Canadian Superbike Calabogie Practice

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 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. “We’ll look at the data some more and maybe make some changes for tomorrow.”

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.

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.

Szoke led the way in practice for the Yoshimura Pro Sport Bike division with a time of 2:03.129 on his factory Kawasaki ZX-6R. A late surge by McCormick brought him close to the defending class champion as he turned a 2:03.437 on his final lap on his Suzuki GSX-R600. Lacombe was third with a 2:04.414 on his Yamaha YZF-R6.

Sebastien Tremblay of Longueuil, Que. led the Armour Bodies Amateur Sport Bike practice on his Kawasaki ZX-6R, Ottawa’s Dan Henri was fastest among the Suzuki SV650 National Cup competitors, Ryan Roche of Pickering, Ont. paced the Honda CBR125R Challenge field and Richmond, Ont.’s Vicki Schouten led Pro Honda Oils Women’s Cup on her Kawasaki ZX-6R.

Saturday’s action at Calabogie Motorsports Park features qualifying for all national classes. Races are set to go Sunday afternoon.

This weekend’s races will be shown on TSN and TSN HD premiering Tuesday, June 16 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern and repeated Saturday, June 20 at 4:00 a.m. Eastern. The event will also be televised on RDS. Check local listings for dates and times.