Bowmanville, Ontario – Day one of the Canadian Superbike Championship’s weekend racing schedule was brought to an early end on Saturday, with Sebastian Tremblay winning a red flag shortened Liqui Moly Pro Sport Bike race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

The middleweight class was the only national race to run on Saturday, with the rest of the action – including race one of the Pro Superbike feature tripleheader – being moved to Sunday in what will be a condensed version of the planned event.

Tremblay started on pole position aboard his Turcotte Performance Kawasaki and wasted little time in placing that machine at the front of the pack, grabbing the holeshot on lap one and extending a sizeable advantage by the time the group rolled around on lap two.

Despite a closer than usual margin in qualifying, Tremblay was ultimately untouchable in race one, leading all eleven laps and cruising to a comfortable six-second victory as he now has a perfect 112 points through two races.

The battle behind Tremblay was a thrilling one, as a four-rider group – and at one point a pack of seven – continuously traded places in an effort to sort out the final two podium spots.

After a crash displaced the back three, the remaining quartet seemed poised for a sensational last-lap battle, with Elliott Vieira leading rookies Trevor Dion and Jake Leclair across the line with three laps to go.

However, another frightening incident on lap eleven of 14 brought out a red flag and an early end to the contest, with Tremblay sealing the win.

Vieira’s first career national podium would not be upheld, unfortunately, as the Snow City Yamaha rider and former Guyanese Superbike champion was more than four horsepower over the legal limit on the official series Dynojet Dynomometer, resulting in a disqualification.

A pair of other front-running riders were also issued horsepower-related penalties, with Leclair finishing fourth on track but getting docked four positions, while David MacKay finished fifth but was handed a two-position penalty.

Because of the nature of the infractions, Leclair effectively only drops three places (due to Vieira’s disqualification), while MacKay will stay in fifth after the two penalties before him negated his two-place penalty.

The official classification will see Trevor Dion improve to second, scoring his first Pro national podium in the process, as the LDS Consultants Kawasaki rookie moves up one spot after finishing third at the flag.

Joining Tremblay and Dion on the podium was Vincent Levillian, who jumps from sixth all the way to third aboard his Édonia Signature Kawasaki, and in the process climbs to second in the championship standings behind his former teammate.

Finishing fourth in the final classification is SOAR regional standout Chris Pletsch, who had charged to seventh at the flag after recovering from a poor start aboard his privateer Honda machine.

Leclair’s unfortunate relegation to seventh will still have a positive effect on his championship place, as he actually improves to third overall for bLU cRU Yamaha, while MacKay’s eventful fifth-place finish moves him to fourth in the title fight for Mack Attack Kawasaki.

Tremblay will carry a comfortable 46-point cushion into Sunday’s second half of the doubleheader, though the middleweight category will likely see their race shortened to accommodate the compressed schedule.

Full results from Saturday’s lone race can be found online at the series’ official website at csbk.ca, while a revised schedule will be uploaded later Saturday evening.

For more information on the CSBK Canadian Superbike Championship, visit www.csbk.ca