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Recapping the ten Bridgestone CSBK performers at the Daytona 200
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The 82nd running of the Daytona 200 wrapped up with a dominant Josh Herrin victory on Saturday, his second consecutive victory for the Warhorse HSBK Ducati team at the famed 57-lap race around Daytona International Speedway.
There were plenty of international success stories at the MotoAmerica event, however, and amongst them was a number of Canadians as ten Bridgestone CSBK riders entered the Daytona 200 and nine took to the grid on race day.
With the trip south now firmly in the books, below is an in-depth look at the five finishers and five other riders in attendance this past weekend, listed in their finishing order out of 62 total starters.
Ben Young – 9th
It all went to plan for three-time CSBK champion Ben Young, who was the most experienced Canadian going into the event, largely the fastest Canadian during the weekend, and the top ranked Canadian at the chequered flag.
Adjusting to a Team BATTLAX Suzuki for the first time in his career, Young fought through a few mechanical gremlins early in the qualifying process but was his typical calm, calculated self on race day, managing his Bridgestone tires excellently to extend each of his first two stints and overtake a handful of three-stop riders with his two-stop strategy.
While it won’t go down as Young’s best finish at Daytona – he scored an eighth-place result in 2013 – it was by far one of the best rides of his career given the historically strong field, beating names like PJ Jacobsen, four-time winner Danny Eslick, and running ahead of two-time Isle of Man winner Peter Hickman before his DNF.
Trevor Daley – 20th
It was an eventful race for the other rider in the Team BATTLAX garage, but the fact that Trevor Daley was able to crack the top-20 even with a crash and lengthy pit-stop shows the incredible pace he had on Saturday.
Daley was running in 19th and ahead of a number of key names prior to the incident, and likely would have been in contention for a spot in the top-15 at the finish, but even with the setback was able to claw his way into the top-20 and next to MotoAmerica regulars like Danilo Lewis and Blake Davis.
It’s also worth noting that Daley did all of this in just his first ever Daytona 200 appearance, finishing as the fifth-best debutant in the field, and losing out only to YART World Endurance champions Karel Hanika (fifth) and Marvin Fritz (sixth), rising star Kayla Yaakov (eleventh), and Spanish star Diego Perez (16th).
Matt Simpson – 25th
The Daytona 200 experience can be one full of ups and downs, and the Evans Racing Yamaha crew got the whole package last weekend. The first few sessions were ruined by a combination of Matt Simpson’s self-admitted errors, various setup issues, and plenty of traffic that prevented any clean laps, and a Saturday morning mechanical failure made the team question if he could even finish the race.
Instead, Simpson wound up inside the top-25 and was the third best Canadian in the 62-rider field.
The 22-year-old rode a quiet and consistent race, avoided all the chaos ahead of him and lap one chaos behind him, and stretched out his tires even with early grip issues to finish on a two-stop strategy and capitalize on the other three-stop riders ahead of him.
Only three riders made up more spots than Simpson did, up 21 places from 46th on the grid, as he finished as the sixth-best rookie in the field and just behind long-time MotoAmerica frontrunner Taylor Knapp.
Alex Michel – 28th
Despite all the wildly different circumstances of the Daytona 200, it was another quietly spectacular weekend for Alex Michel, who continues to take on the reputation as the “silent assassin” of the CSBK paddock.
The 20-year-old got off to a strong start as he lapped inside the top-35 on Thursday, but couldn’t make much progress as he slipped to 53rd on the grid in qualifying. As usual, the second-year pro made it up when he needed it most, however, gaining 25 spots on race day – the second-most of any rider in the field.
The SpeedFactory67 Kawasaki rider gradually chipped away at the field in front of him and managed his tire and fuel strategy to perfection, limiting his mistakes along the way as Michel capped off his Daytona debut as the fourth-best Canadian – putting the Pro Sport Bike field back home on notice.
Mavrick Cyr – 30th
For all the talent Mavrick Cyr has, it was fair to question how well an 18-year-old with only one career pro race under his belt would do at Daytona. In reality, Cyr looked like a seasoned veteran right from the start.
The Rizzin Racing Triumph rider and reigning amateur champion immediately cracked the top-35 in the opening practice and was nearly matching Sebastien Tremblay’s pace at the top of the Group B timesheets, qualifying 39th on the grid and sixth amongst the ten CSBK entries.
