BOWMANVILLE, Ont. – Jodi Christie clinched his first Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship with an emphatic victory in the final round of the season at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on Sunday.
The 22-year-old from Keene, Ont. took the lead on the opening lap and pulled away to a 15.498-sec. victory on his Honda Canada / Accelerated Technologies Honda CBR1000RR. Christie completed the 16 laps around the 3.9km (2.459-mile) CTMP track in 20 minutes, 58.683 seconds for an average speed of 181.081km/h.
The win was Christie’s second in five races this season and gave him a total of 242 points in the final Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship standings, 80 more than class runner-up Trevor Daley of Mississauga, Ont. Daley snatched second in the standings by four points over defending and nine-time champion Jordan Szoke thanks to a third place finish on Sunday on his One Speed Suzuki GSX-R1000.
Szoke was unable to race this weekend after badly breaking his right thumb in an Observed Trials riding accident last weekend.
“I know it sounds corny, but I can’t say enough about the team I’ve had behind me this season,” said Christie as he accepted the number one plate and the Canada Cup from John Eason, National Manager for Mopar and Service Marketing. “It’s a shame Jordan wasn’t out here to battle with, but we did our job and we brought it home.”
Christie’s John Sharrard-led Honda Canada / Accelerated Technologies crew took home the Inside Motorcycles Team of the Year award.
Marcel Irnie finished second in Sunday’s race on his MobiBuff / Irnie Racing / World’s Best Motorcycles BMW S1000RR.
After finishing second in Saturday’s rain-lashed race, which gave him the Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship points lead, Christie dominated on Sunday. He opened up a lead of about two seconds a lap in the early stages, setting the race’s fastest lap of 1:22.457 on his second tour. By half distance his margin was 11.6 secs. and he only eased off his pace in the waning laps.
“I found I was able to put in some fast laps right away and pull a decent gap early,” Christie said. “I knew I had a big lead but I wasn’t content. I wanted to keep my head down and put a show on for the fans.”
Irnie was a clear second for the first half of the race but after half-distance was being reeled in by Daley. The Suzuki rider got ahead through turns nine and 10 as they completed lap 11, only to have Irnie regain second spot when Daley nearly crashed exiting turn 10 at the end of the next lap.
The pair continued their scrap right down to the wire, with Daley just failing to nip Irnie in a drag race to the finish line by 0.170 secs.
The runner-up spot completed a solid weekend for Kelowna, B.C.’s Irnie, who finished third on Saturday.
“I knew the gap was closing up behind me and he [Daley] kept showing me a wheel into turns two and eight,” Irnie said. “On the last lap I just tried to defend the inside as best I could and it worked out.”
Daley had made a spectacular charge from the back of the grid on his back-up Suzuki, which was brought into service at the last minute and hadn’t turned a wheel since the season opener at Shannonville Motorsport Park in June.
“We had our trials and tribulations this weekend so it’s great to come away with third place,” said Daley, who suffered a nasty fall on Friday that sent him to hospital and then had to bring out his Suzuki on Sunday morning.
“Based on the lack of track time with the bike it was more about just getting on and seeing what happened. But I managed to save my rear Dunlop for late and Marcel and I had an awesome race. I was trying to set him up for a run out of turn 10 at the finish but he kept his head in it and just got me.”
Sebastien Tremblay of Longueuil, Que. led home a five-rider scrap for fourth on his MotoNation / Laval Moto / CrossFitLaval.com Kawasaki ZX-10R. After trading the spot with Ross Millson through the first half of the race, Tremblay came under pressure from Kristopher Garvie in the waning laps and just held off the Honda Canada / Fast Company Honda CBR1000RR rider at the line. They were chased home by the BMW S1000RR of Scarborough, Ont.’s Chris Murray-Audain, Hamilton’s Millson and Franklyn Dominguez of St-Lazare, Que. on the OCM Motor Sports / egopay.com Kawasaki ZX-10R.
