VOL. 54 ISSUE 33 AUGUST 22, 2017 P47
SZOKE TAKES 2017 CANADIAN SBK TITLE
J
ordan Szoke (BMW S
1000 RR) completed a
sweep of the Mopar Ca-
nadian Superbike Cham-
pionship doubleheader at
Canadian Tire Motorsport
Park on Sunday, leading a
five-bike pack across the
line in the final round of the
2017 season.
A day after clinching his
12th Canadian Superbike
crown, the 38-year-old
survived a last lap move by
Kenny Riedmann (Kawasaki
ZX-10R) to score his sixth
straight win at CTMP.
Riedmann settled for
second while Samuel
Trepanier (BMW S 1000 RR)
claimed third after passing fel-
low BMW rider Ben Young on
the last lap.
Michael Leon completed the
lead pack in fifth on his Royal
Distributing BMW S 1000 RR,
just 1.069 seconds behind
Szoke.
"What a battle that was. It
feels good to win that way," said
Szoke after his 65th career Ca-
nadian Superbike win. "Battles
like that can go either way and
I've been on the other end, too."
A red-flag midway through the
scheduled 20-lap race turned
the Pro Superbike finale into an
eight-lap shootout. Szoke led all
the way but the positions behind
him changed constantly, with
first Trepanier, then Young and
finally Riedmann taking up the
runner-up spot.
On the final lap, Kawasaki
rider Riedmann tried a move
around the outside of Szoke
through turn eight, but was un-
able to pull it off.
Riedmann bounced back
from a disappointing fifth-place
finish on Saturday to challenge
for the win on Sunday and lock
up second place in the final
Mopar Pro Superbike standings.
"I knew the opportunity [to
go for the win] was there and I
was saving it for a draft pass at
the end of the back straight,"
Riedmann said. "I guess I didn't
time it quite right and Jordan
was able to hold me off."
Mitch Card (Yamaha YZF-R6)
completed a sweep of Liqui
Moly Pro Sport Bike races
this weekend by holding off
newly crowned class cham-
pion, 17-year-old Tomas Casas
(Yamaha YZF-R6) in the 14-lap
race.
Jason Thoms was another
racer to complete a double-
header sweep at CTMP, tak-
ing Sunday's Magneti Marelli
Amateur Superbike round on his
BMW S 1000 RR from Jean-
Francois Aubin of St-Jerome,
Quebec.
Samuel Desmarais clinched
the Amateur Superbike title.
Cameron Walker (Kawasaki
ZX-6R) took out the Amateur
Sport Bike race; Jared Walker
emerged victorious in the
Kawasaki Ninja 300 event and
Richard Thompson (Yamaha
YZF-R3) claimed the Bickle
Racing Invitational Lightweight
race win. CN
Szoke (1)
claimed his 12th
CSBK crown at
CMT, but he had
to work for it.
