CSBK By the Numbers: Round 4 at CTMP

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Category: CSBK News

Published on Thursday, August 24, 2023 16:30 EDT

Written by Cam Bickle

The penultimate round of the 2023 Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship season was a historic one for Ben Young, who swept the feature class tripleheader and joined some elusive company in doing so.

Below are just a few of the key numbers from a wild round four at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Young rewrites the record books

To say it would be a historic weekend for Ben Young and the Van Dolder’s Home Team BMW squad would somehow be an understatement.

Winning all three races in comfortable fashion – something rarely seen at CTMP – Young scored a perfect 81 points to help complete the second-largest single-weekend comeback in GP Bikes Pro Superbike history and largest when both riders were healthy (Jodi Christie beat an injured Jordan Szoke in 2014), cutting his deficit from 36 to just three.

That was hardly the only history he would make, however. Young broke clear of his tie with Alex Dumas for career Superbike wins with numbers 12, 13, and 14, moving him into sole possession of fourth on the all-time list behind only Szoke (78), Steve Crevier (26), and Pascal Picotte (16).

His performances also helped move him into the top-five for career podiums (now at 42) and pole positions (13), whilst becoming the second-winningest rider in CTMP history. To top it all off, Young celebrated only his 50th career Superbike start in race two – giving him the second-best podium percentage of all time with 42 in only 51 tries (82.4%).

With or without a third championship in September, Young has officially entered the discussion of all-time greats.

Manufacturers race to 300 pro podiums

There is always an arms race of sorts going on in the CSBK paddock between manufacturers, but this time there’s a more elusive prize on the line.

In the race to 300 combined pro podiums, Yamaha currently leads the field with 292 entering round five, but Kawasaki (287) and Suzuki (284) have been gaining steam in recent weekends as they pursue the record first.

Combining the all-time results from Pro Superbike, Pro Sport Bike, the new Pro Twins class, and the former Pro Open class means those three brands will all find themselves within striking distance to close out 2023, but it may well carry over to 2024.

Suzuki would need to rack up 16 podiums in seven races – not an impossible task with Alex Dumas in Superbike, Sebastien Tremblay in Sport Bike, and Andrew Van Winkle in Twins – but has all the momentum after producing 15 this season, out-scoring Kawasaki (12) and leaders Yamaha (8).

Ducati’s return to glory

Race one in the Liqui Moly Pro Sport Bike class saw Elliot Vieira storm away from the field for hardly the first time in his career at CTMP, but it was an important milestone for Ducati.

The Italian brand captured their first-ever victory in the middleweight class after getting homologated this season, but returned to the top step of a pro podium for the first time since Pascal Picotte in the streets of Alma in 1993 – a span of 10,938 days.

Picotte was sensational that season, scoring four of Ducati’s six Superbike victories, but the world-famous manufacturer had endured a record drought in the 30 years since.

Now with that drought broken, Ducati will hope Vieira can help launch their return to feature class success as well, with both fans and riders alike eager to see Panigale machinery back at the front of the Superbike ranks.

MacKay, Kawasaki climbing Sport Bike lists

While championship leader David MacKay was denied his fifth career victory on the weekend, he did continue to work his way up the all-time Pro Sport Bike lists in other areas – and helped his manufacturer do the same.

The ODH Snow City Cycle Kawasaki rider secured a pair of crucial third-place finishes to give him 18 in his career, knocking race two winner Sebastien Tremblay out of the top-ten and moving into a tie for tenth himself.

The first of those two podiums would have extra meaning for Kawasaki, though, as it represented their 125th rostrum in the category – second only to Yamaha – and helped extend their record-breaking podium streak to 33 consecutive races.

MacKay now stands as one of the most successful riders to have never clinched a pro championship, but that may be a temporary stat as he looks to bring home his first title in round five, and Kawasaki’s 15th championship in the category.