NOVA SCOTIA RACER SOAKS UP PRESSURE TORONTO, Ont. The pressure is on Truro, N.S. native Brian Blaauwendraat, but the 24-year-old motorcycle road racer doesn’t mind. In fact, he likes it that way. Blaauwendraat is facing a critical race in his young career as Atlantic Motorsport Park in Shubenacadie, N.S. plays host to the sixth round of the Parts Canada Superbike Championship national title chase this weekend. He got a taste of what was to come last weekend in round four of the Atlantic Roadracing League regional series at AMP. Blaauwendraat is currently the runaway leader in both the Pro Superbike and Pro Sport Bike classes of the ARL series but last weekend he was up against his toughest competition of the year as a number of the national series regulars came east to get in some practice before the Parts Canada weekend. Blaauwendraat finished third in one of the two Pro Superbike races but crashed out of the other on his Pro Cycle / Atlantic Honda Dealers Honda CBR600RR. He also had a second place finish in the Pro 600 Sport Bike race. “I know I can run fast when the pressure’s on,” Blaauwendraat says. “It was the same last year, and I know running against guys like Clint McBain [the eventual national Superbike runner-up] at the regional was really good practice for me heading into the national.” Blaauwendraat has only been able to run a partial schedule with the national tour, so the Aug. 7-9 Parts Canada Superbike event will offer a rare chance for him to strut his stuff in front of the key players on the Canadian road racing scene. Despite the backing of Honda Canada and Dartmouth, N.S. dealership Pro Cycle, Blaauwendraat has been racing on a tight budget and he has missed two of the five events so far. Last season Blaauwendraat ran the full national campaign as he found himself in the thick of the battle for the HJC Pro Rookie of the Year Award. He narrowly lost out to Alex Welsh, who then picked up a factory ride with Canadian Kawasaki Motors. “The budget is the huge thing,” he explains. “When I saw I had a chance at Rookie of the Year I really couldn’t afford to miss a race. So I spent whatever I had, maxed out credit cards, trying to get to each round. Now I’m not only paying for this year’s racing, but trying to pay off last year as well.” While Blaauwendraat didn’t pick up a factory ride like Welsh, his efforts did get the attention of Honda Canada, who helped set him up with a 2009 CBR600RR. Up to that point in his career he had been racing the same 2005 Honda, making his efforts last season all the more impressive. But while having the most modern equipment available never hurts, adapting to the 2009 bike has brought its challenges. The ’05 Honda may have been old, but in some respects it was like that well worked in baseball mitt; Blaauawendraat knew it intimately and was able to get the maximum from it. He’s still finding the limits of the new bike, and that has been a frustrating process at times. “The bike is way more powerful and it feels good, but once I get down to my best times I feel like I’m hitting a wall, there’s something holding me back,” Blaauwendraat explains. “I can’t pinpoint what it is.” He was planning to use last weekend’s ARL regional to work with mechanic Darin Marshall and try some new set-up combinations with the bike in an effort to unlock its potential. “I have a comfortable points lead in both classes, so now is the time to do it,” he said before the event. “This weekend we’ll try some different stuff. “Honda and Pro Cycle have been great, and I have Pro-Tech Suspension as a sponsor, but even so, there’s not much of a team behind me. When I come off the track I don’t have a suspension guru waiting to make changes to the bike.” While Blaauwendraat continues to be the class of the ARL regional scene, his brief national appearances have been frustrating. Part of the problem has been adapting to the new bike, but another factor has been the increased depth of the field, especially in the Yoshimura Pro Sport Bike class. “I think everyone knows just how deep the field is in Sport Bike,” he says. “Last year I was getting top 10 finishes everywhere, but at Calabogie this year I was fighting for 15th spot with Francis Martin [a two-time Canadian Superbike champion] and it was one of the best races of my life.” Blaauwendraat heads home 17th in the class point standings although he is confident of a strong showing in the AMP national event. It was at his home track that he burst onto the