CSBK - CSBK By the Numbers: Round 1 at Shannonville

CSBK By the Numbers: Round 1 at Shannonville

Details: Category: CSBK News; Published on Friday, May 26, 2023 09:40 EDT; Written by Cam Bickle

The opening round of the 2023 Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship season produced plenty of drama this weekend, with continued dominance in the feature GP Bikes Pro Superbike class and two new winners in the Liqui Moly Pro Sport Bike category.

Below are just a few of the key numbers from a thrilling opener at Shannonville Motorsport Park.

History rains down for Dumas

Riding the #23 Purple Skull Brewing/Liqui Moly Suzuki, Alex Dumas swept both feature class victories to take a 23-point lead after round one of 2023. That’s proven to be a bit of a lucky number for Dumas, who joined historic company on the weekend.

His Sunday victory now gives him ten in his Superbike career, moving him into a tie for eighth all-time with Michael Taylor and – mercilessly – his main rival, Ben Young. He’s the second-youngest to ever reach the mark (trailing only Brett McCormick), but the fastest to ever do so, needing only 18 races.

If that seems like a high rate, it’s because it is; Dumas also passed Jordan Szoke for the highest winning percentage of all time, now at 55.5% while Szoke slips back to second at 54.9%. For reference, the aforementioned McCormick is the only other rider to clear the 30% mark (39.2%), with Don Munroe fourth at 27.9%.

Suzuki closes the gap

The 2010’s were easily defined as the BMW era, as the Motorrad program racked up 47 wins in 66 races, missing the podium only once. The 2020’s have so far brought the re-emergence of Suzuki, however, and their hard work brought results this weekend.

The brand won their 60th Superbike race in race one on Saturday, joining BMW as only the second company to ever reach the mark, while extending their lead atop the podium list to an even-20 over Kawasaki.

Speaking of podiums, Suzuki also extended their active streak to 21, surpassing their own mark from the mid-80’s to take the second-longest run ever. That’s still a far shout off BMW’s record of 87 races (and counting, thanks to Sam Guerin in race two), but it makes Suzuki only the second brand to ever reach the 20-mark, with Dumas and Trevor Daley showing no signs of letting that come to an end anytime soon.

A long-awaited return for Yamaha

It was a huge relief for Tomas Casas when he stepped back onto the podium in race one on Saturday, returning there for the first time since Atlantic Motorsport Park in 2019.

It was an equal relief for Yamaha, who had waited just as long – an even 1,400 days, to be exact. The Iwata-based brand was hardly alone in their drought, as the recent stretch of dominance by BMW, Suzuki, and Kawasaki has left Yamaha, Honda, Aprilia, and Ducati in the dark, but the tides seem to be turning aboard the YZF-R1 machines.

Casas exits round one third in the championship, the highest he’s ever sat in his career, while his and rookie Paul Macdonell’s efforts have lifted Yamaha to the same spot in the Constructors Standings, their first time in the top-three as well.

Young’s streak ends, many names capitalize

It took the most unusual and heartbreaking circumstances, but Ben Young’s podium streak came to an end in race two. Sitting on 17 consecutive races, Young’s tail-section popped loose and forced him into the pits, as he could only claw his way back to sixth in the end – his worst finish since Grand Bend 2017.

That streak will end as the third-longest of all-time, trailing only Szoke’s two ridiculous stretches between 2009 and 2018 that saw him score 63 out of 65 podiums. In Young’s place, however, brought a new record not seen in the last decade.

Behind double-race-winner Dumas, four different names stood next to him on the podium, with Young and Casas joining him in race one while Guerin and Szoke took their places on Sunday. The feature class hasn’t seen 5 of 6 different podium finishers to start the year since 2012 – ironically, when a rain race kicked off the season at SMP.

Pro Sport Bike continues unpredictable trend

It may seem like most records are produced by dominance. The Liqui Moly Pro Sport Bike class is proving that isn’t the case.

Debut pro national victories for Connor Campbell and Brad Macrae have meant the class has produced seven unique first-time winners in the last ten races, the most in any ten-race stretch of either pro category. It also meant that Sunday’s race featured six active race winners on its grid (Campbell, Macrae, Matt Simpson, David MacKay, Elliot Vieira, Louie Raffa), the most since CTMP back in 2014.

As for Macrae, he made some history of his own, tying Mitch Card as the fourth-fastest to score pole position (seven career races) and becoming the seventh-fastest winner overall, doing so in his eighth pro race on Sunday.

Lalande’s generational debut

Vincent Lalande entered the Super Sonic Race School Amateur Lightweight class with as much hype as anyone in the last decade, and followed that up by needing just one race to enter the record books.

The reigning MiniSBK champion as Canada’s greatest mini-moto rider, the 15-year-old instantly continued his winning ways for the SpeedFactory67 Kawasaki team, sweeping both races in thrilling fashion.

Lalande subsequently becomes both the youngest race winner and youngest points leader in the history of the category, beating 16-year-old Jack Beaudry and 20-year-old Vincent Wilson in race two on Sunday to headline the youngest podium in class history.