SHANNONVILLE, Ont. – Nine-time Canadian Superbike champion Jordan Szoke scored an impressive victory in the opening round of the RACE Super Series at Shannonville Motorsport Park on Sunday. The Brantford, Ont. rider took his Waznie Racing / Mopar Express Lube / Ram Trucks BMW S1000RR to a 4.2-sec. win over Frank Trombino in the Pro Superbike race on the SMP ‘Pro’ track.
Aboard the Royal Plumbing-backed Aprilia RSV1000, Trombino edged the Jodi Christie Racing / Honda Canada / Accelerated Technologies Honda CBR1000RR of Jodi Christie for second place in the 14-lap feature event.
“We got a late start with the bikes but we’re getting up to speed,” Szoke said. “We don’t have any really big changes; we’re just trying to get time on the bike and get used to the new Dunlop spec tires. I like the tires and it’s nice to have the support here from Dunlop.”
If the RACE season opener was meant to be a preview of the Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship national series, which opens at Shannonville in four weeks, the prospects are for an exciting season as the top three battled fiercely most of the way.
Christie led Trombino and Szoke off the line but Szoke powered ahead of the Aprilia on the backstraight on lap 4, then did the same to Christie two laps later. By half distance these three were 10 seconds clear of the rest of the pack, and with a fastest lap of one minute, 5.1 seconds on lap 7 Szoke was able to slowly pull away from Christie and Trombino.
Trombino hounded the Honda rider mercilessly, often sneaking a peek down the inside on the entry to the Allen’s Corner left-hander near the end of each lap. Christie still held second spot as they started the final lap, but Trombino quickly overtook the Keene, Ont. racer. Christie regained the position down the backstraight and stayed to the middle of the track on the entry into Allen’s. Undaunted, Trombino went around the outside of Christie in Allen’s, giving him the inside for the final turn. The Kleinburg, Ont. rider got ahead and held off Christie to the line.
Trevor Daley was a distant fourth on the OneSpeed / Dua Motorsports Suzuki GSX-R1000, the Streetsville, Ont. racer running a lonely race after he passed Elie Daccache on lap 2. Daccache was fifth on his Suzuki GSX-R600 ahead of the Yamaha YZF-R6 of Will Hornblower. Riding his new Kawasaki ZX-10R, Franklyn Dominguez held off the Honda CBR600RR of Kristopher Garvie for seventh.
Christie took his Honda CBR600RR to an exciting victory over the Triumph 675 of Kenny Riedmann in the 12-lap Pro 600 race at Shannonville. Riedmann had grabbed the lead on lap 2 and the Belfountain, Ont. racer stayed in front until the final lap, when after several corners of side-by-side racing Christie finally got the advantage in the hairpin leading onto the backstraight.
Trombino emerged from a four-rider scrap to take third on the ProStar Motorsports Honda CBR600RR normally ridden by Tony Lanni, while Daccache edged Garvie for fourth.
Lanni won both Amateur races on his Honda. In Superbike he stayed in front all the way despite the pressure of Pedro Sousa. Sousa looked poised to make a pass near the end of the 12-lap race, but the Suzuki rider was held up by a lapper through Allen’s and lost touch with Lanni. Nevertheless, he finished just 0.785 secs. behind at the flag.
Steve Hamer finished third on a Yamaha YZF-R6, just ahead of the Honda of Stacey Nesbitt, while Rob Cousineau got fifth after Anthony Scavone fell at the final corner.
Lanni beat Hamer and Nesbitt in the 10-lap Amateur 600 race.
Other winners at Shannonville included Steve Walker in both the Middleweight Masters and Middleweight Sportsman races, Michael Hood in Novice, Ken Hill in Lightweight, Moe Gebara in Heavyweight Sportsman and Cameron Walker in 250 Production.
In the Sidecar event, Bill Douglas and Andrea Purdy won in F1, Bryan and Shelby Rigby took F2 and Pierre Rochat and Marc Lebeau claimed TLE.
Unofficial Pro Superbike Results
1.Jordan Szoke (BMW S1000RR)
2. Frank Trombino (Aprilia RSV1000)
3. Jodi Christie (Honda CBR1000RR)
4. Trevor Daley (Suzuki GSX-R1000)
5. Elie Daccache (Suzuki GSX-R600)
6. Will Hornblower (Yamaha YZF-R6)
7. Franklyn Dominguez (Kawasaki ZX-10R)
8. Kristopher Garvie (Honda CBR600RR)
9. Stephan Houle (Kawasaki ZX-10R)
10. Steve Hoffarth (BMW S1000RR)
11. Marco Sousa (BMW S1000RR)
–By John Hopkins
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