Toronto, Ontario – The Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship has already delivered plenty of twists and turns to begin the 2023 campaign, so there’s nowhere more fitting for the season to go next than Atlantic Motorsport Park this weekend, July 20-23, presented by Pro Cycle and Kawasaki.

The uniquely demanding circuit, known affectionately as “the rollercoaster,” will be the site of round three of the GP Bikes Pro Superbike class, but there’s no need to remind championship leader Alex Dumas of the challenge that lies ahead near Halifax, Nova Scotia.

It was just one year ago that the battle for the 2022 Canada Cup was blown wide open at AMP, with Dumas crashing out of the lead amidst an intense battle with Ben Young, who would go on to win his second feature championship in large part thanks to Dumas’ costly error.

Jump ahead to 2023, and there are so far no errors to be found for Dumas.

The Purple Skull Brewing/Liqui Moly Suzuki rider has been sensational, winning three of four races in dominant fashion and taking a commanding 36-point lead over Young to put one finger on the Canada Cup already.

Granted, there has been plenty of misfortune for the reigning champion that has helped expand Dumas’ gap atop the standings, but all three of his victories have demonstrated a new, more determined version of himself than the one we have seen so far in his short career.

Watch the official AMP video preview here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdPXLOf2Brg

It also won’t take much improvement in outright pace for Dumas to close his gap to Young, as there memorably wasn’t any gap at all a year ago – the duo infamously tying in qualifying and needing a coin toss to decide the polesitter – with his race mistakes making it seem as though Young’s advantage was bigger than it is.

With that, it’s hard not anoint Dumas the favourite even with his forgettable east-coast debut last season, as he will know Young has to throw everything at him across the final five races in hopes of rallying back in the championship.

However, the Van Dolder’s Home Team BMW rider will have his own claim to being the weekend favourite. After all, Young swept both races in 2022 and has won three of the last four on the east coast, including his spectacular comeback from tenth to first in 2019.

The circuit has traditionally favoured Young, perhaps owed in part to his experience on narrow, twisty tracks in the British Superbike Championship, and that comeback win four years ago is still considered the best of his career.

However, that victory will also remind Young that AMP is no stranger to chaotic results, likely a bigger concern for Dumas than himself as the title leader aims to avoid any drama, and it may be a closer group of challengers this weekend than the duo has grown accustomed to.

Riding the biggest wave of momentum will be Trevor Daley, who is fresh off a historic charge of his own in Grand Bend where he snatched fourth after crashing out of a battle for the lead on lap two.

Daley has rarely had luck on his side, but round two proved once again he has the race-winning pace to overcome it, and there may not be anywhere better for the OneSpeed Suzuki rider to finally end his quest for a debut victory than at the same place where he came painstakingly close in 2019.

The true X-factor may be tied to Daley regardless, as the biggest question mark of the weekend will be the home favourite aboard his old machine, 17-year-old rookie John Fraser.

Riding the rebranded RLS Contracting Suzuki, Fraser has quietly put together a strong debut campaign already with top-eight finishes in three of four races, but he could more than double that output with a pair of podium challenges this weekend.

That may seem like a tall ask for the first-year rider just out of high school, but Fraser has already approached pole position times in his regional stints at AMP, and even for his young age will bring more track knowledge than majority of the Superbike field.

One rider he certainly won’t have more experience than, however, is 14-time AMP winner (and coincidentally 14-time champion) Jordan Szoke, who will be first in line to pick up the pieces if any of the three Suzuki’s falter.

The banged-up veteran will likely be in for his toughest test yet since his inspiring return, with a pair of 22-lap races on the schedule around a physically grueling circuit, but Szoke and his LDS Consultants Kawasaki will have more expertise to draw from than many of his competitors combined, having tasted victory so many times in Nova Scotia.

That knowledge will be especially valuable to his teammate, LDS Consultants Kawasaki rookie Trevor Dion, as he tries to navigate a Superbike around the Shubenacadie track for the first time. Dion won at AMP a year ago during his Sport Bike championship campaign, but it’s a far different ask around a 210-horsepower feature bike as he looks to build upon his race two podium from Grand Bend.

A difficult challenger to predict will be usual frontrunner Sam Guerin, who has looked like a legitimate race-winning threat on numerous occasions in 2023 but was ordinary in his 2022 Atlantic debut, finishing a distant fourth and fifth aboard his EFC Group BMW.

AMP is no stranger to wet weather, though, and Guerin has begun to gain a reputation as a rain expert, meaning he could be quick to climb the leaderboard if the skies open up at any point over the weekend.

Another wet-track expert worth mentioning is Parts Canada Yamaha rider Tomas Casas, who famously scored his first career Superbike podium in the rain at AMP in 2019.

