From a press release issued by series organizers:

TORONTO, ON The Parts Canada Superbike Championship has secured additional television coverage for its 2004 season with a deal that also sees the series make a major breakthrough in its mainstream media exposure.

Each round of the national motorcycle road racing series will be shown this season on TORONTO 1, as well as the A-Channel stations in Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton. All four stations are owned by Craig Media Inc.

The stations will show one hour of coverage from each of the eight rounds of the series, packaging them with coverage of the NASCAR Nextel Cup stock car series. Craig Media owns the Canadian rights to the Nextel Cup races shown on NBC in the U.S.

Each round of the Parts Canada Superbike series is already shown in a half-hour highlights package on The Sports Network (TSN) and Reseau des sports (RDS).

The arrangement opens with coverage of the May 23 Parts Canada Superbike opener from Shannonville Motorsport Park, which will be shown in conjunction with the Tropicana 400 Nextel Cup race from Chicagoland Speedway on July 11.

“This presents a tremendous opportunity for the Parts Canada Superbike Championship,” said series organizer Colin Fraser of Professional Motorsports Productions. “This package of coverage on the Craig Media stations gives our series added exposure in four major Canadian markets and allows us to introduce our exciting brand of racing to a whole new audience of sports fans.”

The second round of the Parts Canada Superbike Championship from Calgary’s Race City Motorsport Park will air on Aug. 8, the same day as the Nextel Cup Brickyard 400.

The remaining rounds will be shown on Sundays in October and November, beginning Oct. 3, when NASCAR is in the midst of its “Quest for the Nextel Cup”, a 10-race showdown for the overall series championship.

“We think the series will be a good fit with our NBC NASCAR telecasts,” said Michael Taylor, vice president, programming for Craig Media. “It’s nice to be able to promote Canadian motorsport and PMP can deliver the high quality programming we want.”

The Parts Canada Superbike Championship resumes this weekend at Race City Motorsport Park with a doubleheader weekend. Six-time series champion Steve Crevier leads the point standings after winning the opening round at Shannonville.