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July 9, 2022
Calabogie, Ontario – Alex Dumas’ epic run at Calabogie Motorsports Park continued on Saturday, as the defending CSBK Pro Superbike champion won race one of the round two doubleheader to keep his unbeaten streak at CMP alive and cut his championship deficit to just six points.
Dumas won all four contests at Calabogie last season and thus entered as the heavy favourite in his return, a case that was only bolstered when he captured the BS Battery pole position earlier on Saturday aboard his Liqui Moly/Fast School Suzuki.
That advantage was quickly erased, however, when rival Ben Young got a brilliant start off the line, leading the field into turn one and through the first few corners. His lead was just as short-lived, though, as Dumas instantly returned the favour in turn five and never looked back from there.
“I didn’t get the best start, but I got a better launch out of three and I was able to outbreak Ben into five,” Dumas said. “From there I just tried to put in a bunch of good laps, and rode a really good race to the end.”
It was a mixed bag in second for Young, who will be disappointed with the seven-point swing in Dumas’ favour but still looked strong as he debuted his brand new Van Dolder’s Home Team BMW M1000RR.
“It was our first weekend on the ‘M’, and there’s still a few things to sort out, but I felt good and I’m happy to still be here on the podium,” Young said. “We knew it would be a bit tough here, but we’re going to work through the night and come back stronger tomorrow to put it on the top of the box.”
It looked like a foregone conclusion that Dumas and Young would be joined by Trevor Daley on the podium, with Daley overcoming a slow start to latch onto the back of Young in third aboard his OneSpeed Suzuki.
However, Daley had a huge crash exiting turn eight with just four laps to go, handing the final podium spot to Sebastien Tremblay. It was a long-awaited return to the podium for Tremblay, who hadn’t stepped on the Superbike rostrum since 2015.
“It’s unfortunate for Trevor, but I’ll take it. It feels really good to be back up here,” Tremblay said. “I’ve been tired all weekend and didn’t really know where I could end up, so I’m very happy with this result.”
The podium will propel Tremblay to fourth in the overall standings and move Kawasaki to third in the Constructors behind BMW and Suzuki, though Daley limited the damage for Suzuki after re-mounting to finish eighth.
Samuel Guerin charged to fourth after a rollercoaster race, climbing as high as third on lap one and falling as low as seventh before eventually stealing fourth again on the final lap aboard his EFC Group BMW.
Guerin ultimately stole that spot from Michael Leon, though the strong fifth-place finish will still propel the Royal Distributing BMW rider back into the top ten overall as he recovers from a tough-luck opening round.
Pro Superbike Feature (Race 1 of 2) – Top 10
1. Alex Dumas, Suzuki
2. Ben Young, BMW
3. Sebastien Tremblay, Kawasaki
4. Samuel Guerin, BMW
5. Michael Leon, BMW
6. Ivan Babic, BMW
7. Anthony Bergeron, BMW (Rookie)
8. Trevor Daley, Suzuki
9. Ryan Taylor, Ducati (Rookie)
10. Vivian Matthews, Yamaha
Another new name was added to the list of Liqui Moly Pro Sport Bike winners on Saturday, as Elliot Vieira properly entered the title fight with his first ever Pro national victory over pole-sitter Trevor Dion.
Dion was the man out front for almost the entirety of the race, but was hounded by Vieira and David MacKay behind, with Vieira launching multiple unsuccessful pass attempts into turn eight alone. This eventually led to Dion stretching out a modest gap, but Vieira somehow managed to reel it all back in on the final lap and make the decisive move in turn six.
“It feels so amazing, I don’t know what to say,” said an emotional Vieira. “I decided to just follow Trevor and see how he would do, and at the end his pace started to fade so I just threw another move in there and it stuck!”
The win propels Vieira to just nine points behind Dion, as the Snow City Yamaha rider will look to carry his momentum into Sunday and erase that deficit completely. As for Dion, it was a disappointing finish in what was an otherwise shocking day, as he exceeded all expectations to bag pole position and a solid second-place finish for the LDS Consultants Kawasaki team.