His inexperience started to show a bit more on Saturday with a few crucial mistakes early on, but it didn’t take long for Cyr to settle in and charge back past a number of midfield riders to wind up inside the top-30 out of 62 starters.
Sam Guerin – 47th (DNF)
One of the fastest riders on any two-wheeled machine, Sam Guerin’s latest foray into the Supersport class of the Daytona 200 was unfortunately riddled with mechanical issues from the beginning.
The Original Garage Premont HD Kawasaki rider had just started to settle in aboard the smaller displacement machine when he encountered motor problems, forcing the team to drop a new engine into his ZX-6R Ninja on Friday night after qualifying 38th.
His early pace had him looking like a potential top-20 threat, climbing as high as 29th before the first round of pit stops, but another motor failure just 13 laps into the race forced Guerin into an early retirement in his first Daytona 200 appearance, ending the event 47th in the final classification.
Trevor Dion – 52nd (DNF)
As if his string of performances to end 2023 weren’t impressive enough, Trevor Dion earned even more hype leading into the Daytona 200 when he joined reigning winners Warhorse HSBK Ducati and reportedly turned heads at their private test in Savannah.
However, that perfect marriage quickly began to encounter problems as Dion struggled with the HSBK-favoured bike setup, and while it’s hard to fault the program for their insistence – after all, they did defend their crown with another Josh Herrin victory – the reality is that Dion never looked fully comfortable on or off-track.
The 22-year-old didn’t go without flashes of brilliance, qualifying 29th and briefly running as high as 19th on race day and only a couple spots behind Young, but brake problems forced him to retire on only lap five and bring his first Daytona 200 experience to a frustrating end.
Sebastien Tremblay – 60th (DNF)
It’s been a year of adjustments for Tremblay, switching from his once-beloved Kawasaki to a Suzuki GSX-R600 in Canada and then to the recently homologated GSX-R750, only to then return to Turcotte Performance Kawasaki for a one-off at Daytona.
The teething period didn’t last long as he quickly established himself as one of the fastest riders in Group B, qualifying 36th overall and representing a sure threat to fight inside at least the top-25 given his excellent consistency and tire management.
Unfortunately, he never got the chance as Tremblay got tangled up with one of his American counterparts on lap one and was knocked out of the race, an all-too-familiar outcome for one of the unluckiest riders in the CSBK paddock.
Brad Macrae – 61st (DNF)
The last of the Daytona 200 debutants, Brad Macrae had helped crew for Young a year ago but decided to return aboard his Mac Racing Yamaha this time around, looking reasonably comfortably early on as he climbed inside the top-ten of Group B and sixth-fastest amongst the Canadians.
Despite a mix of setup issues and mechanical lapses – including a loss of brakes at the end of the pit lane in Saturday morning’s warm-up – Macrae fought through the setbacks to put himself 40th on the grid and with enough pace to secure a strong result.
He would unfortunately suffer from the same bad luck as Tremblay, however, as he crashed trying to avoid the incident that included his fellow Canadian in front of him on lap one. As if that wasn’t enough heartbreak, Macrae suffered two broken wrists and injuries to his left foot in the crash, putting his status for round one of the CSBK season at risk.
Alex Coelho – DNS
The only other entry besides Young with previous Daytona 200 experience, Alex Coelho returned aboard his MTRS Kawasaki hoping to follow up an excellent 16th place finish from a year ago, but unfortunately had his weekend cut short.
After going 35th fastest in practice, Coelho crashed on his first flying lap of qualifying and suffered a broken fibula after being clipped by another rider, thankfully avoiding the worst but unfortunately ending his weekend before it truly even started.
While Coelho didn’t technically qualify for the Daytona 200 due to the timing of the crash, he makes this list due to both his unfortunate injury and the strong pace he showed prior to it, which would have put him comfortably inside the group of qualifiers.
CSBK adds Constructors Championship for Pro Sport Bike in 2024
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The Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship will expand upon one of its most prestigious award battles in 2024, adding a Constructors Championship table to the Pro Sport Bike class.
Introduced to the feature GP Bikes Pro Superbike category in 2021, the Constructors Championship (or “manufacturers” title) has quickly become an integral part of the season story while also diversifying the grid, as just four brands scored points in 2020 compared to a high of seven in 2022.
