“Coaches Challenge” Indoor Event featured Honda 50s on Concrete with star racers.
The 50th annual Motorcycle SuperShow at the International Centre, presented by the cooperators, featured the debut of a Super Sonic Road Race School organized Mini racer demonstration event. A series of heat and final races over three days highlighted many of the top instructors used at Super Sonic’s variety of summer go kart track venues, as well as guest celebrities including Kawasaki Superbike hero Jordan Szoke – Canadas’s most successful Pro competitor.
The temporary convention hall circuit set-up was tight and busy, with a concrete surface that didn’t allow ultimate traction for the popular small-wheeled, learner dirt bike-based Honda single cylinder 50cc racers. The seven-turn layout featured three “long lap” sections, with an agreement among competitors that the leader would take the detour every time it was available.
Over the three days of the Consumer Show, most of the time the on-track race leader took the extra section of track, a wider line. Sometimes that leader was joined by other competitors due to timing and proximity, so close together was the field. Some front runners didn’t follow the long lap rule’s structure, and track limits were also a challenge, certainly late in the short races when officials clamped down on riding standards.
“T.V. Tommy” Casas, a front runner on the FAST Riding School Suzuki GSX-R750 during the most recent Bridgestone CSBK National Supersport National at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park last August, was the early pace setter when activities got underway on Friday afternoon, January 9.
A key instructor for the Super Sonic Road Race School since it’s inception, Casas has also attended the MotoMini World finals in Valencia to help coach Canada’s front runners. It also helps that he speaks Spanish!
Casas took the opening win , but then tumbled unhurt early in part two, loosing time while waiting to remount his machine in traffic. Alex Tanasic, father of Super Sonic protégé Stefan, won Friday’s evening main event, where Jordan Szoke made his first appearance to much acclaim.
14-year-old Stefan Tanasic and the rest of his racer family have been training in Florida in preparation for moving to “big wheel” action with a Kawasaki 500 in the Lightweight category next season.
Saturday afternoon’s program got under way with Tanasic loosing a Heat win for a last lap Track Limits violation, and issue that was typically only enforced late in each event. This ruling moved Lightweight ace Jared Walker to the top of the box in the winner’s circle. In race two, Walker again just edged Casas.
The third race of the afternoon was the Feature, run in front of a big crowd, and Walker worked hard to edge Casas and Alan Burns before Casas got disqualified for Track Limits issues.
After running up front, Walker passed his bike and leathers off to rising Lightweight star Cole Alexander for the Saturday evening Show, and Alexander was immediately at the front, a threat to Casas and the returning Szoke.
Alexander plans to run in the Bridgestone csbk middleweight class with a GSX-R750 in 2026.
Tanasic won Saturday’s later opener from Alexander, and then in heat two Szoke held off Cole and Casas, these three setting a torrid pace in the quickest laps of the weekend. In race three, Casas won from Cole and Szoke while Tanasic was again dinged for Track Limits. Tanasic then fell, unhurt, out of contention for the win in race four, Casas winning from Cole and Szoke.
The two-time Bridgestone CSBK Canadian National Super Sport champion was uninjured and won several races over three days of indoor action, although he skipped Sunday’s deciding race. Photo by Colin Frasee
Saturday’s second set of races would mark the popular Alexander’s only race appearance, but the 19-year-old certainly made a strong impression at the front.
The drop-in front runner for Sunday early set of races was HB Cycle’s Ben Hudson, the racer taking the biggest chances on the circuit that used spray Cola as a traction agent! Hudson wound up a lap down after a fall in the opener, with a returning Walker winning from Tanasic and another new recruit, Andrew Leim.
Hudson found form with the win in race two, edging Walker and Tanasic. Casas was not in attendance, meaning the event was short a pace setter. Leim took the point for the win in race three, ahead of Burns and Tanasic, and then Hudson won again to earn the overall.
For Sunday afternoon’s last set of races in the program of six events, crowd fave Szoke returned and agreed the track did not have the traction of the night before. Even so, Szoke went first/third/first/first to net a popular overall victory.
Organizer Toni Sharpless aims to turn the Instructor and Celebrity demonstration events of January 2026 into a more significant indoor competition in years to come. Crowd response certainly suggest that the opportunity is there at the International Centre.