Kevin Lacombe (BMW) and Alex Welsh (Suzuki) took the wins at the Mopar Canadian Superbike double-header at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (Mosport) August 25-26, but Jordan Szoke grabbed the gold ring for his eighth Canadian Superbike crown.
Second on both days, Szoke thought he had a win in his pocket on Sunday to follow grabbing the title on Saturday, shouldering past Lacombe on the last corner of the last lap. He was a bit upset to have Alex Welsh slide by on the inside to steal the top spot on the podium when the other two had contact and drifted wide.
“Coming out of here without a win is pretty heartbreaking, but we did the big job by getting the championship yesterday,” Szoke shrugged.
Welsh enthused, “It’s good to finish off the year this way! I always seem to go well here. Jordan and Kevin were both riding pretty aggressive … [they] didn’t quite gap me in the early laps and that allowed me to save my tires and myself for the end.”
Welsh’s run to victory featured a great climb from eighth on the grid, and his margin of victory was a scant 0.384 second over Szoke, while Lacombe was a hair farther back – but was later disqualified after the post-rate check for using illegal fuel.
That promoted Warman, Sask.’s Bodhi Edie up to third place in the official results. The rider of the Edie Racing / Blue Streak / Fast Company BMW S1000RR was involved in a four-rider scrap down to the wire with Andrew Nelson, Matt McBride and Sebastien Tremblay.
“Andrew and I were very well matched and we were really going at it over the first half of the race,” Edie said after his first Pro Superbike podium finish. Nelson was officially fourth on the Nelson Racing / Endras Motorrad / mcn.tv BMW S1000RR while Mississauga, Ont. rider McBride took fifth aboard the Riders Choice BMW S1000RR.
Nelson’s result combined with Lacombe’s exclusion lifted the Kars, Ont. rider into second in the final Mopar Canadian Superbike standings with 204 points to Lacombe’s 193. Szoke finished the year with 294 points. Eight of the top 10 riders were on BMW S1000RR machines.
A day after clinching his second straight K&N Performance Filters Pro Sport Bike title, Honda rider Jodi Christie ran away with the season finale. The Keene, Ont. racer grabbed the lead off the start on his Honda CBR600RR and was never challenged en route to his fifth win in six races this season.
Raphael Archambault of Terrebonne, Que. finished second on his Team Archambault Racing / Picotte Motorsport / G Suspension Suzuki GSX-R600 after a race-long battle with the Acme Slate Suzuki GSX-R600 of Frank Trombino, and Michael Leon on the Royal Distributing / Elka Suspension Honda CBR600RR. Trombino claimed third to secure second in the final point standings, while Leon crashed on the final lap without injury.
In other CSBK action, Steve Crevier repeated as champion in the Deeley Harley-Davidson Canada XR1200 Cup with a second behind Florida’s Michael Barnes on Saturday, then cemented it with a victory on Sunday.
A third place finish on Sunday was enough to give Mississauga, Ont.’s Trevor Daley the Bazzaz Amateur Superbike title on the OneSpeed / Riders Choice / ProStar Motorsports Honda CBR600RR, while Tim Robinson of Gatineau, Que. ran away to his third straight Amateur Superbike win
Newly-crowned Inside Motorcycles Amateur Sport Bike champion Philippe Masse scored a second straight win on his Kawasaki ZX-6R, the St-Hyacinthe, Que. racer finishing 16.211 sec ahead of the Hornblower Racing / Blue Streak / ProPulsion Yamaha YZF-R6 of Sarnia, Ont.’s Will Hornblower, while Newcastle, Ont.’s Nuno Almeida claimed third aboard the Noodles Racing / GP Bikes / Eurocorsa Triumph 675.
Stacey Nesbitt wrapped up the Honda CBR250R National Race Series title with two second places on the weekend. The St-Lazare, Que. rider ended the year with 448 points to the 425 of Pickering, Ont.’s Ryan Roche, who took fourth in the season finale.
That makes a double championship for the young teen, as she took the national CBR125 title last year. Series rules say she’ll have to move up to a bigger bike next season, but neither she nor father Grant yet know what they’ll be up to.
Peterborough, Ont.’s Tomas Casas claimed his fourth straight win in the CBR class for the Peterborough Cycle Salvage team, finishing 7.408 sec ahead of Nesbitt, who won a battle with Oakville, Ont.’s Cameron Walker for the runner-up spot.
Montreal’s Costa Mouzouris, riding for CMG Online, clinched the CBR250 Media title on Saturday. He took second place Saturday, but ended up with a DNF on Sunday when he was taken out by a crash mid-race. He’s mostly OK, though; we’ll have a race write-up, as soon as we can.
Final point standings for the Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship
1. Jordan Szoke, Brantford, Ont., Waznie Racing / Parts Canada / BMW Motorrad Canada BMW S1000RR, 294
2. Andrew Nelson, Kars, Ont., Nelson Racing / Endras Motorrad / mcn.tv BMW S1000RR, 204
3. Kevin Lacombe, St-Cesaire, Que., Team Couturier Racing BMW S1000RR, 193
4. Alex Welsh, AW7R / Kenwood Electronics Canada Suzuki GSX-R1000, 187
5. Bodhi Edie, Warman, Sask., Edie Racing / Blue Streak / Fast Company BMW S1000RR, 174
6. Matthew McBride, Mississauga, Ont., Riders Choice BMW S1000RR, 168
7. Jodi Christie, Keene, Ont., Jodi Christie Racing / Accelerated Technologies Honda CBR1000RR, 164
8. Sebastien Tremblay, Longeuil, Que., MotoNation BMW S1000RR, 141
9. Francois Dumas, St-Raymond, Que., Team Dumas Superbike / boulangeriedumas.com BMW S1000RR, 106
10. Marcel Irnie, Kelowna, B.C., Irnie Racing / Amsoil BMW S1000RR, 95
I saw the 250 crash that Costa got caught up in. You could see it coming as too many riders were vying for the some piece of real estate. It was rather spectacular as one riderless bike travelled from one side of the track to the other, hitting the cement retaining wall head on, yet, during it’s travels it didn’t collect one rider.
The finish to the Superbike race was worth the price of admission as Welsh stayed out of the mess with Szoke and Lacombe, snuck up quietly on the inside and cruised to the win. You could have thrown a blanket over the three of them throughout the whole race, it was that close.
Congratulations to Jordan Szoke on another championship, but I have to wonder if Superbike should now be called the Bmw Cup seeing as almost every bike is an S1000RR.