The 2020 Canadian Superbike series kicks off this weekend, with a Saturday, July 25 race at Calabogie Motorsports Park. It’s going to look much different from last year’s races, with no spectators attending, and 2019’s Pro Superbike and Pro Sport Bike champions not entered.
CSBK’s original 2020 plans took a two-punch combo from COVID-19 this year. Governments shut down large public gatherings (no fans allowed at race tracks), and the series lost title sponsor Mopar.
It’s especially unfortunate, as this was supposed to the 40th anniversary of Canadian superbike championship racing. First the plan was a six-weekend series, starting at Shannonville; then, the plan was a shortened season starting at Shubenacadie. Now, we’re getting a no-fans-allowed one-off at Calabogie this weekend, and we haven’t heard any plans for what, if anything, will follow (although series organizers seem to be planning more racing, by the wording in the press release).
This weekend’s grid is going to have two big names missing. Ben Young and Will Hornblower, who won the Pro Superbike and Pro Sport Bike titles last year, are not racing (see Young’s announcement here). That means the Pro Superbike front-runners will likely be Jordan Szoke and Trevor Daley. Jeff Williams, Michael Leon, Sebastien Tremblay and Nicolas Meunier are all possible podium threats, too, having put in strong races in 2019. Tremblay and Meunier are also racing in Pro Sport Bike. No word on whether Tomas Casas is signed up for either Pro event, but we haven’t seen or heard anything indicating that.
Along with the Pro races, there’s also an Amateur Superbike race this weekend, and Amateur Lightweight Sport Bike. The 250-400cc Lightweight class ran at Calabogie last summer, but the big bikes haven’t done a CSBK race at Calabogie since 2015.
Although CSBK can’t allow fans into this weekend’s race, organizers say there will be video highlight coverage of the event, so stay tuned for that.
