With seven national classes battling it out across only a three-day doubleheader weekend, it’s easy for a few stories to go understated during each round of the Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship.
From the major headlines that require a bit more detail, to the hidden gems that are left out of the spotlight, here are some added notes from the fourth and final round of the 2025 season at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
Dumas’ heartbreak overshadows stellar weekend
There was surely going to be a fair amount of heartbreak for whoever lost the GP Bikes Pro Superbike title fight, but the punishment Alex Dumas was dealt by the racing gods this past weekend seemed especially harsh.
Entering with a five-point championship lead over rival Ben Young, Dumas seemed to be in complete control of race one as he paced the opening 16 laps, resisting plenty of early pressure from Young and Sam Guerin before extending a slight cushion en route to a potentially massive victory.
Instead, just as his lead approached the one-second mark, his Economy Lube BMW would encounter an issue at the end of the Andretti Straightaway, shunting him down to fourth as Young took over the championship lead entering Sunday.
Despite the setback, the team expertly fixed whatever the ailment was for race two and Dumas instantly put it behind him, leading the first six laps again on Sunday in a position that would have handed him a second career Canada Cup – until oil from a backmarker ahead of him would once again derail everything.
Neither Dumas nor his crew would go down without a fight, salvaging the machine as best they could for the red flag restart, but a stop in pit lane ended any hopes of a 2025 crown as he could only battle back to third in the end.
While it’s no guarantee Dumas would have fended off Young in the decisive finale anyways, it’s safe to say the Quebec City native had the pace to at least push him right to the finish, with the CTMP finale representing a significant “what if” in their now one-sided rivalry.
Michel steps into starring Superbike role
History has a way of repeating itself at times, and that’s exactly what happened with the B&T McFarlane Kawasaki team this weekend at CTMP.
After Trevor Dion exited the Kawasaki fold prior to the final round in 2023, Connor Campbell was given a chance to debut aboard the ZX-10R and made the most of his opportunity, finishing seventh in just his second Superbike appearance.
After suffering a season-ending injury in Edmonton, Campbell and Kawasaki returned the favour, welcoming Alex Michel to the Superbike ranks aboard his B&T MacFarlane machine – a move that may have landed Michel a longer stay in the feature class.
The 21-year-old looked instantly comfortable, fighting his way into Q2 and taking finishes of sixth and fifth in the doubleheader, the best results for any Kawasaki rider besides Jordan Szoke this season.
Michel even ran with the lead group for a pair of laps upon the restart on Sunday, almost matching the pace of sophomore Superbike star David MacKay ahead of him as he broke into the 1:22 lap time range.
It’s unfortunate timing for Campbell, who made significant progress himself out west with a career-best finish of sixth and likely could have been in the same range at CTMP, having enjoyed a solid (though unlucky) start to the campaign.
Yamaha enters next-gen era as old-gen stars fight back
All the buzz in the Pro Supersport class the last two seasons has been the ushering in of the next-gen era, with the Suzuki GSX-R750 and Ducati Panigale V2 headlining the CSBK category since their homologation.
Yamaha Canada finally entered the mix this weekend with their own next-gen machine, though the YZF-R9 wasn’t met without a fight on circuit.
Despite having a proven race winner and top talent piloting it in Brad Macrae, the R9 would debut with finishes of 12th and tenth at CTMP, behind old-gen riders such as Andrew Van Winkle, Alex Michel, Rob Massicotte, and Laurent Laliberte-Girard.
While those aren’t the results Macrae or Yamaha will have been hoping for, it perhaps says more about the competitiveness some of the old-gen machines still have, with 2025 flipping the script slightly on the “next-gen to win” attitude.
Macrae surely could have turned in a better weekend with more seat time, having only finished the R9 project in the weeks leading up to CTMP, but the season finale served as another reminder that old-gen riders should not be overlooked in the rapidly evolving Supersport class.
Competitors – and rivals – offer a helping hand
The racing community is often a tight-knit one, and that’s especially true in Canada – but this weekend showcased an even deeper sense of comradery than usual in the CSBK paddock.
Having already mentioned Alex Michel’s Superbike stand-in for Connor Campbell, the fourth round was also a generous one for Marco Sousa, who took not one but two Supersport competitors under his tent at CTMP.
Sousa had already played an integral role in Andrew Van Winkle’s season (and career), providing the 18-year-old with his Suzuki GSX-R600 and vital assistance behind the scenes, but Sousa continued that generosity in the final round as he offered up a GSX-R750 to another former race winner in Matt Simpson.
Simpson was especially appreciative of the lifeline, having dealt with various mechanical issues on his Blackstock Motorsports Yamaha before Sousa lent him the new machine on Saturday morning.
Perhaps the unlikeliest partnership, though, came between new Suzuki-mates Sebastien Tremblay and Tomas Casas, with Tremblay helping Casas prepare the bike for his debut with the brand.
Casas even acknowledged the two have “had their differences on-track,” but was quick to thank Tremblay for his support, something the former champion has become known for as he lends a hand to even his most fierce competitors.
Laflamme’s late push comes up just short
All the math was going the way of Amateur double-champion Cole Alexander entering the final few races of 2025, but that didn’t stop Zaim Laflamme from ending his intermediate class career on a high note.
The runner-up in both Amateur Superbike and Amateur Supersport, Laflamme would out-score Alexander across the final three races in both categories, taking 117 of a possible 150 points with three victories in that span.
The Octo Racing Triumph rider saw the writing on the wall in Superbike thanks to a DNF in round one – heartbreakingly, due to a fuel shortage – but fought right to the end in Supersport, losing to Alexander by just three points.
His runaway win in Supersport race two at CTMP was especially impressive, nearly matching the lap record as he blitzed the rest of the field to an eleven second victory and 19 seconds over third.
Laflamme will end his amateur tenure with an impressive five-win, 13-podium season, matching Alexander far more than the record books will show for 2025.
Aprilia dominance continues in Twins Cup
It wasn’t clear as to who would lift the trophy for Aprilia in the Twins Cup this season, but the brand might as well have clinched their second consecutive championship two rounds ago.
The second year of a revamped Twins class ended even more convincingly for the Italian brand than in 2024, taking all but one victory and scoring 20 of a possible 24 podium places to finish first (J.P. Tache), second (Dante Bucek), and third (Louie Raffa) in the championship order.
Bronti Verbeek represented the biggest threat to Aprilia, denying their perfect season with a crushing victory in the rain at her home round in Edmonton and taking three podiums overall, though Justin Marshall (Suzuki) was the only other rider to even contend with the RS660 after a second-place finish in the season opener.
In the end, six of the top eight in the championship order will represent Aprilia, just a year after Dallas Reynolds, Tache, and Sebastian Silva locked out the Twins frontrunners for the brand.
“This is such an amazing motorcycle. I haven’t had this much fun in years, riding this thing is just a blast,” Tache said at CTMP. “Anyone who wants to come out and join the Twins class and have a good time, I’m telling you – buy an Aprilia!”
