Christie and Szoke resume Mopar Canadian Superbike title fight

TORONTO, Ont. (June 11, 2015) – Defending Mopar Canadian Superbike Champion Jodi Christie and nine-time series winner Jordan Szoke rekindle their battle for the top prize in Canadian motorcycle road racing when the 2015 season opens at Calabogie MotorSports Park, near Ottawa, this weekend.

Last season the 22-year-old Christie secured his first Mopar Canadian Superbike crown, ending Szoke’s bid for a record 10th Canadian number one plate and third straight title.

The Keene, Ont. rider returns with the package that helped him break Szoke’s stranglehold on the series, riding the latest Honda CBR1000RR with backing from Accelerated Technologies and Honda Canada. He is, however, coming off a preseason dirt bike injury that has limited his training.

Szoke is also on the rebound from injury, having missed the final two rounds of the 2014 season due to a broken thumb suffered in a Trials competition. The Brantford, Ont. veteran is back to 100 percent, however, and the BMW Motorrad and Mopar Express Lane-backed rider has a new BMW S1000RR with which to try and regain the CSBK crown.

Szoke is one of the few racers of the current crop to have experience of Calabogie’s tortuous 5.05km (3.05-mile) 20-turn layout, having won in the series’ two previous visits there in 2008 and 2009.

A strong field of challengers will also be gunning for Superbike glory at Calabogie this weekend. Last year’s series runner-up Trevor Daley and his OneSpeed Racing team have a program lined up with Suzuki GSX-R1000 equipment and primary backing from Suzuki Canada and Parts Canada. Unfortunately, the Mississauga, Ont. racer’s preseason testing program took a hit when he crashed at Calabogie last weekend and badly damaged one of his bikes.

Also expected to feature at the front will be Belfountain, Ont.’s Kenny Riedmann, the 2014 Hindle Exhaust Pro Sport Bike champion, who makes his Canadian Superbike debut riding a GE Capital and Sturgess Cycle-sponsored Kawasaki ZX-10R.

Veteran Montrealer Michael Leon is back in action this season with a BMW S1000RR, sponsored once again by Royal Distributing, while a wildcard at Calabogie will be local ace Sean Huffman, who will run another BMW with sponsorship from Forsaken Motorsports.

This weekend also sees the opening rounds for the Hindle Exhaust Pro Sport Bike, Magneti Marelli Amateur Superbike and Bell Helmets Amateur Sport Bike classes.

In the Pro Sport Bike class, Riedmann will aim to defend his title aboard the Riedmann Racing Triumph 675 while Christie looks to reclaim the crown he won three times between 2011-2013 on his Honda CBR600RR.

Last season Will Hornblower of Sarnia, Ont. showed steady improvement on his way to fifth in the Hindle Exhaust Pro Sport Bike standings and he returns this year with his Yamaha YZF-R6.

Among the challengers will be a couple of riders stepping up from the Amateur ranks in 2015. Last year’s Amateur Sport Bike champion Tomas Casas of Peterborough will compete aboard a Yamaha YZF-R6 while fellow Amateur frontrunner Stacey Nesbitt of St-Lazare, Que. will ride a Honda CBR600RR.

Reiner Griese of Wellington, Ont. starts the season as an early favourite in the Amateur Superbike class after finishing fourth in points last year with his BMW S1000RR while Montreal’s Sylvain Lepine also showed good late season form on his Kawasaki ZX-10R.

Other Amateurs with strong late season runs last year included Derrick Whyte of Oshawa and London’s Phil Leckie.

The Calabogie round of the Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship will also include a race for the Vintage Road Racing Association’s Period 4 motorcycles.

Action at Calabogie MotorSports Park opens Friday with practice. Qualifying for all classes, including the Magneti Marelli SuperPole in the Pro Superbike division takes place Saturday, and feature races in all five national classes will run Sunday.

Tickets for Friday’s action are $15, Saturday tickets are $20 for general admission or $25 for a bleacher seat, and for Sunday fans can get general admission tickets for $30 or a bleacher seat for $35. There are also weekend general admission passes available for $40, or weekend passes with seating for $45.

For ticket information call toll free (866) 669-TRAK (8725) or Calabogie’s Ottawa office at (613) 727-6252, email [email protected], or visit www.calabogiemotorsports.com or the official Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship website at www.csbk.ca.

2014 Final Point Standings

Mopar Pro Superbike: 1. Jodi Christie (Honda) 242; 2. Trevor Daley (Suzuki/Honda) 162; 3. Jordan Szoke (BMW) 158; 4. Sebastien Tremblay (Kawasaki) 155; 5. Kristopher Garvie (Honda) 144

Hindle Exhaust Pro Sport Bike: 1. Kenny Reidmann (Triumph) 193; 2. Jodi Christie (Honda) 151; 3. Kristopher Garvie (Honda) 148

Magneti Marelli Amateur Superbike: 1. Pedro Sousa (Honda) 199; 2. Tomas Casas (Yamaha) 189; 3. Stacey Nesbitt (Honda) 120

Bell Helmets Amateur Sport Bike: 1. Tomas Casas (Yamaha) 232; 2. Stacey Nesbitt (Honda) 219; 3. James Moore (Triumph) 145

Previous Calabogie MotorSport Park Superbike National Wins

2009 – Jordan Szoke (Brantford, Ont.) Kawasaki

2008 – Jordan Szoke (Brantford, Ont.) Kawasaki

Calabogie MotorSport Park Fast Facts

…The last time the CSBK series visited Calabogie Motorsports Park Jordan Szoke and Brett McCormick staged one of their many epic battles for the race win. The victory in that event, as well as the overall series title went to Szoke.

…Szoke has an enviable record when it comes to starting his Canadian Superbike campaign off on the right foot. In seven of the past 10 years he has won the first round of the campaign, including both years at Calabogie Motorsports Park in 2008 and 2009.

…In eight of the past 10 years victory in the opening Canadian Superbike round has propelled a rider to the number one plate. The most recent exception, however, was last year, when Szoke won the Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship opener but Jodi Christie snatched the title.

Provisional Weekend Schedule

Saturday, June 13

1:00 p.m. – 1:25 p.m. – Hindle Pro Sport Bike Qualifying

1:35 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. – Bell Helmets Amateur Sport Bike Qualifying

2:10 p.m. – 2:35 p.m. – VRRA Vintage Period 4 Qualifying

2:45 p.m. – 3:35 p.m. – Mopar Pro Superbike Magneti Marelli SuperPole Qualifying

3:45 p.m. – 4:10 p.m. – Magneti Marelli Amateur Superbike Qualifying

Sunday, June 14

12:30 p.m. – Hindle Exhaust Pro Sport Bike Race (10 laps)

Bell Helmets Amateur Sport Bike Race (10 laps)

VRRA Vintage Period 4 Race (10 laps)

2:20 p.m. – Mopar Pro Superbike Race (12 laps)

Magneti Marelli Amateur Superbike Race (10 laps)