A strong group associated with the Bridgestone CSBK National Championship was recognized at the 18thAnnual Canadian Motorcycle Hall of Fame Induction Banquet and Reunion at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Mount Hope, outside Hamilton, Ontario on Saturday evening.
Long time CSBK National event announcer and television host Frank Wood earned the Bar and Hedy Hodgson Award, recognizing his contributions to preserving the heritage of Canadian two-wheeled motorsport. Wood also hosted portions of the event ceremony, with former Suzuki and Harley-Davidson executive (and Brett McCormick career supporter), Nathan Naslund helping M.C., while CSBK founder Colin Fraser conducted some interviews.
Fraser hosted 2025 Ambassador Award winner John Bondar, co-owner of Shannonville Motorsport Park, the venue that has staged the most Canadian National road race events.
A former Honda Z50 mini enthusiast, Bondar explained the challenges of taking over the facility during COVID, and outlined planned updates for the popular, multi-function venue.
One of the first inductees recognized was Rob Egan of Brooklin Cycle Racing in Whitby, a major participant in CSBK activity for over 40 years, starting with tuning duties for Paul MacMillan’s monstrous, number one plate winning Suzuki Katana back in 1984. Currently, Egan’s group handles many transportation requirements for the bike industry (winter Show season and summer demo ride experiences) and conducts Dynojet Dyno operations for CSBK.
Egan, happily chatting with long-time friend Wood, also reviewed his time building and racing with multi-time champ and full-time character Frank Trombino (the “war lord of Shannonville” as described by Wood) in the Steve Crevier, early 2000s era of full-blown Superbikes. (Crevier was on hand to heckle from the sidelines before dominating the stage later in the evening!).
Doug “Fresh” Lawrence was a star in AMA National flat track racing, won the number one plate for Flat Track in Canada, and had a brief but impressive road race career in the CSBK tour a decade ago, Noting that, at age 40, he was the youngster of the group of inductees, Lawrence spoke of his limited opportunity to succeed due to political problems inside Canadian racing during his strongest career period, when he impressed regularly in the United States.
Wood, a former Expert National flat track champ, managed to trigger the tears when he asked about the extended Lawrence family, with Mom, Dad, partner, and kids all on hand for the event. Trying to respond to the inquiry, Lawrence twice couldn’t get the words out, but almost everyone on hand knows the contribution played by parents in Canadian motorsports, especially those of Lawrence.
Bridgestone CSBK owner Ross Millson was at the H of F event with his wife Sabrina, and once played a major part in Lawrence’s transition to pavement, sponsoring Lawrence in the Amateur Nationals aboard a Kawasaki ZX-10R Ninja superbike – “Fresh” won first time out at Autodrome St-Eustache, north west of Montreal, Quebec. The next year, he would be a rookie Pro Superbike racer for Suzuki Canada.
In the world of Flat Track racing, anyone who ever raced the legendary Harley-Davidson XR750 is trying to hang on to at least one example of that historic machine, and Lawrence had his family’s pristine vee-twin on show at the Mount Hope Airport.
Final CSBK-er to get the interview treatment from Wood was Fast Company founder and builder of Alex Dumas’s BMW Motorrad M1000RR, Scott Miller. Talking about his early days constructing Yamahas for Mark Kowalski, Miller went on to mention top riders on his equipment including Crevier and Francis Martin (also in attendance to support long time friend Miller).
Also discussed, with reluctance, was Miller’s heart-breaking final Sunday Superbike national of 2025 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, when former overall champ Dumas came so close to defeating Ben Young and Samuel Guerin for the 2025 Bridgestone CSBK national number one plate, including the Economy Lube and Tire team’s red flag scramble to rebuild the crunched BeeMm.
