McCormick sets Superbike pace

By John Hopkins

CALABOGIE, ON – Brett McCormick nipped Jordan Szoke for the fastest time in practice for the opening round of the Parts Canada Superbike Championship at Calabogie Motorsports Park on Friday.

The 17-year-old from Saskatoon turned a lap at two minutes, 1.853 seconds around the 5.05km track on his Team Suzuki / Blackfoot / Picotte Motorsports Suzuki GSX- R1000 late in the afternoon practice session.

Szoke’s best on the Canadian Kawasaki Motors Kawasaki ZX-10R was a 2:01.897, just 0.044 secs. behind McCormick.

“Every time I go out I’m getting faster,” McCormick said. “We haven’t changed much on the bike. Yesterday I was just learning the track and we didn’t get much time this morning because of the rain. This has been my first real session on the Superbike.”

Szoke was over two seconds quicker than the field during testing on Thursday but found the times close up considerably on Friday.

“Everybody’s caught up but I know we can run these times all day long,” said the three-time defending Parts Canada Superbike champion, who won here last season. Good on Brett for being fastest, but I don't know if he can do those lap times consistently."

The next time the Superbikes will be on-track will be Saturday morning’s pre-qualifying session, which will set the top 10 for the afternoon’s Pirelli SuperPole shootout for the Inside Motorcycles Poe Position Award.

Kevin Lacombe of Granby, Que. was third fastest in Superbike practice on Friday with a time of 2:02.645 aboard the Team Toyota Yamaha / OTSFF Yamaha YZF-R1.

"It's better than yesterday," said Lacombe, who managed to improve his best time by some four seconds over Thursday. "Yesterday I wanted to jump off a bridge. I just have to be patient. I know this bike's got potential. We're still waiting for some parts to come."

Local ace Andrew Nelson of Kars, Ont. was fourth with a time of 2:03.610 on his Nelson Racing Yamaha YZF-R1 and Roxton Pond, Que.’s Karl Daigle was an impressive fifth fastest at 2:03.614 on the Perusse Kawasaki ZX-6R.