Szoke takes another Superbike pole at Mont-Tremblant MONT-TREMBLANT, Que. (August 11, 2012) Jordan Szoke edged a step closer to a record eighth national Superbike title by claiming pole position for this weekend’s fourth round of the Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship at Le Circuit Mont-Tremblant on Saturday. The Brantford, Ont. racer took his Waznie Racing / Parts Canada / BMW Motorrad Canada BMW S1000RR around the 4.26km (2.65-mile), 15-turn track in one minute, 40.495 seconds (152.535km/h) during Pirelli SuperPole qualifying to stretch his lead by another point in the standings heading into Sunday’s 16-lap race. The fastest qualifying time was worth four points to Szoke, who now has 155 points to the 119 of Andrew Nelson, who qualified second on Saturday and received three points. Sunday’s race win is worth 50 points. “The bike was pretty close to ideal,” said Szoke, who has claimed pole position for all four Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship rounds this year. “We came here with a good baseline set-up. We do have some ideas to improve the bike a bit for tomorrow.” Nelson recorded a fastest time of 1:40.844 on the Nelson Racing / Endras Motorrad / mcn.tv BMW S1000RR and Matthew McBride was third best at 1:40.915 riding the Riders Choice BMW S1000RR. Francois Dumas completes the front row for Sunday’s race after recording a lap at 1:41.472 on his Team Dumas Superbike / boulangeriedumas.com BMW S1000RR. After rain washed out testing on Thursday and Friday’s practice, qualifying was held in almost ideal conditions. As has become his strategy, Szoke was first out on the track early in the 15-minute top 10 SuperPole shootout and laid down his best time early. “After sitting around all day Thursday and Friday I was feeling a little lethargic,” Szoke admitted. “The track was a little green and slick, but considering how much rain we had it was in good shape. “We have been able to work on the fuel injection and we managed to pick up eight horsepower and make the bike more rideable.” Szoke will be chasing his fourth Mont-Tremblant Superbike win on Sunday and a record 40th career national Superbike triumph. Nelson also turned his best lap early in the SuperPole session. The Kars, Ont. racer said he tried for another quick lap at the end of the session but made a couple of mistakes. “We’re not that far off on the set-up,” said Nelson, who won the season opener at Shannonville Motorsport Park. “We’ll make a few changes to the rear for tomorrow but overall we’re very close.” McBride is making his return to the national series after missing the previous round at Atlantic Motorsport Park. He finished second to Nelson in the opening round of the tour. “We’ll make some big changes tonight,” said the Mississauga, Ont. racer. “Overall the bike’s good but we’ll stiffen it up a bit. But the engine’s running good.” Dumas was excited to claim his best ever starting position for a Superbike national. “I knew I could be fast here, but I didn’t think the front row,” said the St-Raymond, Que. Racer. “I’m very happy. We’re very close on set-up. I don’t think we’ll make many changes for the race, maybe a little gearing.” Alex Welsh of Uxbridge, Ont. qualified fifth fastest with a time of 1:41.985 on his AW7R / Kenwood Electronics Canada Suzuki GSX-R1000. He will be joined on the second row by Keene, Ont.’s Jodi Christie, who lapped at 1:42.347 aboard the Jodi Christie Racing / Accelerated Technologies Honda CBR1000RR, and St-Cesaire, Que. rider Kevin Lacombe, who recorded a 1:42.571 on the Team Couturier Racing BMW S1000RR. Both Welsh and Christie are making their first visits to Mont-Tremblant, which last hosted a Canadian Superbike national in 2007. Lacombe heads into Sunday’s race third in the Superbike standings with 105 points, just one more than Christie. The top 10 qualifiers are rounded out by Longueuil, Que.’s Sebastien Tremblay on the MotoNation BMW S1000RR, the Namyatech BMW S1000RR of Drummondville, Que. racer Martin Hamel, and Kelowna, B.C.’s Marcel Irnie aboard the Irnie Racing / Amsoil BMW S1000RR. In other action at Mont-Tremblant, Christie extended his lead in the K&N Performance Filters Pro Sport Bike standings by taking pole position for Sunday’s race with a time of 1:43.810 on his Honda CBR600RR. Belfountain, Ont.’s Kenny Riedmann set the second fastest time with a 1:45.707 on the Riedmann Racing / Sturgess Cycle Triumph 675 and Raphael Archambault of