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By: Canadian Superbike Championship
January 28, 2025
January 28, 2025
Hamilton, Ontario – The Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship has officially revised its 2025 provisional race schedule, removing the fourth round at Rocky Mountain Motorsports near Calgary, Alberta.
The difficult decision was made due to external factors that would have prevented the championship from operating in a normal fashion.
The venue limitations, set by city council, were unable to be overcome for the 2025 season. CSBK organizers would like to thank RMM officials for their collaboration during this process, which included a successful mid-season test during the 2024 season.
The Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship remains committed to exploring potential events at RMM in the future.
“It’s an unfortunate situation” said series owner Ross Millson. “We’ve worked to expand CSBK for our competitors, supporters, and fans, but setbacks and challenges are always possible.”
The decision means that the 2025 schedule will revert to four rounds, with a longer break between round three at Alberta’s RAD Torque Raceway and the season finale in Ontario at CTMP in August.
However, the third round at RAD Torque will now become a tripleheader for the feature GP Bikes Pro Superbike and Economy Lube Pro Sport Bike classes, meaning each championship will maintain at least nine races in 2025.
The rest of the supporting Bridgestone CSBK classes will remain doubleheaders, with their 2025 schedules to eight races.
Series organizers would like to thank riders, teams, and fans for their support ahead of the 2025 campaign and look forward to another exciting season of national racing.
More information can be found on the series’ official website.
For more information on the Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship, visit www.csbk.ca
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By: Honda Canada
January 23, 2025
January 23, 2025
Markham, Ontario - In an exciting move sure to shake up the Canadian Superbike championship, Honda Canada has signed 2024 Bridgestone CSBK National Superbike champion Ben Young of Collingwood, ON. Ben will proudly sport the number one plate on his 2025 Honda CBR1000RR-SP in the five round National Championship this season.
Four-time Canadian National Pro Superbike Champion Young, the Scottish-born, most successful racer of the current era, will have a pair of the top Honda sports machines to support his effort to continue to control the CSBK National Championship tour.
Young has agreed to represent Honda Canada for two years, for the 2025 and 2026 Championship series. Also representing Honda on the Pro Superbike Feature class grid is David McKay on the Snow City Cycle Marine CBR1000RR-SP, the former Pro Sport Bike middle weight National Champ heading into his second year aboard a litre bike Honda.
"It's a wonderful opportunity to represent Honda, and it will be a great challenge for our team and of course for me as a rider to make the most of the CBR as soon as possible," smiles Young, who last raced for the famed manufacturer on a Honda RS125 pure race single cylinder two-stroke machine more than a decade ago.
"Prior to the opening National round at Shannonville Motorsport Park May 17 and 18, we will be working flat out to get our two machines ready and then head on track to start developing our new Honda equipment, ideally on circuits in both eastern and western Canada."
The 2025 Series will feature five rounds with two races per event, with a total of ten races offering Championship points in the series sanctioned by the FIM (Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme) and CMA (Canadian Motorcycle Association) and organized by CSBK. The Championship first took place in 1980, and this year's races will be televised on both The Sports Network – TSN and affiliate Reseau des Sports – RDS in French.
Ben Young's new Hondas will be prepared by his existing technical team, the same duo that have supported the 31-year-old since his switch to the Canadian series aboard the 1000cc, production-based Superbike machines back in 2016. Alberta's Willie Vass and Ontario-based Scott Cartier are already involved with the build program for their CBR1000RR-SP machinery.
"We are absolutely ecstatic to be able to bring a champion like Ben Young on board to represent Honda Canada in CSBK action this season," explains Larry Lamanna, Honda Canada's Manager, Sales and Field Operations, Motorcycles. "In off-road, we have Dylan Wright and Ryan McNabb who are leading the Honda Canada/Gopher Dunes Racing/Fox program in the Triple Crown Series Canadian Nationals, so we have potential Champions representing Honda in both major disciplines of two wheeled action in Canada. We are always racing to win and couldn't be more excited to start the season."