The podium will preserve a slim title lead for Dion, but his biggest prize may be that he increased his gap over MacKay in third, who ran with the lead duo early on but was never able to make a proper overtake. The Fast Company Kawasaki rider will now fall to 20 points behind Dion, but with an opportunity to make up for it on Sunday.
The compressed Saturday schedule will lead to a pair of events moving to Sunday morning, including AIM Insurance Amateur Superbike qualifying and race one of the Super Sonic Race School Lightweight class, though there was still action in the Amateur Sport Bike and Lightweight Pro/Am categories.
Bobby Desjardins will start from pole position in Sunday’s Amateur Sport Bike race after crushing the field for Suzuki, with Yamaha riders Frederic Barnabe and Martin Richard joining him on the front row.
As for the Pro/Am, it was Jared Walker who took another overall race victory to extend his lead in the Pro ranks, holding off a strong challenge from Ryan Vanderputten who finished second on-track but will win the Amateur division.
Harvey Renaud and Gary McKinnon completed the podium in the Pro ranks by finishing third and fifth overall, while newcomer Andrew Cooney finished fourth on-track to take second in the Amateur division ahead of Bryce DeBoer in seventh across the line.
The full results from Sunday’s action can be found on the series official website at csbk.ca.
For more information on the CSBK Canadian Superbike Championship, visit www.csbk.ca
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July 9, 2022
Calabogie, Ontario – Reigning Pro Superbike champion Alex Dumas found his way back to the front of the grid on Saturday, taking his second career BS Battery Pole Position ahead of this weekend’s CSBK doubleheader at Calabogie Motorsports Park.
Dumas had plenty of pace throughout the day, setting lap-record pace in morning practice, but it was Suzuki-mate Trevor Daley who led the majority of the qualifying session as he chased his first career Superbike pole.
The usual suspects returned in the late stages, though, as Dumas and rival Ben Young traded fast laps in the dying moments, with the reigning champion ultimately getting the last laugh as he posted a time of 2:00.949.
“It feels good to be back up here at the front of the grid, it’s where we really wanted to be for this afternoon and tomorrow,” Dumas said. “The plan is to get to the front and try to hold these guys off, and pole position is hopefully going to help that.”
Dumas remains undefeated at Calabogie after four wins here last season, and will look to keep that streak alive in race one on Saturday evening. The Liqui Moly/Fast School Suzuki rider will have more important matters to focus on, however, as he looks to erase his championship deficit to rival Ben Young.
Young will get some consolation in his second-place grid spot, as it promotes him to the overall lead in the season-long BS Battery Pole Award battle, two points clear of Alex Dumas after coming up just short on Saturday.
The Van Dolder’s Home Team BMW rider is debuting his brand new 2022 M1000RR this weekend, and has come to grips with the machine early as he prepares to battle it out with Dumas on two occasions this weekend.
Completing the front row will be Daley, who lost out again on a dream pole position charge but will still be in a good position to challenge for his maiden victory later on this afternoon aboard his OneSpeed Suzuki machine.
BS Battery Pro Superbike Qualifying – Top 5:
1. Alex Dumas 2:00.949
2. Ben Young 2:01.309
3. Trevor Daley 2:01.870
4. Sebastien Tremblay 2:03.585
5. Michael Leon 2:04.132
Trevor Dion will start on pole position for the Liqui Moly Pro Sport Bike class after another sensational qualifying effort, crushing the field by over a half-second as he set a new qualifying lap record.
Dion was far from the betting favourite entering Calabogie, having never appeared here as a Pro before, but the LDS Consultants Kawasaki rider proved himself once again as he looks to stretch his championship lead later on Saturday.
The full qualifying order can be found on the series’ official website at csbk.ca.