Terrebonne, Que. was third with a 1:46.413 aboard the Team Archambault Racing / Picotte Motorsports / G Suspension Suzuki GSX-R600. Christie now has 164 points in the Pro Sport Bike standings to the 142 of his nearest challenger Frank Trombino, who is absent this weekend. In this weekend’s first racing action, Tomas Casas of Peterborough, Ont. took the lead two laps from the finish and held off Ryan Roche and Stacey Nesbitt to win the first of two races for the Honda CBR250R National Race Series. The Peterborough Cycle Salvage-backed bike of Casas finished just 0.370 secs. clear of Roche’s Brooklin Cycle entry and 0.609 secs. ahead of the Powersports Canada-sponsored entry of Nesbitt. With the result, Pickering, Ont.’s Roche stretched his lead to eight points over Nesbitt in the standings. He now has 324 points to the St-Lazare, Que. racer’s 316. Costa Mouzouris of Inside Motorcycles magazine opened his lead in the Media Challenge portion of the CBR250R series by claiming his fifth victory in seven races this year. Steve Crevier moved closer to repeating as Deeley Harley-Davidson Canada XR1200 Cup champion by taking his third Tactical Products Canada LUMINOX Pole Award of the season for the MotoSport Plus / Dominion Lending team. The Maple Ridge, B.C. racer recorded a lap at 1:49.857. Deep Cove, B.C.’s Darren James was second quickest aboard his Ruthless Racing / Deeley-Harley-Davidson Canada entry with a time of 1:50.262 and Toronto racer Michael Taylor was third quickest at 1:50.803 on his Mackie Harley-Davidson-backed XR1200. Crevier now has 171 points to the 126 of Taylor and James’s 124. Mississauga, Ont.’s Trevor Daley added to his lead in the Bazzaz Amateur Superbike standings by qualifying fastest with a time of 1:44.670 on his OneSpeed / Riders Choice Suzuki GSX-R1000. Philippe Masse of St-Hyacinthe, Que. also stretched his lead in the Inside Motorcycles Amateur Sport Bike standings by claiming pole for Sunday’s race with a time of 1:46.812 on the racingphil.com / Pete’s Superbike Kawasaki ZX-6R. Since 2006 Pirelli has been the spec tire supplier to the Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship. The series has been used as a development platform for the company’s products, and competitors in the K&N Performance Filter Pro Sport Bike, Deeley Harley-Davidson Canada XR1200 Cup, and Inside Motorcycles Amateur Sport Bike classes run on the same Diablo Super Corsa DOT racing tires used in the World Supersport Championship. Pirelli is currently developing 17-inch slick tires for use in the World Superbike Championship in 2013, and these will also make their way to the Canadian Championship in the future. Action concludes at Le Circuit Mont-Tremblant on Sunday with feature races in all six national classes. Practice starts at 9:00 a.m. with the first race, for the XR1200 Cup, set to go at 1:00 p.m. Tickets are $35 for Sunday, and are available through the main gate ticket office. For more information visit www.lecircuit.com or call 819-425-6363. MONT-TREMBLANT, Que. (August 11) Starting line-up for Sunday’s fourth round of the Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship at Le Circuit Mont-Tremblant, showing starting position, rider name, hometown, type of motorcycle and qualifying time: 1.Jordan Szoke, Brantford, Ont., BMW S1000RR, 1:40.541 (152.535km/h) 2. Andrew Nelson, Kars, Ont., BMW S1000RR, 1:40.844 3. Matthew McBride, Mississauga, Ont., BMW S1000RR, 1:40.915 4. Francois Dumas, St-Raymond, Que., BMW S1000RR, 1:41.472 5. Alex Welsh, Uxbridge, Ont., Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:41.985 6. Jodi Christie, Keene, Ont., Honda CBR1000RR, 1:42.347 7. Kevin Lacombe, Granby, Que., BMW S1000RR, 1:42.571 8. Sebastien Tremblay, Longueuil, Que., BMW S1000RR, 1:42.959 9. Martin Hamel, Drummondville, Que., BMW S1000RR, 1:43.126 10. Marcel Irnie, Kelowna, B.C., BMW S1000RR, 1:43.165 11. Samuel Proulx, Magog, Que., BMW S1000RR, 1:44.751 12. Bodhi Edie, Warman, Sask., BMW S1000RR, 1:45.038 13. Raphael Archambault, Terrebonne, Que., Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:45.550 14. Sylvain Dery, St-Colomban, Que., Kawasaki ZX-10R, 1:46.519 15. Yvon Jodoin, Beloeil, Que., Honda CBR1000RR, 1:48.726 16. Franklyn Dominguez, Hudson, Que., Honda CBR1000RR, 1:49.422 17. Ron Munroe, Beaver Bank, N.S., Kawasaki ZX-6R, 1:56.886 18. Louie Raffa, Ste-Marthe, Que., Honda CBR600RR, No Time 19. Richard Thompson, Milford, N.S., Suzuki GSX-R600, No Time