The most recent success for Honda in the Canadian National Superbike Championship came with Jodi Christie, who earned the title on an Accelerated Tech CBR1000RR in 2014. Prior to that, the series' most successful pilot, Jordan Szoke, had the first ever perfect season to take the number one plate for the Fast Company CBR squad in 2010. Canadian legend Steve Crevier also earned the National crown for Honda Canada back in 2000 and 2001 aboard the legendary Honda RC51 vee-twin.
Van Dolder's Home Team, a long-time supporter of Young's career, will continue as the title sponsor of the new Honda superbike effort, with additional, ongoing backing from Parts Canada, Scot Build, Hindle Exhausts, Clearlite, Bickle Racing and Dp Brakes and Pro Honda Oils & Chemicals.
The new Honda squad will be presented for the first time at Moto Canada's Toronto Motorcycle and Powersports Show at the Enercare Centre at Exhibition Place, February 14-16.
To subscribe to the latest Honda Canada news and updates, please visit www.hondanews.ca
Honda Canada Motorcycles
Honda Canada Inc. was established in 1969 and is the sole distributor of Honda motorcycles, scooters, ATV and side-by-sides in Canada. The Honda Canada Motorcycle Division is responsible for sales, marketing, and operational activities for these products through authorized Honda dealers. For more information on Honda Canada powersports products, please visit: https://motorcycle.honda.ca/.
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By: Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championhip
August 31, 2024
August 31, 2024
Shannonville, Ontario – A near-perfect weekend continued for Alex Dumas on Saturday, leading start to finish despite plenty of pressure along the way to take his second victory of the Bridgestone CSBK season in the final round at Shannonville Motorsport Park.
Dumas grabbed the holeshot from pole position despite an equally good launch from Sam Guerin, and the pair quickly stretched away from the field and ran nose-to-tail for well over half the race as Guerin desperately looked for a way through.
An obvious passing point never materialized, however, as Dumas completed one of the best defensive efforts of his career to escape with a dramatic win in the penultimate race of the GP Bikes Pro Superbike season.
The victory – his second since joining Economy Lube Ducati – is just the latest part of what has been a dominant weekend from Dumas so far, having led FP1, FP2, and taken the BS Battery Pole award to now go along with a 14th career Superbike win.
“We won our first one at CTMP and led start to finish in that one too, but it was a lot harder today,” Dumas admitted. “I made a few mistakes, didn’t really make it easy on myself. But it was an awesome battle and a lot of fun, so hopefully we can do it again tomorrow.”
The victory also gives Dumas his sixth podium since joining the Economy Lube program, tying Pascal Picotte for the most by a Ducati rider in feature class history as he continues to look like a 2025 title contender on the V4 Panigale.
Guerin’s early assault wouldn’t be enough to displace Dumas and wasn’t quite enough to hold onto second, either, as newly-crowned champion Ben Young began to find a rhythm in the second half of the race and put himself back into second with four laps remaining.
Young would actually drop the gap to Dumas significantly in the final moments, setting the fastest lap of the race on the last lap but ultimately running out of time. Still, the four-time Canada Cup winner was happy to salvage a strong result after a bittersweet Friday, where he clinched his third championship in a row despite mechanical issues on his primary M1000RR machine.
“I didn’t get the best start, so I just tried to settle in on this ‘B-bike’ after we had some troubles yesterday, but I couldn’t quite get it there,” Young said. “But the team worked really hard overnight while I was celebrating, so I owe a huge thanks to them. The Van Dolder’s Home Team BMW is such an amazing package to be a part of and a hell of a bike, so I know we’ll get there tomorrow.”
Guerin would have to settle for third, a disappointing result after it looked like he might challenge for his third victory of the campaign but still a strong indicator of just how far Guerin and the EFC Group BMW team have come since the season began, clinching the runner-up spot in the 2024 standings.
“I had a few moments out there, almost lost the front a couple times, so I tried to bring it home in second but once I backed off a little Ben was able to get by me,” Guerin said. “I was able to put a ton of pressure on Alex, and even though I really wanted the win I was happy to see the progress we’ve made since the last time here in round one.”
