Ben Young’s historic 2026 campaign came to a fitting end on Sunday, as the Bridgestone Canadian Superbike champion dominated race two in the GP Bikes Pro Superbike season finale at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
After winning a disrupted race one earlier in the day for his record-breaking eighth victory of the year, Young furthered his tally for most wins in a season by claiming his ninth trophy in ten races to close out the campaign, doing so comfortably ahead of David MacKay.
It didn’t appear as though that would be the case initially, as Young got another poor launch off the line to find himself fifth through turn one while MacKay led Andrew Van Winkle and breakout star Cole Alexander.
Young would methodically pick his way through the pack on the opening lap, climbing right on the rear wheel of Van Winkle before seizing second place in turn two to begin lap two.
MacKay’s quest for a first career Superbike victory lasted just one more lap before Young rocketed past him on the long Andretti straightaway, immediately stretching a gap en route to an eleven-second victory - one of the most dominant wins of his storied career.
The six-time champion will end the year with 245 of a possible 250 points, headlining a resurgent year for Honda as they locked out the top four places on Sunday afternoon.
“Our job wasn’t finished out there, but it’s cool to see that a Honda would have won either way. This package was so great for us all year. To see another lockout and a top-four for the brand is pretty incredible,” the Van Dolder’s Home Team Honda rider said. “I can’t thank the team enough. Six titles with this group is pretty special. I’ve had a great career, and it’s been a huge honour to race against these guys next to me.”
Despite how Young’s podium speech may be interpreted, the 33-year-old made it clear afterwards that he has no plans to retire from racing just yet.
While Honda’s incredible campaign had already secured them a first ever Constructors Championship, the fight for their second representative remained open with MacKay and Van Winkle separated by just a handful of points entering the day.
In the end, MacKay would outlast a brief attack from Van Winkle before settling into a convincing second, securing his fifth podium of the year and fourth runner-up result in the last five races.
The Snow City Cycle Honda rider will fall just short of second in the standings but would leapfrog Van Winkle by a single point for third overall, joining Young as the second representative for Honda in the final table - though both made significant contributions across 2026.
“We’ve had some ups and downs this year, but it’s nice to score multiple podiums here and end the year on a high note,” MacKay said. “Congrats to Ben, it’s been a huge honour to try and chase him down this season. And I have to thank my team, it’s been a huge effort from them and I wouldn’t be here without their help.”
While Van Winkle lamented his missed opportunity at finishing second in the standings, the 19-year-old did clinch the Brooklin Cycle Racing Pro Rookie of the Year award with his fifth podium of the season aboard the Mountainview Motorsports Honda.
Van Winkle nearly missed the start after a big crash in race one left him plenty of repairs in a short window, though a huge effort from his team - as well as members of Young’s crew - managed to get him back on track to close out the year.
“I honestly didn’t know if I would make it out there, we got the bike together like 20 minutes before the roll-out thanks to Scott [Cartier] bringing us some parts,” Van Winkle revealed. “They were a huge help and everybody did a great job of putting the bike back together, so I'm happy to be able to end the year on the podium.”
Cole Alexander would wrap up a spectacular Superbike debut on the other side of the Van Dolder’s Home Team Honda garage, finishing fourth after a historic podium earlier in the day.
The 19-year-old was emotional during his own podium speech as he made the most of the opportunity, thanking Young once again and drawing a huge reaction from the crowd for his result.
One of the most impressive performances of the race was newly crowned OPP Racing Pro Supersport champion Tomas Casas in fifth, briefly challenging Alexander for fourth aboard his smaller-displacement FAST Riding School Suzuki GSX-R750 before settling into a back-and-forth late battle with Michael Sutherland.
Sutherland would narrowly lose out to Casas but ended his weekend with another very strong sixth for Yamaha, while Sebastien Tremblay finished an excellent seventh aboard another Supersport-spec Suzuki for the S.T. Motosport team.
Julien Lafortune would win a dramatic duel with Ernest Bernhard to claim eighth, once again the top BMW in the order, while Bernhard was unable to complete a pass despite mounting plenty of pressure on Lafortune aboard his Farnham Lager Yamaha.
Mackenzie Weil would complete the top ten for Snow City Cycle Kawasaki, the lone Kawasaki in the final classification after Alex Michel’s unfortunate crash earlier in the day.
In other action, Alexis Beaudoin would claim a national championship in unfortunate circumstances after race one was cancelled in the AIM Insurance Amateur Superbike class.
Beaudoin carried a 25-point lead over Julia Krans and 28-point advantage over Baillie Ives into the weekend, meaning the cancellation of race one made it mathematically impossible for either rider to catch Beaudoin in race two.
Still, the Yamaha rider may have done enough to limit the damage anyways, finishing fourth in race two while Ives was forced to settle for second behind runaway race winner Carter Matson. Krans did not start.
Matson will end the year with three consecutive victories after a late start to his season at Grand Bend, falling just short of a pro promotion for 2027 despite only competing in two rounds.
He and Ives were joined by Corey James Campbell on the podium, who fended off Beaudoin by just 0.032 seconds at the line to deny him a championship celebration in the top-three.
J.P. Tache cemented his perfect season in the Importations Thibault Twins Cup class, cruising 14 seconds clear of Nicholas Krans in a dominant showing for the back-to-back champion.
Krans would have a much closer fight for second, leading a chaotic four-rider battle that saw veteran Gary McKinnon round out the podium ahead of Sebastian Silva and Bronti Verbeek.
McKinnon will end the year second in the championship to the unbeaten Tache, jumping ahead of the absent Louie Raffa after his injury in an unfortunate crash on Thursday.
Jared Walker would add to his own perfect campaign with a win in the Scorpion EXO ZX-4R Cup class, sweeping the weekend to go unbeaten and secure the national title.
Walker was tasked with fending off Mackenzie Weil on this occasion, who would have taken home the “ironman” award on Sunday after running in the Pro Superbike, Pro Supersport, and ZX-4R Cup classes for Kawasaki.
Weil ultimately settled for second ahead of last year’s champion Jacob Black, with Black only barely hanging on to the final podium spot ahead of Jean-Pascal Schroeder, snatching third by 0.138 seconds at the finish.
Walker won once again in the Super Sonic Road Race School Lightweight Sportbike category, his second class victory of the day after a thrilling win in race one earlier.
It was equally exciting this time around, holding off the same trio of riders behind him - only this time in a different order - as Norbert Joo, Stefan Tanasic, and class champion Lachlan Alexander all chased Walker down for the race win.
Alexander would wind up making a pair of decisive moves at the perfect time to seize second, ending his championship season on a high note, while 15-year-old phenom Tanasic completed the podium in third with roughly a second covering the entire group down to Joo in fourth.
Full results from the season finale at CTMP can be found here.
