Toronto, ON – June 12, 2019 – The Motorcyclists Confederation of Canada (MCC) announced on Tuesday that the provisional results of round two’s Liqui Moly Pro Sport Bike race will be overturned, with Tomas Casas now awarded the victory last Sunday from Grand Bend Motorplex.
The original ruling by Canadian Superbike Championship officials saw race leader Sebastien Tremblay awarded the win and pole-sitter Dylan Bauer finish second, despite the two being involved in a collision resulting in a red flag stoppage.
A formal, written, on-time protest was then submitted minutes after the second National race by Pro Sport Bike class front runners David McKay, Tomas Casas and Will Hornblower. This trio opposed the at-track decision, leading to the MCC and its appeal committee deciding the fate of Sunday’s race and its impact on the championship.
In a release sent to CSBK officials, their decision was announced as follows:
“After careful consideration the MCC Tribunal decided to uphold the protest and overrule the at track decision. The two riders involved in the race stopping incident (competitors who fell) positions will be placed respectively at the end of the results and all other competitors will move ahead two positions.”
The ruling will mean that Tremblay and Bauer will now be officially scored as the 15th and 16th place finishers, respectively.
“The decision was not black and white,” the release continues. “We do not believe that Dylan Bauer’s actions were intentional, but we did feel that he was the ultimate cause of the red flag. We felt that Sebastien Tremblay was the unfortunate victim however his crash did contribute to the red flag and subsequent end of the race. Based on the rules as written, the two riders (Dylan Bauer & Sebastien Tremblay) were deemed to have caused the race stopping incident and as stated in F(7) will be placed at the back of their respective lap.”
The final decision will now carry significant implications for the Sport Bike championship, with points leader Will Hornblower and current runner-up David MacKay ultimately joining the podium for the second time in as many races.
The original results would have meant an eleven-point lead for Hornblower over Tremblay; Hornblower will now instead lead MacKay by 17 points, with Tremblay sitting tied with Bauer for tenth in the championship.
Two-time defending class champion Casas will also draw back into the title hunt, as the win brings him to sixth in the overall point standings and within 14 points of the top three, as opposed to an original 29-point deficit for the Parts Canada Yamaha rider.
However, the results all but signal the end for Tremblay and his 2019 Sport Bike hopes, as the injured Turcotte Performance Kawasaki rider now finds himself 61 points behind the series lead with five races remaining.
Though nothing is confirmed, a team member had indicated that Tremblay may not finish the year in the Sport Bike category, instead electing to focus on the Mopar Pro Superbike class when again healthy.
The final revised results will shortly be found on the series official website at www.csbk.ca, as well as the updated class standings.
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