Jordan Szoke's 2nd place at AMP gives him the points lead heading into the final race at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. (Photo-Bob Szoke)
Jordan Szoke started off his weekend at Round Three of the Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship held at Atlantic Motorsports Park right by placing his Mopar Express Lane BMWS1000RR on pole position Saturday afternoon. This was Szoke's third consecutive Magneti Marelli SuperPole awarding him four more points towards the Mopar Canadian Superbike Title and a 23 point lead leading into Sundays race. Szoke turned a lap at one minute, 7.610 seconds (136.311km/h) around the tight 2.56km (1.6 mile) road course early in the 15 min super pole session.
"When I saw the lap time I thought we had it for sure," Szoke admitted. "But my hat's off to Jodi. He made it close. He's going really fast and showing a lot of confidence. It should make for a great race tomorrow."
Szoke missed the holeshot on Sunday's race, but remained close until lap 18 of 22. Slipping under the leader in turn 5 finds him some clear track. Positions were swapped again on lap 21 and Szoke replied in turn five on the last lap. He held a tight inside line through the last few corners. Entering the final turn Szoke was repaid the favor and lost the charge to the line to finish in second place.
Szoke earned 42 points on the weekend and 158 in the championship.
"It's a bit disappointing because we've had a strong bike all year and especially this weekend," said Szoke, who was trying to claim a record-tying seventh Superbike win at AMP. "I just made a big mistake. I thought I had the win in the bag and I went a bit slower into the last corner to make sure I got a good drive onto the front straight. I'm just mad I left the door open for him."
Szoke takes his 13 point lead in the Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship to Canadian Tire Motorsports Park doubleheader weekend in Bowmanville, Ontario Canada which will feature Superbike races on Saturday and Sunday.