Completing the top four once again was Jordan Szoke, who continued his own bittersweet run of finishing top-four in every race this season. The 14-time champion is the only rider besides Young to do so and continues to look strong aboard his CKM Kawasaki, though by a comfortable margin to the podium finishers ahead of him.
Rounding out the top five after a late push was David MacKay, who found himself locked in a thrilling battle with Trevor Daley for much of race one. MacKay was able to make an excellent move into the penultimate corner and had the pace to chase after Szoke, though with only a handful of laps left as he settled for a strong fifth.
Daley’s run of “Daley Double’s” would come to an end after winning the Sport Bike race earlier in the afternoon, though he still managed an impressive sixth for OneSpeed Suzuki as he battles through a wrist injury and made some last-minute repairs to his GSX-R1000 following a Friday crash.
Making up for an early error was Tomas Casas in seventh, who had the pace to fight inside the top-five but ran off the back straight on lap one. The Yamaha Motors Canada rider admitted it was his mistake as he got sucked into the slipstream of the group ahead, but his comeback effort to finish seventh was enough to secure him the FAST Hard Charger Award for the third time in his career.
Casas’ late push came at the expense of Connor Campbell, who had an excellent charge in his own right as he climbed from 15th on the grid to finish eighth and at one point ran as high as sixth for B&T MacFarlane/Kubota Kawasaki.
The strong finish will move Campbell a solid 16 points ahead in the Brooklin Cycle Racing Pro Rookie of the Year fight entering the last day of the season, as he looks poised to become the first Kawasaki winner of the award since Nico Meunier in 2019.
Eli Daccache would salvage ninth after running off the back straight on a pair of occasions, flashing the pace to fight inside the top-six but suffering from his costly mistakes aboard the Milwaukee Yamaha.
Rounding out the top ten in his pro debut was Goran Radisic, who clinched the AIM Insurance Amateur Superbike crown last time out at CTMP and decided to end the year by advancing to the pro ranks early for PMR BMW.
The feature class will now prepare for their final race of the 2024 campaign when the series returns to Shannonville on Sunday, with the trio of Dumas, Young, and Guerin each looking to make a statement heading into the offseason.
Full results can be found on the series’ official website.
For more information on the Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship, visit www.csbk.ca
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By: Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Shampionship
September 1, 2024
September 1, 2024
Shannonville, Ontario – He waited until the very last lap of the Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship season, but Ben Young managed to celebrate from the top step of the podium once again in Shannonville Motorsport Park on Sunday.
The four-time champion found himself in a similar spot to race one on Saturday, dropping from pole position to third on lap one as Alex Dumas fended off an early attack from Sam Guerin.
The race began to play out very similarly, as Guerin desperately looked for a way through on Dumas while Young settled in to a somewhat comfortable third. Just like race one, Guerin’s efforts would inevitably be denied and he would gradually sink back towards Young in the second half.
This time, however, Young was far less patient. The Van Dolder’s Home Team BMW made a decisive move in turn two and immediately set off towards Dumas, hunting down his rival and taking as much as half a second per lap out of his deficit.
That would put him right on the tail of Dumas to begin the final lap, though his first pass attempt into turn two was quickly rejected. Young’s second attempt would get the job done, making a beautiful move on the turn five/six switchover to slice underneath Dumas and seize the lead with half a lap to go.
Dumas would try a retaliatory move off the long back straightaway, but Young completed his own defensive effort in the final few corners to hang on for a fifth victory of the season by only 0.314 seconds.
“These guys obviously got a better start than me, so I just tried to settle into a rhythm again and follow fairly close, but not too closely,” Young said. “Eventually I was able to pull the trigger on Sam, but Alex really had no weak points. I just saw a little opportunity on the last lap and was able to find a way through, so it’s nice to end the year on top.”
Young was a bit more emotional than usual on the podium, reflecting on what has been a whirlwind 2024 campaign for the Van Dolder’s Home Team BMW crew.
