The upcoming 50th Anniversary celebration of the first ever motorcycle race at Shannonville Motorsport Park, then called Nelson International Raceway, will feature some unusual elements for the final 2026 round of the RACEMoto Eastern Ontario Regional Series.
With no spec tire required for the series, newly crowned RACEMoto No. 1 Eli Daccache will utilize his regular Pirelli rubber against a variety of other slick suppliers, including Bridgestone and Dunlop.
CSBK National front runner David McKay will use Bridgestone tires on his Snow City/ASAP Honda CBR1000RR-Sp, the National podium regular looking to take home the big cheque from Economy Lube plus Tire for victory on Sunday afternoon in the Pro Superbike 14 lap Feature.
However, Scott Miller, long time operator of race shop Fast Company (now called Past Company by wise guy Miller) has a bigger potential upset planned for the end of the month.
Miller will enter a full blown, early era Superbike for three-time overall National Champ Francis Martin. The bike in question, a fully kitted Suzuki GSX-R1000, was raced by Martin and team-mate Jordan Szoke in the 2002 season and was on track in the last “open rules” Superbike race of that era, at Shannonville in the fall of 2002 – 24 years ago.
“We built four bikes for Francis in 2002, two Superbikes and two for Open Sport Bike, and then Szoke joined at the last minute,” explains Miller. “Francis said Jordan could use his “B” bikes, and Szoke won the title with that famous race when he crashed and remounted at Shubenacadie. Then we went to Shannonville, and Jordan crashed his Superbike – so all the images of Szoke as the new Champion with the number one were actually the Francis Superbike.
“That bike was sitting in a living room for years; my Sponsor and friend Dan Putnam (the Mortgage Centre) had it until just a few years ago. I sold it to him for $ 13,000; that was about the price of the set of Ohlins forks on the bike! The deal was he couldn’t sell the bike, other than back to me, at that price. It was stored carefully, living indoors, lots of new parts – cases, transmission, bearings, cams – really everything.
“The problem was, when Canada switched to the FIM Superstock-type rules, all these bikes were in limbo – they didn’t fit into any rules structure, they certainly were not vintage (except now at the Isle of Man – Editor), with the special forks, swing arms, wheels, brakes, all the cool stuff.”
As well as Ohlins suspension, the Suzuki has Monoblock Brembo Calipers ($ 5,000 each back in the day) and a Harris kit swingarm.
“I got the bike back in 2023, and Francis and I raced it a few times with the goal of going to the big Vintage final in Barber, Alabama, in the fall. We raced it there and really; we won too easily. Francis started dead last – he didn’t have series points – and he just vanished.
“So, then I thought it would be fun to do something special for this 50th event celebrating John Nelson’s original little track, and I have always wanted to compare the last of the real Superbikes with the current machines.”
Most recently, Miller ran Alex Dumas on an Economy Lube supported Alpha Teknic BMW M1000RR during the 2025 Bridgestone CSBK Series, coming within a few laps of earning the Superbike Championship.
“This Suzuki is pretty bad ass; I’ve said that this old bike would do well against the bikes from today, certainly with someone like Francis riding. This bike is way lighter – we use to have to ballast it to get it to 365 pounds. We can’t use the 16.5-inch diameter wheels any more, but switching to modern slicks should be an improvement. It has over 90-foot pounds of torque, and around 190 horsepower – so pretty comparable to a modern bike.”
However, the Suzuki does not have a suite of electronic controls, with second generation production-based fuel injection and a quick shifter the most special elements of a full blown, world spec racer from 24-year-ago.
“The engine is in a higher spec now than we ever used when we were winning in Canada,’ continues Miller. “It has 2mm over-sized Cosworth pistons, so it displaces around 1,029 cc – there was no upper limit in that era. These slipper pistons are really short, so people will notice that this configuration is a little clattery when we are warming it up!”
The GSX-R’s engine was rebuilt with a new set of cases mid way through 2002 when an oil leak led to the discovery of some cracking – “those special parts were trying to get out!’
“There is no starter, no slipper clutch, so Francis has all the work to do – but he is still more than capable,” continues Miller of the racer who replaced Linnley Clarke on the Suzuki Canada squad after leaving Kawasaki at the end of 2000.
“We don’t have any big plans past this race, and I can’t really afford to run it very often,” finishes Miller. “We will see if this stirs anything up.”
The return of Miller and Martin at Shannonville for the 50th Anniversary celebrations are supported by the FAST Riding School, Bridgestone, Importations Thibault and Richa Leathers.
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