The near-unbeaten streak of Torin Collins came to an end on Sunday, as Andrew Van Winkle dominated the third race of the weekend in the Pro Supersport class at RAD Torque Raceway.
Collins entered the day with five victories in six attempts to begin 2025, only losing out when he was caught up in a lap one crash at AMP – a race Van Winkle won – but it didn’t look that way in race three as Van Winkle grabbed the holeshot and instantly stretched out a comfortable lead.
The 18-year-old faced almost no pressure the entire way, navigating a wet but drying track for a crucial start-to-finish win aboard his Mountainview Motorsports Suzuki.
Even Van Winkle himself was surprised by the performance, winning by nearly seven seconds for his third career victory in the Supersport ranks.
“That was pretty wild. I expected a pretty tough battle with Torin, but I looked back and no one was there,” Van Winkle said. “I just tried to keep my head down and manage the rain tires. I was pretty nervous with how slick it was getting at the end.”
The victory keeps his title hopes in relatively decent shape as he cuts the deficit to 24 points behind Collins, who eventually limited the damage in second but was no match for Van Winkle on Sunday.
The Octagon Energy Services Suzuki star was nearly going backwards as local rider Justin Knapik escaped in second early on, with Collins scrapping in a five-rider group for third, but the championship leader smartly motioned for them to follow him as he clawed his way back into second.
“That was a tricky race. I had an awful start, per usual, and Andrew just got away on lap one,” Collins admitted. “He had it today and I didn’t, so props to him.”
Collins and the chasing group would quickly move through on a fading Knapik, dragging rookie Laurent Laliberte-Girard and Alex Michel into a fight for the last podium spot.
Laliberte-Girard nearly had a go at Collins into turn four before settling back into the fight for third, fending off a number of attempts from Michel in the final laps to secure the second podium of his young career for the Nadon Sport Yamaha team, despite doing double-duty in Superbike and Supersport this weekend.
“I honestly just wanted to have fun in the six races, I didn’t really know what to expect,” Laliberte-Girard said. “I just started catching, and catching, and catching, and then realized I was third. And then I realized ‘damn, that’s Torin!”
The impressive performance came at the expense of Michel, who had to settle for fourth despite a late push on Sunday. Still, the SpeedFactory67 Kawasaki rider will exit perhaps a career-best weekend in third in the overall championship, a breakthrough round for the emerging star.
Rounding out the top five in an unusually quiet day was Sebastien Tremblay, who got bogged down early on in the five-rider battle but couldn’t find the necessary pace to hang with Laliberte-Girard and Michel.
The reigning Supersport champion will now be mathematically eliminated from defending his title, exiting Alberta with a 63-point deficit to Collins for the S.T. Motosport Suzuki team.
The changing weather conditions on Sunday also shook up the support classes, with local fan favourite Bronti Verbeek stealing the show with a maiden national victory in the Importations Thibault Twins Cup class.
Verbeek got a terrific start in what was a full rain race, leading championship frontrunner J.P. Tache through the opening two laps and beginning to stretch a slight advantage aboard her Yamaha.
She would get a bit more breathing room as Tache crashed at the very end of lap two, but that would be the last anyone would see of Verbeek as she cruised to an incredible 41-second victory – one of the largest in CSBK history.
The popular win puts Verbeek in an exclusive list of female national winners, joining Stacey Nesbitt as the only riders in the last two decades to win a CSBK race across any class.
The outcome was also a significant one in the championship, as Tache remounted to salvage fifth but will see his points grasp shrink to just 20 over Dante Bucek, who fought his way to second in the rain on Sunday.
Reigning amateur Twins champion Sebastian Silva was third, only narrowly beating Justin Marshall at the line by 0.018 seconds in a thrilling battle for the final podium spots.
The momentum shifted drastically atop the two amateur championships on Sunday, with Zaim Laflamme responding with his own “daily double” as he claimed victories in both the AIM Insurance Amateur Superbike and EBC Brakes Amateur Supersport classes.
Laflamme had needed a big day to save his title hopes with rival Cole Alexander controlling all the momentum, but the 23-year-old did exactly that by running away with a pair of impressive wins while Alexander struggled in the changing weather.
Alexander had a bit more wiggle room to work with in the Superbike category, though he will see his gap shrink to 23 points as Laflamme scored his second victory in the class while Alexander could only muster fourth.
Taking an equally significant second-place finish was Nicolas Audet, who will climb back into the mix for third in the overall championship and a pro license for 2026 with his best result of the season.
Season debutant Jason Langeveldt would take a maiden podium in third, setting the fastest lap of the race but having too much work to do as he couldn’t fight his way back towards Laflamme and Audet in the final laps.
Laflamme got a bit of luck to go his way in Supersport after Alexander missed the warmup lap and was forced to start from pit lane, though he may not have had any challenge for Laflamme anyways as the Triumph rider lapped much quicker than anyone else on circuit in a comfortable victory.
Alexander would claw his way back to fourth once again, helped by a late crash from Alexis Beaudoin as they battled for position. While the 18-year-old was frustrated with the outcome, the damage limitation was enough to keep him atop both championships heading into the final round at CTMP, though by just three points in this category.
Bucek would add on to his Twins podium with another dominant victory in the Super Sonic Road Race School Lightweight Sportbike class, cruising clear of Norbert Joo to put one hand on the national title.
The 16-year-old opens up a massive lead over the absent Gary McKinnon, already clinching top amateur honours and looking set to add the full championship to his resumé next month.
Joo would climb to fourth in the overall championship while third-place finisher Scott Szollos becomes Bucek’s closest challenger in the standings, leapfrogging McKinnon in the scrap for top pro honours.
Rob Cousineau followed up his first ever national podium on Saturday with a first career victory in race two of the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-4RR Cup, cruising clear of championship leader Jacob Black in the rain.
Neither Black nor Jean-Pascal Schroeder could match the pace of Cousineau at the front, but the duo enjoyed a battle of their own for second with Black coming out on top in the end, stretching his lead to 31 points ahead of the last round in CTMP.
The support classes will now prepare for their last two races of the season next month, August 7-10, as the series shifts to historic Canadian Tire Motorsport Park near Toronto, Ontario.
