Home

Young, BMW, Laliberte-Girard amongst award winners for 2025 CSBK season

Details

Category: CSBK News

Published: August 14, 2025

With so much attention on the battles for each individual title and #1 plate in the Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship, it’s easy to lose track of the various awards that are also handed out at the end of each campaign.

Riders, teams, and manufacturers all left CTMP with a hard-earned batch of hardware this past weekend, and below is a recap of some of the most notable winners for 2025.

Team of the Year: Van Dolder’s Home Team Honda

After an unprecedented offseason move resulted in yet another Canada Cup for Ben Young, it was hard not to give the Team of the Year award to the now five-time champion and his Van Dolder’s Home Team crew.

After four Superbike championships and three in a row with BMW, the Van Dolder’s squad left the partnership to take on a new challenge with Honda, joining a brand that hadn’t even won a race since 2014.

Despite some early challenges, the program pushed on to take eight podiums in nine races, winning twice – including the decisive last race of the year – for Honda’s first championship in over a decade. 

Young was as consistent as possible on the new machine, but much of the voting went the way of the Van Dolder’s Home Team due to the work of crew chief Willie Vass, as well as team members Scott Cartier, Nadine Vass, and Scott and Lynne Young, amongst others.

“Ben’s done such an amazing job out there as always, but it’s easy to look at the rider on-track sometimes and forget all the work that goes on behind the scenes,” Willie Vass said from the podium. “These guys worked so hard all year, and it takes so many people around you, so I’m glad to see them get rewarded.”

Also receiving multiple votes was the EFC Group BMW team of Sam Guerin and Ryan Beattie, and the Canadian Kawasaki Motors program of Jordan Szoke, Connor Campbell, and Alex Michel.

Superbike Constructors Championship: BMW

While Ben Young may have kept the #1 plate at Honda for 2026, his former manufacturer looked just fine with their new-look duo as BMW successfully defended their Constructors Championship for a fourth consecutive season.

The Motorrad brand recorded seven victories across nine races in 2025, winning four times with Sam Guerin and three with newcomer Alex Dumas to have both riders firmly in the title mix entering the last day of the year.

The duo would share the podium three times, scoring a one-two finish in race three at Edmonton, while BMW was the leading point-getter amongst manufacturers in all but the final race of the year.

Their record fourth Constructors title will come by 54 points over Honda and 129 over third-place Kawasaki, thanks in large part to being the only brand on the podium in every single race this year with Guerin and Dumas (each six times).

Also contributing crucial points in round one was rookie Zoltan Frast, who was the brand’s secondary point-scorer in both races amidst a difficult weekend for Guerin.

Brooklin Cycle Racing Pro Rookie of the Year: Laurent Laliberte-Girard

One of the biggest breakout stars of 2025, reigning Amateur Supersport champion Laurent Laliberte-Girard took home a popular Brooklin Cycle Racing Pro Rookie of the Year award even despite an unfortunate crash ruling him out of the finale at CTMP.

Laliberte-Girard was by far the most consistent newcomer this season, scoring points in seven races (no other rookie scored in more than four), but he also had plenty of pace to back it up with a season-best finish of eleventh in Edmonton, equalling the best result of any Superbike rookie in 2025.

Making his efforts even more impressive is that Laliberte-Girard captured the honours on his Supersport-spec Nadon Sport Yamaha YZF-R6, finishing seventh in the overall championship and ahead of full-fledged Superbike rookies Zoltan Frast (ninth), Alex Michel (tenth), and Tyrone Tavares (18th), amongst others.

The 21-year-old becomes the first Supersport-mounted rider to win Rookie of the Year honours since Nicolas Meunier in 2019, aided by a spectacular weekend out west where he finished eighth, fifth, and eighth in the Edmonton tripleheader.

Laliberte-Girard was every bit as impressive in the Pro Supersport category, finishing sixth in the overall standings with two podiums and five top-seven results, ending the year as the clear top Yamaha rider.

Supersport Constructors: Suzuki

After winning the inaugural Supersport version of the Constructors Championship in 2024, Suzuki delivered perhaps an even more convincing season to defend their title this year.

