The 2019 Canadian Superbike championship is in the books now, wrapping up at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park this weekend. And, as expected, there’s a new Pro Superbike champion.
Ben Young took his BMW S1000 RR to third place on Saturday, and that was good enough to seal the deal on his 2019 title. He’s the first person to take the championship away from Jordan Szoke since 2014, when Jodie Christie won it.
Young overcame a nasty crash in qualifying to get that podium in Race 1. It was a doozy of a race, with Samuel Trepanier winning his first Pro Superbike event, battling with Kenny Riedmann for a good while, with Jordan Szoke also pressuring. Eventually, Riedmann crashed out when he got tangled up with some lapped traffic, Szoke pushing forward to take second.
In Sunday’s second Pro Superbike race, Kenny Riedmann pushed his way to the front, Trepanier took second, and Szoke was third. Ben Young was fourth. Although the racing was tight all weekend, this one might have been the closest, with the podium separated by only 0.31 seconds. As per CSBK’s official press release:
“With official timing showing just 0.031 seconds separating the top three, CSBK officials decided to confirm the results with video replay, which showed Riedmann just narrowly defeating Trepanier for his second career Pro Superbike win.Â
Official protests were filed by two competitors following the controversial finish, though the protest was rejected with the results finalized post-race. These results are still subject to appeal, which would be determined in conjunction with the Motorcycle Confederation of Canada tribunal.”Â
Pro Sport Bike also saw a regime change, with Will Hornblower prevailing over titleholder Tomas Casas to win the championship.
Saturday’s Pro Sport Bike race win went to Sebastien Tremblay, who’d been a threat all season long, with Hornblower second and Casas third. Although Casas has been strong this season, a DNF in the first race was enough to torpedo his chances to retain the title for a third year, and consistent pressure from both Hornblower and Tremblay kept him from earning the wins he’d have needed to have a hope of getting the overall victory.
Tremblay repeated his win in Race 2, with Casas second and Hornblower third. That third clinched the title for Hornblower.
Amateur Superbike saw the exact same podium on both Saturday and Sunday: Samuel Guerin first, Christian Allard second, Guillaume Fortin third. That was enough to give the championship to Fortin, but there’s obviously no shortage of talent here, and with the Pro Superbike class already the most interesting it’s been in years, the future looks promising.
Allard also earned two podiums in Amateur Sport Bike.
In Saturday’s race, Jared Walker won, followed by Jake LeClair and Allard. In Sunday’s race, Walker won again, followed by Allard and then LeClair. Those podiums were the finishing touch on Allard’s championship bid in Amateur Sport Bike.
Amateur Lightweight Sport Bike saw Ben LeClair declared the 2019 champion, following in brother Jake’s steps the year before. LeClair won Saturday’s race; Trevor Dion was second, Matt Simpson was third. On Sunday, Avery Hart won, followed by Keegan Gaudet and then Simpson.
The lightweight races have home of the best racing footage you will see from Bellistic TV .https://youtu.be/yb6OPYwO-KQ
What a weekend, closest racing I’ve ever seen. This is a great series and I thank the organizers, sponsors and the racers for the committment they have made to provide such great entertainment. I wish the series continued success.