Earlier this week Canadian Kawasaki Motors announced that it planned to participate in the 2010 Parts Canada Superbike Championship with an outsourced team instead of its traditional in-house unit. That team, however, will not be utilizing the services of Jordan Szoke, the rider who has earned Kawasaki the Canadian Superbike and 600cc Sport Bike Championships for the last four years straight. “They made me an offer that was pretty ridiculous,” said 32-year-old Szoke, who has a total of six Canadian Superbike Championships and is the all-time Superbike win leader. “No Championship bonus, no [salary], no expenses, no nothing, get [yourself] to the track, ride for free, only ride Superbike and then there were winnings. They would pay me [bonuses] for first, second and third. “‘OK,’ I said, ‘I’ll do it just because I know it’s a bad situation. Hopefully in a year it will turn around. I want to work with Kawasaki. I’m loyal to the company. “I said, ‘I’ll do it, but”¦’ They sell off the bikes at the end of the year. I said, ‘I want to buy one of the 600s.’ I have to take a truck and trailer to the races anyway because my girlfriend races. So I’ll bring a 600 and I’ll contest and defend my Number One plate on my own dime. “All I wanted to do was collect the posted contingency. That would be enough to pay for my tires, at least. And the other big reason why I wanted to do that was because all of my personal [sponsor] contracts I would lose so much money in winnings and pay because they would cut them in half because they’re all based on racing two classes. So I’m trying to save every dollar I can now that I’m working for free and paying to go to the racetrack. “Then they said, ‘No, we don’t want you doing that. Thanks for your service. We’re going to hire a different rider.’ Click. They hung up the phone. “It was nasty, really. There was no discussion, no debating. It wasn’t like, ‘OK, can I not race the 600 and ride the Superbike only?’ ‘No, we’re not interested in your services. Bye, bye.'” Jeff Comello, who formerly managed Kawasaki’s in-house road race team and still oversees Canadian Kawasaki Motors’ road racing activities among his several other duties, told Roadracingworld.com, “We did try to put something together with Mr. Szoke. Trust me, we have a lot of equity built up in him. I managed the team for the last 10 plus years. I enjoyed working with him. Our intention was to put something together with him, but that hasn’t been the case thus far.” Because Kawasaki’s team is now outsourced to Competition Systems, Comello said that any and all negotiations with Szoke happened between Szoke and Mike Crompton, who is the team owner of Competition Systems. Crompton was also Szoke’s Crew Chief for the last several seasons. On Tuesday, January 12, Comello declined to give Roadracingworld.com a phone number for Crompton, but said he would ask Crompton to call Roadracingworld.com’s California offices. As of this post was made Thursday afternoon, January 14, Crompton had not called. Roadracingworld.com will post additional information if it becomes available.