The championship sees the top two scorers for each manufacturer in each race contribute points to the season standings, matching the exact total of race points each of those riders scored. For example, if the top two BMW riders in the final classification finished first (25 points) and fourth (13), they would score 38 points in that race.
BMW has been the most successful Superbike brand since its adoption, winning back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023 after rivals Suzuki snatched the inaugural crown in 2021.
While that matches up with class champions Alex Dumas (Suzuki) in 2021 and then Ben Young (BMW) in each of the last two seasons, the true difference makers thus far have been the additional riders behind them, evidenced by Sam Guerin’s efforts a year ago.
As for its expansion into the middleweight Pro Sport Bike class, the Constructors Championship should be even closer than in the feature category, as four different brands won Sport Bike races last season compared to just two in Superbike.
Kawasaki would have been the Constructors champions had the award existed in 2023, and while that success was headlined again by class champion David MacKay, an impressive six different riders would have contributed to the season total, the most of any brand.
Those efforts would have paced Suzuki by 87 points and Yamaha by 92, with the former relying heavily on 2021 champion Sebastien Tremblay and veteran Marco Sousa while the latter scored majority of their points with class runner-up Matt Simpson and round one winner Brad Macrae.
The favourite for the inaugural 2024 crown isn’t immediately clear, however, as MacKay is set to graduate to the Superbike class and Simpson remains without a ride, while Macrae was injured at the Daytona 200 and could miss the opening rounds.
That leaves Tremblay and Suzuki as the de facto frontrunners, though Ducati’s Elliot Vieira will surely be a title contender for the Panigale brand alongside Nathan Playford, while John Laing and Alex Michel take over lead duties for Kawasaki.
The biggest wildcard could be 18-year-old sensation Mavrick Cyr, who is expected to do the heavy lifting for former class champions Triumph in his first pro season. Yamaha will be left to rely on rookie Bryce DeBoer in Macrae’s absence, while Honda remains without any projected entries heading into round one.
The addition of the Constructors Championship to the Pro Sport Bike class is just the latest boost to Bridgestone CSBK’s most unpredictable category, with nine different winners in the last 17 races dating back to the start of 2022.
The middleweight tier is slated for another 12 races in 2024, featuring doubleheaders at each of the six rounds spanning Ontario, Nova Scotia, and Alberta. The action will begin at Shannonville Motorsport Park just east of Belleville, Ontario from May 17-19.
Bridgestone CSBK tweaks point structure for 2024
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The Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship has made a slight revision to its point structure for the 2024 campaign, removing the “lap led bonus” for all national classes this season.
The rule was first introduced in the 1990’s, where the rider who led the most laps in each race would earn a two-point bonus in the standings. When CSBK adopted the more common FIM-style point structure in 2022, the rule was revised to become a two-point bonus to any rider who led a lap across the line, with multiple riders able to earn the bonus in each race.
Beginning in 2024, no in-race bonuses will be awarded. The qualifying point system will remain in place, awarding four points to pole position down to one point for fourth, while the race point structure also remains unchanged from the FIM system used in 2023.
The lap led bonus was unique to the Bridgestone CSBK series, with every other major motorcycle racing championship currently using the standard FIM point structure, seen primarily in MotoGP and World Superbike.
Notably, eliminating the bonus points would not have changed any of the title outcomes in either 2022 or 2023, the two seasons when the most recent format was used.
Last season, three different riders managed to lead a lap in the feature GP Bikes Pro Superbike category, with champion Ben Young doing it on six occasions while rival Alex Dumas countered with five lap led bonuses and Sam Guerin earned one.
In the Pro Sport Bike category, eight different riders managed to secure a lap led bonus at some point in the season, with champion David MacKay doing so four times while runner-up Matt Simpson and Sebastien Tremblay each countered with three.
The revised format is just the latest change to take affect entering the 2024 season, which will begin with round one at Shannonville Motorsport Park from May 17-19, just east of Belleville, ON.
