McCormick on Shannonville pole

By John Hopkins

SHANNONVILLE, Ont. – Brett McCormick will make his bid for a third straight Canadian Superbike Championship by Parts Canada series win at Shannonville Motorsport Park from pole position on Saturday afternoon.

The 19-year-old from Saskatoon claimed the top starting spot for this weekend’s second and third rounds of the national road race series with the fastest time in Pirelli SuperPole qualifying on Friday on his radX / BMW Motorrad Canada BMW S1000RR.

McCormick lapped the 2.4km (1.5-mile) Shannonville ‘Pro’ track in one minute, 3.919 seconds for an average speed of 135.171km/h (81.103 mph) to pick up his second straight $500 Kawasaki S4-R Competition Lubricants Pole Award of the season.

Five-time defending Canadian Superbike champion Jordan Szoke of Brantford, Ont. qualified second quickest with a lap at 1:04.664 aboard the Competition Systems Kawasaki Race Team Kawasaki ZX-10R and Kars, Ont.’s Andrew Nelson was a close third at 1:04.684 riding his Nelson Racing / GymMax / Monette Sports BMW S1000RR.

“I didn’t want to do anything crazy on my lap,” said McCormick, who has won the two most recent Canadian Superbike nationals at Shannonville, in 2008 and 2009. “I had a little wheelie coming off the backstraight and that gave me a bit of head shake going into the chicane.”

Pole position was also worth four more points to McCormick in his bid for his first Canadian Superbike Championship. He now has 60 points to the 46 of Nelson and Szoke’s 43 heading into this weekend’s pair of feature races.

“We’ve got some stuff to try tomorrow morning to try and improve the front end a bit,” added McCormick, who had turned a time of 1:03.977 in Friday morning’s pre-qualifying session.

Szoke was slightly slower than his Friday morning time of 1:04.538.

“I messed up that lap a bit,” the 31-year-old admitted. “The bike is better than I proved out there. But I think we have a good race pace that will have us in the hunt tomorrow and Sunday.”

Nelson improved on his morning time by almost a second in the Pirelli SuperPole session after the team made a couple of late adjustments to his BMW.

“We’d been struggling all through practice and we rolled the dice and it seemed to work,” he explained. “I even feel like I have a little bit left to work with so that’s nice to know.”

Alex Welsh of Uxbridge, Ont. completes the front row for this weekend’s races after turning a SuperPole lap of 1:04.965 on the Z1 CycleTech Suzuki GSX-R1000, although that time was down slightly from his morning effort.

“There was more in the tank but I made a couple of mistakes,” he admitted.

McCormick’s radX / BMW Motorrad Canada BMW teammate Michael Ferreira qualified fifth in Superbike action with a time of 1:05.321. The Mississauga, Ont. rider was on his 'B' bike after he crashed his primary machine late in the morning pre-qualifying session. He then had to retake his Pirelli SuperPole run after a timing glitch spoiled his first effort.

"I've only had three laps on this bike so I was trying to get used to it and keep it on two wheels," Ferreira said after his first effort. He said his second run was hampered by the tires not having the grip of the earlier run.

Ferreira will be joined on the second line by the Jodi Christie Racing / Bluestreakracing.ca Honda CBR600RR of Keene, Ont.’s Jodi Christie and Mississauga, Ont.’s Matt McBride riding the BMW Toronto Motorrad / Riders Choice BMW S1000RR.

Christie turned a lap at 1:05.446, which was almost half a second better than his morning pre-qualifying time. He was fastest of the DOT-equipped 600cc machines and was thrilled with his run.

"We tried a softer tire which was good for grip but moved around a little bit more," he said. "But the bike was awesome, and it worked really good."

A disappointed McBride was slightly slower than his morning effort with a 1:05.797.

"I'm very disappointed," admitted the Shannonville ace. "I had a lot of wheelspin, the rear was a little greasy."

Rounding out the top 10 qualifiers in Pirelli SuperPole were Francis Martin of Sherbrooke, Que. on the Couturier Racing / ProPulsion BMW S1000RR, Woodbridge, Ont.’s Frank Trombino aboard the Suzuki Canada / Hindle / Sturgess Cycle Suzuki GSX-R600 and Rob Busby of Brantford, Ont. on the Wolf BMW S1000RR.

Martin admitted to a near-crash in turn two, Trombino was disappointed with his run, while Busby admitted to a few wild moments in his first ever Pirelli SuperPole appearance.

Superbike Qualifying Results
1.Brett McCormick, Saskatoon, Sask. (BMW S1000RR) 1:03.919 (135.171km/h)
2. Jordan Szoke, Brantford, Ont. (Kawasaki ZX-10R) 1:04.664
3. Andrew Nelson, Kars, Ont. (BMW S1000RR) 1:04.684
4. Alex Welsh, Uxbridge, Ont. (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 1:04.965
5. Michael Ferreira, Mississauga, Ont. (BMW S1000RR) 1:05.321
6. Jodi Christie, Keene, Ont. (Honda CBR600RR) 1:05.446
7. Matt McBride, Mississauga, ON (BMW S1000RR) 1:05.797
8. Francis Martin, Sherbrooke, Que. (BMW S1000RR) 1:05.898
9. Frank Trombino, Woodbridge, Ont. (Suzuki GSX-R600) 1:06.550
10. Rob Busby, Brantford, Ont. (BMW S1000RR) 1:07.571
11. Marie-Josee Boucher, Montreal, Que. (Honda CBR600RR) 1:07.259
12. Franklyn Dominguez, Hudson, Que. (Kawasaki ZX-10R) 1:07.559
13. Kenny Reidman, Belfountain, Ont. (Triumph 675) 1:07.683
14. Bill McKay, Tavistock, Ont. (Kawasaki ZX-6R) 1:08.066
15. Bodhi Edie, Warman, Sask. (Honda CBR600RR) 1:08.204
16. Steve Walker, Carleton Place, Ont. (BMW S1000RR) 1:08.422
17. Sean Huffman, Kemptville, Ont. (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 1:08.425
18. Billy Shields, Unionville, Ont. (Yamaha YZF-R1) 1:08.726
19. Vicki Schouten, Ottawa, Ont. (Kawasaki ZX-6R) 1:10.772
20. Dean Plater, Cumberland, Ont. (Kawasaki ZX-10R) No Time
21. Sylvain Dery, St-Colomban, Que. (Yamaha YZF-R6) No Time