Th-th-th-that’s all, folks! The 2020 Canadian Superbike season is over, with no more races after the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park doubleheader. Organizers had hoped to add another event to the season, but now, they’ve decided that isn’t possible.
That means the series’ winners are also all decided, as there’s no more opportunity for change in the points standings. And, to nobody’s surprise, Jordan Szoke is the Pro Superbike winner.
Although Szoke entered the 2020 campaign following one of the toughest off-seasons of his career, including losing a major sponsor at the last minute, he took his Kawasaki ZX-10R to the victory in each of the four Pro Superbike races. It’s the fourth undefeated season of Szoke’s career, something that must surely be unmatched in any other national-level pro superbike series. It’s his 14th Pro Superbike win, another tally that must also be unprecedented globally.
You can see the full Pro Superbike results here.
Samuel Guerin took second overall for the year aboard his BMW S1000RR, a surprising result, but he finished top-five at each race, and that was all he needed. He’s expected to win Rookie of the Year award for his opening season in the Pros.
Even more surprisingly, Sebastien Tremblay finished third overall on his Kawasaki ZX-6R. Tremblay’s been proving his capability for a couple of years now, but he had some serious bad luck in the 2019 campaign. This time around he showed what he can really do, and he did it on a slower bike.
Although CSBK held Pro Sport Bike races, as well as amateur superbike, supersport and lightweight sport bike classes, the series isn’t crowning any champions in those series this year. No doubt it was a tough decision, but 2020 was a tough series; going into the season, CSBK czar Colin Fraser and his staff hoped for a big celebration of the 40th year of Canadian superbike championship racing, and COVID-19 ruined all that.
Still, even with no spectators and reduced racer turnout, the Canadian Superbike series managed races at Calabogie and CTMP, with help from trackday organizers Pro6. No matter what happens with COVID-19 for 2021, at least there’s a pattern for moving ahead; hopefully, with a few months ahead to plan, we’ll have a more full season of racing next year.
Some of the CSBK races area already on YouTube, and they’re expected to also make it to TSN in October.
Press release
CSBK Confirm Completion of 2020 Season
The Canadian Superbike Championship will not stage further National-level motorcycle road racing events in 2020. The 2020 CSBK season was seriously delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, and as recently as June it was unlikely any events could take place given varied health and safety restrictions across Canada.
Eventually, CSBK organizers Professional Motorsports Productions joined with Pro6 to stage two restructured events, one at Calabogie Motorsports Park, ON, July 25 and most recently the annual August Classic at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, ON, August 14-16.
Pro 6 Cycle is a successful organizer of Track Days at several venues in eastern Canada, most frequently at the popular Calabogie circuit south west of Ottawa, ON. As well, Pro 6 conduct an annual Track School and have a brick-and-mortar shop in downtown south western Toronto, ON.
Pro 6 also provide exclusive Dunlop motorcycle race tire service for the CSBK National Championship, as part of a “spec tire” agreement in place for the past seven years between Dunlop’s U.S. head office and CSBK.
“When we discussed the various options possible for the Superbike Championship in 2020, it gradually became clear that there were some unique opportunities that could possibly allow us to stage events,” explains former Pro racer and Pro 6 co-owner Sandy Noce.
“We spoke to our competitors, and there was solid support for us to try and run at least a few races this season,” continued Noce, who came out of retirement to make his Pro Superbike debut at the Calabogie CSBK opener, placing sixth.
“By combining an abbreviated CSBK race schedule with a version of our track day activity, we were able to create something workable. It wasn’t ideal, but the response was positive, especially from our Quebec-based competitors. We know our customers were happy, overall, with all of our combined efforts.
“Everyone at Pro 6 and CSBK wants to thank our tracks, their staff, and our sponsors, especially Williams Paving, for working together to allow us to conduct National-level events in 2020. There was a lot of work behind the scenes, things done in a new way and/or at the last minute! Our crew really performed above and beyond and worked together to get a wide range of activity on-track in a short period of time.”
CSBK’s Colin Fraser says that the shortened 2020 season couldn’t receive the full-National treatment, and the priority was to “offer enough Pro Superbike races so that the 2020 premier Championship was meaningful. That is how a number of motorsport series have decided to approach 2020.”
Jordan Szoke of Lynden, ON, won all four Pro Superbike races of 2020 and earned the CSBK Championship aboard his Canada General Warranty-backed Kawasaki ZX-10R Ninja. Szoke now has taken the premier Championship 14 times.
Highlights of the 2020 campaign will be presented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and broadcast in per-race format on TSN next month, and later available on-line.
After much discussion, CSBK decided not to crown National Champions in other classes in 2020, and also skip 2020 for the special awards including the Canada Cup and Team of the Year. As well, the Brooklin Cycle Racing Rookie Pro award will be carried over into 2021 – racers who turned Pro in 2020 will be eligible for the award next race season.
An early contender for next year’s BCR Rookie Pro of the Year is Quebec City’s 24-year-old Pro Superbike standout Samuel Guerin, the surprise break-out star of 2020 aboard his EFC Group BMW S1000RR.
“It will be difficult to come up with a CSBK Schedule for 2021, given the unknowns with the ongoing Pandemic,” confirmed CSBK-founder Fraser. “However, with the help of Pro 6 and our competitor base, we have laid the groundwork this year to put together a viable plan for next season. Unfortunately, we still expect there will be some challenges and last-minute changes, but we are working toward a more-traditional plan for CSBK in 2021.