“This team has been amazing every step of the way since 2016. We’ve had a great run for a while now, winning four championships, and I’m so happy to be a part of it,” Young said. “The BMW is such a great platform, I can’t say it enough. As always, we’ll see what the future holds, but I owe everyone a huge thanks.”
As for Dumas, the Economy Lube Ducati rider led every lap except the most important one at Shannonville, though he continued to make progress with his new program by reeling in a seventh podium of the season aboard the V4 Panigale – passing Pascal Picotte for the most by a Ducati rider in GP Bikes Pro Superbike history.
However, Dumas was also somewhat coy about his 2025 plans, having joined the Economy Lube team midway through the season.
“We tried a new setup today, it didn’t really work the way we wanted it but we’re still making lots of progress,” Dumas said. “I would have loved to do the full season, but I’m happy to finish the year with two wins. Hopefully I’m back next year, but things are pretty up in the air.”
Rounding out the podium for a second day in a row was Guerin, who once again found himself unable to claw his way into the lead but kept his rivals closer than in race one as he claimed his eighth podium this season.
Unlike his rivals, the championship runner-up was very adamant about his 2025 plans, eyeing a first career Canada Cup for the EFC Group BMW team.
“I had some more issues in the second half, but it was another big improvement from yesterday,” Guerin said. “I have to give a huge thanks to BMW Canada and the whole team for their help this season, and I can’t wait to be back fighting again next year.”
Jordan Szoke managed to hang with the leaders for the opening stint of the race, holding steady in the frontrunning group of four through the first five laps. The 14-time champion would eventually slump back to a lonelier fourth, though he represented a much bigger challenge than in race one as he ends the campaign with a top-four finish in every race for CKM Kawasaki.
Tomas Casas avoided any early mistakes to take an impressive fifth on Sunday, coming out on top of a spectacular five-rider battle in the early laps.
Casas eventually broke free of the pack and would settle into a third top-five finish in four races for Yamaha Motors Canada, a strong end to the season as he jumps to tenth in the final standings despite appearing in just four of 12 races.
David MacKay ended his debut Superbike season with another consistent finish in sixth, coming out on top of another back-and-forth battle with Trevor Daley. That will keep MacKay fifth in the final year-end standings for ODH Snow City Cycle Honda, an incredible effort for the reigning Pro Sport Bike champion.
Daley would fight through a wrist injury to claim seventh for OneSpeed Suzuki, while Eli Daccache charged back to eighth after he ran off the back straightaway during his battle with Casas aboard the Milwaukee Yamaha.
Connor Campbell exited the year with a solid ninth-place finish and thus secured the Brooklin Cycle Racing Pro Rookie of the Year award, capping off an impressive debut campaign for B&T MacFarlane/Kubota Kawasaki.
AIM Insurance Amateur Superbike champion Goran Radisic completed the top ten for a second day in a row at Shannonville, a pair of excellent finishes in his pro debut for PMR BMW as he graduated early from the amateur ranks.
Young’s late comeback from third to win also earned him the last FAST Riding School Hard Charger award of the season, overcoming a near three-second deficit at the midway point to snatch an unlikely victory from Dumas.
Full results can be found on the series’ official website.
For more information on the Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship, visit www.csbk.ca
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By: Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championhip
August 30, 2024
August 30, 2024
Shannonville, Ontario – The Canada Cup will officially be staying put in 2024, as Ben Young mathematically clinched his fourth career Bridgestone CSBK title on Friday despite rival Alex Dumas taking pole position at Shannonville Motorsport Park.
Young entered the season finale with a 50-point lead and the tie-breaker over Sam Guerin, allowing him to secure the GP Bikes Pro Superbike championship off qualifying points as long as he put himself higher on the grid than Guerin.
He would do just that, but hardly without drama in what was one of the wildest qualifying days in recent memory for the feature class.
While leading Q1, Young stalled on the front straight and was forced to push his Van Dolder’s Home Team BMW into the pits, ending his session as the team scrambled to figure out the issue.
