Tomas Casas Round 5 Report from CTMP

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Category: Team News

Published on Saturday, August 24, 2024 07:57 EDT

It was a bittersweet return to the Bridgestone CSBK paddock for Tomas Casas and the Yamaha Motors Canada team, as he battled through a difficult weekend to match his career best result at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

After sitting out the first four rounds of the 2024 campaign, Casas elected to “do the double” at CTMP and contest both the feature GP Bikes Pro Superbike class as well as return to the Economy Lube Pro Sport Bike category, where he was champion in 2017 and 2018.

Unfortunately, his appearance riding Brad Macrae’s Colron Excavating Yamaha was cut short when Tomas crashed in Sport Bike qualifying on Friday, just days after an engine failure in Macrae’s other YZF-R6 machine.

Casas thankfully avoided a serious injury but was left battered and bruised for the weekend, though with less action on his schedule as he elected to focus on his own Superbike program aboard the YZF-R1.

It was the first time Casas would race the “new-gen” 2022 version of the R1 – supported by Yamaha Motors Canada and Taso’s Restaurant and Pizzeria – but he didn’t look or feel out of place aboard it as he qualified a strong sixth on the grid for the Superbike doubleheader.

The wet and cloudy Friday would be followed by beautiful conditions for race one on Saturday, though that was less than ideal for Tomas as he tried to fight through the pain from his earlier incident.

A solid start would see him and round three winner Torin Collins battling for sixth, with the pair chasing down and passing David MacKay for fifth. Collins and Casas would battle for majority of the race, though Tomas made the decisive move stick with four laps to go as he held on for fifth in race one.

“The dry conditions on Saturday were tough for moving the bike around. I wish I would have been more aggressive off the bat, because I think I had the pace to latch on to the front group,” Tomas said. “Then I realized the battle was between Torin and I, and as exciting as his riding style was, I told myself ‘he just won in his CSBK debut, I better beat this dude.’” 

Sunday would bring more rain to CTMP, a bit of a welcome sight for Casas as he admitted it may help manage his pain for race two.

That would turn out to be true, as Tomas got an incredible launch from the second row and took the holeshot, leading a feature Pro Superbike race for the first time in his career.

He would eventually be passed by Trevor Daley and reigning champion Ben Young on the opening lap, but Casas settled into a comfortable third and would hold that advantage the rest of the way, escaping the drying track with his third career Pro Superbike podium.

“Getting the holeshot was awesome until I realized I had no reference of how hard I could push with the drying conditions in the first couple corners. While following Ben and Trevor I had a couple moments and then I decided to stay consistent and bring it home,” Casas admitted. “Getting on the box in my first weekend back was special, especially at a track that is so close to home and having the support of my loved ones there.”

Despite missing the opening four rounds, Tomas’ strong effort at CTMP will lift him all the way to 13th in the feature class championship and just six points off the lead Yamaha spot, giving the manufacturer by far their biggest points haul of the season.

The excellent weekend will provide plenty of momentum for Casas and the Yamaha Motors Canada team ahead of the season finale at Shannonville Motorsport Park later this month, August 30-September 1, as he looks to end the year strong and build towards 2025.

Tomas would like to thank all those who have supported him throughout 2024, including Yamaha Motor Canada, Taso’s Restaurant and Pizzeria, GBRacing, Motul, Hindle Exhaust, Bickle Racing, Flexiglass, DP Brakes, Brooklin Cycle Racing, Human 2.0, Forsaken Motorsports, Peterborough Cycle Salvage, Trackdayhub, Laps4MD, and all his friends and family who have been with him along the way.

You can follow Tomas Casas through his social media platforms below:

Instagram: @tomas_casas18

Twitter: @tomas_casas18

Facebook: Tomas Casas Racing

From a press release