The brand entered the final round on a 12-race consecutive win streak dating back to AMP last season, having swept the first three rounds with Torin Collins (five wins) and Andrew Van Winkle (two).

Collins’ move to Ducati ended that run in race one, but former champion Sebastien Tremblay responded with their eighth win in nine races to end the year, finishing a whopping 160 points ahead of Ducati and 223 clear of third-place Kawasaki.

Six different riders would stand on the podium for Suzuki in 2025, with Collins, Van Winkle, Tremblay, Trevor Daley, John Laing, and Tomas Casas all contributing points to the Constructors table.

Multiple Suzuki riders would share the podium in all but one race this year, including three full podium lockouts, getting out-scored by a rival manufacturer just once in nine races this season. 

Despite the blow of losing Collins, the new lead duo of Tremblay and Casas still managed to out-score Ducati across the CTMP weekend, taking 77 of a possible 90 points to cap off Suzuki’s incredible campaign.

BS Battery Pole Position Award: Ben Young

Usually a formality for Ben Young, the BS Battery Pole Position Award came down to the wire in 2025, though he still exited CTMP with a fifth consecutive trophy in the end.

Given to the overall best qualifier across the season using an independent points structure, Young is the only winner the award has ever known, taking the honour every year since its creation in 2021.

Eleven pole positions in his last 18 weekends with BMW made Young a virtual lock for the award in previous seasons, but a move to Honda opened the door for three different pole-sitters in three rounds to begin 2025.

Young would lead Alex Dumas by two points entering CTMP, qualifying first or second in every round while Dumas had to settle for third on the grid in Edmonton, but it wouldn’t matter anyways as a crucial second pole position of the year at the finale would keep Young’s perfect streak intact.

“It’s always nice to have a few awards to fight for, especially considering I’ve won a few of these now,” Young joked on Friday. “It’s great to see BS Battery so involved in the series. The support is always really appreciated.”

Young claims fifth career CSBK crown with chaotic victory at CTMP

Details

Category: CSBK News

Published: August 10, 2025

There were many different scenarios that could have played out in Sunday’s Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship finale, but few could have predicted the drama that unfolded in the feature class as Ben Young secured his fifth career GP Bikes Pro Superbike crown at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

The afternoon was set to be a straight shootout for the crown between Young, Alex Dumas, and race one winner Sam Guerin with only six points covering the three of them, and that’s exactly what the fans got in the opening laps as they peeled away from the rest of the field with Jordan Szoke in tow.

Dumas would grab the initial holeshot and lead the first six laps, fending off a thrilling back-and-forth with Young in turns nine and ten on lap three as he chased his second career Canada Cup.

Unfortunately for the leaders, lap seven would kick off the chaos, as an engine failure further down the order left oil on the circuit entering turn one. Dumas would encounter the oil moments later, crashing and bringing out the red flag and seemingly ending his title hopes.

However, after trackside marshalls confirmed that the oil caused the incident – and not a crash of Dumas’ own accord – he was allowed to restart the race, though with rules stipulating that it had to be on the same machine he originally started with.

The Economy Lube/Fast Company BMW team would complete the necessary repairs to get the bike back on-track when the restart began, though with a few last-minute adjustments as Dumas was forced to start from the pit lane, all but ending his chances at the 2025 championship.

Upon the restart, it was the same remaining three that immediately broke away, with Szoke grabbing the holeshot before Young wrestled the lead back at the end of the lap as Guerin chased in third.

They would run in that order for the entirety of the restart, with Szoke building towards a potential race-winning move while Guerin needed to somehow leapfrog both riders on the final lap to complete his epic mid-season comeback.

Neither would materialize, as Young covered off Szoke into turn eight while Guerin tried a desperate move around the outside of both of them, crashing out and officially handing the championship to Young.

The Van Dolder’s Home Team Honda rider would add his second victory of the season just for good measure, celebrating a historic title from the top of the box as he becomes only the third five-time Superbike champion in series history – joining Szoke (14) and Steve Crevier (6).

“This is the outcome we wanted but isn’t really how we wanted it to go. It’s unfortunate things ended this way, but we still had to ride really hard to the end,” Young said. “I’m glad Alex is okay, and hope Sam is as well. Those first few laps were a lot of fun, and all these guys are worthy of being champions for sure.”

