CSBK - Pro Superbike - Race 1 Results (Saturday)
More, from a press release issued by CSBK/Professional Motorsports Production:
Young survives early battle to win CSBK opener in Grand Bend
Grand Bend, ON – The opening race of the 2022 Canadian Superbike Championship season brought plenty of fireworks on Saturday, as Ben Young held off an early attack to win the Pro Superbike feature opener at the Grand Bend Motorplex.
Young started from the middle of the front row aboard his Van Dolder’s Home Team BMW after ceding pole position to local rookie Trevor Dion on Friday, but made up for that right away as he grabbed the holeshot into turn one for the 20-lap feature event.
His early lead was anything but safe, as Young outlasted an immediate pass attempt from Dion in second and was followed closely by a four-rider pack well into the halfway point of the race. However, Young’s experience around the Grand Bend circuit began to come into play in the second half, as he sliced his way through lapped traffic to clear the chasing pack behind and cruise towards a sixth career Superbike victory.
“I got the start of my life out there, but I knew Trevor would try and get me back right away, so I just tried to bank in consistent times and ride a smooth race start to finish,” Young said. “The BMW worked great, and fortunately we were able to bring home big points, but now we all got to work on some things and try do it again tomorrow.”
Dion was the biggest challenger to Young in the early going, but ultimately couldn’t maintain the pace at the front as he struggled with lapped traffic towards the end. The rookie would eventually give way to defending champion Alex Dumas, who came home second after choosing a soft front Dunlop tire compared to the supersofts of his rivals.
“It wasn’t the start we wanted, so I got stuck behind these guys a little bit at the start and I wasn’t able to get them back soon enough,” the Liqui Moly Fast School Suzuki rider said. “The tires started to come alive in the last few laps and I had a lot of pace at the end, but we’re going to have to get a better start in race two tomorrow.”
As for Dion, his eventual third-place finish would add to an already sensational weekend for the local rookie, as he overcame gearing troubles to earn a hard-fought podium for his wave of supporters aboard his LDS Consulting BMW.
“It’s really hard to run a Superbike here, but I’m happy to gain some experience and pick up a podium in the process,” Dion said. “I thought I had Ben for a moment there in the carousel, but he came right back at me and I just didn’t have the pace to stay up there. We have some work to do for tomorrow, but it’s still a really awesome feeling.”
Climbing his way to fourth was OneSpeed Suzuki rider Trevor Daley, who struggled through a difficult opening few laps but eventually carved through the grid and into the top-five, salvaging a strong result and showing podium pace in the process as he celebrated his 50th career start in the Superbike category.
Completing the top five was another local standout in Steven Nickerson, who ran with the lead pack early on and challenged Dumas for much of the race before fading to fifth as he recovers from lingering knee injuries aboard his Dewildt Powerhouse Honda.
Finishing just shy of Nickerson was the Quebecois duo of Sebastian Tremblay and Samuel Guerin, as both riders reeled in a top-five spot in the late going but were unable to capitalize as Tremblay secured sixth aboard his ST Motorsport Kawasaki and Guerin sealed seventh for the EFC Group BMW team.
While Dion was unable to climb to the top step in the feature Pro Superbike race, he did manage a victory on the day as he won an incident-filled affair in the Liqui Moly Pro Sport Bike category.
Dion ran in second for the entirety of the early portion behind pole-sitter David MacKay, but a red-flag and subsequent restart saw both MacKay and fellow title contender Will Hornblower crash out early, leaving Dion alone out front aboard his LDS Kawasaki.
“The first start was pretty good, but I knew David had the pace, so I just tried to stick with him and manage our Dunlop tires a bit,” Dion said. “Then on the restart I just tried to put my head down and pull a gap on them, but unfortunately they both went down behind me, so we were able to bring home the win.”
Benefitting from the crashes was the typical hard-luck Elliott Vieira, who tied his best career National result with a second-place finish aboard his Snow City Yamaha, while rookie Matt Simpson completed the podium in just his second career Pro race aboard his Evans Racing Yamaha machine.
