The fight for the Pro Supersport title is just heating up in the Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship, with round two of the season returning to the east coast in just a matter of days at Atlantic Motorsport Park, June 6-8.
The trip out to Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia will be a maiden one for championship leader Torin Collins, who will enter a defining week in his CSBK career as he visits AMP for the first time – widely considered to be the most challenging circuit on the Canadian calendar.
A narrow, physically demanding track often referred to as “the rollercoaster,” Atlantic Motorsport Park will be Collins’ toughest test yet as he enters round two behind a pair of dominant victories at Shannonville, leading Trevor Daley by 17 points and defending champion Sebastien Tremblay by 18.
The challenge will come not just in the circuit itself but in how strong his rivals are at AMP, with both Tremblay and Daley looking forward to a place they have had varying levels of success at in the past.
Despite the inexperience, it’s almost impossible to discount Collins given what he has showed so early in his Bridgestone CSBK career, having scored three wins and four podiums in just six career races split between Supersport and the feature Pro Superbike class.
And while AMP has a reputation of favouring more experienced, veteran riders, recent results have actually showed the opposite, with three of the track’s last four winners (Mavrick Cyr, Trevor Dion, Jake LeClair) all doing so in their first pro appearance there.
The lone exception in that span, though, was none other than Tremblay, who conquered race two in Shubenacadie last season and has missed the podium just once in his last six Supersport races there dating back to 2018, having also won that season.
The two-time middleweight champion will desperately want to even the score with Collins before heading to his home round in Alberta next month, and Tremblay’s epic last-lap duel with Andrew Van Winkle at AMP last season will show just how aggressive the S.T. Motosport Suzuki rider can be when his back is against the wall.
The problem for Tremblay, though, is that it won’t be a straight shootout between the two pre-season favourites, as Daley is as strong of a bet as anyone to add another win to his resumé on the east coast.
It was there, of course, where Daley took the first pro win of his career in a chaotic, crash-filled race back in 2014, but the OneSpeed Suzuki rider has been no slouch in the years since, finishing on the Superbike podium twice in 2022 and again in 2019 – having also led early in 2019 before Ben Young’s monumental comeback.
The key for Daley will be qualifying, having given himself too much work to do in round one by starting seventh on the grid before charging to fourth and second. A better qualifying performance on Friday will give Daley an excellent shot at victory in either race, especially if the weather delivers any infamous Nova Scotia rain.
Outside of the “big three” in the championship picture, there are a number of names who will have their own chance at a race win this weekend, including last year’s breakout star Andrew Van Winkle.
The teenager is at a disadvantage around most tracks aboard his “old-gen” Suzuki GSX-R600, a ride supported by fellow Supersport competitor and Suzuki Canada rider Marco Sousa, but the tight, twisty nature of AMP lessens that gap by a significant amount – evidenced by Van Winkle’s two podiums in 2024.
The second of those will be the most memorable, having battled with Tremblay in a dramatic last-lap showdown before settling for second. The addition of Collins and Daley to this year’s grid will make things tougher on Van Winkle, but it wouldn’t be shocking to see the former Pro Twins champion fighting at the front regardless.
A pair of Ducati stars will be hoping to build upon their strong starts to 2025, with Elliot Vieira and Phil DeGama-Blanchet each trying to improve on their fourth-place finishes from AMP a year ago.
Vieira suffered a mechanical failure in race one before earning fourth in race two, the same spot he currently sits in the standings for GP Bikes Ducati, while DeGama-Blanchet earned fourth in race one of 2024 and will try to at least replicate that result in his second weekend aboard the Taylor Racing Panigale V2.
One pre-season favourite desperately needing to turn his early form around will be John Laing, who took pole position at AMP last season before fading back to fifth in both races. Now piloting a Vass Performance Suzuki, Laing will hope the new machinery can deliver better race-pace prior to his home round in Alberta.
As for last year’s race one winner Mavrick Cyr, it will be difficult to expect a repeat performance after his departure from Ducati left him with only nine points in the season opener for Powersports T.O. Triumph, though the talented 20-year-old should never be ruled out after his sensational rookie campaign last season.
The Pro Supersport class will kick off the weekend right away with morning practice on Friday at Atlantic Motorsport Park, just 45 minutes north of Halifax, prior to qualifying that afternoon and a pair of weekend races.
The full schedule can be found here