He will retain his championship for a fourth consecutive year after a successful title defence for Honda, becoming the first champion for the brand since Jodi Christie in 2014 – and winning Team of the Year honours in the process.

“It’s been such an incredible year. No one really expected us to even win races when we joined Honda, and here we are with another championship,” Ben added. “I can’t thank the Van Dolder’s Home Team and Honda Canada enough. There were a few dark days early in the year, but we’re standing here with another #1 plate.”

The celebrations overshadowed what was a somewhat anti-climactic battle for the championship, with Dumas clawing his way back to fourth by the last lap and inheriting the podium after Guerin’s scary crash.

Guerin was transported to local hospital following the incident but is thankfully expected to make a full recovery. It’s a tough end to the year for the EFC Group BMW star after his sensational comeback, winning four times this season – more than any other rider.

That crash would limit Szoke’s chances of a last-corner pass for the win, but he still managed to put in an excellent effort to finish second after some tweaks to his Canadian Kawasaki Motors machine, leapfrogging Guerin for third overall in the final standings.

“We tried some different gearing after seeing where we were losing, and it felt really good. We kind of had nothing to lose, but unfortunately it didn’t really unfold the way we wanted it to today,” Szoke said. “I thought I could maybe get Ben in turn ten, but Sam flew by us in eight and it actually kind of stunned me a bit, so I had to just bring it home in second.”

While the whole podium was congratulatory to Young, neither Szoke nor Dumas were shy about how they felt following the initial red flag.

“It’s too bad about the oil. I’m glad Alex is okay, it could have been a lot worse. He deserves to be a champion as much as anyone,” Szoke said.

Dumas was even more blunt after he felt the red flag should have come out sooner, possibly preventing the crash that spoiled his chance at his first title since 2021.

“This is the worst day of my life. I had the pace to win, but there was a red flag mistake that caused me to crash in the oil. The team worked so hard to repair the bike, but there was nothing I could do,” Dumas said. “Congrats to Ben, and I hope Sam is okay. It just sucks that it played out that way.”

Matching a career-best fourth was David MacKay, who ran firmly with the leaders for a few laps on the original start and ahead of Szoke following contact off the line. The ODH Snow City Cycle Honda rider would wind up only 0.101 seconds away from his first career Superbike podium, battling with Dumas on the final lap but coming up just short in a drag race to the line.

Rounding out the top five was Alex Michel, capping off an excellent debut weekend for the B&T McFarlane Kawasaki team as he looked extremely comfortable in his first real action aboard the Superbike.

Zoltan Frast would take a strong sixth for Clare’s Cycle BMW, fending off Supersport champion Torin Collins on the restart after Frast was initially amongst the leaders on lap one, while Collins put in an excellent ride aboard his Economy Lube Ducati V2 Panigale to finish seventh from the back of the grid.

Phil DeGama-Blanchet would complete a strong first Superbike campaign in eighth for Mots Machining Honda, matching Frast and Collins on pace but getting disrupted by Dumas’ charge through the pack as he rode a quiet final few laps to the finish.

Sebastian Hothaza would finish ninth for Ride42 Yamaha, ending a great season debut for him as the top Yamaha rider in both races, while Ryan McGowan fought his way to an incredible tenth in his first weekend ever at CTMP while riding injured aboard Collins’ former Novalda Suzuki GSX-R750.

Superbike Race 2 Results

Superbike Race 2 Photos

Tremblay wins shortened Supersport finale at CTMP

Details

Category: CSBK News

Published: August 10, 2025

The pre-season Pro Supersport favourite ended his year with a long-awaited victory on Sunday, as Sebastien Tremblay won a red flag shortened battle over Torin Collins and Tomas Casas at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Collins had wrapped up the title on Saturday with his sixth victory of the campaign after a last-corner pass on Tremblay, but the two picked up right where they left off in race two as they traded places eight times in the opening nine laps.

Three of those lead changes came on lap one alone, as Tremblay led off the long Andretti Straightaway before Collins went for a signature divebomb into turn ten, this time predicted by Tremblay as he cut back underneath to seize first once again.