Casas has dealt with his own physical challenges this season after an injury-shortened 2022 campaign, and this track is hardly one to ease himself back into after four years away, but fond memories may give his team the boost they need in round three.

The midway point of the season will also prove to be crucial in the Constructors Championship fight, where Young’s adversity has left BMW a comfortable 28 points adrift of leaders Suzuki.

The trio of Dumas, Daley, and Fraser don’t appear likely to ease that gap anytime soon, either, but Young and Guerin will be equally in the mix up front for BMW.

Friday’s qualifying sessions could also go a long way in deciding the BS Battery Pole Position award, where Young currently leads Dumas by six points after taking pole in both rounds thus far, with a three-way tie for third another six points back.

The full schedule for the feature GP Bikes class, as well as the six support classes, can be found on the series’ official website at CSBK.ca.

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

Toronto, Ontario – It may only be two races into an eleven-race GP Bikes Pro Superbike campaign, but the two biggest names in the Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship will find themselves in unfamiliar territory as they return to the Grand Bend Motorplex this weekend, June 8-11.

Since Alex Dumas returned north of the border in 2021, he and rival Ben Young have ran almost in unison, finishing one-two in 14 of their 18 races together and sharing the podium all but once – when Dumas crashed out of the lead battling with Young at AMP.

That figure doubled the last time we saw them in race two of the season opener at Shannonville Motorsport Park, as Dumas cruised to a weekend sweep while Young’s race was unraveled by loose bodywork, fighting his way back to only sixth after a trip through the pit lane.

Watch the official video preview here: https://youtu.be/QVw7CSXB4DY

So with Dumas now holding a 23-point advantage atop the standings and riding a four race win streak dating back to last year, it would seem likely that the Purple Skull Brewing/Liqui Moly Suzuki team is content heading to Grand Bend, while Young faces all the pressure.

Instead, they will both be more motivated than ever.

Dumas will know how crucial each race will be around the tight 2.2 km circuit, having watched Young sail away in race one last year and fend him off again in race two. That proved to be a difference maker in the title fight, as they each swept the next two rounds to give Young a 4-to-2 advantage entering the final weekend.

Dumas will want no part in repeating that in 2023, hoping he can change the narrative from just damage limitation to instead doubling down on his championship lead.

As for Young, the task is much more straightforward; do exactly as you did a year ago, sweep at Grand Bend, and head to the east coast for round three with – at worst – a 14-point deficit left to erase.

That won’t feel like an impossible task for the Van Dolder’s Home Team BMW rider, as he enters the weekend victorious in his last three races at the Motorplex, having won all but two of the races there since its debut on the calendar in 2017.

His dominant performance in race one a year ago emphatically proved that he is still the rider to beat at the venue, but he faced a stiffer challenge from Dumas in race two and will know by now that nothing will come easy to him against the 2021 champion.

The path forward will be made even harder by the emergence of Sam Guerin in round one, who put the duo on notice by leading parts of both races at Shannonville.

The EFC Group BMW rider appeared destined for his first pro national win in race one before crashing out in the rain, but made up for it with a second-place finish in race two as he enters Grand Bend still hungry for his debut victory.

Guerin didn’t exactly love the Motorplex in his first race weekend there in 2022, qualifying seventh and finishing with a high of sixth in race two, though he has looked like a much different rider in 2023 aboard a new S1000RR machine.

He will have no shortage of competition to deal with himself, however, with a loaded group led by Tomas Casas, Trevor Daley, and Jordan Szoke all gunning for spots at the front alongside Young and Dumas.

Casas proved his place amongst them in round one with a third-place finish in the rain, bringing home fifth in race two to exit third in the championship for the Parts Canada Yamaha team, while Daley took a pair of fourth place finishes to sit in the same spot overall. The OneSpeed Suzuki rider has finished in the top-five in every career race at Grand Bend and scored podiums in 2019 and 2022.

The biggest question marks, however, will be in the LDS Consultants Kawasaki garage and on the duo of Szoke and Trevor Dion.

Szoke battled through multiple serious health scares and a Saturday crash to finish a remarkable third in race two at SMP, but his body understandably felt the effects in the dry conditions. Grand Bend hasn’t been the fondest place for him either, having won just once there in 2018, but the 14-time champion proved at round one that he is never one to count out under any circumstance.

More uncertainty will hang over the other side of the LDS Consultants Kawasaki garage, where the only thing preventing Trevor Dion from running at the front may be injury. The reigning Sport Bike champion sat out round one after a hard crash in practice, but the hope was that he would be recovered in time for round two.

If that’s the case, Dion may be the next in line to Dumas and Young after qualifying on pole at Grand Bend a year ago and finishing third in race one, gathering plenty of track knowledge in the meantime as the local SOAR regional champion.