BS Battery returns as CSBK Pole Position Award sponsor for 2024
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IMPORTATIONS THIBAULT AND BS BATTERY RENEW THEIR PARTNERSHIP WITH THE BRIDGESTONE CANADIAN SUPERBIKE SERIES FOR THE 2024 SEASON
Sherbrooke, Québec — Importations Thibault and BS Battery are pleased to officially announce the renewal of their partnership with the Bridgestone CSBK for the 2024 season. After a successful collaboration in 2023 and 2022, BS Battery will continue its role as the sponsor of the Pole Position Award, honoring the top competitors in the series for a third consecutive year.
The BS Battery Pole Position Award remains a prestigious symbol within the racing community, recognizing the rider who achieves the fastest qualifying lap at each championship event. The upcoming year promises unparalleled levels of competition, with the country’s best riders racing for ultimate victory.
BS Battery is a major player in the original equipment and replacement parts market, offering an extensive range of batteries with all the technologies available for all powersports applications. Benjamin Sebban, General Manager of BS Battery, expresses satisfaction with the continuation of this collaboration: “We are delighted to renew our partnership with Importations Thibault and to once again support the Bridgestone/CSBK series. This association provides us with an ideal platform to showcase our products to a wider audience and engage in conversation with the racing community. We are confident that the upcoming season will be a resounding success and look forward to seeing the champions emerge.”
Dave Oakley, Director of Business Development at Importations Thibault, shares this enthusiasm for the continuation of this alliance: “We are pleased to extend our partnership with BS Battery for another year. We take pride in contributing to this exceptional series of races and supporting the powersport community. Our commitment to quality and excellence remains at the heart of our actions, and we are confident that this collaboration will continue to enhance the experience for spectators and participants.”
The BS Battery Pole Position Award is just one aspect of Importations Thibault and BS Battery’s enduring commitment to motorcycle racing in Canada. As the start of the Bridgestone/CSBK series approaches, fans and riders can anticipate an exciting season filled with competition and thrills.
From a press release
IMPORTATIONS THIBAULT ET BS BATTERY RENOUVELLENT LEUR PARTENARIAT AVEC LA SÉRIE BRIDGESTONE CSBK POUR LA SAISON 2024
Sherbrooke, Québec — Importations Thibault et BS Battery sont heureux d’annoncer officiellement le renou- vellement de leur partenariat avec le Bridgestone CSBK pour la saison 2024. Après une collaboration fruc- tueuse en 2023 et 2022, BS Battery poursuivra son rôle de commanditaire du Pole Position Award, récom- pensant les meilleurs compétiteurs de la série pour une troisième année consécutive.
Le Pole Position Award de BS Battery reste un symbole prestigieux au sein de la communauté des coureurs, honorant le pilote ayant réalisé le tour de qualification le plus rapide lors de chaque manche du champion- nat. L’année à venir promet un niveau de compétition inégalé, avec les meilleurs pilotes du pays se disputant la victoire finale.
BS Battery est un acteur majeur sur le marché des pièces d’origine et des pièces de remplacement, offrant une gamme étendue de batteries avec toutes les technologies disponibles pour toutes les applications de sports motorisés. Benjamin Sebban, Directeur général de BS Battery, se réjouit de la poursuite de cette collaboration : « Nous sommes ravis de renouveler notre partenariat avec les Importations Thibault et de soutenir à nouveau la série Bridgestone/CSBK. Cette association nous offre une plateforme idéale pour présenter nos produits à un plus large public et engager la conversation avec la communauté des coureurs. Nous sommes convaincus que la prochaine saison sera un succès retentissant et nous avons hâte de voir les champions émerger. »
Dave Oakley, directeur du développement des affaires chez Importations Thibault, partage cet enthousiasme pour la poursuite de cette alliance : « C’est avec grand plaisir que nous prolongeons notre partenariat avec BS Battery pour une nouvelle année. Nous sommes fiers de contribuer à cette série de courses exception- nelle et de soutenir la communauté des sports motorisés. Notre engagement envers la qualité et l’excellence reste au cœur de nos actions, et nous sommes convaincus que cette collaboration continuera à enrichir l’ex- périence des spectateurs et des participants. »
Le prix Pole Position Award de BS Battery ne représente qu’un aspect de l’engagement durable d’Importa- tions Thibault et de BS Battery envers le sport de la course moto au Canada. Alors que le coup d’envoi de la série Bridgestone/CSBK approche, les passionnés et les pilotes peuvent anticiper une saison palpitante, synonyme de compétition et de sensations fortes.
Extrait d'un communiqué de presse
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