Szoke dominates race one at season opener in Calabogie
Calabogie, ON – July 25, 2020 – Jordan Szoke led start-to-finish en route to a comfortable victory in race one of the Canadian Superbike Championship season opener, kicking off the one-day invitational at Calabogie Motorsports Park, sponsored by IBEW and presented by Pro6 Cycle.
The 13-time National champion grabbed the holeshot down into turn one and opened up a massive lead almost immediately, cruising to his first victory in over a full calendar year by nearly four seconds aboard his General Warranty Kawasaki ZX-10R Ninja.
Rising temperatures didn’t make life easy on the Lynden, ON native, but Szoke managed to get the most out the Dunlop spec slick tires as he extended his winning streak at Calabogie to four races.
“I got a really good start – I was actually a little shocked at the start I got, to be honest – but that just allowed me to chip away at the pace and stay consistent,” Szoke said. “I’ve always enjoyed the heat, but it’s almost Suzuka hot out here. We’re running very little traction control, so that might be something we look at for race two later on.”
Despite Szoke’s dominance up front, the race wasn’t without drama, as Trevor Daley made up for a second-row start to score his best career Pro Superbike result in second. The M4 Suzuki Canada GSX-1000R rider started from fourth but came out on top of a thrilling three-way battle that lasted the entirety of the race, narrowly defending veteran BMW riders Michael Leon and Jeff Williams across the line.
Leon managed to secure his first career Pro Superbike podium aboard his brand-new Royal Distributing BMW S1000RR, making a last-lap pass on Williams after the former race-winner faded from second-place in the dying laps.
Sebastian Tremblay rounded out the top five aboard a lesser-powered Turcotte Performance Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R sport bike, as the Mirabel, QC native finished just a few laps shy of catching the battle for second after setting the Liqui Moly Pro Sport Bike lap record during Qualifying for that support category earlier in the day.
The field is scheduled to complete the one-day invitational with race two at roughly 5:30 pm ET, as Szoke looks to sweep the season opener doubleheader for Kawasaki.
Full results can be found on the series’ official website at www.csbk.ca.
