Photo: Bob Szoke
Canadian Tire Motorsports Park is a busy place this weekend. With a doubleheader offering racing Saturday and Sunday, all four series are mathematically up for grabs still, and a new roadracing series will start, while BMW Motorrad Days runs in the background.
The biggest news of the weekend will be whether or not Jordan Szoke can earn his 10th CSBK championship. He’s got a commanding 91-point lead over second-place Kenny Riedmann in the national Pro Superbike championship, 275 to 184. Third-place Jodi Christie has 182 points. There are 108 points up for grab this weekend in Pro Superbike, but unless Szoke crashes early in the weekend, he’s got a lock on making further CSBK history.
One factor that could make it more interesting this weekend is the return of Alex Welsh. Welsh hasn’t raced CSBK since 2013, when he performed well but was hampered by a poor-running Suzuki. He won the last time he raced at Mosport. Now, he’s riding a Yamaha R1 put together by Hindle Exhaust’s Scott Cartier, and Willie Vass of Vass Performance Cycle.
The Pro Sport Bike crown is going to Kenny Riedmann at the moment, leading the series at 239 points. But Jodi Christie is breathing down his neck at 230 points, and could very well mount an all-out assault in an attempt to regain his Sport Bike title even as he loses his Superbike title.
Darren James and Louis Raffa are both mathematically in the hunt for Pro Sport Bike, with 166 and 151 points respectively. Raffa won at St-Eustache, but otherwise the wins have shifted between Riedmann and Christie for the season.
In the amateur series, Alex Coelho stands to win the most this weekend; he’s second-place in Amateur Superbike, with 178 points to first-place Samuel Trepanier. Coelho is sitting in first in Amateur Sport Bike with 243 points; his closest competition there is Philip Leckie with 201 points.
Along with existing sport bike and superbike series, there’s also a new series starting this weekend. The new Ninja 300 spec series kicks off with a race on Saturday, with 20 invited guests (both media and former pro racers) goosing the mini-Ninjas around the track.
For what I can see it seem like it the sime rider that win for 10 years or so in Canada until they retire or go racing in Yankee land ,is it due to skills or budget.
English tutorship.
There are a lot of factors that come into play, but you’re right – it’s the same guys (Szoke, Christie, and now Riedmann) up front for years at a time. Once in a while someone like Brett McCormick comes in and disrupts everything for a while, but he was even further ahead than Szoke – the last season they raced against each other, Szoke beat everyone else handily, and McCormick beat Szoke handily.
CSBK really would benefit from if things changed up a bit, as now it just seems that whoever has the BMW will win the Superbike championship. With seven different races over the season, it’d be nice to see 3-4 different winners, but for now, that isn’t the case. I think you’d see more butts in the grandstands if people really thought there’d be a tight race with a strong grid, instead of two-three guys in front and everyone else battling it out for small points.