Toni Sharpless and Co. are still grinding away at their work with MiniSBK Canada, and now they are seeing some well-deserved reward for those labors. Midway through this MiniSBK race season, the series will also host two MotoAmerica Mini Cup Qualifier events at Shannonville.
MiniSBK Canada is a series built for so-called Mini Superbikes, serving as an entry-level feeder into Canadian Superbike’s series for larger bikes, as well as a development program for Canadian riders who want to start building roadracing skills early to keep up with their overseas counterparts. Over in the States, the MotoAmerica Mini Cup functions as basically the same thing, but on a much larger scale.
Now, the two series will meet up, sort of, at Shannonville. At the third and fourth rounds of the MiniSBK Canada series, on June 13-14 and July 4-5, there will also be qualifier races for the MotoAmerica Mini Cup national finals at the Road America track in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. That event runs August 8-10.
The qualifiers will cover all six classes of the MotoAmerica Mini Cup series: Stock 50 (age 6-8), Stock 110 (age 8-12), GP 110 (age 8-12), GP 160 (age 10-14), GP 190 (age 10-14) and Street GP (age 14 and up).
“I was surprised and honoured to receive the call from Wayne Rainey and Chuck Aksland, two individuals I remember from my racing days in the 1980s,” said MiniSBK big boss Sharpless in a press release. “When they asked if our MiniSBK Championship series would be interested in joining the MotoAmerica Mini Cup Qualifier series, it took me less than a minute to consider and say “Yes.” This connection further expands the opportunities we provide for Canadian youth in the sport. We are happy and proud to be part of another big step toward grassroots development in road racing.”
Like she said: This is going to make it easier for Canadian kids to expand their racing career, and it also gives you some more interesting small-bore competition to watch this summer, if you can get to Shannonville. Keep an eye on CSBK.ca for more details.
Great to see Toni’s name pop up. I have very fond memories of Toni and Kathleen Coburn spending time at Gran Prix Cycle in Toronto back when I was parts and accessories manager. Absolutely lovely people!