TSN announces first broadcast dates for CSBK Pro Sport Bike opener

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Category: CSBK News

Published on Saturday, July 9, 2022 08:50 EDT

Written by Administrator

The Canadian Superbike Championship has confirmed the initial air dates of the Liqui Moly Pro Sport Bike class on TSN, with Canada’s premier sports channel showing race one footage from the Grand Bend Motorplex. 

In addition to its usual coverage of the feature Pro Superbike class, TSN has also expanded its broadcast schedule to include all eight episodes of the Pro Sport Bike category in 2022, beginning with the opening contest on TSN 2 on July 11, at 3 pm ET. The full schedule of air dates for episode one can be found below:

Monday July 11, 3:00pm ET (12:00pm PT) on TSN 2

Tuesday July 12, 1:00pm ET (10:00am PT) on TSN 4 and TSN 5

Friday July 15, 1:00pm ET (10:00am PT) on TSN 4 and TSN 5

The first race of the 2022 Liqui Moly Pro Sport Bike season was as exciting as promised, with a wide-open group of contenders battling it out for the championship, including former champion Will Hornblower and reigning runner-up David MacKay.

CSBK first partnered with TSN in 1995 as part of the national weekend in St-Eustache, QC, and has since grown its audience to feature national coverage on the country’s premier sports channel. 

The expanded coverage of the Pro support class will come with it a change in the broadcast booth, as regular national announcer Frank Wood will be joined by new colour commentator Michael Leon. 

Leon is a familiar name in the paddock thanks to his long and successful career in the Pro Superbike class, where he still competes aboard his Royal Distributing BMW machine, and will bring a new perspective into the Pro Sport Bike action.

“Since I was a boy, I always wanted to go fast!” Leon said. “During my early days, growing up on the streets of Montreal, QC, I could be found zipping around the neighborhood on my bicycle, pretending I was riding on the most challenging racetracks of the world.”

Michael has been competing at the highest level of motorcycle road racing in Canada since turning Pro in 1998. He has raced machines varying from lightweight small-displacement machines, to twin middleweights, and to full blown Superbikes, including 9 different brands of manufacturers. 

Leon won the RACE regional Pro Superbike #1 plate in 2012 and 2017, as well the inaugural regional 2021 Pro 6 GP Pro Superbike championship at Calabogie. In 2013, he also raced at the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb on the first ever Canadian manufactured all electric Superbike.

The broadcast of the opening Liqui Moly Pro Sport Bike race will coincide with the upcoming third round of action at Atlantic Motorsports Park, which will feature the return of CSBK to the east coast near Halifax, NS on July 21-24.