They would go back-and-forth a lap later in turns eight and nine, headlining a five-rider pack with Casas pacing Andrew Van Winkle and Elliot Vieira behind. Collins would lead for a pair of laps before Tremblay got back out front on lap six, this time fending off any immediate comeback attempts from the new champion.

The trio of Tremblay, Collins, and Casas would begin to stretch away from the rest of the field at the halfway point, though their dramatic showdown was spoiled as a red flag stoppage for Laurent Laliberte-Girard halted the race.

Laliberte-Girard thankfully avoided any serious injuries, but repairs to the safety barriers in turn eight meant the race would not be restarted. 

It’s a bittersweet victory for Tremblay, who finally won his first race of the season after entering the year with the #1 plate aboard his S.T. Motorsport Suzuki, though he was hoping to see out his brewing battle with rivals Collins and Casas.

“I really wanted the full race. It would have been fun to go to the end and battle these guys, but I wanted to lead as many laps as possible and try to force them into mistakes,” Tremblay said. “It was such a fun weekend, and this Suzuki Canada machine was working so well, so I’m happy.”

While the entire podium shared their wishes that Laliberte-Girard was okay, the trio was collectively upset that they couldn’t battle it out to the end.

Collins surely would have had another attack on Tremblay waiting, though the Economy Lube Ducati rider was still all smiles to end his incredible 2025 season.

“It felt really good to wrap up the title yesterday, but I was really looking forward to this one today. It would have been so fun to battle with these guys to the finish,” Collins said. “Just the start of the race with Seb was so much fun. It’s been an awesome year, and I’m really excited for what the future’s going to bring.”

Collins’ status remains uncertain for 2026 as he continues to fight in the MotoAmerica Supersport class south of the border, though his first stint as a Ducati rider will end as a resounding success with 45 of a possible 50 points this weekend.

Casas on the other hand already turned his attention to next season, after a stellar debut with the new FAST Riding School Suzuki team continued with a third-place finish.

“Man, I’m going to leave this place hungry! I was trying to sit back and keep a bit in reserve for the end, so just I wish I had an opportunity to go for it,” Casas said. “I got to give a huge thanks to the FAST Riding School and Suzuki Canada for helping me get back out here, and I can’t wait to build this relationship and put it on the top step next year.”

Carving his way through the pack was former championship runner-up Mavrick Cyr, who earned the Canadian Motorcycle Hall of Fame Hard Charger award with an excellent ride to fourth on his S.T. Motorsport-supported Suzuki.

Cyr had a difficult start as he continued to adapt to his fourth different machine this season, but he may have been a factor in the win over a full race distance as he had begun to reel in the leaders prior to the red flag.

His late push came at the expense of Andrew Van Winkle, who couldn’t stay with the lead pack as he did for majority of Saturday’s race but still turned in a strong top-five result aboard his old-gen Mountainview Motorsports Suzuki.

Van Winkle will end the year second in the overall championship, just nine points clear of Tremblay in what was another strong season for the 18-year-old former Twins champion.

Battling with Van Winkle at the time of the stoppage was Elliot Vieira, who will finish fourth in the year end standings with a top-six finish in every single race aboard his GP Bikes Ducati, though he couldn’t continue his usual CTMP prowess this weekend.

Matt Simpson would salvage a strong seventh in just his second day aboard the Blackstock Motorsports Suzuki, having switched to the machine on Saturday morning with the help of fellow competitor Marco Sousa. Simpson battled with Cyr in the early going before fading to a lonelier position just behind the lead group at the time of the red flag.

Rob Massicotte would take another strong eighth to wrap up his season debut for the 88Moto Yamaha team, salvaging crucial Constructors Championship points for the brand though not enough to leapfrog Kawasaki for third overall behind champions Suzuki and runners-up Ducati.

Sousa would finish just narrowly behind in ninth on his Suzuki Canada machine, sandwiched in the middle of a close battle with Massicotte and Brad Macrae, the latter taking his best result of the year as he debuted the new Colron Excavating Yamaha R9.

Full results can be found here.