Szoke paces morning session

From Professional Motorsports Productions

JENNINGS, FL – Two-time defending national champion Jordan Szoke set the pace in Tuesday morning’s opening test session for the Parts Canada Superbike Championship competitors at JenningsGP.

Szoke was fastest in both the Superbike and Yoshimura Pro 600 Sport Bike classes. Riding his Canadian Kawasaki Motors Kawasaki ZX-6R the Brantford, ON rider toured the 2.0-mile circuit in one minute, 16.379 seconds.

In his first ride aboard the brand new ZX-10R Superbike, Szoke recorded a 1:16.728.

“To have that sort of time right away on the Superbike is really impressive,” Szoke said. “It’s an all-new motorcycle and we still have a lot to figure out. The 600 has obviously been developed over a year, but we’re faster than we went here last year with it.”

The JenningsGP lap record is a 1:14.51 recorded by Geoff May on a Suzuki GSX-R1000. The fastest time from Canadian Superbike preseason testing is a 1:15.444 by Pascal Picotte in April, 2006.

Granby, QC’s Kevin Lacombe was third fastest overall and second in Superbike Tuesday morning with a time of 1:17.194 on the Team Toyota Yamaha / Fast Company Racing Yamaha YZF-R1. Lacombe is making his debut with the Fast Company squad here at JenningsGP.

Third in Superbike was Szoke’s Canadian Kawasaki Motors teammate Brett McCormick of Saskatoon. The 2007 HJC Pro Rookie of the Year set a best time of 1:17.703 on his ZX-10R.

Calgary’s Chris Peris was second quickest among the Pro 600 Sport Bike competitors in his debut with the Team Suzuki / Blackfoot / Picotte Performance Suzuki GSX-R600 with a time of 1:18.146. Fellow Calgary rider Jeremy Stepper was third with a 1:18.175 on the Stepper Custom Homes GSX-R600.

Andrew Nelson made his debut Tuesday morning on the NCR Ducati 848 with which he will compete in the Canadian Thunder class in 2008. The Kars, Ont. native turned a limited number of laps and recorded a fastest time of 1:20.522.

The Parts Canada Superbike riders will have another test session Tuesday afternoon before wrapping up this preseason test with a full day of track time on Wednesday.