For more information on the CSBK Canadian Superbike Championship, visit www.csbk.ca
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June 30, 2022
Toronto, Ontario – The Canadian Superbike Championship is pleased to share the air dates for the initial episode of the 2022 Pro Superbike season on TSN, The Sports Network, which is set to run 17 nation-wide episodes this season.
The opening episode, which showcases race one of nine in the feature Pro Superbike class from the Grand Bend Motorplex, will first air on TSN 1 and TSN 5 on Monday, July 4 at 1:30 pm ET. This exclusive time slot will not be the only opportunity to watch the thrilling race one footage, however, with all four air dates listed below:
Monday, July 4, 4:30pm ET (1:30pm PT) on TSN 1 and TSN 5
Tuesday July 5, 1:00pm ET (10:00am PT) on TSN 3
Wednesday July 6, 2:30pm ET (11:30am PT) on TSN 3
Thursday July 7, 12:30pm ET (9:30am PT) on TSN 3
The season opener featured a thrilling battle at the front featuring numerous exciting storylines, including the latest edition of the rivalry between defending champion Alex Dumas and 2019 champion Ben Young.
CSBK first partnered with TSN in 1995 as part of the national weekend in St-Eustache, QC, and has since grown its audience to feature national coverage on the country’s premier sports channel.
Announcer Colin Fraser has been in the booth since that inaugural broadcast in ’95 and has been joined by Frank Wood since the 2011 campaign, while 2022 will also welcome the return of second-year Dunlop pit lane reporter Hannah Streek, and third-year director of photography Cameron McFadyen behind the scenes.
This season’s opening broadcast will also feature expanded coverage with six manned trackside cameras, one manned drone, at least nine on-board cameras, and a pit-lane camera, as the series works to bring even more in-depth footage to its audience.
TSN will continue its partnership with CSBK by showing all nine feature Pro Superbike races in 2022, as well as eight additional broadcasts of the full Liqui Moly Pro Sport Bike season, with the air date of the opening Pro Sport Bike episode to be announced soon.
The broadcast of the CSBK opener will coincide with the upcoming second round of action at Calabogie Motorsports Park, which will run July 9-10, just an hour west of the nation’s capital of Ottawa, ON.
For more information on the CSBK Canadian Superbike Championship, visit www.csbk.ca
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July 4, 2022
Toronto, Ontario – The Canadian Superbike Championship returns for more thrilling action in round two at Calabogie Motorsports Park, and with it comes more opportunities for the five wide-open support classes to steal the show this weekend, July 9-10.
The biggest spotlight amongst them is on the Liqui Moly Pro Sport Bike class, where emerging star Trevor Dion carries a slim 12-point advantage into the second-round doubleheader over Elliot Vieira and just another point clear of David MacKay.
Dion made plenty of headlines for his Pro Superbike efforts in Grand Bend as he produced a historic rookie debut while “doing the double” in the two Pro categories, but it was his performance in the Sport Bike class that he will likely be more pleased with as he won race one and followed it up with a third-place finish in race two.
His home track advantage gave him the early benchmark he needed, especially given Dion’s lack of experience at Calabogie. The LDS Consultants Kawasaki rider has yet to appear at the track as a Pro, and in fact has not raced at CMP since his Lightweight days back in 2019, a key story to watch as he hopes to exit the first four races with a championship lead intact.
The betting favourite on race days may instead be Vieira, something the former Guyanese champion has likely not heard in some time. The Snow City Yamaha rider has made steady progress since moving to Canada in 2017, but luck has rarely gone Vieira’s way – most notably last season in Calabogie when he suffered a mechanical failure whilst pushing Sebastian Tremblay for the win.
That performance was especially notable as it represented one of the only legitimate challenges to Tremblay, who bagged a perfect season en route to the title. With the reigning champion now out of the picture, good luck may be all that stands in Vieira’s way of a first career Pro national victory.
Benefitting most from that mechanical issue a year ago was MacKay, who went on to finish second in the race and the championship overall. The disappointment of a race one DNF at his home track will still sting, but a race two victory has kept the Fast Company Kawasaki rider firmly in the title mix with six races to go.
