Canadian Superbike Loses Series Sponsor Over Internet Forum Rant

Dennis Chung
by Dennis Chung

Aftermarket product distributor Parts Canada has withdrawn its series sponsorship of Canadian Superbike Championship.

The Canadian distributor announced it would not renew its sponsorship with CSBK for 2012, ending a 22-year partnership with the national racing series. According to Parts Canada, the decision was made in part as a result of “recent public events related to the series organizer”.

Parts Canada is quiet on the specifics of the “recent public events” but the company released a separate statement on Oct. 3 saying:

In light of recent posts made on various media websites regarding CSBK, Parts Canada would like to state that the comments made by CSBK do not reflect the thoughts and opinions of Parts Canada and its personnel, and that only posts made by a designated Parts Canada representative are reflective of Parts Canada.

Canadian motorcycle site CMGOnline reports the recent incidents related to comments attributed to CSBK president Kevin Graham posted on the CherryPickerRacing.com forum. In the post, Graham allegedly defends the series’ deal with spec tire provider Pirelli and makes some negative comments about some individuals.

The arrangement between CSBK and Pirelli has been a controversial one, especially with Graham a Canadian distributor of Pirelli race tires. In May, Graham defended Pirelli’s contingency program on the CSBK blog.

CSBK is now left without a series sponsor and without a replacement in place, the 2012 season may be in jeopardy.

[Source: Parts Canada, CSBK.ca, CMGOnline, CherrypickerRacing.com]

Dennis Chung
Dennis Chung

Dennis has been a part of the Motorcycle.com team since 2008, and through his tenure, has developed a firm grasp of industry trends, and a solid sense of what's to come. A bloodhound when it comes to tracking information on new motorcycles, if there's a new model on the horizon, you'll probably hear about it from him first.

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