After a bumpy start at Shannonville in the Mopar Canadian Superbike Series, seven-time Canadian champ Jordan Szoke returned to form at the Autodrome-St-Eustache, taking a strong win and the series lead in the second of six races for the 2012 title. Photo: CSBK
And BMW, with eight out of the top 10 finishers, still has a hammerlock on the series from the manufactuers’ perspective.
Szoke took his second pole position, and had to fight with both Kevin Lacombe (BMW) and Alex Welsh (Suzuki) for the win on the tight and nasty St-Eustache track. Szoke got the lead for keeps on the 20th of 22 laps, lapped traffic helping him gap Welsh slightly at the flag.
“We were fast all weekend long and the bike was fantastic,” said Szoke, who started from pole position but had to work his way up from third on the opening lap. “I had such a good race with Alex. It was a lot of fun.”
Welsh, looking for his first career superbike win, said, “It was good to get up there and run with Jordan. Once Jordan got by me he got past a lapper in the bowl [turn seven] and then got past another one in turn one … After that I knew I didn’t have much chance.”
Third place went to Kevin Lacombe (BMW) and fourth to Jodi Christie on his Honda CBR600. He was followed into fifth by first-round winner Andrew Nelson (BMW) who had a poor start and took some time to work his way through traffic.
He wasn’t able to get around the Team Dumas Superbike / Boulangeriedumas.com BMW S1000RR of Francois Dumas until lap six, and by then it was too late to make up enough ground to Christie to challenge for fourth.
The rest of the top 10 went to Bodhi Edie of Warman, Sask., sixth on the Edie Racing / Blue Streak Racing / Fast Company BMW S1000RR, Matt McBride seventh aboard his Riders Choice BMW S1000RR, Dumas who faded to eighth, Sebastien Tremblay ninth, and Marie-Josee Boucher coming out on top of a vicious three-way battle for 10th.
Jodi Christie took a dominant win in the K&N Performance Filters Pro Sport Bike (600) race, over Frank Trombino, who showed up despite saying at the last race that it would be, well, his last race. Trombino was just ahead of teenager Raphael Archambault, of Terrebonne, Que.
To nobody’s great shock, five-time national superbike champ Steve Crevier claimed his second straight win in the Deeley Harley-Davidson Canada XR1200 Cup.
The defending series champion, riding the MotoSport Plus / Dominion Lending-backed entry, took the lead on lap two after John Ross MacRae fell in turn one and rode to a 3.194-sec. victory over former brother-in-law Michael Taylor on the Mackie Harley-Davidson bike.
MacRae’s Ruthless Racing / Deeley Harley-Davidson Canada teammate Darren James of Deep Cove, B.C. finished third after a great battle with Taylor.
Simon Hamel of Rosemere, Que. led every lap from pole position to win round two of the Bazzaz Amateur Superbike Championship, followed by local ace Stephan Houle, with opening round winner Trevor Daley of Mississauga, Ont. coming in third.
Philippe Masse of St-Hyacinthe, Que. strengthened his lead in the Inside Motorcycles Amateur Sport Bike class with a second straight victory on the Racingphil.com / Pete’s Superbike Kawasaki ZX-6R. Masse recovered from a poor start to finish 2.095 sec clear of Will Hornblower of Sarnia, Ont. on a Yamaha YZF-R6, and the Ricky Bobby Racing Suzuki GSX-R600 of St-Jerome, Que.’s Jean-Francois Aubin.
Peterborough’s Tomas Casas (who moved here from Mexico only three years ago) scored his first career national victory in round four of the Honda CBR250R National Race Series at St-Eustache.
The 13-year-old from Peterborough, Ont. took the lead two laps from the end of the 14-lap race and held off St-Lazare, Que.’s Stacey Nesbitt by 0.535 sec at the line. In Saturday’s final, the results were Nesbitt ahead of Roche with a dramatic last-lap pass, with Casas third. Roche continues to lead the series standings with 195 points, 20 more than Nesbitt.
CMG’s own Costa Mouzouris claimed his fourth straight win in the Media Challenge division of the Honda CBR250R race, this time without having to knock any rivals off into the weeds.
Sorry, Costa. We all know it was really his fault …
Next race, July 20-22 at Atlantic Motorsport Park, Shubenacadie, N.S.
Point standings for the Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship after two of six rounds
1. Jordan Szoke, Brantford, Ontario, Waznie Racing / Parts Canada / BMW Motorrad Canada BMW S1000RR, 97 points
2. Andrew Nelson, Kars, Ont., Nelson Racing / Endras Motorrad / mcn.tv BMW S1000RR, 86
3. Alex Welsh, Uxbridge, Ont., AW7R / Kenwood Electronics Canada Suzuki GSX-R1000, 75
4. Kevin Lacombe, Team Couturier Racing BMW S1000RR, 71
5. Matthew McBride, Mississauga, Ont., Riders Choice BMW S1000RR, 68
6. Jodi Christie, Keene, Ont., Jodi Christie Racing / Accelerated Technologies Honda CBR600RR, 59
7. Bodhi Edie, Warman, Sask., Edie Racing / Blue Streak Racing / Fast Company BMW S1000RR, 52
8. Francois Dumas, Team Dumas Superbike / Boulangeriedumas.com BMW S1000RR, 44
9. Sebastien Tremblay, Longeuil, Que., MotoNation BMW S1000RR, 40
10. Marcel Irnie, Kelowna, B.C., BMW S1000RR, 34