Canadian scene with a dominant victory in the 2007 Amateur Sport Bike national. Last year he put his old Honda into the top 10 Pirelli SuperPole shootout in the Superbike class and finished in the top six in three out of the weekend’s four Pro races. “I’m going for top 10 finishes for sure at the national,” he says of his prospects for the Aug. 7-9 weekend. “And I’d like to be in SuperPole again; that was a great experience.” Blaauwendraat hopes a solid weekend at the Parts Canada Superbike national can lead to bigger things in his racing career. “I hope that Honda Canada and Pro Cycle will want to help me out more next year,” says the mechanic for a John Deere dealership in Truro. “Otherwise I don’t know what my options are. I’d really like another go at the full national series. I don’t feel like I’ve had a real crack at it yet.” ***** The sixth round of the Parts Canada Superbike Championship take place Aug. 7-9 at Atlantic Motorsport Park in Shubenacadie, N.S. Advance weekend passes are $40 and are available through www.atlanticroadracing.com. More, from a press release issued by Canadian Kawasaki Motors: Szoke aims to stretch lead. Welsh looking to keep momentum. TORONTO, Ont. (August 5) Fresh off a sweep of the doubleheader at Mosport International Raceway, Canadian Kawasaki Motors factory rider Jordan Szoke will try to extend his lead in the Parts Canada Superbike Championship point standings at round six of the series at Atlantic Motorsport Park in Shubenacadie, N.S. this weekend. The Brantford, Ont. rider comes into the penultimate round of the 2009 season with a 25-point lead in the standings and in an excellent position to win an unprecedented fourth straight national Superbike title and record-tying sixth career crown. Szoke has three Superbike victories on the 2.56km (1.6-mile) AMP circuit, including one last year on the venerable Ninja ZX-10R. “It’s going to be a tough race and the other guys are all flying right now,” said the 30-year-old Szoke. “I have to stay as close to the front as possible and not take any unnecessary risks. The start will be the most important thing getting a good launch and settling in early.” Szoke also feels his excellent physical conditioning could come into play in the race over the tight and technical track. “It can get hot and humid at ‘Shubie’,” he said. “The Carousel is about the only place you have time to pull off a tear-off. The rest of the track you’re giving it everything you got. It’s a tough place.” Szoke also heads to Nova Scotia with a 27-point lead in his bid for a fourth straight Yoshimura Pro Sport Bike Championship with the all new Ninja ZX-6R. He has three wins this year and has qualified fastest in every race but one on the bike. “The Sport Bike times will be really impressive,” he said. “It’s a pretty awesome bike and I’m pretty sure our race pace will surprise a lot of people.” Szoke’s Canadian Kawasaki Motors factory team-mate Alex Welsh is riding a wave of momentum coming to AMP. The 21-year-old from Uxbridge, Ont. earned his first career national Superbike podium with a third-place finish at Mosport on his Ninja ZX-10R and is now fourth in the Parts Canada Superbike standings. “The Superbike is coming along pretty well and I was pleased with Mosport,” said the second-year Pro rider, who is in his first season on a Superbike. “I was at the shop a couple of times over the past couple of weeks talking with my crew chief Jeremy Sharrard and we’ve got a couple of ideas for this weekend. “It’s one of those tough races and you want the bike to be compliant. The easier the bike is to ride the better. You need it to get you through the laps consistently.” Welsh is now third in the Yoshimura Pro Sport Bike standings following two finishes on the box at Mosport, including a runner-up result behind Szoke to give the Canadian Kawasaki Motors team an impressive 1-2 with the Ninja ZX-6R. “I can’t say enough about the new bike and now we’re at the point where I think I, the bike and the team deserve to be,” Welsh said. “I’m looking forward to the last two rounds.” Practice at Atlantic Motorsport Park opens Friday, August 7 with qualifying scheduled for both the Parts Canada Superbike and Yoshimura Pro Sport Bike classes on Saturday August 8. The 18-lap Pro Sport Bike race is set to launch at 12:45 p.m. on Sunday, August 9 with the 22-lap Superbike race to follow at 3:00 p.m. For the latest news and photos, log onto http://www.kawasakiracing.ca/ or http://www.cdnsuperbike.com/