The popular Hard Charger award will be returning to the final round of the Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship, this time courtesy of the Canadian Motorcycle Hall of Fame as they celebrate a host of CSBK alumni entering this year’s class.
The award will feature another slight tweak as it gets handed out in the Pro Supersport class for the first time at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, having been offered exclusively to riders in the GP Bikes Pro Superbike category for its previous seven iterations.
First awarded in 2021, the Hard Charger is given to a rider “deemed to have produced the best effort in the context of the race, as chosen by various Bridgestone CSBK staff,” and this time will also include the advice of Hall of Fame representatives in attendance.
Typically, this has been a rider who has overcome a significant setback during the weekend, or one who has made up a number of positions during the race.
Three-time reigning Pro Superbike champion Ben Young is the most successful rider in the award’s history, having secured it four times in his career and once this season in round one at Shannonville.
The Canadian Motorcycle Hall of Fame will be celebrating their 18th annual Banquet & Reunion this fall, October 25th, at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum near Hamilton.
Inductees for the Class of 2025 include CSBK icons (in alphabetical order) Rob Egan, Scott Miller, and Frank Wood, as well as George Evans, Doug Hoover, Inglis Cycle, Jay Kimber, Doug Lawrence, Ab Everest, and John & Dominique Bondar.
Egan has been a fixture on both sides of the series, having worked with various successful teams and riders throughout his career before joining the CSBK staff as the transporter and operator of the DynoJet Dyno. He has also served as the longtime owner of Brooklin Cycle Racing, a crucial supporter of the national championship.
Miller is widely considered the greatest engine builder in CSBK history and one of the most successful crew chiefs the series has seen, having led a number of riders to race wins and championships (most notably 14-time champion Jordan Szoke) as the owner of FastCompany.
For 2025, Miller is also currently in charge of the Economy Lube BMW team of Pro Superbike points leader Alex Dumas.
Wood has been the longtime voice of the series, announcing all CSBK action both trackside and for a number of years on TSN. Also a significant voice in the Flat Track community, Wood is the winner of the Bar and Hedy Hodgson Award for 2025.
The Canadian Motorcycle Hall of Fame will host a gala in the reception area of CTMP’s control tower and hospitality building, located just outside turn ten, on Saturday evening (August 9) featuring the three CSBK inductees above.
