It’s here—CSBK’s Great East Coast Vacation Tour to Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia. Sort of. In reality, it’s going to be the classic knife-fight-in-a-phone-booth for many of these riders, as the non-litrebike classes tend to be very close-fought. And the way things have been going this year, the Pro Superbike class could also be a very near thing as well.
While Ben Young has a healthy 34-point lead over Sam Guerin in the premiere class, the visit to Edmonton saw Alex Dumas return to the series on a Ducati. Dumas could chip away at Young’s lead at Atlantic Motorsports Park (although things didn’t go Dumas’ way in the past, when they raced there). And then you’ve got to factor in Jordan Szoke’s unparalleled expertise at this Nova Scotia track, where he has a career of wins. This might be the closest racing yet this season, when you add this all up.
Or maybe not. So much of the winning formula at Shubenacadie is sheer dumb luck—your opponent having trouble working through traffic, or the weather turning rotten, or… you name it.
The support class racing also looks promising. Not only is the 600 series always close, but the Shubenacadie race never fails to put up top-notch racing in the 250-400 support classes. The locals know their way around the track, and are not afraid to invest in top-shelf machinery to go with that knowledge.
Sebastien Tremblay is the leader in Pro Sport Bike going into the weekend, and he does have a lot of experience at the track—and tough competition from Elliot Vieira (as long as he doesn’t crash) and John Laing. And Andrew Van Winkle, who was tops in the Pro Twins series last year, now appears to be a major threat in Pro Sport Bike, or at least he looked like that in Edmonton.
The racing, as always, starts on Saturday, with a second set of races on Sunday as this is a doubleheader weekend. Qualifying and practice run Friday and on Saturday morning. For more details, check out CSBK’s website here. Remember, last year’s racing at Shubie was canceled due to disastrous flooding in the area, that saw riders stranded at the track with the bridge out cut off—so for many of them, this is a chance to make up for last year’s disappointment.
