Jordan Szoke nails fourth straight Canadian Superbike crown
BILL PETRO PHOTO
Jordan Szoke of Brantford, second in the National Superbike race earlier this month, is all smiles as he celebrates his title victory at Shannonville.
Jordan Szoke of Brantford took his sixth Parts Canada Superbike title (and his fourth in a row) at Shannonville Motorsports Park near Belleville this month.
Riding for the Canadian Kawasaki team, Szoke had been in a back-and-forth battle with Saskatoon teenager Brett McCormick on the Blackfoot Suzuki all season, and came into the last round needing to race for the lead. In both the Superbike and Sport Bike (600 cc) classes, Szoke squeezed out a title with a second place even though McCormick finished first.
Both riders did what they had to. McCormick rode brilliantly to a new lap record on the fast Shannonville Pro track and took both victories, even overcoming a questionable jump start penalty in the Superbike race.
But with Szoke strongly in second in both races (albeit harassed in Superbike by Yamaha's Kevin Lacombe and in Sport Bike by his own teammate Alex Welsh), there was no way for McCormick to get the points for either championship.
The usually cheerful and imperturbable McCormick, remarkably mature for his 18 years, displayed some emotion after the Superbike race, sitting quietly on his bike with his head down for several minutes. Later he said, "It sucks to come up a little bit short."
Szoke's Superbike crown ties him with the legendary Steve Crevier for six National titles.
It was a unique weekend inasmuch as all five of the National series classes were still open, and in every case the series winner didn't take a victory in this last event of the season.
In the Amateur 600 ranks, the battle went to Sebastien Tremblay of Longueuil, Que., on his A. Perusse Kawasaki/Kawasaki ZX-6R.
But second was good enough for Cody Matechuk, the 15-year-old phenomenon from Cochrane, Alta., and his Suzuki to take the title and move up to the Pro ranks for 2010.
Matechuk has a good coach at home, as he's the stepson of Clint McBain, who finished third in the Superbike series and fourth on the day on his Suzuki Dealers/Acceleration Racing Suzuki.
Another 15-year-old, Raphael Archambault of Saint-Colomban, Que., clinched the Suzuki SV650 Cup title in a squeaker. The diminutive Archambault qualified poorly after a practice crash, but only had to finish 12th to take the title.
The race was won by veteran Rob Busby, Archambault's only title challenger, but the Quebec kid overcame a five-second jump start penalty and just managed to hang onto 12th at the flag, taking the series by a single point.
And in Honda CBR125 action, the training ground for young kids, Steven Nickerson of Hamilton finished second behind rival Bodhi Edie of Warman, Sask., to take the title. With 15 entrants ranging in age from 12 to 15 (plus a couple of adult guest riders), the tiny 13 hp Hondas provided the best race of the weekend.
Moto GP
Italian ace Valentino Rossi once again scored a wildly popular home victory in Italy, despite riding with a donkey's face painted on his helmet and wearing a set of fake donkey ears to the podium celebrations. His reason? He said he felt like a donkey after his crash at Indianapolis two weeks ago halved his series lead over Spanish teammate Jorge Lorenzo.
The Clown Prince of racing made no mistakes at Misano, however, taking pole position, passing early leader Dani Pedrosa of the Repsol Honda team as his fuel load lightened, and riding away to a relatively easy win.
Lorenzo came second to keep close to Rossi in the title chase – despite his win, Rossi said that "Jorge was cleverer than me and took home 20 points" – while Pedrosa hung on for third and took over third place overall ahead of Ducati's Casey Stoner.
Stoner is still sitting out with a mysterious ailment that is confounding doctors from Europe to Australia. He hopes to return to action for the next race in Estoril, Portugal, on Oct. 4.
Ducati's other factory rider, Kentucky ace Nicky Hayden, was torpedoed on the first lap, along with fellow American rider Colin Edwards, when San Marino native Alex de Anglelis crashed into Edwards, who in turn hit Hayden. Lorenzo got hit as well, but was the only one of the three who could continue.
Hayden was furious, as he was on tap for his best result of the season on the difficult Ducati after good practice and qualifying sessions.
An equally irritated Edwards merely said he didn't know what happened. "I wasn't really involved in it apart from sliding on the ground."
Larry Tate writes about motorcycle racing for Wheels. larryt@primus.ca
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