Completing the top five in the middleweight division were Connor Campbell and Louie Raffa, the former scoring his best career Pro result aboard his Campbell Roofing Kawasaki, while Raffa managed a hard-earned fifth for the Fast Company Honda team.
The opening race of the Super Sonic Race School Lightweight championship was dominated by newcomer Evan Moriarity, who was no match for any of his rivals as he cruised to a debut National victory by over 12 seconds aboard his Yamaha machine.
The gap was much thinner after that, as local youngster Bryce Deboer held on to second ahead of veterans Pat Barnes in third and Jacob Black in fourth, with the three Kawasaki riders separated by just 0.306 seconds across the line.
Jared Walker won the inaugural race in the brand new Pro/Am series, taking the outright victory on track and in the Pro category ahead of Istvan Hidvegi and reigning National Lightweight champion Harvey Renaud, while DeBoer cruised to the top spot in the Amateur division.
Marc Labossiere will start from pole for Sunday’s lone AIM Insurance Amateur Superbike race, after the BMW rider topped qualifying with a time of 1:06.360 – just 0.162 seconds clear of fellow Quebec native Julien Lafortune (Kawasaki) in second.
The gap was even smaller at the top of the Amateur Sport Bike timesheets, as a pair of Kitchener, ON natives were separated by just 0.058 seconds with Sebastian Hothaza taking pole position for Yamaha while Nathan Playford claimed second for Honda.
More, from a press release issued by CSBK/Professional Motorsports Productions:
Lalande continues unbeaten streak in Canadian MiniSBK at Grand Bend
Grand Bend, ON – A change of venue wasn’t enough to slow down Vincent Lalande on Saturday, as the teenaged star won his fifth consecutive race in the feature Canada Cup at the third round of the Canadian Mini Superbike Championship in Grand Bend, presented by the Super Sonic Road Race School.
The series shifted to the bigger circuit – a departure from their usual Lombardy Raceway – as part of a special one-off event alongside the Canadian Superbike Championship, but the new environment didn’t faze emerging young star Lalande as he made his name even more known around the Canadian racing paddock.
The 14-year-old out of Mirabel, QC stormed to pole position in the revised qualifying format aboard his mandated Ohvale machine, posting a best time of 40.82 seconds, and that pace trended into the fifth Canada Cup race of the campaign as he led start-to-finish to maintain his perfect season through six of eleven races.
Lalande was dealt a brief early challenge from Jared Walker, who was joining the feature class while attending the CSBK weekend, but Walker would eventually drift back and lose second place to Benjamin Hardwick, who continues his own streak of runner-up finishes.
Hardwick ultimately ended up just 1.01 seconds slower than Lalande after his late comeback, and his extended podium streak will keep the 13-year-old Sudbury, ON native in title contention as he chases his debut victory in round four.
Walker would hang on to compete the overall podium in third, while also taking home the victory in the GP-1 category amidst a successful MiniSBK debut weekend.
East-coast entry Vincent Wilson also enjoyed a strong first appearance with the series, earning a nail-biting victory in the combined Sport category ahead of nine-year old sensation Michael Galvis.
Wilson was challenged throughout by Galvis, the youngest entry in the MiniSBK field, as the youngster grabbed the holeshot and led in the early going with Wilson and pole-sitter Kyle Newman in tow.
Galvis would eventually concede the top spot to Wilson, launching a few late passes in an attempt to regain the lead, but it ultimately wasn’t enough as he was forced to settle for second place in the Sport category.
Joining the duo on the podium was Newman, who was making his MiniSBK debut as a local entry to the category.
Another notable pair in the Sport category was the husband-and-wife duo of Dwayne and Cindy Bucholtz, with Dwayne battling it out for an eventual fifth-place finish while Cindy managed a strong seventh-place result.
The Canadian Mini Superbike Championship won’t have to wait long before another thrilling weekend of action, with the fourth round returning to the Lombardy Raceway in two weeks time, June 24-26
