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Cyr extends title leads in Amateur races on Sunday at CTMP
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Mavrick Cyr inched closer to a pair of national amateur crowns on Sunday, headlining day two of Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship support races at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
The Rzzin Racing Triumph rider extended a massive lead atop the Scorpion EXO Amateur Sport Bike class with his third win in four races, and later recaptured his title advantage in the AIM Insurance Amateur Superbike class after rival Andrew Cooney ran into mechanical problems.
Cyr couldn’t manage to run at the front of the Superbike contest, instead battling with Mack Weil for a second time on the day for fifth, but it didn’t matter as Cooney was unable to start after an engine failure during the Sport Bike race.
Young sweeps CTMP tripleheader to set up title showdown
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The fight for the 2023 Canada Cup drew almost even on Sunday, as Ben Young conquered Canadian Tire Motorsport Park for a third time to complete the tripleheader sweep in round four of the Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship.
After cruising to wins in race one on Saturday and race two earlier on Sunday, Young continued to be no match for any of his GP Bikes Pro Superbike competitors as he grabbed the lap one holeshot and never looked back, dominating en route to a seven-second victory.
That in itself would have been enough to make matters interesting in the championship fight, but it was aided for a third consecutive time by Sam Guerin, who continued to make life difficult for points leader Alex Dumas in the penultimate round.
CSBK Untold: Extra Storylines from Round Four at CTMP
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It seems like not much more excitement can be packed into Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship weekends, but every round more and more stories are left on the cutting room floor by the time Sunday comes and goes.
From the major stories that require a bit more detail, to the countless hidden gems that never crack the spotlight, here are some added storylines from round four at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
Guerin officially part of Superbike “big-three”
Sam Guerin has been a frontrunner from the moment he turned pro in 2020, scoring a pair of podiums that season and finishing second in the championship. However, while he added two more podiums earlier this year and led Alex Dumas in Shannonville, the consensus was that Dumas and Ben Young were in a tier of their own at the front.
Guerin changed that this weekend.
The “big-two” officially became a “big-three” at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, as Guerin proved not just to be a nuisance to championship leader Dumas but was able to outright beat him – not once or twice, but all three times in the tripleheader – something only Young and Jordan Szoke have managed to do since his arrival in CSBK.
The EFC Group BMW rider is still chasing his first victory in the feature class, but has proven now more than ever that it’s not where his potential ends. Guerin has developed into a legitimate title threat for 2024, ending the era of Young vs. Dumas and creating a three-headed monster heading into the final round of the season.
Casas left wanting more at CTMP
A return to his home circuit brought a good weekend for Tomas Casas and the Parts Canada Yamaha squad, as he finished inside the top-five in all three races and even found himself in a battle with Guerin and Dumas in races one and three.
What many fans didn’t see, however, is just what was keeping Casas locked at the back of that fight for so long.
The fan-favourite was noticeably down on horsepower compared to the BMW of Guerin and Suzuki of Dumas, losing considerable chunks of time on the long, crucial Andretti Straightaway before working hard to make it back up elsewhere.
“For almost five or six laps, I would blow past him on the straight and then he’d just show up again out of nowhere later in the lap,” Guerin laughed.
While Casas extended his advantage over Szoke to now sit a comfortable fourth in the championship – and refused to let any frustration show – he will surely ponder what could have been in a weekend where he demonstrated runner-up potential.
Laing’s historic Sport Bike breakthrough
Arriving as a relative unknown to CSBK fans in May, John Laing quickly made a name for himself as a Liqui Moly Pro Sport Bike frontrunner in rounds one and two, primarily as a wet-weather specialist.
Well, the skies opened up again for Laing on Friday and he responded with a sensational debut national victory in his first ever trip to CTMP, but that hardly tells the full story of his weekend.
Looking at the results from that round three make-up race and seeing DNF’s for four championship contenders would imply Laing inherited the lead, but that wasn’t the case as he seized the lead on lap two and pulled well clear of the chaos behind him, becoming the sixth-fastest pro winner in history (needing just five races).
The Alberta native then followed up his breakthrough performance with finishes of fourth and sixth in races two and three to move to third in the overall championship entering round five, a ridiculous scenario for a rider in just his first year of national racing.
Martin’s comeback ends in bizarre heartbreak
Two-time Superbike champion Francis Martin generated plenty of buzz when he announced his comeback at CTMP alongside Dumas under the Purple Skull Brewing/Liqui Moly Suzuki tent, and it looked to be a storybook return until an unusual mechanical issue ruined his weekend.
Having moved his way as high as third and chasing down the leaders in Sport Bike race one, Martin had a piece of porcelain break off the spark plug and fall into a cylinder, ending his weekend before it truly began.
“It’s a weird sport. I raced for over 20 years and never saw that happen, and now it happens first race I’m back!” Martin joked.
