Bowmanville, Ontario – Preparation means everything in motorsport, and Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship newcomer Billy Ethridge was not leaving anything to chance on Friday’s first day of action for the season-ending series doubleheader at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

On a damp and dreary day when most riders elected to stay dry, the Lawrenceville, Ga. racer logged 17 laps around the historic 10-turn, 3.957km (2.459-mile) road course on his BEI Racing / Dunlop Suzuki GSX-R1000. His best lap was turned in one minute, 46.871 seconds (133.293 km/h), set in the 40-minute afternoon practice session.

“I did it to get some track knowledge,” said Ethridge. “It [the track] is faster than it looks, and there are a lot of blind spots. If it rains during the race, I want to know where all the puddles are and how slick the track is. The track itself is great and all the people are really nice.”

Ethridge has won the last four WERA Endurance Championships with his BEI/Dunlop Development team and is currently racing WERA’s Suzuki Contingency Classes in the Southeastern U.S. He also raced in the Road Atlanta round of the MotoAmerica series. After a great start, Ethridge was taken out in just the fifth turn when another rider fell in front of him.

Ethridge’s time was second fastest overall for the day, beaten only by Gatineau, Que.’s Tim Robinson on the Robinson Racing / Gym-Max BMW S1000RR, who turned a lap at 1:43.798 (137.240 km/h) in the morning.

Qualifying was scheduled for Friday afternoon but with the difficult weather conditions grid positions for this weekend’s races will be set on Saturday morning. The first race of the doubleheader weekend will go Saturday afternoon, with the season finale on Sunday.

Jordan Szoke of Lynden, Ont. comes into this weekend’s Mopar CSBK finale aiming to lock up his 10th career Canadian Superbike title and complete a perfect season. The Mopar Express Lane / BMW Motorrad BMW S1000RR rider has victories in all five previous races and a commanding 91-point lead, 275-184 over Kenny Riedmann in the standings.

There are four points available for qualifying fastest in Saturday morning’s Magneti Marelli SuperPole qualifying session and 50 points on offer for the winner of each of this weekend’s two Superbike feature races.

In other action at CTMP, Keene, Ont.’s Jodi Christie was fastest in practice for the Hindle Exhaust Pro Sport Bike class. In the only dry practice session of the day, the Accelerated Technologies / Honda Canada Honda CBR600RR rider set a time of 1:26.823. Thornbury, Ont.’s Ben Young was second quickest at 1:27.608 riding his Hindle Yamaha YZF-R6 and defending champion Riedmann was third at 1:27.673 aboard the GE Capital / Sturgess Cycle Triumph 675R.

Riedmann comes to CTMP with a nine-point lead, 239-230, over Christie in the Pro Sport Bike standings.

Class points leader Samuel Trepanier of St-Isidore-de-Laprairie, Que. set the fastest time in Magneti Marelli Amateur Superbike practice with a 1:42.515 on his BMW S1000RR and London, Ont.’s Philip Leckie led the Bell Helmets Amateur Sport Bike class with a time of 1:43.626 on a Suzuki GSX-R600.

Qualifying for the Pro Sport Bike, Amateur Superbike and Amateur Sport Bike classes will also be held Saturday morning prior to their first feature races of the weekend on Saturday afternoon.

In a dramatic debut for the Kawasaki Ninja 300 Racing Series, two-time Canadian Superbike champion Michael Taylor of Toronto edged Montreal’s Costa Mouzouris by 0.016 secs. for the win in Friday’s six-lap race. The Kawasakis will be back on the track Saturday and Sunday for a pair of VIP/Media races.

Ticket information for this weekend’s Mopar CSBK doubleheader finale is available through www.mosport.com, emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or by calling (905) 983-9141, Tickets can also be purchased by following the blue ticket link in the event info section at www.csbk.ca.

The official Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship website, www.csbk.ca, will have full race video coverage of this weekend’s Mopar Pro Superbike contests, both posted the morning after the race, as well as one of the Hindle Pro Sport Bike features and one of the Kawasaki Ninja 300 Media/VIP events.