Out of the blue, announced so far only by a new website, the Parts Canada Superbike Series appears to have a new organizer by the name of Frontline CSBK Inc.
The website (csbk.ca) says Frontline CSBK "is a Canadian owned and operated company dedicated to the organization and management of the Canadian Superbike Championship, formerly operated by Professional Motorsports Productions (PMP)." Clicking on the old Parts Canada site directs you to the new Frontline site.
Frontline CSBK was only incorporated January 3, 2011, according to the Certificates of Incorporation records at Industry Canada.
The website goes on to say, " Together with many of the experienced and talented staff of PMP, Frontline will guide the evolution of the sport of national level motorcycle racing in a new direction; one that will improve service to our racers, fans and corporate partners."
The corporate partners are interesting, inasmuch as Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha are listed as sponsors (or partners, if you prefer) along with BMW, Harley-Davidson, and Kawasaki. Yamaha hasn’t been a part of the Parts Canada series for a couple of years, and both Honda and Suzuki had reduced their participation to near-zero.
Other partners listed are Pirelli (which will still be the sole tire manufacturer in the series), Turn2 Motorsports, graphic house Design Junkies, and Dynojet Research. Parts Canada remains the title sponsor of the series.
The staff and ownership of Frontline CSBK is still unknown. Kevin Graham of Orion Motorsport, Canada’s Pirelli race tire distributor, is the only name mentioned on the web site. He told CMG, "I can’t really say [about ownership and staffing] just yet, but there is certainly no large purchase. There’s some series restructuring. Colin (Fraser, principal of former series organizer PMP) is still involved as race director but we are stepping in to assist with structure, media/sponsor development and rider relations. Parts Canada is still very much involved."
Graham promised there would be more information available soon.
The schedule is unchanged, except for the addition of a second race at the Shannonville round, making that one a double-header. Series dates are May 27-29, Circuit ICAR near Montreal, July 1-3, Shannonville Motorsports Park near Belleville (double-header), July 8-10, Autodrome Ste-Eustache near Montreal, August 5-7, Atlantic Motorsports Park near Shubenacadie, N.S., and August 19-21, Mosport International Raceway, near Bowmanville, ON (double-header).
Former series director Colin Fraser of PMP hadn’t yet responded to inquiries at time of posting. We will follow up with an update as soon as we know more.
This change will hopefully be the start of the recovery of the series.
Kevin Graham is a stand up guy unlike Colin Fraser….soon as he is completely out of the series the better off it will be.
According to a reply I received from their Facebook site, a formal press release in the works. All will become clear (I hope)…
So the only question remaining would be if it’s really a rebuild, or just a “rebadge.”
I would think any effort to rebuild the series is a good thing. I don’t think anyone would disagree that a change was needed.
Not terribly surprising, considering the state of the market. But disappointing… I guess this is one of the reasons that Clint McBain is out of the game.