Tremblay took fourth in the Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship standings with 155 and Caledon, Ont.’s Garvie was 11 points back in fifth.
There was also an entertaining battle for ninth place between Sunoco / Brooklin Cycle Racing Pro Rookie of the Year contenders Marco Sousa and Stephane Houle. Riding the Z1 Cycletech BMW S1000RR Sousa held off Houle’s Jim Keay Ford / Wheelsport / ASM Motosport Kawasaki ZX-10R for the $500 Sunoco / BCR prize in the race. The Schomberg, Ont. racer also clinched the season-long rookie prize.
Matt McBride started on pole on the Riders Choice / Dainese BMW S1000RR but for the second day in a row the Etobicoke, Ont. racer’s race ended in disappointment, as he retired after one lap with his engine running on only two cylinders.
Saturday’s race winner Frank Trombino, riding the Royal Plumbing Aprilia RSV4, was a non-starter on Sunday after a crash in the warm-up left the Kleinburg, Ont. veteran with a broken ankle and wrist injury.
Race Results
1.Jodi Christie, Keene, Ont., Honda CBR1000RR, 16
2. Marcel Irnie, Kelowna, B.C., BMW S1000RR, 16
3. Trevor Daley, Mississauga, Ont., Honda CBR1000RR, 16
4. Sebastien Tremblay, Longueuil, Que., Kawasaki ZX-10R, 16
5. Kristopher Garvie, Caledon, Ont., Honda CBR1000RR, 16
6. Chris Murray-Audain, Scarborough, Ont., BMW S1000RR, 16
7. Ross Millson, Hamilton, Ont., Suzuki GSX-R1000, 16
8. Franklyn Dominguez, St-Lazare, Que., Kawasaki ZX-10R, 16
9. Marco Sousa, Schomberg, Ont., BMW S1000RR, 16
10. Stephan Houle, Gatineau, Que., Kawasaki ZX-10R, 16
11. Ron Munroe, Beaver Bank, N.S., Kawasaki ZX-10R, 15
Did Not Finish
Philippe Masse, St-Hyacinthe, Que., Kawasaki ZX-6R, 12
Matt McBride, Etobicoke, Ont., BMW S1000RR, 1
Did Not Start
Frank Trombino, Kleinburg, Ont., Aprilia RSV4
Kenny Riedmann, Belfountain, Ont., Triumph 675
Raphael Archambault, Terrebonne, Que., Suzuki GSX-R600
Will Hornblower, Sarnia, Ont., Yamaha YZF-R6
Darren James, North Vancouver, B.C., Buell 1125
Louie Raffa, Ste-Marthe, Que., Honda CBR600RR
Caleb Noiles, Upper Cloverdale, N.B., Honda CBR600RR
Elie Daccache, Newcastle, Ont., Yamaha YZF-R6
Mitch Card, Ripley, Ont., Honda CBR600RR
Time of Race: 20:58.683
Average Speed: 181.081km/h
Margin of Victory: 15.498 secs.
Fastest Lap: 1:22.457 by Jodi Christie on lap 2
Lap Leaders: Jodi Christie, 1-16
Point Standings
1.Jodi Christie, 242
2. Trevor Daley, 162
3. Jordan Szoke, 158
4. Sebastien Tremblay, 155
5. Kristopher Garvie, 144
6. Franklyn Dominguez, 110
7. Frank Trombino, 86
8. Marcel Irnie, 81
9. Marco Sousa, 65
10. Will Hornblower, 54
10. Ross Millson, 54
12. Stephane Houle, 44
13. Ron Munroe, 38
14. Chris Murray-Audain, 27
15. Caleb Noiles, 23
16. Tim Robinson, 21
17. Matt McBride, 6
18. Raphael Archambault, 1
18. Kenny Riedmann, 1
–From Professional Motorsports Productions
{fcomment}
<
Discussion about this post