The trip back to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park was a good one for Alex Dumas, as the former champion secured his first victory of the season in a thrilling race one battle in the Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship on Saturday.
Starting second on the GP Bikes Pro Superbike grid, Dumas grabbed the holeshot from pole-sitter Sam Guerin and led for virtually the entire race, but never by a comfortable margin as title rivals Guerin and Ben Young pressured him from start-to-finish.
Young wasted no time in making up for his disastrous ninth-place spot on the grid, moving to third by the end of lap one as he followed the duo with Jordan Szoke in tow.
Guerin would hold second for the first half of the race, though, and seemed to be lining up a move on Dumas when Young decided to pounce, shunting Guerin to third and beginning his chase towards Dumas.
The old championship foes would run almost nose-to-tail for the final eight laps, with Young trying a late cut-back out of the tight final turn ten but ultimately falling just 0.071 seconds shy at the line – the fifth-closest margin of victory in Pro Superbike history.
That would hand Dumas his first win since the 2023 finale at Shannonville, and his first victory since the 2021 champion switched to Economy Lube Ducati machinery – scoring Ducati’s first Superbike triumph in nearly 30 years.
“Both Sam and I got a great start, but I was able to get under him in turn one and just tried to put my head down and pull away,” Dumas said. “I was struggling with the setup yesterday, but today felt a lot better so I owe a huge thanks to the team. It feels good to be back on top, hopefully we can do it again tomorrow!”
The charge from ninth to second was a spectacular salvage job from Young and the Van Dolder’s Home Team BMW squad, who inched slightly closer to a fourth Canada Cup with a 40-point lead and just 79 points remaining.
However, the points leader would take a veiled shot at the Economy Lube Ducati team after an unusual pre-race refueling process, with the high-powered BMW’s surprisingly unable to catch the V4 Panigale down the long Andretti Straightaway.
“We had a bit of a mishap in qualifying yesterday, but I got a great start and was able to catch right back up to the back of Sam and then tried to hunt down Alex,” Young said. “It’s amazing, we have 12 more horsepower than the bike in front us but can’t seem to go faster than that one. But the Van Dolder’s Home Team BMW crew got the bike back together and it did the best it could within the legal power limit.”
The subtle jab was seemingly shared by Guerin and the EFC Group BMW team, as Guerin settled for a strong third after his own attempts to pass Dumas were denied.
“It was an interesting race with Alex. His bike is super fast down the straight, it was really hard to stay in the draft,” Guerin said. “Once Ben got me in turn five and started to chase after Alex, I just looked at the gap behind me and decided to bring it home and be ready to fight again tomorrow.”
Guerin’s championship hopes will take a slight hit as Young claws back the four points he lost in qualifying, though he will remain firmly in contention entering a pivotal race two on Sunday.
The duo did inch closer to a third consecutive Constructors Championship for BMW, stretching out a 113-point advantage over Kawasaki with only 135 points remaining to each manufacturer. The battle for third in the standings heated up with Ducati’s victory, as they leapfrog Honda with three races left on the calendar.
Jordan Szoke would keep his perfect run of top-four finishes alive, fading from the lead battle around the midway point but managing his CKM Kawasaki enough to fend off a late push from Tomas Casas and Torin Collins.
Collins and Casas went back-and-forth across the final five laps after dispatching David MacKay earlier in the contest, though Casas got the last laugh with a strong final lap in his season debut for Yamaha Motors Canada.
That would leave Collins sixth in his first race for Economy Lube/CKM Kawasaki, a strong effort as he continues to adjust to his new machine at the new venue.
MacKay’s early bid for a top-five would fade away as Casas and Collins charged through, though he was able to settle things down aboard his ODH Snow City Cycle Honda and exit race one with a strong seventh-place finish.
Eli Daccache would claim eighth for Yamaha, a strong but lonely ride as he moved clear of front row starter Trevor Daley in the middle portion.
Daley was seemingly battling issues in the first half as he sank down the order for OneSpeed Suzuki, though he rebounded with stronger pace in the second half to come out on top of a hectic duel with Paul Macdonell and Sebastian Hothaza.
Hothaza would score the final top-ten spot in his Superbike debut for Ride42 Yamaha, narrowly defeating Macdonell aboard the PMR/Vass Performance BMW by just 0.369 seconds.
The feature class will now prepare for race two on Sunday at CTMP, just an hour east of Toronto, where Young and Guerin will continue their title battle at roughly 2:30 pm ET.
Full results can be found on the series’ official website.
Main picture: Eventual winner Alex Dumas (23) leads the GP Bikes Pro Superbike field through turn one at the start of Saturday’s race one at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Ben Young (1) worked his way from ninth on the grid to finish second ahead of Sam Geurin (2). [Photo: Rob O’Brien / CSBK]
SOURCE: CSBK
