in the seven-round series, the two-time defending champion has 196 points to the 158 of Kevin Lacombe and his Team Toyota Yamaha / Fast Company Racing Yamaha YZF-R1. Lacombe carded a fourth and a close-fought third after starting from pole.
"We have a great points lead heading into Halifax, and that’s the main thing," Szoke said.
That’s also true of the Yoshimura Pro 600 Sport Bike standings, after Szoke took two seconds home from Mosport, behind Lacombe on Saturday and Calgary’s Chris Peris on the Blackfoot Suzuki squad in the rain on Sunday. Szoke now has 194 points to the 166 of Lacombe.
The Armour Bodies Amateur 600 win went to Jodi Christie of Keene, Ont., on a Yamaha R6. Christie, who’s just turned 16, now has a 44-point lead over Calgary’s Patrick Marques.
Valter Bartolini of Bologna, Italy, took over the lead of the Canadian Thunder championship with his second win of the year on Sunday riding an NCR-Ducati 848. His team-mate Andrew Nelson of Kars, Ont., won Saturday’s race but had a mechanical failure on Sunday, dropping him a mere two points behind the Italian.
In the air-cooled Canadian Sport Twins class, Jim Proulx of Ottawa won his third race of the season on his Buell XB12R and extended his championship lead to 40 points over Bowmanville, Ont.’s A.J. Simiana, who was second on a Ducati S2R/Sport Classic.
In the hotly-contested SV Cup contest, recent New Zealand import John Jarvie won Sunday’s round, building a 24-point lead over Cochrane, Alta.’s Cody Matechuk.
The series resumes with another doubleheader at Atlantic Motorsport Park in Shubenacadie, N.S., Aug. 8-10.
If that was the case Mike, then you can bet that every team on the grid would be launching a protest. Traction control is strictly forbidden under the rules.
a good weekend all in all,little ran sunday morn.
heard a good rumour in the padock that the kawasaki ridden buy
the number 1 plate has traction control.
anybody?
mike