St-Eustache, Quebec – Defending Canadian Superbike champ Jordan Szoke grabbed his second victory of the year and his second-straight win at the tight “St. Moustache” circuit northwest of Montreal Sunday July 7.
The race, shortened by a lap when rain started, went to Szoke after he got a relatively poor start and was third off the line, but muscled his way past Alex Welsh (Suzuki GSX-R1000) and pole-sitter Jodi Christie (Christie’s first Superbike pole) by mid-way, then maintained his advantage to the flag.
“I wanted to get into the lead and take off,” Szoke said. “Alex is always fast here. I didn’t realize he had a problem (Welsh ran into fuel pickup issues). When I saw the rain I backed it down about a second a lap and just tried to preserve the lead.”
“I was a little hard on myself after missing the pole yesterday,” added Brantford, Ont.’s Szoke after his third career win at Autodrome St-Eustache. “But we made a big change last night and did a race distance this morning and we knew we were in good shape.”
Szoke’s win allowed him to open up a 20-point lead over Christie in the Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship standings. The eight-time national champion now has 111 points to the 91 of Christie after two of six events.
Welsh held on for third despite his fuel problems. “About halfway through something started going wrong with the bike,” explained the Uxbridge, Ont. rider, who remains third in the Mopar Canadian Superbike point standings. “I thought I could fix it and went through a few [engine] maps but it was still sputtering. It’s a shame because I felt like we had the whole package today. It was shaping up to be a good race.”
The field was as thin as at the first race at Shannonville, and the top three finishers all qualified a second or more ahead of any of their rivals.
Despite suffering a broken right thumb in a qualifying crash on Saturday, Kleinburg, Ont.’s Frank Trombino finished a strong fourth in the debut of the Royal Plumbing / FDS Racing Aprilia RSV4. Trombino worked his way up from seventh on the opening lap and passed the MotoNation BMW S1000RR of Longueuil, Que.’s Sebastien Tremblay just two laps before the finish.
The top 10 was rounded out by Mississauga’s Trevor Daly (Honda CBR1000RR), Franklyn Dominguez (Honda CBR1000RR), Jean-Francois Cyr (Aprilia RSV4), Louie Raffa (Honda CBR600RR), and Kris Garvie (Honda CBR600RR).
The 600 cc Hindle Exhaust Sport Bike win went to Jodi Christie for his second win in a row. The two-time defending class champion led all 18 laps on his Honda CBR600RR. The podium was filled out by Calgary’s John Ross MacRae in second on the Riedmann Racing/Castrol Triumph 675, followed by local ace Michael Leon on the Royal Distributing MV Agusta 675.
Multi-time Canadian Superbike champ Steve Crevier again won the Harley-Davidson Canada XR1200 Cup race to stretch his lead in the point standings, this time ahead of the Ruthless Racing duo of MacRae and North Vancouver’s Darren James.
Mitchel Card of Ripley, Ont. claimed his first career national race wins as he swept both the Magneti Marelli Amateur Superbike and the Bazzaz / Inside Motorcycles Amateur Sport Bike races.
Nineteen-year-old Japanese star Hikari Okubo completed a sweep of the weekend’s Honda CBR250R National Race Series rounds, beating points leader Tomas Casas of Peterborough, Ont. by 15.290 secs. in the 14-lap race.
Next race, July 28, Atlantic Motorsport Park, Shubenacadie, N.S.
Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship point standings after two of six rounds
1.Jordan Szoke, Brantford, ON, BMW S1000RR,111
2. Jodi Christie, Keene, ON, Honada CBR100RR,91
3. Alex Welsh, Uxbridge, ON, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 78
4. Frank Trombino, Kleinburg, ON, Aprilia RSV4, 64
5. Sebastien Tremblay, Longueuil, QC, BMW S1000RR, 57
6. Franklyn Dominguez, St-Lazare, AQC, Honda CBR1000RR, 46
7. Kristopher Garvie, Caledon, ON, Honda CBR600RR, 42
8. Louie Raffa, Ste-Marthe, Que., Honda CBR600RR, 38
9. Matt Cooper, Guelph, ON, BMW S1000RR, 34
10. Matt McBride, Mississauga, ON, BMW S1000RR, 30
