The Canadian roadracing season opened in traditional fashion at Shannonville Motorsport Park May 9-11, with the newly formed RACE Moto sanctioning group staging their first event on the perimeter Pro version of the circuit.
In an event that serves as an unofficial warm-up for the next weekend’s opening Bridgestone CSBK National round, several National stalwarts battled the top Regional competitors. Conditions were generally good, but very cool in the mornings.
The 14 lap Lou-Anne Printing Superbike Feature race, held at the end of Sunday’s program, was won by the Econo Lube/Fast Company BMW M 1000 RR of former works Suzuki and Ducati rider Alex Dumas. The just completed BMW ran for the first time Friday, and Dumas steadily built his pace, at times over a second quicker than his 1000 cc mounted rivals.
Over the weekend, Dumas often ran at the front battling the EFC BMW of Samuel Guerin. Both Dumas and Guerin are based near Quebec City. Like Dumas, Guerin had a pair of BMWs to test prior to the National and edged both the Sprint Cup races over Dumas. Sunday’s second Sprint Cup race, won by Guerin, was interrupted at the halfway mark by a Red Flag, so no show down was possible between the two pace setters.
Both Guerin (1:05.36) and Dumas lapped in the low 1:05 second lap range on a sunny but cool day. Last year, BMW mounted Ben Young started from pole position at the opening S.M.P. National with a lap at 1:05.27; Young has now signed with Honda Canada and was not on hand at Shannonville for the Regional.
In Lou-Anne Printing Pro Superbike, Dumas took advantage of Guerin’s decision not to compete (preplanned) and grabbed the hole shot, chased by reigning Regional Champ Eli Daccache on the Milwaukee Yamaha YZF-R1. Daccache stayed close, but didn’t challenge victor Dumas. Dumas was National spec Bridgestone shod, with Daccache on Pirelli rubber and third finisher Michael Leon using Dunlops.
Third in Pro Superbike was the Royal Distributing Pro 6 Cycle BMW of Leon, who at times during the event battled Daccache at a similar pace. Making his race debut on an ex-Ben Young banana yellow BMW, former middleweight front runner Zoltan Frast scored a strong fourth.
Matt Vanderhorst was a solid fifth, pulling away from Ernest Bernhard’s Yamaha. At the finish, Berhard was caught by Matthew Annable (Suz) and Chris Fehr (BMW), the trio finishing in a near dead heat.
The 600 cc class Pro middleweight racers featured in Pro 6 Cycle Pro Supersport, unretired 2023 National Sport Bike runner up Matt Simpson piloting his Yamaha to a dominant win. Simpson race twice last year, at Daytona in March and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in August, and crew chiefed the rest of the season.
On Saturday, Brad Macrae won Supersport after a great dice with Simpson, but Macrae opted not to ride Sunday, where rookie Pro Matt Hooper took his Yamaha to second after a good dice with third placed Rob Massicotte, also aboard a R6, for a Yamaha sweep of the podium. Macrae turned heads with laps in the 1:07 flat range on his Yamaha YZF-R6.
In the Heavyweight class, the Middleweight division front runners were joined by the “Generation Two” entries, including Ducati’s potent 955 Desmo v-twin. Early in Sunday’s Heavyweight race, reigning Pro Sport Bike Champ Sebastien Tremblay worked his way to the front on the Turcotte Performance Suzuki GSX-R750.
However, Tremblay fell from first with no real damage after bottoming his front fork, setting up a dice for the lead between Simpson and the GP Bikes/Econo Lube Ducati of Elliot Vierra.
After a good battle, Vieira got in front for good with just over a lap to go, and Vierra second win of the weekend, Simpson just .2 of a second back in second place. Nathan Playford took his Ducati to a sold third, ahead of the Yamaha of Alexis Beaudoin. Best middleweight lap of this race was Tremblay at 1:06.9, while Vierra and Simpson battled in the mid 1:07 range.
Action in the RACE Moto series resumes June 13-15 when competitors will take on Shannonville’s “long track” setup. For more details on the RACE Moto series visit www.racemoto.ca.
