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July 6 2021
Toronto, Ontario – After another long and chaotic offseason, the Canadian Superbike Championship can finally return to racing, as the series opens their 2021 campaign in front of limited spectators this weekend with round one at Calabogie Motorsports Park, July 10-11.
The Pro Superbike feature class will once again see 14-time National champion Jordan Szoke defending his title, after sweeping the pandemic-shortened 2020 season to reclaim the Canada Cup and his signature number-one plate.
The Lynden, ON veteran will be back aboard brand-new Canada General Warranty Kawasaki machines as he chases a historic 15th crown, and his dominant 2020 stretch makes him the odds-on favourite heading to Calabogie, a track where he has won every Pro Superbike race at since its inception in 2008.
However, Szoke will have his work cut out for him this season with perhaps his toughest group of challengers yet, made up of both new foes and familiar rivals.
Leading that charge will likely be the last man to beat Szoke, as 2019 champion Ben Young returns to the feature class aboard his Van Dolder’s Home Team BMW. The Collingwood, ON native won three races and scored five podiums during his last breakout campaign, though he hasn’t suited up since and will have to shake off the rust quickly after nearly two full years away from the sport.
Young won’t be the only front-running BMW on the grid, as EFC Group rider Samuel Guerin will look to build upon his sensational debut season where he finished as the runner-up to Szoke a year ago. Guerin will maintain his rookie status due to the pandemic, but the Quebec City-born rider will be returning with a year of Pro Superbike experience and a lot of offseason training under his belt.
Another rookie sure to crack the lead group is teenager Alex Dumas, who returns to Canada after a successful stint in MotoAmerica. The former Junior Cup and Twins champion will be joining CSBK for the first time, racing for Liqui Moly Suzuki in 2021, but has flashed early pace at Calabogie and figures to be right in the mix of things in his debut Pro Superbike campaign.
Other names to watch in a loaded feature grid include OneSpeed Suzuki rider and consistent frontrunner Trevor Daley, long-time podium contender Michael Leon aboard a Royal Distributing BMW, Parts Canada Yamaha contender Tomas Casas, and fan-favourite Sebastian Tremblay, though Tremblay will be focusing primarily on the Liqui Moly Pro Sport Bike category.
Tremblay won both races in the Sport Bike class last season and figures to be the overwhelming title favourite in 2021, as he headlines a stacked Turcotte Performance Kawasaki lineup. The Mirabel, QC rider will have a trio of talented teammates to deal with in Christian Allard, teenager Nicolas Meunier, and Vincent Levillian, all of which will play a huge role in the battle behind Tremblay.
Defending class champion Will Hornblower will be sidelined for most of – if not all of – the 2021 season after injuring himself in a pre-season crash at Grand Bend, but would be the biggest challenger to Tremblay should he make an appearance aboard his 402Bike Yamaha.
Yamaha Canada won’t be without a challenger in Hornblower’s absence, however, as rookie Jake LeClair will make his long-awaited Pro debut after sitting out the 2020 season. The former Lightweight champion needed only one year in the Amateur ranks before progressing to the feature grid and should be a threat for podiums in his first year with black numbers.
Another contender in the Sport Bike category will likely be former Guyanese racing champion Elliott Vieira, who has shown steady improvement over each of his four seasons in Canada and will be back aboard a Snow City Yamaha machine in 2021.
The Amateur ranks will again be the toughest to predict with a huge number of competitive riders expected this year, though Racine, QC’s Anthony Bergeron will likely enter as the pre-season favourite in the MotorcycleCourse.com Amateur Superbike category after a pair of podiums in 2020 aboard his BMW Motorrad machine.
Former Lightweight frontrunner Matthew Simpson also figures to be in the mix in the Brooklin Cycle Racing Amateur Sport Bike class after a strong regional racing debut, while fellow regional star Brad MacRea will also be gunning to move into the Pro ranks after a strong finish to the 2020 campaign.
The Super Sonic Road Race School Lightweight Sport Bike class will be wide open this season as well, with youngster Mackenzie Weil aiming to capture his first Lightweight championship as the odds-on favourite aboard his Kawasaki machine.
The National tour will not be alone at Calabogie Motorsports Park, as CSBK welcomes the inaugural Pro6 GP regional racing series as well as the Vintage Roadracing Association this weekend. The weekend will feature a Pro 6 Cycle trackday on Friday, July 9 before racing in all three series’ kicks off on Saturday and Sunday.
The 2021 campaign will also see the introduction of two new side championships in the Pro Superbike feature class, the Constructors Championship and Pole Position Championship, which were announced earlier this week and will make their debut at round one in Calabogie.
More information and the full schedule for the season opener can be found on the series’ official website.
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July 6 2021
Toronto, Ontario – The upcoming opening event in the 2021 CSBK National tour and Pro 6 GP race Series at Calabogie Motorsports Park will feature a strong Vintage entry in the classic racer event scheduled for July 10 and 11. The Vintage Road Racing Association, founded in 1980, first competed at Calabogie in an invitational event with the opening CSBK National of 2015.
The Vintage final will feature machines from four categories in the V.R.R.A., including the recently adopted Period 5 class for race bikes utilized in the late 1990s. The period 5 entry includes Ducati pilot Jean-Marc Bilger, a recent Pro Podium performer in Liqui Moly Pro Sport Bike at Atlantic Motorsport Park in Nova Scotia. Bilger’s chief rival is likely to be former Pro 250 Grand Prix National front runner Darrell “Boom Boom” Cooney aboard his recently completed Suzuki boattail SRAD GSX-R600.
