Many years after this writer raced on this hallowed track, he decides to watch the action from the other side of the fence
My buddy Alan Burns asked me in December 2017 about going to the 2018 Canadian Superbike Championships series racing (CSBK) event at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP; formerly Mosport) with him. He was trying to entice me to race again, but instead of declining, I told him I’d happily hold the umbrella for him. I was getting pretty excited about riding up to CTMP on my VFR with all my camping gear. I’d be back at the track just like in the good ol’ days, except I wouldn’t be racing. My road-racing days were a lot of fun for me and I have a lot of good memories of racing at Mosport, so I was pretty excited to see the place again. In the end, Alan was too broke to race, but I decided to go anyway.
I also have a threadbare Mosport T-shirt from 2001 that my wife bans me from wearing in public and has been relegated to garage duty. That year was my first of eight consecutive years racing at Mosport.
Entrance
I arrive at CTMP’s main entrance around 6:30 p.m. Plenty of time to grab my Advanced Weekend Super Ticket and an Advanced General Camping chit. I saved only $10 by buying these tickets ahead of time, but the purchase represented a commitment to go.
New asphalt greets me at the main entrance. There has been money spent on this facility since I was here last, and that is immediately apparent. In 2011, race car driver Ron Fellows and real estate mogul Carlo Fidani purchased Mosport and shortly after partnered with Canadian Tire. This financial partnership allowed for quite a few expensive improvements, such as resurfacing sections of the track and enlarging the main entry tunnel to allow vehicles as large as tractor-trailers into the infield. Other improvements include paved runoffs in Turn 2A and Turn 8, as well as pavement in the upper and lower paddocks.
I putt away from the main entrance on my VFR with my ticket tucked away to find a campsite where I’d be planting myself for the weekend. By suppertime on Friday, the perimeter of the track is lined, mostly with hard-bodied motorhomes and nine metre-trailers. Tent trailers are rare and tents are even more rare. I find one of the last spots available. It is sloped, but it is on the back straight – just as I had hoped for. I am able to pitch my tent and angle it so I will have a nice view of the motorcycles on track in the morning.
Saturday Morning Practice
Saturday is a beautiful 28 C sunny summer day, and I know I’m overdoing my sun exposure. The Pro 600 race is a barnburner, with Mitch Card, Tomas Casas, Sebastien Tremblay and Jacob Shaw-O’Leary fighting a four-way battle for the lead. It is nail-biting action right until halfway through the last lap, when O’Leary and Card crash three seconds apart leaving Casas to take the win. It is awesome racing!
After the Pro 600 race, I visit the paddock area, which is fully accessible to all spectators at a CSBK event. From a distance, I see a familiar face relaxing in Mitch Card’s pit area as a crew of three mechanics repaired Card’s bike. I used to race with Bill Card, Mitch’s dad, in the Amateur 600 class and I remember a lot of fun weekends at the track with him. Bill was very good: he almost won the National Amateur championship in 2003 and went on to an impressive Pro career. In 2004, Bill was promoted to the Pro ranks and raced for years in Pro 600 and Pro Superbike, as well as a few seasons in the Thunder class.
I ask Bill if he missed the racing. “No. I don’t think I could be as competitive as I would want to be,” he says. “The fastest I ever went here was a 1:24.7 [lap time] and I was in the lead pack battling Crevier. This morning, my son went out and did a 1:24.1.” Then, Bill laments the fact that he didn’t begin racing until he was 33 years old – Mitch began when half that age. Bill is still lean, and I suspect he would be very competitive today. The bikes and tires are so much better today than they were 15 years ago.
Battling with Steve Crevier? Now, I had to admit that was a better story than my brush with motorcycle fame. I decide not to tell Bill I once held open the St-Eustache washroom door for two-time CSBK champ Michael Taylor.
All-Day Action
After the Amateur Superbikes race, it is time for some off-track demo rides. I had signed up for two Honda rides – on a CBR500R and a CRF250 Rally. I have been interested in the 500 as a sensible upgrade for my wife from her CBR250R. My ride is silky smooth and the ergonomics feel as small as the 250, but my wife will be the real judge.
The 20-minute demo rides are free and well organized, and they offer excellent opportunities to ride the latest bikes from Honda, BMW and Harley-Davidson. The roads around CTMP are quite nice and there are some flowing curves that hug the small hills and take you through picturesque towns.
I am very impressed with how full-sized the CRF250 Rally feels and it is really begging to be ridden off-road, but this is an asphalt-only ride.
Movie Night
Saturday evening, I have time for a track walk before the Toronto Motorcycle Film Festival’s award-winning movies are shown at an outdoor movie theatre set up in the infield at Turn 1. My track walk floods me with memories of travelling over this tarmac 10 years ago at speed.
