The Motorcycle and Moped Industry Council (MMIC) has decided after an independent and impartial tribunal to rule on the results of the Pro Superbike feature qualifying session at Atlantic Motorsport Park on Friday, July 22.
The Canadian Superbike Championship relies on the MMIC to rule independently and impartially on protests and appeals within the CSBK results, and the MMIC has helped rule on exceptional situations like this one in recent seasons.
The initial results featured an exact tie at the end of qualifying between championship rivals Alex Dumas and Ben Young for pole position, with both riders setting an identical lap time of 1:07.521. With no specific rule in place for this extremely rare occurrence, CSBK officials decided to award pole position to Alex Dumas, as he had completed his lap prior to Young.
Given the nature of the CSBK points structure in place, Dumas received one extra point (4 points) for pole position than Young did for qualifying second (3 points). This notably moved both riders into a tie atop the Pro Superbike standings.
Young and the Van Dolder’s Home Team BMW group provided a formal, written protest of the result within the allotted time, allowing the independent members of the MMIC to rule on his appeal.
Ultimately, the ruling of the MMIC is that both riders will instead receive the maximum four points for pole position, as neither had outqualified the other according to the timesheets, and there was no rule in the CSBK rulebook specifying which rider should be awarded pole.
Separately, the MMIC ruled that the two competitors will use a coin flip to determine who starts from “pole” on the grid for each Superbike race this weekend. The winner of the coin toss will select which side they wish to start from, while the other will take the remaining spot in the middle of the front row between first and third.
Furthermore, the MMIC has recommended that CSBK makes the following amendment to their official rulebook:
1.16.4: In the event of a tie, riders’ second and subsequent best times will be taken into account.
CSBK has accepted this recommendation and will adopt the change with immediate effect. Under this rule, Alex Dumas would have been awarded pole position as his second-fastest lap was still faster than the second-fastest lap of Young.
- From Professional Motorsports Productions
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