Shubenacadie, NS – The Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship wrapped up the weekend at Atlantic Motorsport Park an hour north of Halifax for round two of the 2026 CSBK season presented by Pro Cycle and Canadian Kawasaki.
It was another close battle in the GP Bikes Pro Superbike class as the trio of Ben Young, Jordan Szoke, and Andrew Van Winkle were separated by less than a second for the majority of the race. Van Winkle was able to follow Young after his less-than-ideal start. Van Winkle had a chance to pass Young, but the Mountain View Motorsports Honda rider hesitated as the opening vanished while Young and Szoke slowly pulled away, tenth by tenth.
Young would put in a stellar performance, applying the pressure consistently every lap onto Szoke, who was unable to pull away. “We put on a different compound tire in the race today,” said Young. “We had never tried it, but I was feeling comfortable, and it was exactly how we wanted the race to go.” The Thornbury, ON rider waited patiently until lap fifteen, where a move into the inside of turn two sealed the win for the Van Dolder’s Home Team Honda, as reigning champion Young pulled away to extend his championship points tally to one hundred points, twenty points ahead of second-place Szoke, and cemented himself as the firm second place in the all-time win list for Superbike.
Szoke was thoroughly impressed with Young’s ride, commenting that “the ride was a classic Jordan Szoke-esque performance.” The AIM Insurance Kawasaki was able to stick to Young even after the overtake, keeping Young honest but not enough to make another charge. “I was a little hesitant in pushing knowing that the track was at the least still a little bit wet from the morning rain, but the start was good, I was able to settle into a decent pace. It would not have been possible without the wonderful package that we were able to extract from the ZX-10RR, so I’m super grateful to my crew for that.”
Van Winkle was happy with the podium, the Chilliwack, BC rider said that, “At the end, I felt really good about this third, as I was quite disappointed with the fourth that I got yesterday.” The Superbike rookie was still able to extract a lot during the early part of the race, but unforced errors at the latter stage of the race had Van Winkle hesitant to chase after the leading pair. He now sits third in the overall standings with 58 points; fourth-place finisher MacKay is fourth in the championship with 53 points and fifth-place finisher Alex Michel is fifth in the standings with 40 points after this weekend.
In the OPP Racing Pro Supersport class, race one winner Torin Collins was not able to race Sunday due to the condition of his shoulder following a crash in practice on Friday.
Cole Alexander would once again obliterate the start, the French Glass Co Suzuki stormed to P1 after turn two and made the whole grid “look like turtles,” said Tomas Casas. “Cole (Alexander) did not look like a rookie at all.” Casas would come right back at Alexander, going past in turn seven after the Amaranth, ON rider went wide coming onto the rollercoaster back straight, Casas took advantage and slid past. Sebastian Tremblay would follow suit, the ST Motosport Suzuki performed a copy-and-paste move from race one, Tremblay taking the inside of turn eleven and overtaking Alexander in one smooth motion.
The race would continue as the field spread out, Tremblay not able to successfully mount a move on Casas. The Peterborough, ON rider rebounded from yesterday’s DNF with a win, putting him right on Tremblay’s tail in the Supersport championship, the pair separated by a single point (75 - 76 respectively). Tremblay’s back and hips would come back to haunt him, as an injury sustained at Shannonville would relapse and put a pause to the chase in race two.
While Alexander would finish third, the bike was not without its mechanical demons, as a suspected fuel issue caused the bike to jerk a lot. He is currently fourth in the championship standings (58 points) while Matthew Simpson would finish fourth, the Black Stock Motorsport Suzuki retains third in the standings (62 points). Mackenzie Weil would finish fifth again in race two, moving him up to fifth in the championship standings with 40 points.
In support class action, the AIM Insurance Amateur Superbike saw Alexis Beaudoin finish first after a nail-biter of a race with Baillie Ives, and now leads the Amateur Superbike standings. The recently repaired Suzuki GSX-R600 of Ives was able to get back on the track after yesterday’s crash. He was able to keep Beaudoin honest which took him to the limit, where he held on to second after a thriller of a race. Julia Krans was able to make it two of two podiums for the weekend, on an unfamiliar track where she was able to quickly learn and gain time throughout the weekend. She went from fifth to third in the race and was able to hold off local rider Andy Hutchinson.
In the EBC Brakes Amateur Supersport class, Alexis Beaudoin would win the race with dominance as the #146 Suzuki was able to cruise to the finish with a 16-second gap. Ives would slot into second as Beaudoin cruised into the sunset. Honda rider Antoine Slater passed the Yamaha of Hutchinson to finish third. Beaudoin also leads the Amateur Supersport championship, with Ives far behind in second.
The Importations Thibault Twins Cup was spearheaded by JP Tache, who finished first and swept up wins in all four races in rounds one and two to lead the championship. On a track with variable conditions, this race had all riders use wet tires in the tricky changing conditions. Tache and Gary McKinnon were battling hard at the start, but a mishap forced the yellow Aprilia to box before rejoining, but was down to last and two laps behind. Louie Raffa would take advantage, snatching second after passing Justin Marshall, who finished third and was once again the only Suzuki on the Twins Cup podium.
The Scorpion EXO Ninja ZX-4R Cup was a barn-burner, as Jean-Pascal Schroeder was able to keep up with Jared Walker, who was not comfortable in the variable conditions. Walker was able to keep it clean and tidy to come home in first place, as he leads the ZX-4R championship with a perfect record as of round two.
There was heartbreak in Super Sonic Road Race School Lightweight Sportbike, as an entertaining battle between local rider Cory Canfield and young gun Lachlan Alexander had local fans peeled to the track as both riders were battling it out with little room to spare. Canfield would unfortunately lose control on the last lap, losing the lead. Winner Lachlan Alexander would have a touching moment with his brother Cole Alexander, as the Pro Supersport rider handed him the checkered flag for the victory lap, where he coached the young gun on the lay of the land the night before. Sebastian Silva would also make it two podiums out of two this weekend, where he finished in second as Matt Covey would be the local representative on the podium in third.
Round three for the GP Bikes Pro Superbike and Lightweight Sportbike riders will be a special event in partnership with the VRRA, at Calabogie Motorsports Park June 26th to 28th.
