Mosport II: Series race report

SZOKE PERFECT AT MOSPORT

BOWMANVILLE, Ont. (July 11) - Jordan Szoke edged closer to an unprecedented seventh Canadian Superbike title and a perfect season with a victory in Sunday's fifth round of the Parts Canada Superbike Championship at Mosport International Raceway.

In his most convincing performance of the year, the Brantford, Ont. racer led all the way from pole position on his Waznie Racing / BMC Ciclo Werks / DeWildt Honda CBR1000RR and crossed the line 6.357 secs. ahead of Francis Martin on the radX HD / BMW Motorrad Canada BMW S1000RR.

Frank Trombino completed the podium riding the ProStar Motorsports / Sturgess Cycle Honda CBR1000RR.

Szoke completed the 20 laps around the 3.957 km (2.459-mile) Mosport circuit in 27 minutes, 18.682 seconds for an average speed of 173.862 km/h (108.043 mph).

"I think I got one of the best starts of my career," said Szoke after his all-time leading 34th career national Superbike win and his ninth at Mosport International Raceway. "That's what I wanted. I knew there would be some strong racing behind me and that allowed me to open a gap early."

Szoke turned the fastest lap of the race, a 1:21.084 on lap three and was five seconds clear of Martin before the race was five laps old. He held that margin the rest of the way to pick up his fifth Parts Canada Superbike win in a row, tying a series record.

The triumph completed a sweep of Superbike wins for Szoke at Mosport after he also captured the victory on Saturday despite battling a leaking radiator.

"We made some big suspension changes for today and we nailed the set up," he said. "I just tried to maintain my pace and played it cautious with traffic. I could have gone into the [one minute] 20s if I had to."

Szoke heads into the season ending doubleheader at Atlantic Motorsport Park in Shubenacadie, N.S. with a 74-point lead over Martin, 268- 194. A win is worth 50 points.

"I've won five in a row three times now in my career and I want to win those last two," said Szoke, who also picked up five victories in 2002 and 2006. "I'm going to do my best to do that. I want a perfect season and put my name up there."

Martin was third off the start and spent two laps trying to get around the Competition Systems Kawasaki Race Team Kawasaki ZX-10R of Alex Welsh. He picked up his second straight runner-up finish of the weekend and his third in a row.

"I tried very hard to pass Alex and we had a big fight, we passed back and forth two or three times I think," said the two-time Canadian Superbike champion from Sherbrooke, Que. "I tried very hard to catch Jordan but I couldn't quite do it."

Trombino got caught up in a battle for third with the BMW S1000RRs of Mike Ferreira and Andrew Nelson. The Kleinburg, ON racer got the spot for good on lap 11 and pulled clear for his best finish of the season.

Trombino had crossed the line second on Saturday after a spirited race but was disqualified when his bike was unable to complete post race technical inspection. Third place on Sunday represented his best Superbike finish of the year.

"I definitely had to work for it," said Trombino, a two-time Superbike race winner at Mosport. "Once I finally got away from those guys I just put my head down and tried to catch Francis, but he was too far away."

Ferreira crossed the line fourth on the second of the radX HD / BMW Motorrad Canada entries but the Mississauga, Ont. rider was penalized five seconds for a jump start and dropped to fifth in the results.

That moved Nelson up to fourth on the Orion Motorsports / BMW Motorrad Canada S1000RR, and the Kars, Ont. rider maintains third place in the Parts Canada Superbike standings with 157.

After a great start got him into second off the line Uxbridge, Ont.'s Welsh slipped back to sixth in the final results and Jodi Christie of Keene, Ont. placed seventh on the Jodi Christie Racing / Durham Honda Powerhouse Honda CBR600RR.

In other action at Mosport, Szoke also won his fifth straight Pro Sport Bike race of the season on his Honda CBR600RR after a spectacular battle with the similar bike of Christie. The two swapped the lead repeatedly until the final lap, when they made contact two turns from the finish and Christie crashed. He managed to remount to cross the line fourth, which became third due to a jump start penalty to Trombino.

Jean-Francois Cyr finished second on his CyRacing Suzuki GSX-R600.

Szoke takes a 53-point lead over Christie, 266-213, heading to the final doubleheader in Nova Scotia.

Raphael Archambault of St-Colomban, Que. came within three points of clinching the Amateur Sport Bike title after scoring his fifth straight win of the season at Mosport on Saturday. The rider of the Centre Hamel Honda- backed Honda CBR600RR finished 0.740 secs. ahead of the ProStar Motorsports- supported Suzuki GSX-R600 of Burlington, Ont.'s Jody Greening. St-Dominique, Que.'s Philippe Masse was third on the FC51 Custom.com / Pete's Superbike.com Kawasaki ZX-6R.

Robert Busby of Brantford, Ont. completed a weekend sweep of the K&N Filters Sport Twins class on his Buell XB12 and the Brantford, Ont. rider takes a 67-point series lead to the final weekend.

Ryan Appenrodt of Quesnel, B.C. extended his lead in the Honda CBR125R Challenge to 35 points with his sixth win in seven races this year.

Michael Barnes of Boca Raton, Fla. rode his Lightning entry to a dominant victory in the first ever TTXGP eGRAND PRIX electric motorcycle race held in Canada. Thad Wolff of Newbury Park, Calif. was second, 1:13.011 behind on a Norton Electra and San Francisco's Jennifer Bromme placed third riding a Mavizen.

Action from Mosport can be seen in two separate one-hour television episodes on TSN HD and TSN. The first will premier Aug. 24 at 1:00 p.m. and feature the TTXGP eGRAND PRIX series, plus coverage of Saturday's Pro Sport Bike and Superbike races.

The second show will premier Sept. 14 at 1:00 p.m. and include Saturday's Amateur Sport Bike race, plus Pro Sport and Superbike from Sunday. All times are Eastern.

-source: www.cdnsuperbike.com