McCormick wins big at Shannonville

By John Hopkins

SHANNONVILLE, Ont. – Brett McCormick scored a dominant win in the second round of the Canadian Superbike Championship by Parts Canada at Shannonville Motorsport Park on Saturday.

The Saskatoon rider started from pole, grabbed the lead off the start and was never headed from there on his radX / BMW Motorrad Canada BMW S1000RR. He finished 20.421 secs. clear of the Competition Systems Kawasaki Race Team Kawasaki ZX-10R of Jordan Szoke. Michael Ferreira placed third on the second radX / BMW Motorrad Canada BMW S1000RR.

McCormick completed 20 laps around the 2.4km (1.5-mile) Shannonville ‘Pro’ track in 21 minutes, 37.024 seconds for an average speed of 133.228km/h (83.268 mph).

“Every time I get on the bike I seem to get a little bit more comfortable, a little bit faster,” said McCormick, who also won the season opener at Circuit ICAR on May 29. “I think the lap times we put in were awesome in this heat.”

McCormick now has a perfect score of 112 points in the Canadian Superbike Championship standings heading into Sunday’s third round of the series at Shannonville. Szoke moved into second with 85 points ahead of Andrew Nelson with 78. Nelson placed fourth on Saturday.

McCormick wasn’t first off the line but he squeezed past the Z1 CycleTech Suzuki GSX-R1000 of Alex Welsh heading into turn one to grab the top spot and steadily pulled away from there. After five laps his lead over Szoke was 2.2 seconds but that had grown to almost eight seconds by half distance as he managed to turn lap times virtually a second quicker than his pursuers.

“I hope Alex isn’t too mad at me about the start,” the 19-year-old McCormick said. “I really wanted to be into first place by turn two.

“We’re going to tweak some things for tomorrow. I know nobody’s going to be sleeping tonight without trying to get a little quicker for the next race.”

Szoke started to drop back from McCormick by lap three and was never under any threat from behind.

“My hat’s off to Brett; I tried to stick with him,” said the five-time defending Canadian Superbike Champion from Brantford, Ont. “We need to find just that little bit more. We’ll put our heads together tonight and see what we can do.”

Ferreira started fifth but managed to move up to third by lap four. He was under stern pressure from Francis Martin on the Couturier Racing / ProPulsion BMW S1000RR before the Sherbrooke, Que. rider fell while trying to pass on lap 15.

Nelson then took up the challenge for third on his Nelson Racing / GymMax / Monette Sports BMW S1000RR but the Kars, Ont. rider had to settle for fourth place.

“The tires were getting greasy toward the end but I knew I had to push to keep Francis and Andrew behind me,” said Ferreira, who bounced back from a big crash in Friday morning pre-qualifying. “I really wanted to pay the team back. I made them work hard after my crash yesterday.”

After qualifying third Nelson dropped back to sixth on lap three but managed to work his way back up to challenge for the podium at the end.

Jodi Christie of Keene, Ont. placed fifth on the Jodi Christie Racing / Blue Streak Racing Honda CBR600RR after a quiet race.

"I got a good start but I kind of got boxed in and had to pass a bunch of people to move back up," he explained. "That cost me my chance to get with the front group and then I hit a couple of false neutrals, so I decided to just stay where I was."

Mississauga, Ont.’s Matt McBride (BMW Toronto Motorrad / Riders Choice BMW S1000RR) edged Woodbridge, Ont. racer Frank Trombino (Suzuki Canada / Hindle / Sturgess Cycle Suzuki GSX-R600) for sixth place after a race-long dice.

Marie-Josee Boucher on the Excel Moto Honda CBR600RR passed the Wolf BMW S1000RR of Rob Busby on the final lap to claim eighth place and Steve Walker rounded out the top 10 finishers on another BMW S1000RR.

Franklyn Dominguez was the last finisher in 11th on the Seamont Brokerage Kawasaki ZX-10R after crashing in turn 10 on lap four.

Along with Martin, Welsh was among the frontrunning retirements. The Uxbridge, Ont. racer pulled his Z1 CycleTech Suzuki GSX-R1000 off the track after seven laps with a mechanical issue.

"The bike just kind of died on me on the back straight," Welsh said. "I don't know if it was a fuel issue or what."

Billy Shields was also a retirement, crashing his Yamaha YZF-R1 in turn 10 on lap 14.

Superbike Race Results
1.Brett McCormick, Saskatoon, Sask. (BMW S1000RR) 20 (133.228km/h)
2. Jordan Szoke, Brantford, Ont. (Kawasaki ZX-10R) 20
3. Michael Ferreira, Mississauga, Ont. (BMW S1000RR) 20
4. Andrew Nelson, Kars, Ont. (BMW S1000RR) 20
5. Jodi Christie, Keene, Ont. (Honda CBR600RR) 20
6. Matt McBride, Mississauga, ON (BMW S1000RR) 20
7. Frank Trombino, Woodbridge, Ont. (Suzuki GSX-R600) 20
8. Marie-Josee Boucher, Montreal, Que. (Honda CBR600RR) 20
9. Rob Busby, Brantford, Ont. (BMW S1000RR) 20
10. Steve Walker, Carleton Place, Ont. (BMW S1000RR) 20
11. Franklyn Dominguez, Hudson, Que. (Kawasaki ZX-10R) 20
Did Not Finish
Francis Martin, Sherbrooke, Que. (BMW S1000RR) 14
Billy Shields, Unionville, Ont. (Yamaha YZF-R1) 13
Alex Welsh, Uxbridge, Ont. (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 7
Did Not Start
Kenny Reidman, Belfountain, Ont. (Triumph 675)
Bill McKay, Tavistock, Ont. (Kawasaki ZX-6R)
Bodhi Edie, Warman, Sask. (Honda CBR600RR)
Sean Huffman, Kemptville, Ont. (Suzuki GSX-R1000)
Vicki Schouten, Ottawa, Ont. (Kawasaki ZX-6R)
Dean Plater, Cumberland, Ont. (Kawasaki ZX-10R)
Sylvain Dery, St-Colomban, Que. (Yamaha YZF-R6)
Time of Race: 21:37.024
Margin of Victory: 20.421 secs.
Lap Leaders: Brett McCormick 1-20

Superbike Point Standings
1.Brett McCormick, 112
2. Jordan Szoke, 85
3. Andrew Nelson, 78
4. Michael Ferreira, 67
5. Jodi Christie, 52
6. Marie Josee-Boucher, 38
7. Franklyn Dominguez, 34
8. Alex Welsh, 33
9. Rob Busby, 33
10. Steve Walker, 32
11. Francis Martin, 27
12. Matt McBride, 27
13. Jean-Francois Cyr, 25
14. Frank Trombino, 25
15. Sylvain Dery, 21
16. Sebastien Tremblay, 19
17. Ross Millson, 10
18. Sean Huffman, 8
19. Billy Shields, 6