Bridgestone Partners With Canadian Superbike Championship

[advrider]

The Canadian Superbike Championship (CSBK) and Bridgestone Canada (Bridgestone) are announcing that they have reached a four-year agreement for Bridgestone to be the series’ sponsor. As a result, the championship will now be known as the Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship or the Bridgestone CSBK. In addition, Bridgestone will act as the exclusive tire supplier for the championship through the 2026 season.

CSBK is Canada’s national motorcycle racing series, although it currently only has events in Ontario and Nova Scotia. It’s descended from various superbike events that have been running in Canada since 1980. Its focus is street-based production motorcycles available to motorcycle fans. Since then, the series has grown into one of the better domestic superbike series in the world. The series continued its growth after Canada’s Total Sports Network (TSN) featured coverage of the national championship starting in 1995. To date, the series continues on air with both TSN and ESPN.

Bridgestone comments

Bridgestone is the supplier of race tires like its VO2 racing slicks for several international racing series. And now, through 2026, Bridgestone will supply tires to all six national classes of CSBK competition from Pro Superbike through Amateur Lightweight Sport Bike.

Jared Williams, the General Manager of Bridgestone’s Motorcycle Tire Business, is happy to have reached a partnership agreement with the CSBK saying:

“As a passionate supporter of motorcycle racing, Bridgestone is proud to be the spec tire and title sponsor of such a prestigious National Series such as CSBK. Partnering with CSBK allows us to support road racing and showcase our company’s technical expertise, and this exemplifies Emotion, a core value of Bridgestone’s E8 commitment as a sustainable solutions company.”

More tire production

Bridgestone is also expanding its commitment to motorcycle tires. The company recently said it was investing 1.7B Yen (nearly $12 million) to expand its tire production. According to the European Rubber Journal, its factory in Nasu, Japan will be “gradually expanding” through 2026 to produce “premium” Battlax branded motorcycle tires. When the project is complete, Bridgestone will increase its capacity by 90,000 units of Bridgestone tires. The company also said that it would be using technologies that it gained during its participation in MotoGP and, most recently, the 2022 FIM Endurance World Championship.

This year, Bridgestone tires led the way during the FIM Endurance World Championship at the well-known and highly regarded Suzuka Eight Hours of Japan. Bridgestone was proud of its role as it swept the top-ten positions in the final race results. The finish gave the Japanese tire manufacturer its 15th consecutive victory in this race.

Bridgestone tire shod competitors swept the top 10 spots at the recent Suzuka 8 Hours event. Photo: Bridgestone

Increasing commitment to motos

The timing of the CSBK agreement is welcome news to Warren Dunham, Bridgestone’s Race Program Manager for the US and Canada. It seems that Bridgestone is upping its commitment to motorcycle tires:

“The timing couldn’t be better for this new chapter with CSBK! We recently announced an investment in our Nasu, Japan plant to expand our production of the highest technology motorcycle tires, along with the launch of the new NS spec of Battlax V02 tires, in Superbike sizes for 2023. This shows Bridgestone’s continued commitment to investing and developing advanced race tire technologies.”

Bridgestone’s most recent international success was last month in the FIM Endurance World Championship at the Suzuka Eight Hours of Japan. As has been the case for several years, Bridgestone shod teams led the way. This year, the company swept the top-ten positions in the final race results to secure their 15th consecutive victory.

Contingency program

Bridgestone’s support does not end with its tires. It will also act as a sponsor of video elements of the series. But more importantly to racers, Bridgestone is also supporting the top finishers in each Pro and Amateur category. They will provide the top riders in each class with contingency money. In addition, they will also offer a new year-end prize purse for the top ranked superbike riders in the Pro Superbike division.

CSBK founder of Toronto’s Professional Motor Sport Productions, Inc. Colin Fraser feels good about the new partnership as well.

“We are really energized by the opportunity to work with Bridgestone. We are confident that the move to Bridgestone is a big step for our competitors, series and fans. There are a lot of good things on the horizon.”

Prior to the recent agreement with Bridgestone, the CSBK Championship operated with three-year deals. Resulting from those deals were separate nine-year tenures for its spec tire providers. The deals started with Pirelli in 2005, lasting through 2013. Next up was Dunlop and their tenure ran from 2014 through 2022. It appears that it is now Bridgestone’s turn to provide tires and support to CSBK through 2026. If the trend continues, Bridgestone could be the CSBK Championship Series’ tire supplier through 2033.

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