CTMP is a beautifully flowing 13 metre-wide, 10-corner, four km-long road course with steep elevation changes that allow more energy for gentle turns and exhilarating corner speed with your knee planted on the ground. Racing here is a real rush. I still describe the joy of racing through Turn 2 as turning left with your knee on the ground at about 160 km/h as you descend by about six stories from the top of Turn 2 and you do it again in Turn 4, going left and dropping by about four stories before rising sharply into Turn 5.
I’ve crashed at more than five tracks during 11 years of racing, but never at Mosport.
As I’m walking along the back straight in the fading sunlight, a grandfather and his granddaughter go whizzing by me on a skateboard at about 30 km/h. She is squealing with delight. They make it safely to the hairpin and she’s giddy with excitement of doing it again with Grandpa.
After reaching my camping area, I end my track walk and retreat to the palatial accommodations of my old tent. It’s been a great day, but I’ll have to take in less sunshine tomorrow. I’m satisfied, but wiped.
Demo Rides Between Races
I get up Sunday morning and immediately walk to the lower paddock to sign up for more coveted morning rides on the BMW and Harley demo fleets. I like the BMW GS bikes quite a bit. They symbolize vacations for me; I just want to load up the bags and head out cross-country for a week or two months on one of these bikes. The 800GS rides like a dream, but I am begging for some off-road riding. Admittedly, the BMW lacks for nothing on the road, however.
Right after that, I have the pleasure of riding a Harley full-dress touring bike. In my 30 years of being a motorcycle enthusiast, I’ve never had the opportunity to ride a Harley or a Ducati. The Harley’s paint has a gorgeous sheen and this bike’s seat feels like a pillow. The ride is a smooth one. I certainly could be comfortable on this torquey baby for a month on the road.
Sunday is a day to watch the races from different areas of the track. I watch another amazing Pro 600 race from Turn 2. I love watching the start of a race. The racing pack taking off from the start and dipping into the turns like a ferocious pack of wolves running through the woods sends a tingle right down my spine. I remember the excitement of racing – and I want to be in that pack.
CTMP is the last CSBK race of the year. Tomas Casas wins, with Mitch Card and Sebastien Tremblay in hot pursuit. They put on a great show in the race and afterward put on an equally good smoke show at Turn 2.
After the Pro 600 race, I cross over to the outside of the track to watch the Amateur 600 race at Turn 1.
I compliment a spectator who is there with his BMW 1200GS. In one of those “small world” stories, he ends up being Billy Shields, formerly an amateur racer at Shannonville in the mid-2000s. Billy and I were familiar names at that track.
Big Bike Excitement
I begin packing up my tent right before the big Pro Superbike race begins. There’s more packing to do, but I take a break to soak in the Superbikes rocketing past at almost 300 km/h on the warm-up laps. Two minutes later, we can hear a muted roar through the trees. The race has begun and the pack is coming within hearing range. The noise intensifies into a crescendo that I can feel in every bone in my body as the entire pack roars up the back straight toward us in a searingly hot flash of excitement. This is only their first lap of 20, with a helicopter chasing the leaders around the track on each lap à la MotoGP.
The race is excellent, with Jordan Szoke chasing Ben Young and Kenny Riedmann for the entire race. Riedmann takes the win, with Samuel Trepanier working his way past Szoke. Szoke, a multi-time champion, ends up finishing fourth. The top five riders are an amazingly close 0.6 seconds together. I expected Szoke to pounce and take the win on the closing laps, but he ends up having mechanical issues and is happy just to stay within range of the leaders. His placing is enough to wrap up his 13th CSBK championship with his accumulated season’s points. Good consolation prize for not winning this time.
I finish packing my bike and slowly ride out of the park right after the racing ends. It has been a fantastic weekend at the CTMP Superbike Nationals. Lots to see, demo bikes to ride, free movies at night, great atmosphere with a riding stunt show between races. The racing itself has been second to none.
On the ride home, a freight train parallels the highway and the setting sun has hit it just right with a golden orange glow painting the entire train. It’s then that I’m struck with the realization that I completely forgot to buy a CTMP T-shirt. ”
out in a tight pack. I am convinced Szoke was just biding his time, sitting in the catbird seat and ready to pounce on Riedmann and Young to take the win. But it doesn’t happen that way, as Young scores the victory.
After the Amateur Superbikes race, it is time for some off-track demo rides. I had signed up for two Honda rides – on a CBR500R and a CRF250 Rally. I have been interested in the 500 as a sensible upgrade for my wife from her CBR250R. My ride is silky smooth and the ergonomics feel as small as the 250, but my wife will be the real judge.
