BOWMANVILLE, Ont. – For the second year in a row, and the third time in his career, Jordan Szoke completed a perfect season in the Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship.
A day after wrapping up his 11th career title and second in a row the 37-year-old from Lynden, Ont. scored his seventh win from seven races this season in the back-end of the traditional season-ending doubleheader at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on Sunday.
Riding the Mopar Express Lane / Motovan / BMW Motorrad BMW S1000RR Szoke took the lead from Italian visitor Claudio Corti three laps from the end of the eight-lap race and pulled clear to beat the HSBK / Canadian Aprilia Dealer Group / Pure Genius Beverages Aprilia RSv4 rider by 2.725 secs.
Szoke completed the eight laps around the 3.9km (2.459-mile) CTMP track in 10 minutes, 46.517 seconds for an average speed of 173.731km/h (104.239 mph).
“This is awesome. It is such an honour to have a rider like Claudio here and to battle with him,” said Szoke of his rival, who has competed in MotoGP and World Superbike events in his career. “It feels good to be able to defend our territory and say, ‘this is our house.’
“I felt great today on the motorcycle and I feel like I just keep getting better.”
Collingwood, Ont.’s Ben Young completed the podium on his Tim Horton’s / Scot-Build Developments / BMW Motorrad BMW S1000RR, coming out on top of a three-way battle with Kenny Riedmann and Matt McBride.
Corti grabbed the holeshot from the start and he and Szoke managed to break away from the rest of the field in the early laps.
After trading the lead on laps 4 and 5 Szoke made the decisive pass for the lead at the start of the sixth lap, after Corti had a close call coming onto the front straight. In the near-miss the electronics on Corti’s bike shut off, robbing him of his traction control, and he was unable to reply to Szoke, who nevertheless turned his fastest lap of the race on the final tour with a time of 1:21.152.
“I was pretty sure Claudio would get a good launch like yesterday and I thought he and I had the pace to go away and fight between ourselves,” said Szoke after his all-time leading 49th career Canadian Superbike victory and 14th at CTMP. “When he had his moment on the front straight and I got him into turn 1 I figured it was time to go.”
Corti was forced to settle for the runner-up finish for the second day in a row in his first visit to Canadian Superbike competition.
“I’m so mad because I lost the chance to fight with this guy [Szoke],” said the 29-year-old Corti, a regular in the U.S.-based MotoAmerica series. “But I enjoyed my chance to try the series and visit a new track.”
Rebounding from a nasty crash in Saturday’s race, Young moved up from fifth on lap 4 to pass Riedmann two laps from the finish and secure his sixth podium finish of the season and lock up third place in the Mopar CSBK standings behind Szoke and Riedmann.
“This feels like a win for us after all the hard work the guys put in getting the BMW rebuilt,” said the 23-year-old, who was nursing an injured left knee after his fall in turn 2 while leading Saturday’s race. “We gambled a bit and ran on a medium rear tire, which may have cost us the chance to run with Jordan and Claudio from the start of the race but probably played a role there at the end.”
Young also secured the Brooklin Cycle Pro Rookie of the Year Award.
After being part of the thrilling three-way duel for the win with Szoke and Corti on Saturday, Riedmann was relegated to fourth place and his first non-podium finish of the season with the Sturgess Cycle / Liqui Moly / Joe Rocket Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R.
After losing his primary engine just two laps into Saturday’s race, McBride battled to fifth place on a virtually stock back-up Riders Choice / Dainese BMW S1000RR.
Michael Leon ran with the battle for third over the first half of the race but eventually dropped back to finish a solitary sixth on the Royal Distributing Race Team / BMW Motorrad / Pro 6 BMW S1000RR, which clinched fourth place for the Beaconsfield, Que. rider in the final Mopar CSBK standings.
Leon’s main rival in the battle for fourth in points, Mississauga, Ont.’s Trevor Daley, finished seventh on the OneSpeed Yamaha YZF-R1, just holding off the MotoNation / Laval Moto Kawasaki ZX-10R Ninja of Sebastien Tremblay and Inverary, Ont. rider Jeff Williams on the Accelerated Technologies Honda CBR1000RR.
In another strong run from the back of the starting grid, North Vancouver’s Darren James was 10th on his Ruthless Racing Yamaha YZF-R1, just slipping past the Blysk Racing / Elle Skin BMW S1000RR of rookie Pro Samuel Trepanier of St-Isidore-de-Laprairie, Que. in the run to the line.
Among the frontrunners from Saturday, Warman, Sask.’s Bodhi Edie was unable to make the start for Sunday’s race with the Trip-Dub Racing / Z1 Racing / Birkett Freight Solutions Yamaha YZF-R1 after suffering mechanical issues during the morning practice session.
In other end of season awards, Szoke’s Mopar Express Lane / Motovan / BMW Motorrad crew picked up the Inside Motorcycles Team of the Year Award.
In other action at CTMP, Mitch Card completed a sweep of Liqui Moly Pro Sport Bike races. In another dramatic four-way fight for the win, the Ripley, Ont. racer took his Maclin Dust Control / Shoei / DP Brakes Yamaha YZF-R6 past Riedmann’s Kawasaki ZX-6R two laps from the end of the 14-lap race and held on to win by 0.296 secs.
A day after clinching his third straight Pro Sport Bike title, 24-year-old Riedmann settled for second place for the second day in a row while Peterborough, Ont.’s Tomas Casas completed the podium with the Peterborough Cycle Salvage / Parts Canada Yamaha YZF-R6.
Sarnia, Ont. racer Will Hornblower finished fourth with the 402bike.com / Blue Streak Racing Yamaha YZF-R6 after also taking a turn at the front. Just 1.420 secs. covered the top four finishers at the line.
Montreal’s Jean-Marc Bilger clinched the Magneti Marelli Amateur Superbike title with a third-place finish in the final round on Sunday aboard his BMW S1000RR. Mississauga, Ont.’s Doug Lawrence completed a weekend sweep on his Kawasaki ZX-10R Ninja with Ottawa’s Jason Thoms placing second with a BMW S1000RR, 5.596 secs. behind.
Jacob Shaw-O’Leary won his fourth straight Shoei Premium Helmets Amateur Sport Bike race but it wasn’t enough to prevent Ottawa’s Chris Brent from clinching the title. Riding a Honda CBR600RR, the Falmouth, N.S. racer finished 2.695 secs. clear of the similar machine of Brent but ended the year with 247 points to Brent’s 275. Pickering, Ont.’s Michael Hood placed third on Sunday aboard his Kawasaki ZX-6R to move up to third in the final class standings with 136 points.
Brandon Pemberton of Windsor, N.S. became the inaugural champion of the Kawasaki Ninja 300 Spec National Series with a runner-up finish at CTMP on Sunday. Pemberton finished the season with 455 points to the 445 of Ile Perrot, Que.’s Eric Quintin. Oakville, Ont.’s Jared Walker won the race to complete a weekend sweep and took third in the final standings with 401 points.
This weekend’s pair of Mopar CSBK races will be shown on TSN presented by Dalton Timmis Insurance. Saturday’s race is tentatively scheduled to premier on Tuesday, August 30 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern on TSN2. Sunday’s season finale is due for a Wednesday, August 31 premier, also at 2:00 p.m. on TSN2.
Video coverage of Saturday’s Liqui Moly Pro Sport Bike race is currently available at csbk.ca. Sunday’s race will be available for viewing on Monday morning.