Welsh wins wild finale at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park BOWMANVILLE, Ont. (August 26, 2012) Alex Welsh scored his first career national Superbike win in spectacular fashion in the final round of the Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on Sunday. The Uxbridge, Ont. rider slid underneath the battling duo of Jordan Szoke and Kevin Lacombe in the last corner to snatch the win by 0.384 secs. on his AW7R / Kenwood Electronics Canada Suzuki GSX-R1000. Szoke placed second on the Waznie Racing / Parts Canada / BMW Motorrad Canada BMW S1000RR while Lacombe crossed the line third riding the Team Couturier Racing BMW S1000RR. “I tried to get them going up the last straight but I didn’t quite get the drive I wanted,” Welsh said. “But I was able to pick up the scraps. It’s good to finish off the year this way. I always seem to go well here.” Welsh completed the 20-lap distance around the 3.9km (2.459-mile) track in 27 minutes, 32.156 seconds for an average speed of 169.447km/h (106.838 mph). Welsh made an impressive climb from eighth on the starting grid to move up to third spot by the end of lap four and the second half of the race settled into a battle between Szoke, Lacombe and Welsh. Lacombe started the final lap leading Szoke and Welsh. Szoke snuck ahead in turn two only to have Lacombe repay the favour in turn three of the 10-turn track. In the turn nine left-hander Szoke got inside the St-Cesaire, Que. rider but Lacombe hung alongside as they approached the turn 10 right-hander. The two made contact and ran wide, leaving the inside open for Welsh to sneak through for the win. “Jordan and Kevin didn’t quite gap me in the early laps and that allowed me to save my tires and myself for the end,” explained Welsh, who moved up to fourth in the final Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship standings with 187 points. “I wasn’t really close until the last lap, when I made sure I was close through turn three and turn five. We made a gearing change last night so I would have something at the end of the backstraight but I guess we went a little too tall. “Jordan and Kevin were both riding pretty aggressive. I knew Kevin would try something and I guess I was a little lucky.” Szoke had clinched his eighth national Superbike title with a second place finish in Saturday’s race and was going for his 11th victory at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. “I couldn’t get by Kevin on the back straight but I was faster coming out of turn eight so I thought I could get him in nine,” said Szoke, who failed to win a race at CTMP for the first time since 2007. “That all went as planned but then Alex came by and ruined the party. “Coming out of here without a win is pretty heartbreaking, but we did the big job by getting the championship yesterday.” Szoke’s Waznie Racing crew also picked up the Inside Motorcycles Team of the Year Award. Lacombe was later disqualified for using illegal fuel, which bumped Warman, Sask.’s Bodhi Edie up to third place in the official results. The rider of the Edie Racing / Blue Streak / Fast Company BMW S1000RR was involved in a four-rider scrap down to the wire with Andrew Nelson, Matt McBride and Sebastien Tremblay. “Andrew and I were very well matched and we were really going at it over the first half of the race,” Edie said after his first Pro Superbike podium finish. “I had some issues with the front end going into turn one but I was comfortable coming out of Moss’s Corner onto the backstraight; I got good drives out of there.” Nelson was officially fourth on the Nelson Racing / Endras Motorrad / mcn.tv BMW S1000RR while Mississauga, Ont. rider McBride took fifth aboard the Riders Choice BMW S1000RR. Nelson’s result combined with Lacombe’s exclusion lifted the Kars, Ont. rider into second in the final Mopar Canadian Superbike standings with 204 points to Lacombe’s 193. Szoke finished the year with 294 points. After running with the lead group in fourth spot for the first half of the race Longueuil, Que.’s Tremblay slipped down the order to a sixth place finish on his MotoNation BMW S1000RR, although he ended the year as the top rookie Pro point scorer for the season. Francois Dumas of St-Raymond, Que. ran a lonely race to seventh on the Team Dumas Superbike / boulangeriedumas.com BMW S1000RR, while Marcel Irnie of Kelowna, B.C. made a late-race pass of Sylvain Dery to claim eighth on the Irnie Racing / Amsoil BMW S1000RR. St-Colomban, Que.’s Dery settled for ninth riding the Pete’s Superbike Kawasaki ZX-10R. Mike Bevan of Amhertsburg, Ont. rounded out the top 10 on another Kawasaki ZX-10R. Keene, Ont.’s Jodi Christie ran fourth in the early laps on his Jodi Christie Racing / Accelerated Technologies Honda CBR1000RR but suffered a crash in turn five on lap three. He was not hurt in the incident. A day after clinching his second straight K&N Performance Filters Pro Sport Bike title, Christie ran away with the season finale at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. The Keene, Ont. racer grabbed the lead off the start on his Honda CBR600RR and was never challenged en route to his fifth win in six races this season. Raphael Archambault of