Szoke Leads the Canadian Superbike Championship
Jordan Szoke – 46th Career Superbike Win
Mopar Express Lane 2015 BMW S1000RR
The winningest Superbike racer in Canadian History notched up another victory this weekend during the Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship season opener. Round 1 was hosted at the pristine Calabogie Motorsports Park circuit located an hour out of our nations capital Ottawa Ontario, Canada.
The Lynden Ontario native, Jordan Szoke started his bid for a historic tenth Superbike championship in fine order by claiming the victory around the 5.05 km circuit this past Sunday by a mere 0.255 sec above his closest rival Jodi Christie.
Szoke started his race in second spot after losing pole position by just a few tenths during Saturdays qualifying session.
“I was really bummed about not claiming pole, we really had the equipment and focus to snag that. I came up in a slower rider during the last few corners and it clearly claimed the time we needed to get the job done. I will definitely be aiming for those four points next round.”
Szoke launched his Mopar Express Lane BMW S1000RR off the line during Sunday’s Superbike final for the holeshot and continued to stretch out his lead by almost a second by the third lap.
“My plan was to get out front and draw out a gap at the beginning of the race. For the first few laps, I was accomplishing just that before our electronics failed and I lost our quick shifter and traction control. I had to ride her home old-school. The chassis was incredible and I believe we haven’t unlocked the full potential of this machine. This is literally the first time I’ve been able to ride the new bike so I can’t wait to get more time on it.”
Szoke maintained at the forefront for the remainder of the race to pick up a 9 point lead coming into Round 2 of the Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship held at the 1.93 km Autodrome St Eustache circuit in St Eustache Quebec, June 26 – 28.
Watch Round 1 action on CSBKTV:
CSBK Round 2 Event Information:
Autodrome St Eustache
1016 Boulevard Arthur-Sauvé, St-Eustache, QC
For Jordan’s full schedule Information visit:
http://jordanszoke.com/Calendar.html
More, from a press release issued by Royal Distributing Racing:
Royal Distributing Racing Team News: 4th Place in Bogie! A Solid Start
Michael Leon rode his new Royal Distributing / BMW Motorrad Canada / Pro 6 Cycle / Multi-Tact sponsored S1000RR, fitted with Dunlop tires, to a fourth place finish at Round 1 of the Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship. The race was held at the 5.05 km long Calabogie Motorsports Park on Sunday June 14th.
This was the first time Leon competed at the National Level on Superbike equipment in over a decade, after many seasons riding 600cc and twin cylinder motorcycles. The team quickly discovered the new 2015 BMW really is a true “turnkey” Superbike as Leon was quickly up to speed. The motorcycle, with a stock motor, stock ECU, and fueled with pump gas was good enough to qualify in 4th, on the front row for Sunday’s final.
New addition to the team, Kyle Blakely of Windmill Motorsports, fit into his new position as pit crew and did an excellent job of making sure that the BMW ran flawlessly throughout the weekend. The team also benefited from suspension advice from noted tuner Jonathan Cornwell. Things fell into place and the bike worked really well.
Many supporters came out for Round 1. Karl, one of Michael’s great friends from Montreal, was on hand to assist Kyle with bike prep duties and pit board. Family friends, Dave and Louise, made the trip from Toronto to cheer on the team. New team sponsor, Pierre Bertrand of Multi-Tact, his daughter Stephanie and son Justin showed up on Saturday to catch the Superbike qualifying action.
During the race, Michael completed the first lap in 5th and ran with eventual 3rd place finisher, Sebastien Tremblay and Shannonville rival (and good friend) Sean Huffman. On lap 3, Michael set the 3rd fastest lap of the race with a time of 2:03.262 seconds. By the end of the race, Leon was able to get past Huffman to take the 4th spot, finishing 5.5 seconds behind Tremblay. The race was won by fellow BMW rider Jordan Szoke with Honda mounted Jodi Christie in second.
“I still can’t believe how well our first event went! The bike was so easy to ride and everything came together for me. After a few laps, I had made a few errors and Sean and Sebastien were able to pull a bit of a gap. I was on the soft tire which we knew would work at the beginning of the race but weren’t sure would last all 14 laps. I decided to just try to maintain the gap to save the tires and some energy until the end. I was hoping that both of the guys in front of me would burn up their tires battling. Around lap 10 of the 14 laps, I thought that the plan was backfiring as I lost a little ground. Sean’s tires started to drop off, I was able to catch and pass him on lap 13. I owe a huge thanks to Scott at Royal Distributing, Chris at BMW, Sandy at Pro 6 and Pierre at Multi-Tact for making this race possible,” commented Michael.
The next event for the team is Round 2 of the Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship at Autodrome St-Eustache on June 28.
