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CSBK Lightweight Round 2 Sees Maguire Podium at Mosport!

August 16th, 2020 -- Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (Mosport)

The second round of the CSBK Canadian National Lightweight Sport Bike championship season was held this weekend at CTMP (formerly Mosport) just outside Bowmanville, ON. 

Two races were on the schedule for this weekend. The double-hearder weekend started warm and sunny, and after a long 15-year absence from the track Maguire was 5th fastest in Saturday morning practice, out of 20 entries. 

Picking up the pace a bit for qualifying saw the #613 Motomike Canada Kawasaki Ninja 400 pegged to start race 1 in 3rd place, in the middle of the front row between youngsters Mackenzie Weil (Ninja 400), Matthew Simpson (Yamaha R3) , and Richard Lee (Yamaha R3). 

Race 1 Started off fast, with a large pack of bikes fighting for the lead for the entire first lap.  Unfortunately, heading into turn 1 on lap 2, #21 Richard Lee lost the front end and crashed into the outside wall causing a red flag.  Without enough time to re-start the race before sound curfew, the race was postponed until Sunday morning, replacing the usual practice session. 

A windy Saturday night brought Sunday morning rain, and while the starting grid remained the same, the few who brought rain tires held a massive advantage.  The new set of Dunlop Q3+ DOT tires on the #613 Ninja 400 weren't an ideal choice, but Maguire tip-toed around just behind #3 Simpson to 5th overall, behind two bikes on full rains running significantly quicker times.  The top 5 were #31 Paul Courtois on a Honda CBR500, #949 Herve Remetter, and #22 JF Cloutier on dry tires!

Race 2 was a different story, with the clouds parting and drying the track out just in time for the sighting lap.  The starting grid was again the same, with Maguire on the front row between Simpson and Weil.  Maguire and Simpson had a battle going for the better part of 7 laps, exchanging the lead several times with the rest of the top 5 right on their heels.  The gap really closed up in turn 5a when Maguire missed a shift, allowing the Yamaha of Simpson and the #707 Kawasaki of Jacob Black to get the jump onto the long back stretch.  Drafting is huge with small displacement bikes, and Jacob Black wheeled past Simpson and Maguire into turn 8, with Simpson ducking under Maguire and bumped his way back past Black into turn 9.  Maguire wasn't settling for 3rd place, and put a last-corner pass on Black who left just enough room up the inside for him to slide the #613 entry past and into second, with Simpson holding off the charging Kawasakis to take the win. 

From a press release issued by CSBK/Professional Motorsports Productions:

Hometown teenager Matthew Simpson scored his first ever National victory in race two of the AIM Insurance Amateur Lightweight class, coming out on top of a thrilling four-way battle for the lead aboard his Yamaha YZF-R3 after a number of last-lap passes at the front.

Simpson managed to make the decisive move over Jacob Black in the penultimate corner, with Black then falling to third in the final corner after another remarkable pass from round one runner-up Mike Maguire.

Black managed to hang on for his first career podium behind Maguire, while round one winner Mackenzie Weil settled for fourth to cap off a run of three Kawasaki Ninja 400’s inside the top-four.

 

Bike Specs at start of Round Two:

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