Dumas leads four-rider showdown into championship finale at CTMP

The most anticipated season finale in years is finally here in the Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship, as the feature GP Bikes Pro Superbike class is set to crown another champion this weekend at historic Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, August 8-10.

Just who will lift the Canada Cup this year, however, is anyone’s guess.

Four riders will enter the doubleheader finale covered by just 24 points, with Alex Dumas leading reigning champion Ben Young, Sam Guerin, and Jordan Szoke in what has been a clear-cut lead four the entire season.

The trio of Dumas, Young, and Guerin each won races last time out in the Edmonton tripleheader, while Szoke has been a mainstay at the front himself despite a first win of the year still eluding him, giving all four their own bit of momentum entering CTMP.

Despite the practically even odds, Dumas would be the betting favourite by virtue of his five-point championship lead over familiar rival Young, a place the two have found themselves in multiple times before.

Dumas carried slim title leads over Young into the 2021 and 2023 seasons, though with very contrasting fortunes. He would sweep the final round in ’21 to earn a stunning championship as a rookie, but a crash out of the lead in ’23 spoiled his second attempt to hand that title to Young.

Neither one of those finale’s were at CTMP, but it’s unclear who will be more excited by the change of venue. Since their head-to-head rivalry began in 2021, Young has taken five wins and eleven podiums at “Old Mosport,” while Dumas has countered with three wins and ten podiums.

But a part of Young’s success – even by his own admission sometimes – was the BMW package underneath him, one that has mastered the very fast CTMP layout and now belongs to Dumas. 

None of this should write off Young from a fourth consecutive title and fifth in his career, as his record at CTMP speaks for itself regardless of machine – including a pair of dramatic last-corner passes on Dumas to add to that win total.

While Young has dealt with his growing pains aboard the new Van Dolder’s Home Team Honda, his CBR1000RR is more than capable of keeping him in the lead fight at a track where it’s often difficult to break away from a chasing pack thanks to the long Andretti Straightaway.

The bigger problem for Young may be that it’s not a straight fight with Dumas this time around, as he will also have to contend with a former BMW-mate and a career-long rival in his title charge.

Guerin might be the one with the most confidence behind him, having out-scored every other rider in rounds two and three with three victories and five consecutive podiums, the only rider who’s been in the top three every time in that span.

The EFC Group BMW star is still paying for a heartbreaking electronics issue that knocked him out of the lead battle in round one, but he’s managed to cut that deficit to just 16 points behind Dumas thanks to his incredible mid-season comeback.

He also will be carrying that momentum into one of his strongest circuits, even though a first victory at CTMP still eludes him. It was here last season where Guerin took pole by the largest margin in history (1.6 seconds), and his six podiums since 2020 are fewer than only Young and Dumas.

If machinery proves to be a difference-maker, Guerin is also on the same M1000RR as Dumas, meaning he will have all the tools to stay with the two former champions as he chases a first Canada Cup of his own.

The last rider of the four, though one still in a very good position, is Szoke. The 14-time champion has finished in the top four in every single race this season, taking four podiums for the Canadian Kawasaki Motors team.

Szoke has come up painfully short of a 79th career victory on a few occasions, but that might finally change at a venue where’s won an astonishing 20 times before, especially with a tweaked ZX-10RR this season that has proven to be far more competitive.

The problem for Szoke is that his impressive consistency will only get him so far if Dumas, Young, and Guerin avoid any major issues, meaning he will have to get his elbows out if he wants to add another #1 plate to his loaded resumé – something he will have no problem doing with a title on the line.

Should the lead pack extend beyond the four usual names, there will be a handful of proven riders vying for their first Pro Superbike win, headlined by a pair of emerging Honda stars in David MacKay and Phil DeGama-Blanchet.

MacKay has been consistently “best of the rest” in 2025, his second Superbike campaign, finishing between seventh and fourth in every race he’s finished aboard the ODH Snow City Cycle Honda.

As for DeGama-Blanchet, the 17-year-old has been equally as impressive in his first year aboard the Mots Machining Honda, finishing between seventh and fifth in all but one race, though he will have far less experience around CTMP compared to former Supersport champion MacKay.

Both riders will be crucial to Honda’s hopes of a first Constructors Championship, which will require a heroic effort from Young and company as they trail reigning champions BMW by 59 points with Dumas and Guerin at the front.

Entering the fray for Kawasaki will be Supersport flag-bearer Alex Michel, who fills in for the injured Connor Campbell to make his Superbike debut aboard the B&T MacFarlane/CKM Kawasaki.

Michel has been a regular frontrunner in the middleweight class, including taking a first career pro podium at CTMP in 2023, and will hope to carry that form into his first career weekend in the feature class.

Barring anything dramatic, the doubleheader will likely see Laurent Laliberte-Girard crowned as the latest winner of the Brooklin Cycle Racing Pro Rookie of the Year award, holding a 32-point lead over Zoltan Frast.

Laliberte-Girard has done double-duty aboard his Nadon Sport Yamaha YZF-R6, and his career best fifth-place finish in Edmonton may prove to be the crucial difference as the reigning Amateur Supersport winner tries to cap off his strong rookie year in the history books.

The feature class will officially begin it’s highly-anticipated season finale with practice and BS Battery Qualifying on Friday, before the decisive doubleheader gets underway on Saturday and Sunday at CTMP, just an hour east of Toronto.

More information can be found on the series’ official website.

For more information on the Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship, visit www.csbk.ca or email info@csbk.ca.