Photo: CSBK
The Nova Scotia double-header saw some great racing this past weekend, with a particularly wild Pro Superbike event on Saturday, and a wet slog for the pros on Sunday.
Saturday saw the Pro Sport Bike class race first, with Tomas Casas taking the win after qualifying first; Will Hornblower beat him off the start, with Tremblay in front of them both, but Casas soon had the lead back. He managed to fend off any passing attempts through the rest of the race, with Hornblower ending in second. Tremblay was third.
Amateur Sport Bike saw Avery Hart win on Saturday, with Ben LeClair finishing second, only 0.333 seconds ahead of Trevor Dion. Former CMG big boss Jacob Black was seventh, although he’d been as high as third at one point.
The final race on Saturday was Pro Superbike, and it was a bloodbath. Ben Young started on pole, with Jordan Szoke in second and Trevor Daley in third. Right off the start, Daley managed to get in front, followed by Szoke. Young trailed in third, but shortly worked himself ahead of Szoke.
But then things got freaky on Lap 2, as Daley tried to scrub some speed in Turn 11, forcing Young to get on the brakes to avoid him, which in turn left Szoke nowhere to go but into Young.
The resulting smash-up saw Szoke and Young both into the weeds. Young was forced all the way back into eighth position, as he was able to get back on-track. Szoke wasn’t so lucky, and being shut out of the points means his championship hopes are torpedoed for 2019.
Daley was now looking like he’d walk away with the race, with Michael Leon behind him, and Samuel Trepanier in third. Unfortunately for Leon, he tucked the front coming down deceptive Turn 1, which left Trepanier free to really put the squeeze on Daley, eventually getting out front.
Meanwhile, at the back, Young was picking off traffic bit by bit. Eventually, he’d worked his way to pressure the front-runners. In one of the best pieces of racing in CSBK in a while, he nabbed Trepanier in the third-to-last corner, then lost the lead back, then took it again in the final corner for the win.
A real back-and-forth battle, to be sure, and the kind of race that fans love to see, although it was a bummer that Leon and Szoke were eliminated by crashes.
Sunday saw the second round of racing, with Avery Hart once again prevailing in Amateur Lightweight Sport Bike, followed by Matt Simpson and Ben LeClair. Jacob Black was sixth.
The Amateur Sport Bike win went to Christian Allard, with Jake LeClair second and Chad Whitehead third. Over in the Pro ranks, Will Hornblower took the Pro Sport Bike victory by a healthy lead over Sebastien Tremblay, with Tomas Casas in third. That doesn’t guarantee Hornblower the series victory, but it will likely mean Casas can’t catch up, thanks to his first-round DNF. David MacKay and Tremblay are also likely out of it, although if any of the frontrunners had a DNF in Race 1 at Mosport, it’d be all up for grabs. As Saturday’s Pro Superbike race shows, anything can still happen.
On Sunday, things were wild again, as Shubenacadie saw a massive rainstorm interrupt plans for the Pro Superbike race. After some deliberation, CSBK staff sent the litrebike racers out for a practice session on rain tires, and ran the event on a wet track. This time, Szoke took the win, with Young in second and Casas earning a podium on his R1.
The wet Amateur Superbike win went to Christian Allard, with second to Scott Alexander and third to Guillaume Fortin.
So, at this point, Hornblower has a decent lead in Pro Sport Bike, and will likely take that series as long as he’s able to get on the podium in both Mosport races. Young ought to be able to do the same, and should take the Pro Superbike title this year.