One of the most accomplished riders in CSBK history, Martin admitted he hasn’t been riding much in retirement but that didn’t show, as he had quickly worked his way through the field and into the podium mix before his luck disappeared – a return that would have sent the CTMP crowd into a frenzy.
DeBoer’s incredible Amateur Sport Bike charge
Reigning lightweight champion Bryce DeBoer has enjoyed a quietly solid debut season in the amateur ranks, but he found something special in Scorpion EXO Amateur Sport Bike race one on Saturday.
After mechanical problems left him stranded at the back of the grid and forced to start 26th, the teenager rocketed up the field to find himself in the top-ten by only lap four, inching his way higher and higher with each lap after.
Ultimately, the Yamaha rider managed to just fend off a group of riders for fifth at the line, climbing an absurd 21 places in only a ten-lap race, a charge drawing comparisons to Jordan Szoke or Ben Young – elite company.
The comeback also proved to be crucial for his championship position, as DeBoer conceded only one place to Mack Weil as he falls to fourth in the standings, with the top three in the championship order forced to turn pro for 2024.
CSBK By the Numbers: Round 4 at CTMP
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The penultimate round of the 2023 Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship season was a historic one for Ben Young, who swept the feature class tripleheader and joined some elusive company in doing so.
Below are just a few of the key numbers from a wild round four at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
Young rewrites the record books
To say it would be a historic weekend for Ben Young and the Van Dolder’s Home Team BMW squad would somehow be an understatement.
Winning all three races in comfortable fashion – something rarely seen at CTMP – Young scored a perfect 81 points to help complete the second-largest single-weekend comeback in GP Bikes Pro Superbike history and largest when both riders were healthy (Jodi Christie beat an injured Jordan Szoke in 2014), cutting his deficit from 36 to just three.
That was hardly the only history he would make, however. Young broke clear of his tie with Alex Dumas for career Superbike wins with numbers 12, 13, and 14, moving him into sole possession of fourth on the all-time list behind only Szoke (78), Steve Crevier (26), and Pascal Picotte (16).
His performances also helped move him into the top-five for career podiums (now at 42) and pole positions (13), whilst becoming the second-winningest rider in CTMP history. To top it all off, Young celebrated only his 50th career Superbike start in race two – giving him the second-best podium percentage of all time with 42 in only 51 tries (82.4%).
With or without a third championship in September, Young has officially entered the discussion of all-time greats.
Manufacturers race to 300 pro podiums
There is always an arms race of sorts going on in the CSBK paddock between manufacturers, but this time there’s a more elusive prize on the line.
In the race to 300 combined pro podiums, Yamaha currently leads the field with 292 entering round five, but Kawasaki (287) and Suzuki (284) have been gaining steam in recent weekends as they pursue the record first.
Combining the all-time results from Pro Superbike, Pro Sport Bike, the new Pro Twins class, and the former Pro Open class means those three brands will all find themselves within striking distance to close out 2023, but it may well carry over to 2024.
Suzuki would need to rack up 16 podiums in seven races – not an impossible task with Alex Dumas in Superbike, Sebastien Tremblay in Sport Bike, and Andrew Van Winkle in Twins – but has all the momentum after producing 15 this season, out-scoring Kawasaki (12) and leaders Yamaha (8).
Ducati’s return to glory
Race one in the Liqui Moly Pro Sport Bike class saw Elliot Vieira storm away from the field for hardly the first time in his career at CTMP, but it was an important milestone for Ducati.
The Italian brand captured their first-ever victory in the middleweight class after getting homologated this season, but returned to the top step of a pro podium for the first time since Pascal Picotte in the streets of Alma in 1993 – a span of 10,938 days.
Picotte was sensational that season, scoring four of Ducati’s six Superbike victories, but the world-famous manufacturer had endured a record drought in the 30 years since.
Now with that drought broken, Ducati will hope Vieira can help launch their return to feature class success as well, with both fans and riders alike eager to see Panigale machinery back at the front of the Superbike ranks.
MacKay, Kawasaki climbing Sport Bike lists
While championship leader David MacKay was denied his fifth career victory on the weekend, he did continue to work his way up the all-time Pro Sport Bike lists in other areas – and helped his manufacturer do the same.
The ODH Snow City Cycle Kawasaki rider secured a pair of crucial third-place finishes to give him 18 in his career, knocking race two winner Sebastien Tremblay out of the top-ten and moving into a tie for tenth himself.
The first of those two podiums would have extra meaning for Kawasaki, though, as it represented their 125th rostrum in the category – second only to Yamaha – and helped extend their record-breaking podium streak to 33 consecutive races.
MacKay now stands as one of the most successful riders to have never clinched a pro championship, but that may be a temporary stat as he looks to bring home his first title in round five, and Kawasaki’s 15th championship in the category.
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