Terrebonne, Que. finished second on his Team Archambault Racing / Picotte Motorsport / G Suspension Suzuki GSX-R600 after a racelong battle with the Acme Slate Suzuki GSX-R600 of Frank Trombino and Michael Leon on the Royal Distributing / Elka Suspension Honda CBR600RR. Trombino claimed third, which secured second in the final point standings for the Kleinburg, Ont. racer, while Leon crashed on the final lap, without injury. Steve Crevier outdueled Michael Barnes for the victory in the final round of the Deeley Harley-Davidson Canada XR1200 Cup. Riding for the MotoSport Plus / Dominion Lending team, the Maple Ridge, B.C. veteran finished 0.909 secs. ahead of Boca Raton, Fla.’s Barnes, riding for the Deeley Harley-Davidson Canada / Ruthless Racing team. John Ross MacRae of Calgary, on another of the Ruthless Racing entries, placed third after passing the Mackie Harley-Davidson XR1200 of Toronto’s Michael Taylor on the final lap. Crevier had clinched his second straight series title on Saturday. A third place finish was enough to give Mississauga, Ont.’s Trevor Daley the Bazzaz Amateur Superbike title on the OneSpeed / Riders Choice / ProStar Motorsports Honda CBR600RR at CTMP on Sunday. Tim Robinson of Gatineau, Que. ran away to his third straight Amateur Superbike win on the Robinson Racing / Gym-Max BMW S1000RR, finishing 23.299 secs. clear of the racingphil.com / Pete’s Superbike Kawasaki ZX-6R of Philippe Masse. Daley ended the year with 260 points to Masse’s 223 and picked up a $20,000 Jeep Off Road Trailer from series title sponsor Mopar for his achievement. Robinson received the $1,000 DUA Motorsport contingency payback as well as a prize pack from Mopar. Newly-crowned Inside Motorcycles Amateur Sport Bike champion Masse scored his second straight win on the Kawasaki ZX-6R. The St-Hyacinthe, Que. racer finished 16.211 secs. ahead of the Hornblower Racing / Blue Streak / ProPulsion Yamaha YZF-R6 of Sarnia, Ont.’s Will Hornblower, while Newcastle, Ont.’s Nuno Almeida claimed third aboard the Noodles Racing / GP Bikes / Eurocorsa Triumph 675. Hornblower was named the Performance Under Gear Performer of the Race. Daley spent much of the race running right behind Masse on the Honda CBR600RR but crashed in the final corner. The Mississauga, Ont. racer was able to remount and salvage fifth spot. Stacey Nesbitt wrapped up the Honda CBR250R National Race Series title with a second place finish at CTMP on Sunday. The St-Lazare, Que. rider ended the year with 448 points to the 425 of Pickering, Ont.’s Ryan Roche, who took fourth in the season finale. Peterborough, Ont.’s Tomas Casas claimed his fourth straight win for the Peterborough Cycle Salvage team, finishing 7.408 secs. ahead of Nesbitt, who won a battle with Oakville, Ont.’s Cameron Walker for the runner-up spot. Laval, Que.’s Pascal Bastien of Moto 123 also repeated as winner of the Media Challenge division in the CBR250R series. Montreal’s Costa Mouzouris, riding for CMG Online, clinched the Media title on Saturday. The race was stopped on the opening lap after a three-rider crash in turn nine that sent Calgary’s Sean Smith to hospital with undisclosed injuries, although he was conscious and communicating with rescue personnel. 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. BOWMANVILLE, Ont. (August 26) Results of Sunday’s sixth round of the Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, showing finishing position, rider name, hometown, type of motorcycle and laps completed: 1. Alex Welsh, Uxbridge, Ont., Suzuki GSX-R1000, 20 2. Jordan Szoke, Brantford, Ont., BMW S1000RR, 20 3. Bodhi Edie, Warman, Sask., BMW S1000RR, 20 4. Andrew Nelson, Kars, Ont., BMW S1000RR, 20 5. Matthew McBride, Mississauga, Ont., BMW S1000RR, 20 6. Sebastien Tremblay, Longueuil, Que., BMW S1000RR, 20 7. Francois Dumas, St-Raymond, Que., BMW S1000RR, 20 8. Marcel Irnie, Kelowna, B.C., BMW S1000RR, 20 9. Sylvain Dery, St-Colomban, Que., Kawasaki ZX-10R, 20 10. Mike Bevan, Amherstburg, Ont., Kawasaki ZX-10R, 19 Did Not Finish Jodi Christie, Keene, Ont., Honda CBR1000RR, 2 Disqualified Kevin Lacombe, St-Cesaire, Que., BMW S1000RR Did Not Start Martin Hamel, Drummondville, Que., BMW S1000RR, 20 Scott Rupert, Gadshill, Ont., Suzuki GSX-R1000, 10 Michael Leon, Beaconsfield, Que., Honda CBR600RR Raphael Archambault, Terrebonne, Que., Suzuki GSX-R600 Time of Race: 27:32.156 Average Speed: 169.447km/h (106.838 mph) Margin of Victory: 0.384 secs. Fastest Lap: 1:22.164 by Alex Welsh on lap 4 Lap Leaders: Lacombe 1-7, Szoke 8-11, Lacombe 12-19, Welsh 20 Final point standings for the Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship after six rounds, showing position, rider name and point total: 1. Jordan Szoke, 294 2. Andrew Nelson, 204 3. Kevin Lacombe, 193 4. Alex Welsh, 187 5. Bodhi Edie, 174 6. Matthew McBride, 168 7. Jodi Christie, 164 8. Sebastien Tremblay, 141 9. Francois Dumas, 106 10. Marcel Irnie, 95 11. Samuel Proulx, 82 12. Sylvain Dery, 64 13. Frank Trombino, 60 14. Franklyn Dominguez, 42 15. Martin Hamel, 32 15. Michael Bevan, 32 17. Marie-Josee Boucher, 31 18. Ron Munroe, 21 19. James Collins, 13 20. Aubrey Bailey, 10 21. Tony Stufko, 8 21. Michael Leon, 8 23. Louie Raffa, 6