Guerin’s last-corner pass tightens Superbike title fight in epic race one battle at CTMP
Bowmanville, ON – The greatest mid-season comeback in Bridgestone CSBK history reached another level on Saturday, as Sam Guerin claimed his fourth victory in the last six races to set up a dramatic final day in the GP Bikes Pro Superbike class at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
All eyes were on championship leader Alex Dumas and three-time reigning champion Ben Young entering the day, but it was the red-hot Guerin who once again stole the show with another masterful performance, out-dueling Young in a thrilling last-lap battle to turn the feature class standings on their head.
Dumas would grab the holeshot and set the pace early on with Young, Guerin, and Jordan Szoke in tow, the top four running practically in unison for the first seven laps before Dumas began to stretch his lead out front.
Young and Guerin would trade blows for a few laps before Guerin finally established himself in second, promptly putting in the fastest lap of the race as he dragged Young and Szoke back into a four-way fight for the lead once again.
Dumas still looked completely in control even with Guerin all over his rear wheel, but the Economy Lube/Fast Company BMW rider suddenly dropped out of the lead pack altogether with six laps to go, running off-track in turn eight and rejoining in fourth.
He would claw his way back ahead of Szoke only for the same issue to reoccur, knocking him back to fourth for good and setting up a straight fight for the win between Guerin and Young out front.
The two wouldn’t disappoint, as Young immediately put his Van Dolder’s Home Team Honda back in the lead as he tried to deal maximum damage to his title rival. They would run in that order onto the final lap, but Guerin still had plenty left in store for his former BMW teammate.
They would go side-by-side off the long Andretti Straightaway with Guerin briefly taking the lead, only for Young to get back underneath him in turn nine. They would then swap positions for the third time in three corners in turn ten, as Guerin launched a bold move into the final right-hander to stun Young and drag his way to the line, winning by just 0.165 seconds.
The instant classic sets up a last-race showdown for the Canada Cup that few could have predicted, with Young taking over the championship lead by just two points while Guerin sits six points back of a first career Pro Superbike title – an incredible feat after his round one disaster in Shannonville.
“This was an emotional one. I haven’t won here since 2019 as an amateur, and then I didn’t win for four years after that, so it’s been a long road,” Guerin said. “I honestly can’t believe it. Now we just need to be back up here tomorrow.”
Guerin’s sixth career victory also helped the EFC Group rider clinch a fourth consecutive Constructors Championship for BMW, celebrating the feat alongside Dumas on the podium.
While he would deny a crucial win for Young, the three-time reigning champion was still pleased with the outcome overall, taking over a slim championship lead – though one he admitted may not matter much with how close the three now are.
“It’s good to have the points lead back, but now it’s pretty much just down to whoever wins tomorrow,” Young said. “We’re getting everything we can out of the Honda, and I know the team is working so hard. I just knew Sam was going to pounce at the end. It was a nice pass and he parked it, so there was nothing I could really do.”
Joining them on the podium was Szoke, who inherited third after a pair of issues for Dumas knocked him out of the lead battle. The Canadian Kawasaki Motors star still has a mathematical chance at a record 15th title on Sunday, but his 21-point deficit will be difficult to overcome without a bit of help from his rivals.
“Hats off to the whole Kawasaki team, they’ve been dealing with my frustrations because I really want to win one of these, but I just ran out of steam,” Szoke said. “I ran the harder front, but I was lapping faster than I qualified, so I just had to hang on and got a bit lucky when Alex ran off.”
As for Dumas, it was a devastating day for the 2021 champion as he confirmed post-race that a transmission issue had limited him in the final laps, seeing what would have been a ten-point championship lead evaporate into a two-point deficit.
He did prove he has the pace to win a second career crown if they can solve the issue on Sunday, though the emergence of Guerin will further complicate things as he now has two clear title rivals to worry about in race two.
David MacKay would round out the top five with another solid result, hanging with the lead quarter for the first two laps before settling into a comfortable gap aboard his ODH Snow City Cycle Honda.
MacKay continues to find himself in a bittersweet range, unable to stay with the leaders over a race distance but comfortably clear of the rest of the field, something the former Supersport champion will try to keep improving on in the final race of the year.
A similar outcome would go the way of Alex Michel in sixth, who put in an excellent but lonely sixth in his Superbike debut. Michel is filling in for the injured Connor Campbell aboard the B&T McFarlane Kawasaki and looked very comfortable, matching MacKay’s times in the later stages.
Zoltan Frast would battle with Michel early on for sixth before slipping back to seventh, outlasting a late push from Phil DeGama-Blanchet to take a great result for the Clare’s Cycle BMW team.
DeGama-Blanchet was perhaps just a couple laps shy of leapfrogging him for seventh, a stellar salvage job after the 17-year-old started 15th on the grid aboard his Mots Machining Honda.
Ernest Bernhard would wind up the top Yamaha rider on the day after a great battle for eighth early on with fellow YZF-R1 rider Sebastian Hothaza, with Bernhard taking ninth on his Farnham Lager machine while Hothaza added more Constructors points for the brand on his Ride42 Yamaha.
The feature class will now prepare for their title-deciding last race of the season on Sunday, in what is expected to be one of the most dramatic battles for the Canada Cup in series history.
Full results can be found on the series’ official website, www.csbk.ca
