Yes 😀 !! I had an extraordinary race last weekend at the CSBK Round 2 at St-Eustache! But it would be a huge lie saying it was easy to get there… So please let me go through event details quickly.

My biggest child dream came true last summer. Without speaking about it out loud, I bought myself a Superbike last June 2014. Three weeks after, precisely on my 3rd track day ever, I was having an incredible good time on the bike at New York Safety Track, everything was so great and easy. At that moment, I had the bike setup with the value of the World Superbike Race Engineer from the BMW team Italia, and it looked like it was working well!

Now when I look back at this, I find myself feeling pretty stupid as I changed one setting to the complete opposite, following the advise of a suspension tech… The bike started to be very unstable, but I assumed at that moment that I needed more experience and that it was totally normal! Finally that setting made me crash the bike, destroying it entirely.

Once I understood it all, I started to gain back my confidence and I said to myself “well, maybe I could race next year!”. So I spent all winter long seeking sponsors with the Blysk Racing Team I created, trying to build our way up and prove to people I was fast and reliable on a superbike. I can tell you I had moments this winter when I wasn’t quite sure anymore if I was that fast…! But I kept believing in myself and I focused hard on remembering how easy it was for me and the great feelings I had at NYST. I assure you, that’s what saved me from abandoning my mission .

Then 2 weeks ago , almost exactly a year after I had my first bike, I was up and ready at Calabogie Motosport to race on the CSBK championship with an extraordinary machine, the BMW S1000RR 2015. The test day on Thursday was going very well, putting down some great laps that would have qualified me in second place 🙂 Then Saturday morning, some unfortunate errors was following themselves one after the other, and this lead to my front tire to go cold while on the track… And because of my lack of experienced, I didn’t expected the tire to be that cold, and I lost the front wheel in a curve at 140km/h… :-/ Literally sliding on my head, neck backward and feet up, the bike was spinning right next to me at 130 km/h ! TRUST ME, that wasn’t fun AT ALL 🙁 ! I rolled up a few time and when I got back on my feet, believe it or not, I was crossed-eye ! It finally went back in position after a long 30 seconds, but it was NOT fun at all ! I’ll save you the details , but once again I quickly lost my confidence. Until I understood why it happened… It’s when I told the story to Jordan Szoke’s mechanic, John, he quickly stopped me and explained that the front tire dribble and slept simply because it was cold from rolling out on a mistaken black blag for over 10 minutes… Yes, I gained some race knowledge!

After the crash, I only wanted to watch TV and go make my life on a beach, but once I understood this would not have happened normally, I started over the process of getting a new bike to be ready for the next race!

And here we are now, after all the effort and determination, now I must say “Go after your goals no matter what, if you have faith in it”. I succeeded last weekend, but as you now know, it has been a hard and unpleasant run! Now I will share with you those beautiful moment of last weekend where things finally came together perfectly !! Enjoy ,as I did 🙂

Some amazing fan with the Blysk Racing T-shirt!

The BMW S1000RR was finally up and ready with more than 60 hours of work in 4 days.

Stephane Chimot (here #2) was my teacher during the racing license a month ago, and now my rival on track.

Looks like a great start until that point only! The rear did spin and I entered the first corner in 7^th place…

After analysing his trajectory for a lap, I made a nice and clean pass on Chimot.

I had no idea at what position I was at that moment, but I knew the leaders were quite far, so I put my head down and did the best overall lap times for the 4 last laps of the race. I clearly made my way up to the leader’s tails, but I would have need a few extra laps 😛

Taking care of keeping both wheels aligned, that rainy condition was my first experience. But now that I look at my lap times, the best lap I did would have put me in 3^rd position among pro rider, so I’m very satisfied 🙂 !

When I saw Jason jumping on the side of the track, I started to think I was probably on podium! After all that determination, it finally worth it all! Jason Williams and Hervé Remetter were as happy as I was!

The leather has been crushed, as my neck and the bike at Calabogie Motosport two weeks ago, but a very special thanks goes to Beata Marszalik and Hervé Remetter who helped me to set my mind back on track!

Éric Moffette and France Julien from ASM Motosport, giving me their best after this beautiful race. It’s so great to finally see faith in everyone’s eyes after this hard season’s start!

First race, first podium! Exactly how I saw it. When I left the trailer before the race, I said to Beata my photographer, in a very casual but worrying way “are you gonna be able to make it on time for the podium if you stay in this corner during the race? “. And she replied back with a funny smile that I didn’t first understood: “ I like the way you see things ! ”. Then it took me a good 10 seconds to realize what I just said 😛 Yes, I was pretty concentrated! Finally, there she was at the podium, ready and focus to capture that beautiful moment for all of us! Thank you!

The facts are, believe it or not, Sunday June 28^th was the 9^th time I had ever ride a street bike in my life, and the first time in wet condition 🙂 ! The championship is still far, but with determination everything is possible.

Soraya Dickenson and Beata Marszalik.

Hervé Remetter and Pascal Anctil. That beauty finally made it!

Some Very Special Thanks

• All My Fans for supporting me out there on socials media, all those great comments are always appreciated, it gives me the edge to be 100% ready and focus;
• Beata Marszalik, my daily second hand, coach, nutritionist, photographer, mechanic, motivator and planer;
• Hervé Remetter, the best mechanic, he helped to prepare the BMW S1000RR all night long until 5:30am twice last week;
• Jason Williams, another great dedicated mechanic who helped me during the weekend, allowing me to get some little rest before qualafying;
• Pascal Anctil, owner at Euro Moto for his great race advises and his passion for racing;

• Blysk Racing Official Sponsors
  • Mario Ménard at M.M Mécanique & Carrosserie, for painting the bodyworks all night and his great financial support;
  • Ginette Labonté at Lettrage Flexi, for her amazing work doing all my stickers with ultra short notice;
  • Julien Derome at Karting St-Zotique, for his free karting sessions allowing me to work my racing lines, and his great financial support;
  • Rick at Hotbodies Racing, for the perfect bodyworks;
  • Soraya Dickenson at Elle Skin Perfection, for her fantastic support and developing new sponsors as well as her amazing financial support;
  • Chris Duff at BMW Motorrad Canada allowing me to jump back on a bike to hit the second round at St-Eustache and finishing at an amazing 3^rd position!

• Jean-Sébastien Poirier at Remorque Richelieu, for his amazing trailer at an awesome price;
• Frank Parent at Moto International, for his talent and fantastic knowledge on BMW bikes;
• Vincent Levilain for his fast response and his kind help;
• Éric Moffette and Pascale Bastien at ASM Motosport for their support as well as their race and technical advises;
• Benoit Rousseau at Moto International for being there for me and dealing with bike’s administration;
• Vincent Francis at The Project for managing my business schedule through this beautiful adventure.

Next goal, pole position at Edmondton Castrol Raceway! We all gonna make it together 🙂 !

I wish you all my best, and thanks again to all of you for believing in me!

Sam