Lalande caps off inaugural Canadian MiniSBK season with another win in Lombardy
Lombardy, ON – Vincent Lalande added one more tally to his resumé before departing the Canadian Mini Superbike National Championship on Sunday, winning the season finale of the feature Motul Canada Cup at Lombardy Raceway.
After clinching the inaugural national title on Saturday, the 14-year-old returned with only pride to play for on Sunday, but the situation didn’t change Lalande’s determination as he continued to set the pace over rival Benjamin Hardwick – albeit in finer margins than usual.
Lalande secured pole position earlier in the day but faced intense pressure doing so, with Hardwick smashing a new outright track record with a time of 36.767 and nearly snatching the heat race victory aboard their mandatory Pirell-mounted Ohvale machines.
The 13-year-old Hardwick wouldn’t be able to replicate his late comeback in the final race, however, as Lalande crushed the field off the start and never looked back en route to a comfortable victory.
The win – his tenth in eleven races this season – will put a bow on what was an illustrious debut season in the Canadian MiniSBK paddock, making himself known as a future racing star as he graduates to the Canadian Superbike Championship for 2023.
As for Hardwick, the youngster will return to the Motul Canada Cup grid to battle it out for next year’s championship alongside Michael Galvis, who completed the podium once again in third. The 10-year-old Galvis won’t be CSBK eligible for a number of years, leaving him and Hardwick to stake their claim as the next CMSBK champion.
Lalande added another pair of support-class victories to close out the year aboard his own SpeedFactory67 Buccimoto machine, winning the GP-1 and Moto-1 classes despite more pressure from Hardwick.
The two rivals traded fast laps early, with Hardwick showing better late pace aboard his Ohvale GP-190, but it wasn’t enough on either occasion as he was forced to settle for second in both races.
Galvis, meanwhile, would score added victories in the Sport-1 and Moto-2 ranks, coming out on top of a pair of close battles with Pierre Lalande, as the Colombian continues to shine aboard both the Ohvale and his Kawasaki KX65 machine.
Newcomer Jack Dunwoodie would win the Moto-3 and Sport-3 classes with a couple of strong efforts, as the 11-year-old celebrated his CMSBK debut with four victories on the weekend as he potentially turns his focus to the Canada Cup next season.
The inaugural season of the Canadian Mini Superbike National Championship will officially come to a close after a successful campaign that brought a number of future racing stars to the forefront, most notably Lalande – who will continue his progression into CSBK, likely as a member of the Super Sonic Race School Lightweight category.
As for the remainder of the CMSBK field, youngsters like Hardwick and Galvis will return to duel it out for the second edition of the Canada Cup, with many other names sure to join them in the quest to become Canada’s next national MiniSBK champion.
More, from another press release issued by CSBK/PMP:
Lalande clinches Canadian MiniSBK title with race one victory in Lombardy
Lombardy, ON – Vincent Lalande will head into the final Canadian Mini Superbike Championship race with only pride to play for, after securing the Motul Canada Cup national title with another dominant victory at Lombardy Raceway on Saturday.
The 14-year-old MiniSBK star looked set for a perfect campaign after winning the first eight races of the season, but a crash in last weekend’s race two handed the victory to rival Benjamin Hardwick and kept his championship hopes on hold.
That sentiment didn’t last long into the final weekend of the year, however, with Lalande comfortably pacing the initial timed qualifying session and dominating the heat race to put Hardwick on the brink entering race one of the season finale aboard their Pirelli-mounted Ohvale machines.
As has been the case in almost every race this season, Lalande got a brilliant start from pole position and grabbed the holeshot into turn one, but with Hardwick pressuring close behind in second. The latter would pressure him throughout the early part of the lap, but it was only a matter of time as Lalande put the hammer down and quickly pulled away out front.
Despite what looked like a late comeback from the 13-year-old Hardwick, Lalande’s pace was too much to match as he cruised to a ninth victory in ten races, clinching the inaugural Motul Canada Cup national championship in the process.
“I feel really proud to be up here, thanks so much to everyone that helped us this season,” Lalande said. “It was another hard race, but I got a great start again and was able to hold off Ben.”
The Canadian Superbike Championship-bound phenom would beat his title rival Hardwick once again, who will return to the MiniSBK paddock again in 2023 as the title favourite – but not before ending his 2022 season with one more shot at Lalande on Sunday.
Completing the podium was debutant Michael Galvis, a star of the support classes who joined the feature Motul Canada Cup national class after just recently turning ten years old to meet the category’s minimum age. Galvis would celebrate his birthday with a brilliant third-place finish, joining Lalande and Hardwick on the rostrum.
Lalande would add two more victories onto his historic day, winning the GP-1 and Moto-1 class races aboard his SpeedFactory67 Buccimoto machine as he inches closer to two more championships on Sunday.
Both victories would come in front of Hardwick, who alternated between his own Ohvale 190 machine and the spec-class 160, while newcomer Benoit Belair completed the podium on both occasions.
Galvis would add two extra trophies of his own on the day, winning the Sport-1 and Moto-2 category races aboard his Kawasaki KX65 to cap off a three-podium day. The ten-year old Colombia native managed to fend off Pierre Lalande in the former race, before winning a thrilling battle with newcomer Fiona Koenig in the Moto-2 class.
Koenig would get some revenge in the Sport-2 category, winning her first MiniSBK race against fellow debutant Jeff Rilley. The first female winner in CMSBK action quickly got up to speed on Saturday, running similar times to Galvis at the front.
The final two races of the day were won by eleven-year-old Jack Dunwoodie, who captured the Moto-3 and Sport-3 trophies ahead of Mason Archer. One of the youngest names in the CMSBK paddock quickly made a name for himself, running near the front in the combined class races late in the day.
The entire slate of support class championships will be handed out on Sunday, with titles still available in the GP-1, Moto-1, Moto-2, Moto-3, Sport-1, Sport-2, and Sport-3 categories, on top of one final national Motul Canada Cup battle between Lalande and Hardwick.
The inaugural Canadian Mini Superbike Championship season will wrap up on Sunday with more action from Lombardy Raceway, concluding a thrilling first campaign of the junior racing series.