The strong Period 4 grid will offer a wide range of bikes that featured in the late 1980s, including 2015 Calabogie pole sitter Neil Graham, the writer and film maker aboard a racer red Ducati 888 Desmo. Former V.R.R.A. number one plate holder and Vintage star Daniel Rinfret is also very quick on his Honda GT650 middle-weight twin.
In Period 4, the rider to watch is Tim Ruhl, a star Amateur in the 1980s who had an impressive career in the WERA National Endurance Tour in the U.S.A. during the 1990s. Ruhl pilots a big Suzuki Katana, one of the definitive machines of the air-cooled, twin shock early era of Pro Superbike competition.
Purpose-built racer bikes feature in the Grand prix class, where the trick yellow meanie Yamaha TZ250 two-stroke twin of Rob Massicotte is expected to set the pace. All four classes of Vintage machinery will race together on Sunday afternoon at Calabogie and compete at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park east of Oshawa, ON, in the annual Vintage classic, August 6-8.
The full list of rider entries are now posted on the official CSBK website here: https://www.csbk.ca/index.php/news/news/3301-vintage-road-racing-association-pro-6-gp-race-series-and-csbk-confirm-calabogie-vintage-entry
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May 27 2021
Toronto, Ontario – The scheduled opening round of the 2021 Canadian National Superbike Championship, announced for Grand Bend Motorplex June 11-13, has been postponed due to COVID-19 restrictions. The 2021 CSBK National tour is now scheduled to begin at Calabogie Motorsports Park, south west of Ottawa, ON, July 10-11.
The new Pro 6 GP Regional racing series also plans to debut at Calabogie Motorsports Park on the same weekend, July 10-11. Pro 6 Cycle are entering their eighth season of providing Dunlop spec tire support for the CSBK National tour in all five Pro and Amateur categories.
CSBK had originally intended to open National action at the start of June. Then the ongoing revision of health guidelines, related to the ongoing Pandemic, forced some delays. As outlined by the province of Ontario, revised restrictions have occurred, and further updates are expected.
Currently, the earliest possible date to resume wheel-to-wheel competition in the Province of Ontario would be Monday, June 14.
However, it is not certain that racing will be possible in mid-June, and Government Officials have indicated that adjustments to the schedule for the gradual reopening of the Province will be based on several tiers of progressive health markers. These guidelines will be update over the next few weeks.
At this point, series organizers are optimistic that racing should be possible by July, although with strict guidelines and requirements similar to last summer’s delayed opening. The last CSBK series event was the 2021 final National round at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park last August 16, conducted without spectators. CSBK and Pro 6 GP planned the 2021 National program expecting strict at-track requirements.
As well, clear guidelines for the resumption of travel between provinces are still not available from Ontario or the neighbouring Province of Quebec. CSBK earlier stated that National events will not be held in 2021 until competitors from outside Ontario could travel to that Province.
“We are sorry about the continued delays in opening up the 2021 Canadian National motorcycle roadracing Championship series,” explains CSBK boss Colin Fraser of Professional Motorsports Productions in Toronto, ON.
“We were excited to confirm an ambitious program last fall in conjunction with partners Pro 6, and the support of our racer community and fans has been very encouraging. We aim to stage as complete a schedule of events as possible this year, working within the Federal and Provincial health guidelines. We also intend to provide a full slate of events to honor our agreement with The Sports Network (TSN) this season.”
For more information on the CSBK Canadian Superbike Championship, visit www.csbk.ca
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- Category: Motorcycle
June 2 2021
Toronto, Ontario – Battery giant, Yuasa Battery Inc, is partnering with the Canadian National Motorcycle Road Racing Championship series for 2021 and is now the official power source of CSBK. Yuasa Battery Inc will sponsor television and video coverage of the Championship Series, including episodes on The Sports Network, TSN. Yuasa Battery Inc will also support a year-end prize money award for the top qualifying riders in the Pro Superbike Feature class, the Yuasa Battery Pole Position bonus.
The top five qualifiers for each 2021 event’s set of Pro Superbike feature races will receive points, with standings updated at each series event. At year-end, the top racers in the Yuasa Battery Pole Position Bonus Award program will receive a points fund payout courtesy of Yuasa.
Yuasa Battery Inc. has manufactured powersports batteries to uncompromisingly high standards in the United States since 1979. As the largest American manufacturer and distributor of batteries for motorcycles, snowmobiles, scooters, all-terrain vehicles, side-by-sides, and personal watercraft, Yuasa Battery Inc supplies more powersports batteries to OEMs than all others combined, in the US and globally.
Yuasa sponsors a wide range of worldwide motorsports, including the factory Repsol Honda MotoGP program with lead rider Marc Marquez of Spain, the eight-time World Champion.
“The CSBK tour’s competitors, staff, and fans are excited by this opportunity to work with Yuasa,” explains CSBK boss Colin Fraser. “Yuasa Battery is a high-profile, premier brand, and we think Yuasa is a great fit with the Canadian National Superbike Championship. We are looking forward to staging a range of exciting programs in partnership with Yuasa, starting with the qualifying bonus for each National Event’s Yuasa Battery Pole Position qualifying session.”
In 2020, Canada General Warranty Kawasaki works racer Jordan Szoke won all four CSBK National Superbike races, the veteran Pro from Lynden, ON., earning an unparalleled 14th career Canadian overall Championship. Szoke also Qualified in pole position for both 2020 events.
Fastest in “Q” at both the Calabogie Motorsports Park and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park last season, Szoke is the firm pre-season favourite to earn the Yuasa Battery Pole Position Bonus Award for the upcoming 2021 season.
For more information on the CSBK Canadian Superbike Championship, visit www.csbk.ca
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