The 20-minute demo rides are free and well organized, and they offer excellent opportunities to ride the latest bikes from Honda, BMW and Harley-Davidson. The roads around CTMP are quite nice and there are some flowing curves that hug the small hills and take you through picturesque towns.
I am very impressed with how full-sized the CRF250 Rally feels and it is really begging to be ridden off-road, but this is an asphalt-only ride.
Movie Night
Saturday evening, I have time for a track walk before the Toronto Motorcycle Film Festival’s award-winning movies are shown at an outdoor movie theatre set up in the infield at Turn 1. My track walk floods me with memories of travelling over this tarmac 10 years ago at speed.
CTMP is a beautifully flowing 13 metre-wide, 10-corner, four km-long road course with steep elevation changes that allow more energy for gentle turns and exhilarating corner speed with your knee planted on the ground. Racing here is a real rush. I still describe the joy of racing through Turn 2 as turning left with your knee on the ground at about 160 km/h as you descend by about six stories from the top of Turn 2 and you do it again in Turn 4, going left and dropping by about four stories before rising sharply into Turn 5.
I’ve crashed at more than five tracks during 11 years of racing, but never at Mosport.
As I’m walking along the back straight in the fading sunlight, a grandfather and his granddaughter go whizzing by me on a skateboard at about 30 km/h. She is squealing with delight. They make it safely to the hairpin and she’s giddy with excitement of doing it again with Grandpa.
After reaching my camping area, I end my track walk and retreat to the palatial accommodations of my old tent. It’s been a great day, but I’ll have to take in less sunshine tomorrow. I’m satisfied, but wiped.
Demo Rides Between Races
I get up Sunday morning and immediately walk to the lower paddock to sign up for more coveted morning rides on the BMW and Harley demo fleets. I like the BMW GS bikes quite a bit. They symbolize vacations for me; I just want to load up the bags and head out cross-country for a week or two months on one of these bikes. The 800GS rides like a dream, but I am begging for some off-road riding. Admittedly, the BMW lacks for nothing on the road, however.
Right after that, I have the pleasure of riding a Harley full-dress touring bike. In my 30 years of being a motorcycle enthusiast, I’ve never had the opportunity to ride a Harley or a Ducati. The Harley’s paint has a gorgeous sheen and this bike’s seat feels like a pillow. The ride is a smooth one. I certainly could be comfortable on this torquey baby for a month on the road.
Sunday is a day to watch the races from different areas of the track. I watch another amazing Pro 600 race from Turn 2. I love watching the start of a race. The racing pack taking off from the start and dipping into the turns like a ferocious pack of wolves running through the woods sends a tingle right down my spine. I remember the excitement of racing – and I want to be in that pack.
CTMP is the last CSBK race of the year. Tomas Casas wins, with Mitch Card and Sebastien Tremblay in hot pursuit. They put on a great show in the race and afterward put on an equally good smoke show at Turn 2.
After the Pro 600 race, I cross over to the outside of the track to watch the Amateur 600 race at Turn 1.
I compliment a spectator who is there with his BMW 1200GS. In one of those “small world” stories, he ends up being Billy Shields, formerly an amateur racer at Shannonville in the mid-2000s. Billy and I were familiar names at that track.
Big Bike Excitement
I begin packing up my tent right before the big Pro Superbike race begins. There’s more packing to do, but I take a break to soak in the Superbikes rocketing past at almost 300 km/h on the warm-up laps. Two minutes later, we can hear a muted roar through the trees. The race has begun and the pack is coming within hearing range. The noise intensifies into a crescendo that I can feel in every bone in my body as the entire pack roars up the back straight toward us in a searingly hot flash of excitement. This is only their first lap of 20, with a helicopter chasing the leaders around the track on each lap à la MotoGP.
The race is excellent, with Jordan Szoke chasing Ben Young and Kenny Riedmann for the entire race. Riedmann takes the win, with Samuel Trepanier working his way past Szoke. Szoke, a multi-time champion, ends up finishing fourth. The top five riders are an amazingly close 0.6 seconds together. I expected Szoke to pounce and take the win on the closing laps, but he ends up having mechanical issues and is happy just to stay within range of the leaders. His placing is enough to wrap up his 13th CSBK championship with his accumulated season’s points. Good consolation prize for not winning this time.
I finish packing my bike and slowly ride out of the park right after the racing ends. It has been a fantastic weekend at the CTMP Superbike Nationals. Lots to see, demo bikes to ride, free movies at night, great atmosphere with a riding stunt show between races. The racing itself has been second to none.
On the ride home, a freight train parallels the highway and the setting sun has hit it just right with a golden orange glow painting the entire train. It’s then that I’m struck with the realization that I completely forgot to buy a CTMP T-shirt.
