The opening round of the 2025 Bridgestone CSBK season delivered another batch of exciting races in the support classes on Sunday, with a group of young talents taking victories in the lower categories.
Headlining the support races was yet another dramatic battle between Amateur frontrunners Zaim Laflamme and Cole Alexander, who have quickly developed an on-track rivalry after a pair of close finishes on Saturday.
That trend continued into Sunday as Alexander stretched out an early lead in the AIM Insurance Amateur Superbike race, eyeing a second consecutive victory after Laflamme heartbreakingly ran out of fuel on the last lap in race one.
Laflamme would be determined to avoid another setback this time around, hunting down Alexander by the halfway point and firing his Triumph into the lead. It was then his turn to stretch an advantage, with Alexander losing pace for a number of laps and seemingly settling into second.
Miraculously, Alexander than erased a 1.5 second deficit on the final lap to launch a daring move into the Allen’s chicane, going side-by-side with Laflamme until he slammed the door in the final turn to exit with a nail-biting victory.
Alexander will retain the championship lead through round one, with Martin Perreault holding onto second overall by one point despite losing the final podium place to Mark Stecho on Sunday.
Laflamme and Alexander would carry the action into race two of the EBC Brakes Amateur Supersport class, though with less on the line as Laflamme was immediately hit with a jump start penalty.
That didn’t stop Alexander from easing through their battle, instead going nose-to-tail with Laflamme for majority of the race as he looked to win on-track rather than inheriting the result post-race.
That would wind up being the case as Laflamme had a huge moment into Allen’s while defending from the 18-year-old, giving up the battle and nearly dropping to within five seconds of third-place runner Perreault.
Laflamme would hammer out enough late laps to avoid that scenario, retaining second after the five-second penalty, though the pair of victories will give Alexander a surprising ten-point lead to begin the season for Suzuki.
J.P. Tache delivered another dominant victory in the Importations Thibault Twins Cup class, leading from start-to-finish and eventually winning by over ten seconds from fellow Aprilia rider Louie Raffa.
Tache will exit round one as the runaway championship favourite with a perfect 50 points, though Raffa cut the deficit massively from Saturday as he continues to adapt to his RS 660 machine.
Amateur youngster Dante Bucek would claim the final podium spot from pro rider Justin Marshall in a spirited last-lap battle, extending his lead as the top amateur in the combined standings.
Jared Walker would also exit his home round with a weekend sweep in the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-4RR Cup, charging from the back of the grid to make a late race-winning move on Jacob Black.
Walker would settle for a two-second victory after carving his way to the front, while Black secured the runner-up spot once again ahead of last year’s amateur ZX-4RR champion Jean-Pascal Schroeder, who fended off Rob Cousineau for the last podium place by only 0.159 seconds.
Bucek would add to his day with an impressive win in the Super Sonic Road Race School Lightweight Sportbike class, overcoming a pair of battles with pro riders Scott Szollos and Gary McKinnon.
The teenager would first put up with both Szollos and McKinnon at once, a great three-rider fight with local rider Szollos chasing the win alongside reigning champion McKinnon, but Bucek would eventually stretch a gap in the middle portion of the race.
Szollos then mounted a charge to nearly spoil Bucek’s effort, trying a bold move on the crossover between the Allen’s chicane but ultimately having to settle for second as the young amateur defended hard for the win.
The pair of victories puts Bucek firmly at the top of the combined standings and with a comfortable gap to the next amateur rider, while Szollos will move into second and the top pro position with a 14-point deficit to Bucek in the overall table.
Full results can be found here.
