Top 10s for Szoke in Virginia

By John Hopkins

Jordan Szoke scored a pair of 10th place finishes at the AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike event at Virginia International Raceway last weekend.

Fresh off of clinching his fifth straight Parts Canada Superbike Championship, the 31-year-old from Brantford, ON found himself thrown in at the deep end at VIR, as cancellation of Thursday practice left him with just one 50-minute session on Friday to set up his Waznie Racing / BMC Ciclo Werks / DeWildt Honda Powerhouse Honda CBR1000RR and adapt to the Dunlop control tires used by the AMA series.

“Getting your bike set up perfectly is so important for us,” said Szoke, who raced at VIR in AMA action in 2003. “We don’t have the luxury of electronics to help during the race, so if I don’t get it just right, fatigue can play a major role when the tire starts to go off.”

Szoke turned in his best qualifying lap in the second of the two sessions, held on Saturday morning, giving him a spot on the third row of the grid for the pair of 23-lap races.

He got an excellent start in Saturday's race but faded in the second half to a 10th place finish, a victim of tire wear and feeling the effects of the extreme heat.

“I can get the fast laps out there,” he explained. “What we’re struggling with is consistent lap times. After 23 laps without any electronics it’s tough to wrestle a superbike around for that long. Nailing the set up is crucial for us to be successful. Luckily we have a ton of help from the guys at K-Tech Suspension to get it just right.”

Szoke turned the seventh best time in Sunday morning's warm-up session and decided to use a soft rear Dunlop for the race, hoping to get another good launch and run with the frontrunners as long as possible.

Unfortunately, at the start of the afternoon race he found himself bunched in and had to settle for another 10th place finish.

“I feel like we are so close,” said Szoke. “I am really starting to get used to the Dunlop tires and finding out how they work. I want to continue to compete in the remainder of the 2010 AMA season, but we will have to see if financially we can make it happen.”

With some more support, Szoke is hoping to take part in the next round of the AMA series at New Jersey Motorsports Park Sept. 3-5.