The first round of the 2023 Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship takes place this weekend at Shannonville Motorsport Park, east of Belleville, Ontario. For this event, the tech sticker used to identify each competitor’s machinery for each class features a tribute to the first Canadian National Champion in the premier Superbike category.
Mississauga’s George Morin was a popular and versatile racer in the late 1970s, competing on everything from purebred Grand Prix machines as small as 125cc’s in displacement to a variety of Production/street bikes, including the big road burners of the era, 1000cc air-cooled, four-cylinder designs.
The first Canadian Superbike race took place at Mosport International, now Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, in 1978, after several years of category development in the United States. Morin updated his Kawasaki Z1-R production racer to compete, aiming to win.
Instead, Morin had technical problems on the first lap. His friend and rival, Scarborough’s Lang Hindle, led most of the race on a bitza-Kawasaki, only to suffer a minor electrical problem late in the race. The event, in support of the FIM Formula 750 World Championship event, was won by Florida’s John Long on an ex-works BMW R90S, even though the twin had a broken frame!
After his Mosport frustration, Morin went to Nelson Ledges, Ohio, to purchase a fully built Kawasaki Superbike. The postman raced the bike successfully for two seasons, earning the first-ever Ontario title for the class in 1979. In 1980, Morin competed in a few AMA Nationals south of the border and the inaugural Canadian National Superbike Championship, sanctioned by the Canadian Motorcycle Association.
The 1980 season marked the first time that a racer aboard a street-based machine was eligible to earn the overall Canadian crown and coveted number-one plate. However, racers in the 250cc and 500cc Grand Prix categories were favored for the title.
At the opening Canadian western round at Edmonton, Alberta in June, Morin won from Honda CBX six-cylinder mounted local hero Steve Dick and the injured Rueben McMurter, out of London, ON, on another Kawasaki KZ1000 Mk II.
The second and final National event of 1980 took place at Shannonville in September, where Hindle and McMurter battled for first before a collision caused Hindle to drop from contention. McMurter romped to victory, while Morin worked past the Suzuki’s of Dave Park and Robert Bartlett to earn second and clinch the crown.
Controversially, Kawasaki opted to back Hindle in 1981, and Morin took his hard-earned number one plate to Suzuki, racing the GS1000 S. Morin continued to race for Suzuki before retiring at the end of 1983, and then running a successful Suzuki Superbike team with eventual three-time Canadian number-one Michel Mercier of Thedford Mines, QC., and famed tuner Mike Crompton (Competition Systems) of Toronto.
Morin kept busy at the track, both as a vintage racer (RO Racing), and as a team member for successful efforts including Steve Crevier (Weld Rite Kawasaki) and Frank Trombino (All Canada Express/Brooklin Cycle Yamaha).
Morin passed away from a rare blood condition on January 27, 2023. He was 74. His family held a Memorial Service at Branch 82 of the Royal Canadian Legion in Port Credit, ON, May 6, near his Mississauga home. Around 200 people attended the event, including a wide range of Canadian motorcycle competitors.