With consistency proving to be key in the support classes, this weekend could be especially crucial for MacKay, who has proven to be a sure-fire podium threat at every track on the calendar. The same could almost be said of Hornblower, but the fourth-place runner in the championship has yet to score national points at Calabogie, putting the pressure on the 2019 champion and Bickle Racing Yamaha rider this weekend.
Another name to watch out for in ‘Bogie will be the return of Phillippe Masse, who finished third in the overall standings a year ago thanks to podiums in both CMP rounds (and three of four races overall). Masse did not contest round one in Grand Bend, but has continued his local dominance in the Pro 6 GP regional series and will look to carry that momentum back onto the podium this weekend.
As for the Amateur ranks, a familiar name will look to overcome two differing rivals, as Julien Lafortune leads the AIM Insurance Amateur Superbike class and Sebastian Hothaza paces the Amateur Sport Bike category – both ahead of Nathan Playford.
Lafortune got the better of Playford in the opening round at Calabogie last season, qualifying on pole position and eventually finishing third for Kawasaki, while Playford could only muster seventh aboard his Honda, but both riders have shown increased pace to begin the 2022 campaign.
However, both may have to deal with the return of local BMW star Guillaume Lavalee, who finished second in both races at Calabogie last season and has continued his expertise in the Pro 6 GP series.
As for in the Sport Bike category, its Hothaza who will carry a slim lead over Playford, but the Grand Bend local is questionable for round two in Calabogie. Regardless, Playford may be the overwhelming favourite to take over the title chase, having finished third in round one at CMP last season and running at the front again in round three before crashing out.
The most wide-open class remains the Super Sonic Race School Lightweight category, even if the round one results would suggest otherwise. Championship leader Evan Moriarity dominated Grand Bend with pole position and a pair of victories, but a win at the recent Pro 6 GP event has been his only ever experience at Calabogie.
His biggest challenger may be Kawasaki veteran Jacob Black, who finished second in all four races he finished last season but had his championship challenge ruined by a pair of crashes. Black has continued his strong form regionally at Calabogie, and remains just six points off second in the national championship through round one.
As for the Pro/Am ranks, the inaugural series will head to CMP for the first time after a successful debut weekend in round one. Jared Walker will lead the Pro ranks after a pair of overall victories, though his two closest competitors, Istvan Hidvegi and Harvey Renaud, both have far more experience around the Calabogie circuit.
The Amateur division will carry the closest margin of any class into round two, as Vincent Wilson leads Grant Nesbitt by just a single point. Nesbitt would be the more experience of the pair at Calabogie, though both will have to contend with Black at the front in the combined series.
The full schedule of the support class action can be found on the series' official website.
For more information on the CSBK Canadian Superbike Championship, visit www.csbk.ca
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June 20, 2022
Calabogie, Ontario – Reigning Pro 6 GP Regional Champion Michael Leon of Beaconsfield, QC, took his Royal Distributing BMW S1000RR to a narrow, .146 of a second win over the DC Construction/Fast Company BMW of Maple, ON.’s Ivan Babic in the second round of the 2022 Championship at Calabogie Motorsport Park, ON. Fittingly, BMW Motorrad sponsored the race.
The Pro pair battled throughout the final at the 5.05 kilometer, 20 turn venue. Leon jumped into the lead from the start of the eight-lap main event, with Pole sitter Babic applying pressure throughout. Babic seemed to have the edge entering the final, Quary/Carousel section of the venue, and made his move on the final tour.
“I kind of knew that he would try me there,” confirmed Leon, who shut the door when Babic made his bold move. “If it was going to work, he was going to take us both down! It was close, there was good pressure, and I was happy with the pace, given the cool conditions. I think the last time I won a Superbike race was maybe 2018 at Shannonville, and this is my first victory in Superbike at Calabogie.”
