Dion, Fraser look to join exclusive lists in support class finales at CTMP
Toronto, ON – While much of the attention will be on the season-ending Pro Superbike tripleheader, the conclusion to the Canadian Superbike Championship campaign will feature just as much excitement in the five support classes this weekend, with every national crown still up for grabs entering Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, August 12-14.
Every class will get a doubleheader of their own to decide each title battle, with many of those fights likely to run deep into Sunday’s action, most notably in the Liqui Moly Pro Sport Bike class.
The secondary Pro class has lived up to the hype in what was expected to be a wide-open season, with four different winners in six races providing perhaps the most thrilling storylines of the campaign.
Rookie star Trevor Dion is the favourite for the title, entering the weekend with a firm 21-point lead aboard his LDS Consultants Kawasaki and fresh off his second victory of the year in AMP, as he looks to make history in the middleweight class.
Should Dion hang on to capture the Sport Bike crown, he would be the first rookie champion ever in the category’s history – dating back to 1986 – and only the third Pro rookie champion ever behind Jordan Szoke (1998) and Alex Dumas (2021).
Dion will have some experience at CTMP as well, having finished second there in his Pro national debut a year ago, and finishing second again there as a member of the Lightweight class in 2019.
It won’t come easy for him, however, as rival David MacKay looks to stage a late comeback for his first national crown. The Fast Company Kawasaki rider has paid the price heavily for his race one crash in Grand Bend, as he’s mostly matched or beaten Dion since then, capturing a pair of wins in races two and five of the campaign.
MacKay has scored a pair of podiums at CTMP in his career, finishing fifth and second in his two races there last season, but will likely need to add a victory or two to his tally if he hopes to hunt down the championship lead.
Still not mathematically ruled out is the Snow City Yamaha of Elliot Vieira, though Vieira would need some help from the racing gods as he trails by 39 points. The Guyanese star could still play a significant role in the title fight regardless, as he figures to be in the lead battle with Dion and MacKay throughout the weekend.
Also presumably in the lead fight could be the youngest and oldest riders in the class, respectively, as Jake LeClair and Louie Raffa battle for fourth overall. Raffa has been as consistent as any in 2022, finishing sixth or higher in all but two races for Honda, while the bLU cRU Yamaha of LeClair has been the opposite, scoring most of his points with a shocking debut win and another third-place finish at AMP.
As Dion chases one exclusive list in the Pro division, teenage sensation John Fraser will look to join another in the Amateur ranks, as he heads into CTMP with a legitimate chance at both Amateur championships.
A pair of dominant victories at his home track out east have given Fraser a 12-point lead in the AIM Insurance Amateur Superbike class, and the 16-year-old will return to the site of his national debut from a year ago where he impressed aboard his Yamaha machine.
He will still have to hold off the frontrunning Kawasaki of Julien Lafortune – a tough task as it is – before he can turn his focus to the Sport Bike division, but should he do so, Fraser could become only the third double-champion in Amateur class history after Luc Labranche (2019) and Mitch Card (2012).
That will be no easy task for the Nova Scotia native either, though, as he looks to close a seven-point deficit to Paul Etienne Courtois atop the Amateur Sport Bike standings.
Courtois has adapted seamlessly in his first season aboard the bigger Kawasaki machine, and capitalized on Fraser’s early-season struggles as the only rider to podium in every race thus far, but he has seen his lead shrink dramatically after a pair of wins for his younger counterpart on the east coast.
The closest championship battle to watch will be in the Super Sonic Race School Lightweight class, where just eight points separate the top three riders entering the final two races of the year.
The title appeared to be Evan Moriarity’s to lose entering AMP, but the winner of the first two races elected to return home, gifting a seven-point championship lead to youngster Bryce DeBoer and slipping another point back of Vincent Wilson in second.
DeBoer has yet to capture his first national victory this season, but has remained in the title battle thanks to podiums in four of his six races, as the Kawasaki teenager looks to hold off his Yamaha counterparts behind.
Neither of the three will carry any significant advantage into the weekend, however, as they will all be making their national debuts at CTMP – perhaps opening the door for others to help decide the title for them.
One title sure to be awarded on Saturday will be one part of the inaugural Lightweight Pro-Am, as Jared Walker takes an almost insurmountable 58-point lead in the Pro championship with just 58 points remaining this weekend.
Various tiebreaker scenarios prevented Walker from officially capturing the crown in AMP, but he’ll only need to avoid a worst-case scenario to wrap up the trophy on Saturday – or perhaps as early as Friday’s qualifying.
There’s far more left to be decided in the Amateur classification, as DeBoer aims for a second national crown at CTMP – albeit with just a nine-point lead over Grant Nesbitt.
The split-class category may not be DeBoer’s priority as he looks for the more renowned Lightweight Sport Bike championship, but it will be hard to turn away from his battle with Nesbitt, which was deadlocked entering the last round at AMP.
The full slate of support class action for the final doubleheader weekend can be found online at the series’ official website.
