CSBK heads to Calabogie this weekend

How did it get to be mid-summer so quickly? Seems like only yesterday we were doing the bike’s spring check-up and making sure the insurance bills were paid. Anyway—we’re already roaring through early July, and that means the Canadian Superbike series is marching onward, making the best of our short northern summer.

This weekend, CSBK is at Calabogie Motorsports Park (sort of south-west of Ottawa, or almost directly south of Renfrew, if you know that end of Ontario). The race weekend kicks off a Pro 6 track day on Friday, July 8; there’s racing on Saturday and Sunday. You can find a full weekend schedule here.

Racers tend to like Calabogie and its modern layout; it’s the longest track in Canada, with 20 corners over 5.05 kilometres if organizers put the whole track to use. Pro 6 bases its regional Pro 6 GP series out of the track, as well as track days, so serious racers are very familiar with its curves, particularly if they’ve stuck with CSBK the last few years—the 2020 season ran entirely out of Calabogie, due to the challenges brought in by COVID-19.

Grandstand opportunities are more limited than other CSBK tracks, but there will still be opportunity to watch the action as well as plenty of camping and other trackside fun this weekend, all included with your ticket (more info on tickets here).

Going into the weekend, Ben Young leads the Pro Superbike class on his BMW, but Alex Dumas is right behind him—expect great duels from those two this weekend, along with perhaps some added competition from Quebec-based racers. Riders from La Belle Province often attend Calabogie track days, as it’s not terribly far for them to travel, and they typically do well at the facility as a result. Veteran racer Jordan Szoke (the 2020 champ) is not going to be racing this weekend, as he still recovers from injury; no word on Tomas Casas, who also started the season banged-up and missed the Grand Bend opener as a result. We’d expect all the other serious racers to be there, though!