Andrew Nelson finally got his first career national Superbike win at Shannonville Motorsport Park June 24. Nelson, with several national 600 wins already to his credit, was utterly delighted with the breakthrough victory on his Nelson Racing / Endras Motorrad / mcn.tv BMW S1000RR.
“This is really special,” said the 27-year-old Nelson, who finished third in last year’s Canadian Superbike standings. “All my family is here and they’ve been behind me for the last 12 years, putting this together every year and helping me out. It’s going to be a great season.”
It was a special day for BMW as well, with seven of the top 10 riders on S1000RRs.
Nelson grabbed the lead from the start on a treacherous wet but drying track, built a good lead while his wet tires survived, then nursed badly fried tires to the win.
Second went to Matt McBride on the Riders Choice BMW, while third was seven-time Canadian Superbike champ Jordan Szoke on his Waznie Racing / Parts Canada / BMW Motorrad Canada S1000RR to make a BMW sweep of the podium.
Perhaps the best ride of the race after Nelson’s came from Suzuki-mounted Alex Welsh. Welsh had a tough weekend with a crash in practice followed by electrical problems on his backup GSX-R1000, then had a rough first lap and was down in 12th. He put his head down and charged back to fourth, missing beating Szoke to third by 0.043 seconds, setting the fastest lap of the race on the penultimate lap to boot.
Kevin Lacombe finished fifth on his Team Couturier Racing BMW S1000RR, with Jodi Christie putting in an excellent ride on his Honda CBR600 to sixth. The only other 600 to crack the top 10 was fan favourite Frank Trombino on a Suzuki GSX-R600.
Trombino had earlier won a thrilling Sport Bike (600 cc) race over Christie with a dramatic last-lap pass. Trombino said this weekend would be his last racing event, saying “after 14 years it’s time to hang it up while I can still walk away.”
In other racing action, five-time Canadian Superbike champ Steve Crevier took a flag-to-flag victory in the Deeley Harley-Davidson Canada XR1200 Cup, picking up where he left off with the 2011 title.
Philippe Masse won the shortened Inside Motorcycles Amateur Sport Bike race on his Racingphil.com / Pete’s Superbike Kawasaki ZX-6R. The St-Hyacinthe, Que. racer was in front at the end of seven laps when the race was stopped by an accident in turn one.
A poor start had left Masse fourth at the end of the opening lap but his move to the front earned him the Performance Under Gear Performer of the Race Award.
Trevor Daley took the lead on lap two of the rain-affected 11-lap Bazzaz Amateur Superbike race and stayed in front the rest of the way to claim the win on his One Speed / Riders Choice Suzuki GSX-R1000.
The race was run in treacherous wet/drying conditions very like the Pro Superbike event: 18 bikes started, and seven had to picked up by the crash truck at the end of the race.
Probably the worst race luck was collected by poor Tim Robinson, on yet another BMW S1000RR.
Robinson got the pole, collected a five-second penalty for a jump start, grabbed the lead and looked like he’d easily beat the five seconds needed to win, ran off at the fastest corner of the track and somehow didn’t crash in the wet grass, rejoined near the back and got back into the top five, crashed in T-8 and managed to remount and continue, then ran off again on the last lap. He definitely earned my hard luck and best tryer award of the day.
And last but not least, the inaugural round of the Honda CBR250R National Race Series, with races Saturday and Sunday, Ryan Roche of Pickering, Ont. won both races in hard-fought contests with young Tomas Casas of Peterborough.
Roche and Casas traded places three times in the last lap in the first race, and it looked like the same would happen Sunday until Casas fell on the final go-around, spraining an ankle. 2011 CBR125 champion Stacey Nesbitt of . St-Lazare, Quebec got a third and a second to open her season.
Next event, L’Autodrome Ste-Eustache, Quebec, July 8.
Mopar Canadian Superbike standings after one of five events (six races)
1.Andrew Nelson, Kars, Ont., BMW S1000RR, 55 points
2. Matthew McBride, Mississauga, Ont., BMW S1000RR, 43
3. Jordan Szoke, Brantford, Ont., BMW S1000RR, 41
4. Alex Welsh, Uxbridge, Ont., Suzuki GSX-R1000, 32
5. Kevin Lacombe, Granby, Que., BMW S100RR, 31
6. Jodi Christie, Keene, Ont., Honda CBR600RR, 27
7. Bodhi Edie, Warman, Sask., BMW S1000RR, 25
8. Frank Trombino, Kleinburg, Ont., Suzuki GSX-R600, 23
9. Francois Dumas, St-Raymond, Que., BMW S1000RR, 21
10. Sebastien Tremblay, Longueuil, Que., BMW S1000RR, 19
Great to see Andrew take his first (and well deserved) National win!