“Last weekend didn’t go too well,” continued Leon, referring to his two crashes in the opening round of the National series at Grand Bend, ON. “So, I was a little bit careful in the slow corners, but the bike was working really well. We’ll download the data and see what we can learn in time for the National here next month.”
Babic’s runner up effort was a robust performance for a second year Pro climbing the Pro ladder, and he confirmed that “I gave it a good shot with Michael, but it didn’t work out. The conditions were not ideal, it was very windy, and maybe I could have tried something else- but I am happy overall.”
Third belonged to Ernest Bernhard of Ste-Brigide-d’Iberville, QC, on a Yamaha YZF-R1. Early in the race, Bernhard was battling with a pack of riders, but by mid-distance he had pulled clear to earn the final podium spot,11 seconds behind the winning BMW duo.
The BMW of Anthony Bergeron of Racine, QC, hung in to net fourth, after a lengthy battle with Bernhard and the Turcotte Performance Ducati Panigale of Christian Allard, from Chambly, QC. In his first outing with the Ducati, Allard earned an impressive third in Q to start on the front row of the grid, and might have been fourth in the race, but for an off-track trip on his final lap.
There was a good, race-long dispute for sixth, and at the finish Pierre Simard of Stoneham, QC, pulled clear to grab the spot on his Suzuki GSX-R1000. Yamaha YZF-R1 pilot Vivian Mathews of Clarence Creek, ON, got the better of the race long fight against the Yamaha YZF-R6 of Oshawa, ON.’s Jake LeClair.
Phillippe Masse (#28 Kawasaki) holds off Louie Raffa (#76 Honda), Jake LeClair (#811 Yamaha), and Pascal Bastien (#32 Yamaha) early in the Pro Sport Bike race. [Photo: Colin Fraser]
Earlier in the program, Philippe Masse of Saint-Hyacinthe, QC., dominated the Kawasaki-backed Pro Sport Bike round for middleweight machines, earning his second straight victory and establishing himself as a favorite for the upcoming Dunlop-backed Calabogie National, July 9-10.
Starting from pole on the grid, Masse pulled away steadily to win by just over 20 seconds.
Veteran Louie Raffa of Saint-Marthe-sur-le-Lac was on form with his Fast Company Honda CBR600RR, getting clear of a trio of riders to net second. Just behind, LeClair fought with rookie Pro Yamaha pilot Pascal Bastien of St-Eustache, LeClair getting the final podium spot with a late race charge.
The Motul Amateur Superbike race was a barn burner, with five riders disputing the lead. BMW racer Marc Labossiere of Longueil, QC, charged from third to first on the final tour, earning the victory by just .16 of a second over Suzuki racer Yan Julien of Calixa-Lavalee, QC. Also, in the thick of the dispute was Nova Scotia racer John Fraser’s Yamaha, making his first Calabogie start a good one with third place at the finish, in preparation for the upcoming National round.
Another thrilling Amateur contest involved Guillaume Lavallee of Sainte-Ann-de-Sorel, QC. fighting with Nolan Eadie of Gloucester, ON., and Bobby Desjardins of Ferme-Neuve, QC. At the finish of a tense battle, Lavallee’s Kawasaki won by .2 of a second from Yamaha mounted Eadie, while Suzuki’s Desjardins was a further second back for third.
In the Liqui Moly Pro-AM Lightweight final race, Istvan Hidvegi of Mississauga, ON, took the Pro victory on his Yamha, while the Amateur division belonged to another R3, this one piloted by Evan Moriarity of Milton, ON.
In other support race action, Marc Labossiere of Longueil, QC earned first in Heavyweight Sportsman on a BMW; Heavyweight Sportsman went to Erik Gosselin of Beaupre, QC aboard an Aprilia; the Middleweight Sportsman round was won by Serge Boyer from St Jerome, QC, riding a Kawasaki; and the Middleweight Sportsman counter fell to veteran fast guy Alan Burns of South Mountain, ON., piloting a Kawasaki.
For more information on the CSBK Canadian Superbike Championship, visit www.csbk.ca
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