Get ready for another weekend of roadracing, as the Canadian Superbike series heads to Grand Bend June 8-11 for the second round of the season.
As the circus rolls into town, Alex Dumas is the guy to beat in the Pro Superbike class. He won both races at the Shannonville opener and has a commanding 23-point lead in the standings over second-place Ben Young. Young won the races at Grand Bend last year, though, and he will be keen to overcome the bad luck he faced in the opening round. If that cloud instead casts it shadow on Dumas this weekend, we could be looking at a neck-and-neck series by end of day Sunday. The championship fight could very well swing on the results of this weekend!
There’s more competition in this category than we’ve seen in a few years; Jordan Szoke is also highly capable of grabbing the win, and Tomas Casas, Samuel Guerin and Trevor Daley are podium threats as well. But the real battle is expected down in Pro Sport Bike, where things are as hotly contested as always.
Anyone in the top five here can win one or both of these races (the leaders of the series are Matt Simpson, Brad Macrae, Alex Coelho, Connor Campbell, David MacKay, in that order). Some of these guys made their bones in the uber-competitive Lightweight Sportbike series, and they know how to race. Don’t be fooled, and missed out on this one because it’s “only” a 600 race.
Speaking of the Lightweight Sportbike series, the Pro-Am race as well as the usual amateur double-header also runs at Grand Bend. We haven’t heard whether or not we can expect a dad-vs.-daughter showdown between Grant and Stacey Nesbitt again, but just like the 600 race, these 250-500 races are tight battles of skill over horsepower. Stacey leads the Pro category and Vincent Wilson tops the Amateur category in the Pro-Am series, and Vincent Lalande leads the Amateur series headed into the weekend.
Tickets start at $33.28 (more details here), and kids under 12 are free. Note that, just like Round 1, this is a doubleheader, with Pro races running on Saturday and Sunday (full schedule here).
