Tremblay wins after Cyr penalty in Sport Bike finale at Shannonville

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Category: CSBK News
Published on Sunday, September 1, 2024 16:19 EDT
Written by Cam Bickle

The last race of the year in the Economy Lube Pro Sport Bike class featured plenty of drama on Sunday, as Sebastien Tremblay inherited the victory after a thrilling duel with rookie Mavrick Cyr at Shannonville Motorsport Park.

Tremblay extended an early lead from pole position but the story of the opening lap was Cyr, who was handed a five second jump start penalty after he moved slightly clear of his grid spot prior to the Apex Cycle starting lights going out.

Cyr would claw back ground on Tremblay and eventually take the lead on lap five, desperately trying to break away from the 2024 champion and give himself a five second cushion to overcome the penalty.

That wouldn’t materialize as Tremblay stuck right with the reigning amateur champion to the end, but that didn’t prevent any late heroics as Tremblay tried to win the race on-track while Trevor Daley charged towards the duo.

Tremblay would seemingly make the race-winning move out of turn ten before Cyr countered with a late-breaking move off the back straight, pushing both wide and giving Daley an opening into the final “Allen’s Corner” chicane.

Cyr would defend hard from Tremblay just as Daley tried to force a bold move for second, though it was too little, too late for each of them as Cyr would hold on for the on-track win from Tremblay and Daley in third with just over a half-second covering the trio.

That would mean Tremblay would inherit the victory due to Cyr’s penalty, while Daley was promoted to second. Cyr would be relegated to third, having stretched out the necessary gap to at least complete the podium.

While Tremblay preferred to take his 17th career victory in the usual fashion, the Turcotte Performance Suzuki rider was pleased to end the year with yet another strong result as he builds towards a title defence in 2025.

“It was a tough race, for sure. I knew Mav had the penalty, but I really wanted to win it at the line,” Tremblay said. “I had that move set up for a while out of the hairpin, but he made a bit of a daring move and almost ran us both off, so after that I was happy to just take the win.”

Daley would run third on-track for virtually the entire race but nearly came away with a stunning repeat victory, coming up perhaps a lap short for OneSpeed Suzuki. Still, it was yet another spectacular performance for the race one winner as he battled through a wrist injury all weekend.

“I had a lot of fun watching them battle up front, but I thought maybe I could save something for the end and get a bit of a different outcome,” Daley said. “This OneSpeed Suzuki is just an amazing bike. I’ve sort of put the team through it this weekend, so they deserve a ton of credit and a huge thanks.”

As for Cyr, the rookie and his Economy Lube Ducati team were understandably upset at the result, having to settle for third despite a brilliant effort from the 19-year-old. 

“I didn’t really know about the jump start, and I definitely didn’t gain any sort of advantage,” Cyr said in his defence. “In my mind I won and was first on the track, so I owe a huge thanks to the team for making that possible.”

Despite the frustration, Cyr will take some consolation in knowing he did enough to clinch second overall in the championship, a fantastic result for the rising star in just his first pro season.

Taking fourth and the Bridgestone CSBK Hard Charger award was Dylan Bauer, who ran a number of laps on similar pace to the leading trio but had too much ground to make up after fighting his way through the pack.

Still, Bauer will exit with a season-best finish and a spectacular effort in his first ever race weekend at SMP, taking the OneStop Goat Shop Yamaha just clear of former championship runner-up John Laing.

Laing was briefly looking like a podium threat as he tried to leapfrog Cyr in the year-end standings, but the Vass Performance Kawasaki rider faded in the second half and was ultimately forced to settle for fifth and the third spot in the championship.

Former race winner Elliot Vieira was notably missing from the grid as he bowed out due to arm pump, a costly absence for Ducati as they are overtaken by Kawasaki for second in the final Sport Bike Constructors standings behind champions Suzuki.