This weekend, Canadian Superbike gets back into action at Calabogie (info on tickets here). Along with the usual CSBK classes, the new Pro 6 GP regional series will also run over the weekend, and the Vintage Road Racing Association’s P4, P5 and GP classes also appear.
VRRA has teamed up with CSBK before, but this weekend’s races will show the Period 5 machines that many fans and maybe even some racers will remember riding themselves. Period 5 includes bikes from the late 1990s, when CSBK champ Jordan Szoke was in the early years of his career.
The CSBK press release below lists a few names appearing at the races, including ex-journo Neil Graham, who many readers will remember from his years at Cycle Canada. It’s a good chance to see some classic superbikes and purpose-built racebikes in action, if you’re lucky enough to get one of the limited number of tix available. More deets below:
News release
Vintage Road Racing Association, Pro 6 GP Race Series and CSBK Confirm Calabogie Vintage Entry
Toronto, ON – The upcoming opening event in the 2021 CSBK National tour and Pro 6 GP race Series at Calabogie Motorsports Park will feature a strong Vintage entry in the classic racer event scheduled for July 10 and 11. The Vintage Road Racing Association, founded in 1980, first competed at Calabogie in an invitational event with the opening CSBK National of 2015.
The Vintage final will feature machines from four categories in the V.R.R.A., including the recently adopted Period 5 class for race bikes utilized in the late 1990s. The period 5 entry includes Ducati pilot Jean-Marc Bilger, a recent Pro Podium performer in Liqui Moly Pro Sport Bike at Atlantic Motorsport Park in Nova Scotia. Bilger’s chief rival is likely to be former Pro 250 Grand Prix National front runner Darrell “Boom Boom” Cooney aboard his recently completed Suzuki boattail SRAD GSX-R600.
The strong Period 4 grid will offer a wide range of bikes that featured in the late 1980s, including 2015 Calabogie pole sitter Neil Graham, the writer and film maker aboard a racer red Ducati 888 Desmo. Former V.R.R.A. number one plate holder and Vintage star Daniel Rinfret is also very quick on his Honda GT650 middle-weight twin.
In Period 4, the rider to watch is Tim Ruhl, a star Amateur in the 1980s who had an impressive career in the WERA National Endurance Tour in the U.S.A. during the 1990s. Ruhl pilots a big Suzuki Katana, one of the definitive machines of the air-cooled, twin shock early era of Pro Superbike competition.
Purpose-built racer bikes feature in the Grand prix class, where the trick yellow meanie Yamaha TZ250 two-stroke twin of Rob Massicotte is expected to set the pace. All four classes of Vintage machinery will race together on Sunday afternoon at Calabogie and compete at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park east of Oshawa, ON, in the annual Vintage classic, August 6-8.
The full list of rider entries are now posted on the official CSBK website here.