After reportedly discovering a battery problem, the team decided not to risk anything in Q2 as Young hopped aboard his secondary “B bike” for the top-ten BS Battery shootout, which featured a rain setup in the event the weather changed.
That initially allowed Guerin a chance to push the title fight onto Saturday, as he took the early lead in Q2 with a time of 1:44.461 aboard his EFC Group BMW with Dumas chasing in second and Young third.
Dumas would then leapfrog Guerin to jump to the top of the timesheets just prior to the halfway point in Q2, blitzing his way into the 1:43 range just moments before Young squeezed past Guerin and into second.
As if there couldn’t be more drama, Guerin then discovered a brief setup issue when leaving the pit lane with five minutes to go, preventing him from getting a tow off Dumas.
When he finally returned to the track on his own, the Quebec City native could only marginally improve upon his time, settling for third on the grid and seeing his title chances officially come to a close.
Young would improve his own time for good measure, and while it wasn’t enough to dislodge Dumas for BS Battery Pole Position, it did reward him with an additional three points and thus a third consecutive Canada Cup.
“We always seem to have some sort of problems don’t we,” Young joked, after battling qualifying issues during his 2019 and 2023 title weekends. “It’s been an up and down year, so to get out of it with a fourth championship is awesome. Hopefully we can have some fun this weekend and still put it on the top of the box, but in the meantime we’re definitely going to celebrate a bit tonight!”
The celebrations overshadowed what was a historic day for Dumas and the Economy Lube Ducati team, as he snatched his sixth career BS Battery Pole award but his first since taking over the V4 Panigale earlier this season.
That gives the Italian brand their first Pro Superbike pole position ever in the timed qualifying era, ending a run of five consecutive BMW poles in 2024.
“The bike is amazing, but Scott Miller did a ton of work overnight and we made a huge jump from yesterday to today,” Dumas said. “It feels good to be back on pole. Congrats to Ben on the championship, but hopefully now we can have some good battles this weekend.”
Guerin will complete the front row in third, and while his quest for a first career championship will have to wait, his work isn’t done as the EFC Group BMW rider tries to hang onto second in the standings over Jordan Szoke.
Szoke would qualify fourth for CKM Kawasaki and trails Guerin by 29 points heading into the weekend, though he will have his work cut out for him as he qualified 0.750 seconds behind the current championship runner-up.
Centering the second row will be Shannonville’s regional champion Eli Daccache, who continues to show well for Milwaukee Yamaha as he ran in fourth for the first half of Q2 and ultimately wound up just 0.099 seconds behind Szoke.
Taking sixth on the grid and the final spot on the second row was Sebastien Tremblay, who put in an incredible effort aboard his Sport Bike title-winning Turcotte Performance GSX-R750.
It remains to be seen if Tremblay will do double-duty this weekend after already clinching his championship in CTMP, though he certainly looked competitive enough despite piloting a lesser-powered middleweight-spec machine.
Leading off the third row is Paul Macdonell, who has looked very strong on Friday aboard his PMR/Vass Performance BMW. The Alberta native put himself marginally ahead of David MacKay, who will try to continue reeling off top-five finishes for ODH Snow City Cycle Honda.
Completing the third row in a valiant effort is Trevor Daley, who fought through a wrist injury and his lesser-powered OneSpeed Suzuki GSX-R750 to take ninth.
Daley crashed his GSX-R1000 Superbike earlier in FP1 and was forced to resort to his Sport Bike-spec machine, though he managed to turn in an impressive effort even at less than full health.
Rounding out the top ten in Q2 was Tomas Casas, who couldn’t replicate his stronger pace from Q1 and was forced to settle for the start of row four aboard his Yamaha Motors Canada machine.
Now with the championship tucked away for 2024, Young and company will return to the track for race one on Saturday with the freedom to fight as intensely as they like, as Dumas tries to convert pole into a second win of the campaign for the Ducati squad.
Full results can be found on the series’ official website.
For more information on the Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship, visit www.csbk.ca