The Royal Distributing Racing Team would like to thank Royal Distributing, BMW Motorrad Canada, Pro 6 Cycle Dunlop, Multi-Tact, Shoei Helmets, Speed & Strength, Hindle Exhaust, Gianmajor Inc, Armour Bodies, Vortex Racing Sprockets, Foresaken Motorsports, Windmill Motorsports, Dr. Laflamme-Leblanc Dentistes, and MacDuc.
More, from a press release issued by Jodi Christie’s publicist:
Strong Start For Jodi Christie in 2015 Canadian Superbike Championship
Keene, ON — Defending Canadian Superbike Champion Jodi Christie and the Honda Canada/Accelerated Technologies team started off the 2015 Mopar CSBK season strong at Calabogie Motorsports Park this past weekend with a second place in the Mopar Pro Superbike race and a win in Hindle Pro Sport Bike.
Now fully recovered from injuries sustained in a motocross training accident in April, Jodi did a few laps on his Honda CBR600RR and CBR1000RR in rainy conditions on Friday to confirm that both he and the bikes were ready for action; the remainder of the weekend saw sunny and warm conditions with no more rain.
Calabogie Motorsports Park has not been on the Mopar CSBK series schedule for several years, but Jodi was quickly up to speed on Saturday as he has previous experience at the track. Unfortunately, he took a fall on the CBR600RR in morning practice when the track was still damp but was able to return to the pits and on his backup bike posted the fastest time for the session. In the Mopar Superbike class, conditions had improved and the team worked on the setup of the new CBR1000RR SP model. In qualifying, the Pro Sport Bike session was red-flagged early but Jodi qualified on pole with a gap of more than one second to his nearest rival. In Superbike, Jodi also qualified on pole with a time close to the lap record.
Jodi dominated Hindle Pro Sport Bike action, leading from the second lap and winning with a 2.6-second lead in the 10-lap event. In Superbike, Jodi led the pack from pole position, but was overtaken midway through the first lap. After briefly retaking the lead at the halfway point but not able to make a pass stick, Jodi tried again for the lead on the last lap, again briefly passing leader Jordan Szoke. Contact was made, but both riders remained upright and continued to the flag with Szoke in first and Jodi just .255 seconds behind in second.
With points awarded for qualifying and laps led, Jodi now leads the Pro Sport Bike standings with 56 points and sits second in Superbike points with 46 points. Action resumes at Autodrome St-Eustache for the second round of the series on June 26-28.
Watch the Pro Sport Bike race here: https://youtu.be/CwvGyspNOfY
Watch the Pro Superbike race here: https://youtu.be/HPBwWfLstm0
Jodi Christie: “I had a lot of nerves heading into the first round because I really didn’t know how I would feel after such a long break with my injury. I had been training as much as possible, but without being able to push my body in ways I usually did pre-season. Overall I am extremely happy with how the weekend went, and I proved that we have the pace to win races in both classes. I can’t thank my whole Honda Canada/Accelerated Technologies team enough, with all of the hard work from the team members and sponsors we have put together a really strong team for this year. I am really looking forward to St-Eustache, a track I do well on and where I know I will be able to compete for wins. Over the next two weeks I will continue to train hard for the summer months ahead.”
John Sharrard – Crew Chief, Accelerated Technologies: “It was a great culmination to a month of insane work at the shop. We had parts arrive from the US, Japan, China and the Netherlands all with only two weeks to go. Our incredible sponsors and partners came together to help have all the bikes ready. We started them for the first time the week before the race and they all worked amazing. Jodi did us proud and captured two pole positions on Saturday after practice was rained out on Friday, which after his motocross injury was a truly incredible feat. We struggled to find edge grip on the Superbike all weekend, but Andrew Trevitt, myself and the rest of the team gave him a great bike to take to the line on Sunday to try for the Superbike win. My thanks to the team (Jodi, Roz, Olivia, Wes, Michael, Andrew and Peter) for working so hard all weekend, and a huge thank you to our sponsors. Without each and every one, we couldn’t have had such a weekend.”
About Jodi Christie Racing
Jodi Christie Racing competes in the Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship with support from Honda Canada, Accelerated Technologies, Cameron Cycle, Hindle Exhaust, Bazzaz, Dunlop, Pro 6 Cycle, AiM Sports Data Acquisition, DID Chains, Orient Express, Blue Streak Racing, Motion Pro, Elka Suspension, Motovan, Motul Oil, Zero Gravity, Drift, NGK, Sunstar, Joe Rocket Leathers, Shoei Helmets, Mikey Moto, Bickle Racing, Woodcraft Technologies, Armour Bodies, GBRacing, Vortex, TCX Boots, Ride Rich, K-Tech, Wes Lake, Andrew & Peter Trevitt, and Gary & Roslyn Christie. Follow the team on Facebook (JodiChristieRacing) or Twitter and Instagram (@JCRacing20). For more information about the Canadian Superbike Series and to watch the races online, visit www.csbk.ca.