Torin Collins continued his stellar form in the Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship on Saturday, leading start-to-finish for a maiden victory in his Pro Supersport debut at Shannonville Motorsport Park.
After bursting onto the scene with a Superbike win in just his second career start last season, Collins would do one better in his switch to the Supersport category, starting from pole position and running an almost flawless race to add to his CSBK resumé.
Collins’ closest challenger in qualifying, Matt Simpson, got a terrible launch off the grid and was shunted down to third on the opening lap, with reigning champion Sebastien Tremblay moving ahead of him and Elliot Vieira settling into fourth as the lead group chased down Collins.
The group of four would run together for just a few laps before Collins made his break, stretching the lead aboard his Novalda Suzuki as Simpson looked for a way past Tremblay.
That move would eventually come on lap seven as Simpson got a great drive down the long back straightaway, slicing past Tremblay and beginning his march towards Collins, who had built up a near three-second advantage by the midway point.
Simpson would mostly match Collins’ pace before cutting it down to roughly 1.5 seconds with three laps to go, but Collins responded excellently to push that advantage back over two seconds and bring home a win in his debut.
The 19-year-old from Calgary, Alberta becomes the first rider ever to win on his Pro Supersport debut, erasing any doubt of his championship contention for 2025.
“I had never started on pole before, so I was actually pretty nervous sitting there on the grid,” Collins said. “I had a bit of a moment on the third-last lap, but thankfully I was able to recover that time and bring it home.”
The poor start limited Simpson’s challenge for a second career win, but it was an impressive performance nonetheless for the Evans Racing Yamaha rider as he returned to the podium for the first time since finishing as the championship runner-up in 2023.
Simpson’s effort on the YZF-R6 was especially notable compared to the rest of the “old-gen” runners, with Andrew Van Winkle (sixth) the only other rider inside the top-ten aboard similar machinery.
Completing the podium was defending champion Sebastien Tremblay, who was unable to fend off Simpson in the end but brought home a comfortable third for Turcotte Performance Suzuki.
Tremblay will hope to mount a better challenge for Collins in race two on Sunday, but will recognize the importance of securing as many points as possible this early in the campaign – both for himself and for Suzuki, who begin their own Constructors title defence with 41 of a possible 45 points thanks to Collins and Tremblay.
Adding a bit more insurance for Suzuki was Trevor Daley in fourth, who quietly chipped away at Vieira for majority of the race before making a beautiful last-lap move off the back straightaway.
The OneSpeed Suzuki rider showed enough late pace to compete for at least a podium in race two, hoping instead to get a better start on Sunday and chase a fifth career Supersport win.
As for Vieira, the GP Bikes Ducati rider got a great start to join the lead group but conversely was unable to maintain that pace to the end, salving a strong fifth to open the year after Daley’s last lap pass.
Van Winkle would make plenty of progress from 12th on the grid to finish sixth for FD Racing Suzuki, holding off fellow teenager Philip DeGama-Blanchet in the final few laps who was making his debut for Taylor Racing Ducati.
Notably absent from the final order was home favourite Brad Macrae and reigning championship runner-up Mavrick Cyr, who both failed to finish after Macrae crashed out of sixth in the hairpin and Cyr pitted due to suspected arm pump.
The opening round of the Supersport campaign will continue on Sunday with race two of the nine-race season, as Collins looks to sweep the weekend and open an early lead in the middleweight championship
Full results can be found on the series’ official website.
