Christie and Casas are qualifying stars

SHUBENACADIE, NS — Jodi Christie of Keene, ON qualified on pole Saturday for this weekend’s Hindle Exhaust Pro Sport Bike race at Atlantic Motorsport Park to gain a point on championship leader Kenny Riedmann, who will start second. Christie set a time of 1:09.097 on his Jodi Christie Racing / Honda Canada / Accelerated Technologies Honda CBR600RR while Riedmann managed a 1:09.750 aboard the Riedmann Racing / Castrol Triumph 675.

Belfountain, ON’s Riedmann now leads Christie by four points, 99-95 in the Pro Sport Bike standings.

“Getting that point back feels good; we’ll try to carry that momentum into tomorrow,” Christie said. “The bike felt comfortable at that pace so we’ll try to break Kenny’s spirit in the race.”

Riedmann won the season opener at Shannonville Motorsport Park and finished third at Autodrome St-Eustache, while Christie has a pair of runner-up finishes so far this season.

“I’m not to happy about qualifying,” Riedmann admitted. “I was not expecting to be half a second off and that’s discouraging. But we tried some set-up changes in Superbike qualifying that will help us prepare for the race. We’re mainly looking at improving the stability over the bumps.”

Will Hornblower of Sarnia, ON starts third on Sunday after qualifying with a time of 1:10.759 on his Hornblower Racing / Blue Streak Yamaha YZF-R6 and Mississauga, ON’s Trevor Daley completes the front row after setting the fourth best time of 1:11.107 aboard his ProStar Motorsports / One Speed Honda CBR600RR.

Tomas Casas moved up to third in the Magneti Marelli Amateur Superbike standings by earning the four points for qualifying on pole for Sunday’s race. The Peterborough, ON rider turned a lap at 1:12.633 on his OCM Motor Sports / Peterborough Cycle Salvage Yamaha YZF-R6.

Stacey Nesbitt of St-Lazare, QC was second quickest on the OCM Motor Sports / FTR / Honda Canada Honda CBR600RR and moved to within three points of class leader Pedro Sousa. The Mississauga, ON rider, stiff and sore following a fall on Friday qualified seventh on his Honda CBR1000RR.

Casas stretched his lead in the Bell Helmets Amateur Sport Bike class by qualifying fastest on Saturday with a time of 1:12.110 on his Yamaha YZF-R6. Casas has 96 points to the 87 of Nesbitt, who will start third on her Honda CBR600RR.

Jacob Shaw-O’Leary of Falmouth, NS won his second Honda CBR250R National Race Series event of the year and closed to within 11 points of Eric Quintin for the class points lead. Riding the Pro Cycle-backed entry, Shaw-O’Leary finished 9.339 secs. ahead of Notre Dame de l’Ile Perrot, QC’s Quintin after Cameron Walker crashed unhurt from second place in the final turn on the last lap.

Walker’s brother Jared picked up the final podium spot.

Quintin now has 228 points to Shaw-O’Leary’s 217 heading into Sunday’s second race for the CBR250R class, while Oakville, ON’s Cameron Walker is now third with 180 points.

Action at Atlantic Motorsport Park concludes Sunday with feature races in all five national classes. Practice begins at 9:00 a.m. with the first race, for the Hindle Exhaust Pro Sport Bike competitors, set to launch at 1:00 p.m.

For ticket information call the track at (902) 758-2237 or the Atlantic Roadracing League at (902) 499-3610. Fans can also visit www.atlanticmotorsportpark.com or www.atlanticroadracing.com for more details.

The official Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship website, www.csbk.ca, will have full race video coverage of Saturday’s round of the Honda CBR250R National Race Series, as well as Sunday’s Hindle Pro Sport Bike and Mopar Pro Superbike feature events.

Pro Sport Bike Qualifying Results

–From Professional Motorsports Productions

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