Szoke ends Jennings test at the front

From Professional Motorsports Productions

JENNINGS, FL – Jordan Szoke’s bid for a fourth straight Parts Canada Superbike Championship is off to a solid start following the two-day official Pirelli Tire Test at JenningsGP in Jennings, FL.

The Brantford, ON rider ended the test with the fastest time on his Canadian Kawasaki Motors Kawasaki ZX-10R and established a track record with a lap at one minute, 14.421 seconds around the 3.219km (2.0-mile) circuit on Wednesday morning.

He was unable to beat that mark in the warmer conditions in the afternoon but still set the fastest Superbike lap at 1:14.615.

“I had the perfect lap until going into the esses I got wide, and if you don’t get it right to start with you screw it all up,” Szoke explained. “I also think I could have been more aggressive through the last corner. The bike felt fantastic and I think if it had been 10 degrees cooler I could have gone faster than this morning.”

The next best Superbike time was a 1:15.604 from Brett McCormick on the Team Suzuki / Blackfoot / Picotte Motorsports Suzuki GSX-R1000. The Saskatoon rider, who is making his debut with the Suzuki squad in 2009, made a late bid to improve but tucked the front end in the final corner. He was not injured in the fall.

McCormick did take the honours for the fastest time among the Yoshimura Pro Sport Bike competitors, however, with a 1:15.052 aboard his Suzuki GSX-R600 in Wednesday’s morning session.

Szoke came close to that in the afternoon, but could only manage a 1:15.071.

“I’m happy about that,” said McCormick of his Sport Bike effort, “especially after the last couple of years, where I’ve struggled a bit with the 600. This team is super-knowledgeable and I’ve learned a lot the past couple of days.”

The top Sport Bike times came with the latest version of Pirelli’s DOT tire and represented an improvement of over half a second from last year’s JenningsGP test, where Szoke had the fastest time at 1:15.687.

Few riders were able to improve on their Wednesday morning times in the warmer afternoon conditions. Kevin Lacombe was third fastest Superbike with a 1:16.235 on his Team Toyota Yamaha OTSFF Yamaha YZF-R1 and managed a 1:16.364 on the YZF-R6, which placed him second behind Szoke in the afternoon session.

Alex Welsh was fourth fastest in Superbike at 1:17.996 as he continued to come to grips with the Canadian Kawasaki Motors Kawasaki ZX-10R on his debut with the team and managed a 1:17.353 on the ZX-6R Sport Bike.

Lacombe’s team-mate Tony Kasper of Becker, MN turned a 1:18.315 on his Yamaha YZF-R6.

The 2009 Parts Canada Superbike Championship opens at Calabogie Motorsports Park, near Ottawa on May 21-24.