Canadian Superbike: Champ Ben Young joins Honda Canada
01/28/2025 06:05 AM
Reigning Canadian Superbike Champ Ben Young joins Honda Canada for 2025 National Racing Campaign
In an exciting move sure to shake up the Canadian Superbike championship, Honda Canada has signed 2024 Bridgestone CSBK National Superbike champion Ben Young of Collingwood, Ontario. Ben will proudly sport the Number One plate on his 2025 Honda CBR1000RR-SP in the five-round CSBK National Championship this season.
Four-time Canadian National Pro Superbike Champion Young, the Scottish-born, most successful racer of the current era, will have a pair of the top Honda sports machines to support his effort to continue to control the CSBK National Championship tour.
Young has agreed to represent Honda Canada for two years, for the 2025 and 2026 Championship series. Also representing Honda on the Pro Superbike Feature class grid is David McKay on the Snow City Cycle Marine CBR1000RR-SP, the former Pro Sport Bike middle weight National Champ heading into his second year aboard a liter-bike Honda.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity to represent Honda, and it will be a great challenge for our team and of course for me as a rider to make the most of the CBR as soon as possible,” smiles Young, who last raced for the famed manufacturer on a Honda RS125 pure race single-cylinder two-stroke machine more than a decade ago.
“Prior to the opening National round at Shannonville Motorsport Park May 17 and 18, we will be working flat out to get our two machines ready and then head on track to start developing our new Honda equipment, ideally on circuits in both eastern and western Canada.”
The 2025 Series will feature five rounds with two races per event, with a total of ten races offering Championship points in the series sanctioned by the FIM (Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme) and CMA (Canadian Motorcycle Association) and organized by CSBK. The Championship first took place in 1980, and this year’s races will be televised on both The Sports Network – TSN and affiliate Reseau des Sports – RDS in French.
Ben Young’s new Hondas will be prepared by his existing technical team, the same duo that have supported the 31-year-old since his switch to the Canadian series aboard the 1000cc, production-based Superbike machines back in 2016. Alberta’s Willie Vass and Ontario-based Scott Cartier are already involved with the build program for their CBR1000RR-SP machinery.
“We are absolutely ecstatic to be able to bring a champion like Ben Young on board to represent Honda Canada in CSBK action this season,” explains Larry Lamanna, Honda Canada’s Manager, Sales and Field Operations, Motorcycles. “In off-road, we have Dylan Wright and Ryan McNabb who are leading the Honda Canada/Gopher Dunes Racing/Fox program in the Triple Crown Series Canadian Nationals, so we have potential Champions representing Honda in both major disciplines of two wheeled action in Canada. We are always racing to win and couldn’t be more excited to start the season.”
The most recent success for Honda in the Canadian National Superbike Championship came with Jodi Christie, who earned the title on an Accelerated Tech CBR1000RR in 2014. Prior to that, the series’ most successful pilot, Jordan Szoke, had the first ever perfect season to take the Number One plate for the Fast Company CBR squad in 2010. Canadian legend Steve Crevier also earned the National crown for Honda Canada back in 2000 and 2001 aboard the legendary Honda RC51 V-Twin.
Van Dolder’s Home Team, a long-time supporter of Young’s career, will continue as the title sponsor of the new Honda superbike effort, with additional, ongoing backing from Parts Canada, Scot Build, Hindle Exhausts, Clearlite, Bickle Racing and DP Brakes and Pro Honda Oils & Chemicals.
The new Honda squad will be presented for the first time at Moto Canada’s Toronto Motorcycle and Powersports Show at the Enercare Centre at Exhibition Place, February 14-16.
Honda Canada Motorcycles
Honda Canada Inc. was established in 1969 and is the sole distributor of Honda motorcycles, scooters, ATV and side-by-sides in Canada. The Honda Canada Motorcycle Division is responsible for sales, marketing, and operational activities for these products through authorized Honda dealers.
The post Canadian Superbike: Champ Ben Young joins Honda Canada appeared first on Roadracing World Magazine | Motorcycle Riding, Racing & Tech News.
