Varying weather conditions brought a trio of spectacular finishes in the support classes on Saturday at Atlantic Motorsport Park, with two new first-time winners crowned at the fourth round of the Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship, presented by Pro Cycle and Canadian Kawasaki.
Headlining the action was local rider Baillie Ives, who completed a spectacular comeback from the pit lane to earn his first career national victory at his home track.
The Brookfield, Nova Scotia native was set to start on pole in the Super Sonic Road Race School Pro-AM Lightweight class but missed the warmup lap and was forced to start from the pits, pushing him to the back of the field and well behind early leader Gary McKinnon.
Ives would gradually chip his way back through the grid, charging to second with four laps to go and beginning his quest to reel in pro championship leader McKinnon, despite already leading the amateur split at that point.
The pole-sitter would then make the decisive move with just over a lap remaining, capping off a dramatic ride to earn a memorable debut CSBK victory.
The win also cuts his deficit to Ryan Beattie to 34 points in the amateur title fight, a gap he will look to trim even further on Sunday with another win.
McKinnon would lead every lap except the most important one in his duel with the amateur Ives, but it didn’t make much difference in his championship hopes as he still claimed the top pro spot and extended his title lead to 72 points over Toni Sharpless.
Completing the podium was pro Corey Miller in third, who rounded out an all-Maritimes podium as the Kinkora, PEI native joined Nova Scotian’s Ives and McKinnon in the outright lead three.
Another late race charge was put on by Tyler Brewer in the AIM Insurance Amateur Superbike class, as he made a last lap move on Goran Radisic to claim his second win of the season.
Radisic led almost the entire race as he looked poised to extend his championship lead, but Brewer would carve out nearly three seconds from the BMW rider in the final five laps to put his Yamaha at the front and trim five points off his title deficit, cutting it to 24 with five races remaining.
Radisic would settle for second to extend his run of top-two finishes, while Vincent Wilson claimed a maiden intermediate-class podium in his first weekend aboard a larger-displacement Kawasaki.
Wilson – who revealed he is hoping to be the first rider to ever win Amateur Superbike, Sport Bike, and Twins in the same weekend – nearly added a first career EBC Brakes Amateur Sport Bike victory as he led former Lightweight rival Zaim Laflamme in the early going.
The two enjoyed a nail-biting battle before Laflamme had a huge moment on lap eight, allowing Wilson to extend a five-second lead out front. However, the Moncton, New Brunswick native crashed out only three laps later, handing the victory back to Laflamme in just his third career Sport Bike race.
Championship leader Serge Boyer would finish third on-track but was crucially promoted to second after pole-sitter Nick Spencer was dealt a jump-start penalty, relegating him to third.
Title rival Laurent Laliberté-Girard could only manage fifth, which was great damage limitation from 12th on the grid but will see Boyer’s championship lead grow to 31 points entering Sunday’s race two.
The Importations Thibault Pro-AM Twins class and Niagara Race Crafters Ninja ZX-4RR Cup category will both have a Sunday doubleheader, after more rainfall at the end of the day forced the final scheduled race to be postponed.
Full results from Saturday’s support class action can be found on the series’ official website.
