Reigning Bridgestone CSBK overall Canadian National motorcycle road racing Champion Ben Young celebrated his 30th birthday at Grand Bend last week, busy testing with the rest of the field for the second round of the National tour. The arc of BMW Motorrad’s leader’s event looked set, and the celebrations continued with a solid success in the BS Battery Pole session on Friday, and the opening GP Bikes Pro Superbike Feature on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Young’s archrival, 21-year-old Alex Dumas of clan Suzuki, was in an interesting position. A variety of circumstances had helped Dumas to a solid lead in the series standings after just two races in the series, one in the dry, one it the wet, last month at Shannonville. However, at Grand Bend, Dumas didn’t quite have the pure pace to run with Young.
“It seems like maybe we are half a second from Ben at this track, right now” explained Dumas after his second place in Saturday’s race. “We’re working hard, we’re making progress, but there have been some issues, so we will see what is possible.” The issues included parking one of his racers due to valve spring issues in the cylinder head.
Young and Dumas have controlled the front of the field in CSBK since Dumas arrived from the U.S.A. as a fully formed Canadian rookie at Calabogie in 2021. There is seldom much to choose between the two, even from session to session. The switch to Bridgestone rubber initially seemed to favor Young, but Dumas had things figured out by Shannonville.
The Dumas team have two identical Purple Skull Brewery GSX-R1000s, while Young has slightly different M1000RRs – one brand new (the big black bomber) and the one-year-old (all white) title winner from last year. An issue with the seat unit on the new bike forced Young to pit at SMP on Sunday, and helped Dumas open up his lead atop the standings.
On Sunday, the promise of bad weather had series staff adjusting the Schedule, and of course the serious rain arrived just before the scheduled fourth Superbike race of 2023. A quick decision offered two warm-up laps prior to the race, and the field rushed to switch to rain rubber, already used once this year at the Shannonville opener.
Unfortunately, things went sideways right away for Young, who fell on his out lap, damaging his 2022 title winning BMW and forcing him into the pits.
“We’re ninety percent sure it was oil, or something on the track, that caught me out,” explained Young. “The data shows very little lean, and the bike just snapped around. From there, there was no where for me to put my foot on the right side, so I had to come in.
“At first, we thought we would fix that bike, but we quickly realized we had to switch to the new M. So, we swapped over the tires, we didn’t have a rain set-up, and just a basic rain map. Once I got out, obviously I was a little careful, and then I had a few moments – the conditions were tricky, certainly.”
Starting late, well behind (but out of the early race carnage), Young had his second salvage Sunday, netting 11th at the Chequered.
Meanwhile, Dumas was holding on to the lead, while those around him got excited and generated the race drama. Trevor Dailey on the OneSpeed Suzuki was right with Dumas, but had a moment exiting the Carousel, fell, and had to push his way out of the tall grass in the run-off.
That event led to a crazy finish, Daley charging through the field, frequently turning laps two seconds faster than anyone else. Also dropping out of contention was Yamaha’s Tommy Casas, who looked determined to challenge for his first Feature win before a fall from second. “T.V. Tommy” also remounted and continued for tenth.
This put local SOAR Series ace Chris Pletsch into second on the Stratford Cycle Honda CBR1000RR, not a surprise given his solid performance in the dry in Qualifying, prior to exiting race one due to a collision with Daley. Meanwhile Jordan Royds was third, his best effort in a National, making the most of a strong start and smart riding with his I.B.E.W.-backed BMW.
At the front, Dumas built a solid lead and help it, in a less exciting version of what happened at the Shannonville opener. Things were busier in the mid-field, as riders found the balance and grip, or lost their handle on performance as the rain continued to fall.
Seventh on the first lap, Trevor Dion was showing his local knowledge on the LDS Consulting works Kawasaki and doing his best with his still-injured right wrist. Dion picked off Royds for third on lap seven of 20, and the Podium looked set.
That doesn’t account for the charging Daley, back in 11th following his early fall. It wasn’t until half distance that Daley started passing into the serious points positions, taking John Fraser (ex Daley Suz) and Phil Leckie (ex Young BMW) for seventh. From there, he got both rainmeister Samuel Guerin (BMW) and western upstart series rookie Paul Macdonell (Yam) for fifth on lap 12.
At that point, it looked like Daley could catch Royds, and he did so on lap 15, Daley’s lap times improving every tour. But the podium seemed an impossible reach – he was almost 20 seconds behind third.
In the end, Daley was fourth overall – but he forced an amazing last lap, catching Pletsch and Dion and pushing third and second much closer to race-long leader Dumas.
Winner Dumas turned his best lap on the third tour, tailed by Casas, at 1:16.42. The victor’s final tour was a leisurely 1:25.2. Meanwhile, not that far behind, runner-up Pletsch turned his best lap on his final effort, at 1:16.5. Third overall Dion’s best effort was also in his last hot lap, at a solid 1:15 flat.
This was all caused by Daley, who got in touch with the Podium trio but couldn’t make it stick. The Suzuki’s best lap was also his last, at a 1:14.3. It was another case of what might have been for Trevor, but there is no question his was the ride of the round.
- From Colin Fraser
<
Discussion about this post