New “Pro-Am” Lightweight series for Canadian Superbike

Canadian Superbike’s smallest class is getting faster, sort of. Series officials have confirmed that the Pro-Am Lightweight Sport Bike class will debut in 2022, allowing riders on small-cc sportbikes to run machines with more horsepower and less weight.

CSBK’s press release (see the whole thing below) says this:

“The maximum allowable horsepower for the PRO-AM class on the official Series Dynojet Dyno will be 50, and weight must register no lower than 305 pounds immediately post-race in the Keene Truck Tech Centre scales.”

This will allow experienced riders to run better-tuned bikes, as long as they’ve got the money to do so. When the Amateur Lightweight Sport Bike series started, the whole point was to keep costs down. The easiest way to do that is to restrict allowable modifications.

Now, there are plenty of hotshot riders in the 400 series who don’t really want to move to 600s, but are ready for the next level of racing. This new Pro-Am series will allow that.

The series was actually supposed to start in 2021, but due to pandemic restrictions, that didn’t happen.

The new series will run over the race weekend along with the Amateur series, and competitors will be allowed to race in both series (previously, Amateur Lightweight Sport Bike racers could not compete in other classes). For details on that and other changes to the regs, see below.

Press release

PRO-AM Lightweight Sport Bike Confirmed for CSBK Nationals in 2022

Toronto, ON – The Canadian National Superbike Championship series will offer an additional National category at Series rounds in 2022, a version of the successful Amateur Lightweight Sport Bike category, the Professional-Amateur Lightweight class: PRO-AM Ltwt for short.

The PRO-AM class will be aimed at the same, small displacement, street-based modern sports machines that compete in the current Super Sonic Road Racing School Amateur Lightweight Sport Bike category in CSBK. However, the PRO-AM guidelines will allow for addition of Pro level competitors, and slightly reduce the technical controls directed at the Amateur Lightweight Sport Bike class.

The new PRO-AM class will offer a more liberal set of standards for a similar range of Lightweight-category street-legal machinery. Competitors can also apply to use motorcycles not approved for Amateur Lightweight Sport Bike if those bikes fit into the competitive model for the new PRO-AM Ltwt National class.

Previously, competitors in Amateur Lightweight Sport Bike were not permitted to compete in other races during a National weekend. Now these racers can “bump” into the PRO-AM category and compete against more experienced riders. Pro level racers will be eligible to race in PRO-AM Ltwt as well as the Liqui Moly Pro Sport Bike middleweight category.

As with the Super Sonic Road Race School Amateur Lightweight Sport Bike category, the new PRO-AM Lightweight category will have two final races per each CSBK National event weekend.

A new PRO/AM category was announced following the Montreal Motorcycle Show on March 7, 2020, just days before the COVID-19 pandemic delayed most racing initiatives. The new 2022 PRO-AM category is the much-delayed launch of that plan, based on events that took place at Atlantic Motorsport Park, Nova Scotia, and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Ontario, in the summer of 2019.

The maximum allowable horsepower for the PRO-AM class on the official Series Dynojet Dyno will be 50, and weight must register no lower than 305 pounds immediately post-race in the Keene Truck Tech Centre scales.

In the parallel Amateur Lightweight Sport Bike category, strict rules mandate that the current lowest minimum weight is 310 pounds when measure “wet” post-race, while the highest allowable rear-wheel horsepower is 45.

The Amateur Lightweight Sport Bike class started in 2018 and was a successor to the spec Kawasaki Ninja 300 and Honda CBR250R National classes. The focus of Super Sonic Road Racing School Amateur Lightweight Sport Bike division is on rider development, so the technical guidelines are restrictive.

This means the AM Lightweight Sport Bike class racers are frequently checked and measured, including horsepower monitoring at the official series rear wheel Dynojet Dyno, as provided by Brooklin Cycle Racing’s logistics operations. Performance standards are balanced based on the various models eligible, and their stock weight and power numbers.

In 2021, Harvey Renaud of Richmond, ON, earned the Super Sonic Road Race School Amateur Lightweight Sport Bike National title on a Kawasaki Ninja 400 twin. Renaud wound up with 227 points in the final standings, 16 ahead of season-long Championship leader Mackenzie Weil of Keene, ON, also Ninja mounted. Weil was forced to sit-out the final National race of 2021 at Calabogie Motorsports Park, ON, due to a concussion.

In mandatory post-race Tech at Calabogie September 18, winner Renaud’s Kawasaki produced 44.38 horsepower on the official series Dynojet Dyno, under the 45 permitted horsepower limit for his specific base model. Renaud’s machine weighted 335 pounds post-race, well above the minimum number of 320 pounds as established in CSBK’s Rule Book.

As with the other five CSBK National classes, the new-for-2022 PRO-AM Lightweight category will use spec Dunlop slick rubber and for-racing Dunlop rain tires when needed.