Motourage

After writing history at Atlantic Motorsports Park with an unprecedented perfect season and seven Canadian National Superbike titles, Waznie Racing’s Jordan Szoke repacked his championship CBR1000RR’s and pointed the rig south to once again challenge North America’s best in the ranks of AMA Pro Racing’s American Superbike class at VIRginia International Raceway.

With Thursday practice canceled, Szoke had his work cut out for him with a small 50-minute practice window before the first qualifying session began.  The heat and humidity hanging over the 1,200-acre site near Alton, Virginia had Szoke and his Waznie Racing crew sweating – not only due to the high temperatures, but also the pressure on Szoke to get his bike set up just right since his equipment is built around the Canadian National Series rules.  “Getting your bike set up perfectly is so important for us,” said Szoke. “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.”

With two chances to get it done, Szoke nailed down his best performance on his ninth lap in the second qualifying session, landing him on the third row of the grid for Saturday and Sunday’s grueling 23-lap race around the 2.25 mile, 17 turn road course.

During race 1, Szoke rocketing to the front with a killer start on his Honda CBR1000RR. Szoke cranked out fast, consistent lap times during the first quarter of the race; however, tire wear and fatigue set in midway to the checkered, and Jordan finished in 10th place.  “I can get the fast laps out there,” said Szoke. “What we’re struggling with is consist 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.”

Sunday’s Superbike warm up session brought another series of major setup changes and propelled Szoke to seventh fastest of the session.  Jordan strategized with Sebastian from Dunlop for his tire compound choice for race 2.  “We chose a soft tire to try to take off with the pack at the beginning.  I’m not sure what’s going to happen at the end of the race,” laughed Szoke before the race began. “But we’re going to put the Honda up there for a bit anyways.”

As Szoke settled into the starting grid for Sunday’s race 2 under sunny skies and raging temperatures, his mind was focused on the first few laps.  It was paramount that he garnered a good start in order to get the first few perfect laps required with his soft tire choice.  Unfortunately, as the lights went out, Jordan found himself bunched up at the start, while the competitors ahead of him pulled away.  Szoke battled past the competition, leading one of the many battles that are fought within the race.  Jordan concluded his second AMA weekend with another accomplished 10th place finish.

“I feel like we are so (so) close.” says 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 continue competing in AMA American Superbike during Round 9, taking place at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

Saturday saw three thrilling AMA Pro Road Racing races at the 2.25-mile Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Va., in the opening day of competition for the Suzuki White Lightning AMA Pro Nationals presented by Foremost Insurance.  One was a runaway, one was a photo finish and the last was almost as close as the second one.

In the National Guard SuperBike race, it was Rockstar Makita Suzuki rider Tommy Hayden who took his fourth AMA Pro SuperBike win of the season by 0.005 of a second over pole position winner Ben Bostrom.  Bostrom led on his Pat Clark Motorsports Yamaha coming down to the line but in a mighty move, Hayden pulled out and crossed the line inches ahead of Bostrom.  The fun wasn’t over for Hayden who, in his successful attempt to win the race, was out of position at that very high speed part of the track, and he used all of his considerable skills to wrestle his Suzuki under control after he found himself running wide off the track onto the grass.  He brought it back under control and took a critical victory in his pursuit of Josh Hayes and his Team Graves Yamaha team.

John Hopkins walks back to the paddock after crashing out of Superbike race 1 on Saturday

“We started coming to the finish and I had huge momentum when I pulled out,” Hayden commented on his pass for the win.  “The way I was pointing too, when I pulled out, I never even got pointed towards turn one I don’t think.  I started leaning a little and I just had the biggest front slide I think you can have without crashing.  I pretty much thought I was down and somehow I just stayed in the throttle and steered it back up and pointed out in the grass and hoped there was nothing out there I couldn’t see, any ditches or nothing coming up and just tried to ride it out.  It feels good, I really feel like I needed this one today.”

Hayes, by virtue of leading the most laps in today’s race, has a one point lead over Hayden in their close battle for the National Guard SuperBike Championship.  Hayes had led early in the race after taking the lead from a fast starting Hayden. Hayes took the lead on lap four and led until lap 10 when Ben Bostrom asserted himself into the mix by grabbing the lead from Hayes in turn one.  Hayes responded and took the lead right back the next lap and he led for the next nine laps until Bostrom moved ahead on lap 21 which enabled Hayden to get by Hayes as well. Bostrom led as the last lap began but Hayden made a big late braking move into turn one and took the lead but Bostrom was able to fight right back and retook the lead two corners later and looked a likely winner until Hayden made his great move heading down to the flag to take the win.

Behind the riveting battle for the win, Larry Pegram finished fourth after dueling with Jake Zemke, Zemke’s Jordan Suzuki teammate Brett McCormick, Taylor Knapp and a front-row starting Eric Bostrom.  Knapp eventually finished fifth ahead of McCormick, Bostrom and Zemke.

John Hopkins made his return to the series today, and he rode his M4 Monster Energy Suzuki extremely well, running in a solid fourth place for most of the race until he went down in turn four near the end of the race.  Another rider making a comeback this weekend was Jordan Suzuki rider Aaron Yates, and he qualified on the outside of the second row; however, Yates elected not to start the race. His recovery is going well, but he wasn’t absolutely sure he would bring his best to the race, which was run in very hot and humid conditions.  Overall, it was another exciting race in a season that has seen five different winners in SuperBike.

Daytona SportBike Photo Finish

The AMA Pro Daytona SportBike presented by AMSOIL race was even more exciting and came down to an even closer finish.  After seeing Danny Eslick take the pole position, Eslick was joined on the front row by his championship rival Josh Herrin along with six-time 2010 Daytona SportBike winner Martin Cardenas and Tommy Aquino.

Read more…

The Second-Annual Motor Racing Outreach VIR Food Drive to benefit God’s Storehouse in Danville, Va. will be taking place at the Suzuki White Lightning AMA Pro Superbike Nationals, to be held August 13 – 15, 2010 at Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Va.

As last season, the food drive will be held on both the WERA and AMA Pro weekends, August 6 – 8 and 13 – 15, 2010, respectively. Riders, teams, fans, officials and everyone who attends are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items to donate to the Storehouse. Last year, the combined weekends raised more than 400 pounds of food that were distributed to the needy in the Danville, Va. area.

There will be marked gray bins throughout the paddock and vendor areas for donations to be dropped off. Any AMA Pro teams that have unopened food left over on Sunday are asked to request a bin, and MRO Chaplain Tim Burleson will see to it that you have one so your leftover food can be donated.

For more information, contact Chaplain Tim at gracingfuelministry@yahoo.com.