Should he sit out again, though, it would open up another huge opportunity in the Brooklin Cycle Racing Pro Rookie of the Year fight, where Paul Macdonnell leads John Fraser by just five points.

Macdonell brought home finishes of seventh and ninth in his debut weekend for the Acme Motorsports Yamaha program, while teenage sensation Fraser finished an excellent fifth in race one before mechanical issues forced him out of race two.

The final battle to look for will be the one in the Constructors Championship, where Suzuki holds a 16-point advantage over defending champs BMW.

The GSX-R squad produced 76 of a possible 90 points in round one and will be in a good spot to build upon their lead with Dumas, Daley, and Fraser all in good form, though Young, Guerin, and Jordan Royds will play a similar role for BMW.

As for third, Yamaha will look to fend off Kawasaki after the strong performances of Casas and Macdonell, though a hopefully healthy duo of Szoke and Dion will be tough to manage.

The full schedule for this weekend’s Superbike action can be found on the series’ official website.

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

Toronto, Ontario – The most unpredictable class in the Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship will continue east next weekend, as Liqui Moly Pro Sport Bike and Bickle Racing Pro Twins returns to Atlantic Motorsport Park from July 20-23, presented by Pro Cycle and Kawasaki.

The middleweight category has continued its trend from 2022 as perhaps the most wide-open class in the CSBK paddock, with three different winners and seven different podium finishers in the first four races, though it’s the lone double-winner that stands above the rest with David MacKay leading the championship by 12 points.

The ODH Snow City Cycle Kawasaki rider quickly made up for a mediocre round one with a pair of victories at his home venue last time out in Grand Bend, leading every single lap of the weekend from start-to-finish.

That momentum would lead many to assume MacKay will enter round three near Halifax, Nova Scotia as the favourite to extend his lead. In reality, he may not face any stiffer task than trying to hunt down Sebastien Tremblay next weekend.

Tremblay’s hiatus from the paddock lasted just one weekend before returning in round two, this time aboard an unfamiliar Turcotte Performance Suzuki, though his last-minute return went about as well as anyone could have expected as he finished second to MacKay in both races and challenged for the lead throughout race two.

Now having taken a few weeks to fine-tune that Suzuki and get back to race fitness, Tremblay will return to AMP with a crucial advantage on his resumé, representing the only previous winner on the grid around the challenging “rollercoaster” circuit.

His victory in 2018 was the first of his pro national career, beating a formidable duo of two-time class champion Tomas Casas and home phenom Jacob Shaw-O’Leary, and he would go on to add two more podiums at AMP in 2019 despite a shoulder injury.

As if being the lone winner wasn’t enough, Tremblay will also take comfort in knowing his remaining rivals haven’t exactly enjoyed the best time out east in their careers, with 2022 race winners Trevor Dion and Jake LeClair not returning.

MacKay importantly took a major step forward in 2022 with a pair of runner-up finishes, but just a single top-five result in his previous six races there will paint a different picture for the championship leader.

Adding to the intrigue is the fact that outside of Tremblay and MacKay, no other rider scheduled to take to the grid has ever even stood on the podium at AMP, meaning at least one name will be doing so for the first time in 2023.

The leading candidate amongst them is current vice-champion Matt Simpson, who had a mixed weekend a year ago with solid finishes of fourth and fifth but never really threatening the front of the field, something he will need to change if MacKay is closer to his 2022 form than the years prior.

However, Simpson did impress at his previous appearance in Shubenacadie – albeit as a member of the lightweight class – finishing what was then a career-best second place, a result the Blackstock Motorsports Yamaha rider will aim to replicate.

Another name to keep in mind is the first winner of the season, Connor Campbell, who will be perhaps the story of the weekend regardless of where he finishes.

The B&T MacFarlane/Kubota Kawasaki rider endured a terrifying, career-threatening crash at AMP one year ago, but hasn’t let that shake his confidence one bit, being quick to point out that he qualified fourth-fastest for that weekend and could very likely fight for a podium once again.

Elliot Vieira and Brad Macrae will each be looking for a very different kind of redemption as they journey east, having endured opposite ends of the spectrum in 2022.

Vieira fell just 0.063 seconds shy of the final podium spot in race two last season, a margin he hopes his new GP Bikes Ducati can overcome, while Macrae crashed out in both instances aboard his Colron Excavating Yamaha, injuring himself in the process and missing the final round.

As for Bickle Racing Pro Twins, the newest class on the schedule has stomached a slow build in 2023, with the limited entries joining the back of the Pro Sport Bike grid as part of a split-race effort.

However, veteran Jeff Williams has simply demolished whatever competition has been thrown his way, and it’s hard to envision that changing for the Williams Paving Aprilia rider as he returns to AMP for the first time since 2019.

Williams has gone four-for-four in the inaugural Twins season and has regularly fought his way up the grid against faster Sport Bike machines, something that may be even easier for him to do around the tight, twisty Nova Scotia layout.

Looking to at least secure the vice-champion spot will be 16-year-old Andrew Van Winkle, who has enjoyed an impressive campaign of his own with three runner-up finishes in four races. The Chilliwack, BC native will likely be making the longest trek of any CSBK entry, but an important one as he eyes a potential vacated crown in 2024.

The full schedule for the Liqui Moly Pro Sport Bike and Bickle Racing Pro Twins classes can be found on the series’ official website at CSBK.ca.

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

Toronto, Ontario – The Liqui Moly Pro Sport Bike class has already become known as perhaps the most wild and unpredictable category in the Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship, so it’s hard to imagine any more surprises could be thrown our way entering round two at Grand Bend Motorplex, June 8-11.

Instead, enter Sebastien Tremblay.

His return is especially bad news for championship leader Matt Simpson, but perhaps more so former rival David MacKay, who would have entered Grand Bend as the overwhelming favourite.

MacKay has plenty of mileage around the circuit as a SOAR regional star, proving that in 2022 as he looked set to win race one before crashing out of the lead, only to get redemption and score his first career national victory in race two.

He could still prove to be a challenge to Tremblay, however, as his experience at Grand Bend is unmatched while his racecraft has improved tremendously from the version Tremblay last saw in 2021.

The ODH Snow City Cycle Kawasaki star recently dominated the SOAR regional opener and already approached his national lap times from 2022, meaning MacKay will at the very least be able to match Tremblay’s pace entering his home track.

As for Simpson, it’s tough to gauge where he stands entering round two, having experienced numerous highs and lows at the venue. The Blackstock Motorsports Yamaha rider captured his first career pro national podium in race one a year ago, but followed that up with a hard crash in race two.

His recent run at the SOAR regional was also challenging, having run off and settling only for seventh. However, regional struggles aside, Simpson has looked like a much more polished rider in 2023, earning his championship lead in round one by finishing a pair of smart races in third and second and avoiding the crash-filled drama around him.

While the list of additional challengers could go on forever, the two other names to watch out for will be the two winners thus far, Connor Campbell and Brad Macrae.

Campbell mastered the wet conditions of race one at Shannonville to score his own first pro national victory for the B&T MacFarlane/Kubota Kawasaki team, before Macrae did the same in race two on his Colron Excavating Yamaha, becoming the seventh different first-time winner in the ten races since Tremblay’s departure.

As for their 2022 performances, Campbell scored what was then a career-best finish of fourth in race one at Grand Bend, as he looks to improve one spot and join the podium once again in 2023, while Macrae battled to finish seventh in race two.

Surprise race one leader and eventual second-place finisher Alex Coelho will be making his first trip to Grand Bend since 2019, where the Lean Angle Motorsports Kawasaki rider finished seventh.

One fan-favourite who was expected to be in a much different position by now is Elliot Vieira, who crashed in qualifying for round one in his GP Bikes Ducati debut and failed to start either race as he couldn’t repair his damaged machine.

Now back at full strength, Vieira will need to at least replicate his 2022 performances of second and fourth if he wishes to keep his championship hopes alive, though you can never count out the double-race winner from a season ago.

As for any local names that may threaten the top of the timesheets, the focus turns to the pair of Jordan Bauer and rookie Sebastian Hothaza, who shared the podium with MacKay in the SOAR regional opener last weekend.

Bauer quietly impressed with a pair of sixth-place finishes at Grand Bend in 2022, his only appearance of the season, and looked strong once again in the final tune-up for the national as he aims for his first pro national podium.

As for Hothaza, the first-year pro won the Scorpion EXO Amateur Sport Bike race at Grand Bend last season, far and away his best result of the campaign, and he proved he has the potential to do so once again as he threatened MacKay’s times en route to finishing second at the regional opener.

Running jointly with the Liqui Moly Pro Sport Bike class, Jeff Williams will be the favourite to expand his title lead in the developing Pro Twins category, after winning both races comfortably in its inaugural weekend.

The Williams Paving Aprilia rider battled closely with some of the top sport bike’s in round one, finishing as high as fourth on-track in the rain in race one, but all that matters is that he keeps his advantage over his fellow Twins competitors.

The closest of those competitors will likely be British Columbia’s Andrew Van Winkle, who sits second to Williams aboard his FD Racing Suzuki and just ahead of veteran Hans Van Sleuwen, riding his Total Truck Care Suzuki.

The full schedule for the Liqui Moly Pro Sport Bike and Pro Twins class can be found on the series’ official website, as well as other support class action and the feature GP Bikes Superbike category.

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