Season Opener at CTMP: Wings, History, and Drama at the 2026 BEMC Spring Trophy Races
The off-season development is officially over, and the grid has spoken. Over the May 9–10 weekend, the 74th running of the BEMC Spring Trophy Races launched the 2026 CASC-OR regional road racing calendar at the legendary Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP).
Competitors shook off the winter rust to tackle the iconic 3.957 km Grand Prix circuit. The weekend served up a spectacular mix of dramatic multi-class battles, tactical drafting, and mechanical heartbreak.
While the production cars and sports prototypes put on an incredible show, the true crown jewel of pure open-wheel momentum belonged to the Formula Classic Series group.
Feature Spotlight: Inside the Formula Classic Series Grid
To the untrained eye, the timing sheets for this multi-class grid only tell half the story. The paddock brought an incredible engineering diversity to the CTMP tarmac, featuring an intricate mix of legacy classes, historical spec machinery, and modern high-downforce wings.
To understand the on-track action, you have to understand how this unique grid shakes out:
- Formula Libre (FL): The ultimate catch-all, “run-what-you-brung” class for formula cars without a dedicated home. Running everything from winged slicks to treaded tires, it regularly inherits cars from other series. For example, Jenson Raybould’s #3 Piper DL7/Honda—a car that normally contests the Toyo Tires FF1600 class—campaigned in FL for the weekend.
- Canadian Formula Four (F4): While F4 is no longer a recognized, trophy-scoring class under the official CASC banner, the spirit of the division is alive and well. The 3/4 Litre Association (F4 Canada) independently organizes and tracks its own championship points. On the official CASC sheets, all Canadian F4 cars enter under the FL designation.
- Formula Classic 90 (FC90): A haven for formula cars built up to and throughout the 1990s, frequently drawing out Formula Mazdas (FM) and various F1000/FB machinery.
- Club Formula Ford (CFF): Dedicated to classic Formula Fords generally built between 1973 and 1981, preserved under strict vintage-regulations with plenty of historic exceptions.
- Formula 1200 (F1200): Globally recognized as Formula Vee (FV), this pure momentum spec class relies on air-cooled engines and slipstream tactics.
Qualifying: An F4 Inter-Generational Front Row
The weekend’s narrative was forged during Saturday morning’s qualifying session. James Morton put the entire grid on notice by capturing the overall pole position with a blistering lap time of 1:24.275. Morton was piloting his ultra-quick #11 2015 Gamma F4 car (listed under FL).
Adding a layer of deep paddock history to the front row, Mike MacNeil closely pursued with a 1:26.820 behind the wheel of his #55 2004 Van Diemen (FC90). The F4 storyline didn’t stop there; Jamie Kay timed in with a 1:39.996 in a matching Gamma F4 chassis. In a brilliant display of the community’s roots, Kay’s Gamma actually used to belong to Mike MacNeil, and before that, it was originally built and raced by pole-sitter James Morton himself.
How the rest of the classes timed in:
- Formula Libre: Tony Shen (#27 Van Diemen RF95) clocked a 1:31.918.
- Classic Formula Ford: Jim Holtom anchored the vintage contingent with a solid 1:35.745 in his Crossle 40F.
- Formula 1200: Jason Abrams topped a dense, highly competitive field with a 1:46.943.
Race 1: Gamma F4 Mastery & Slipstream Circuses
Saturday afternoon’s Race 1 saw James Morton exploit his aerodynamic and qualifying advantage perfectly. He drove away from the field to secure the overall and FL/F4 victory with a best lap of 1:23.679. Jamie Kay brought his ex-Morton Gamma F4 home safely to secure crucial independent F4 Canada championship points.
Behind the leading wings, Mike MacNeil held off a charging Jenson Raybould in the cross-entered Piper DL7 to secure the FC90 class win. In Classic Formula Ford, Jim Holtom successfully navigated his Crossle 40F to the class victory.
Meanwhile, the Formula 1200 tier stole the crowd’s attention with an absolute slipstream circus. Shepherd Aubry (#15 BRD) crossed the line first to take a hard-earned class win, leading a nose-to-tail pack of matching air-cooled machinery that saw Robert Patterson finish 2nd and pole-sitter Jason Abrams claim 3rd.
Race 2: Attrition and Paddock Shakeups
Sunday morning brought cool track temperatures and tactical tire-management challenges. Up front, Morton repeated his overall victory, stopping the clocks with a 1:23.686 fast lap.
However, the podium dynamic shifted wildly behind him. Front-row standout Mike MacNeil suffered severe mechanical heartbreak, completing only 7 laps in his Van Diemen before retiring early. This cleared the way for Tony Shen to step up, maximizing his pace to secure a brilliant 2nd place overall finish in FL.
In FC90, Kim Mackenzie (#76 Mazda Formula) capitalized on MacNeil’s retirement to secure the class win. Formula 1200 saw another spectacular drafting match through Clayton Corners, but Shepherd Aubry doubled down on his Saturday success, taking his second consecutive F1200 victory over a charging Amanda Allen.
Race 3: The Hat-Trick and Clean Sweeps
The final open-wheel sprint of the weekend solidified a weekend of absolute dominance for the class leaders. James Morton completed a flawless weekend sweep, taking his third consecutive overall and Formula Libre/F4 victory to maximize his 3/4 Litre Association title defense. Tony Shen rounded out an excellent recovery weekend with another 2nd-place finish in FL, followed closely by Jenson Raybould’s Formula Ford in 3rd.
Kim Mackenzie secured a second consecutive FC90 trophy to cap off her strong Sunday performance. Meanwhile, Shepherd Aubry proved completely unbeatable in Formula 1200. He successfully fended off Robert Patterson and Jason Abrams through CTMP’s high-speed momentum corners, officially securing his own perfect weekend hat-trick.
## Around the Paddock: Quick Hits From Other Divisions
The action was just as fierce across the rest of the BEMC Spring Trophy fields:
- CASC Formula Prototype Series: The category featured a stellar mix of open and closed-cockpit cars. Vaughn Glace dominated Saturday’s Race 1 in his closed-cockpit 2018 Ligier LMP3, running a 1:14.838 lap time. Attrition shook up Sunday’s grid, allowing Robert Burgess to step into the spotlight and claim a dramatic Race 2 overall victory in his #1 2016 Ligier JS P315. Daniel Earle (#39) put on a clinic in the spec Radical SR3 category, sweeping class honors across both days.
- Pirelli GT Super Touring (GT1, GTU, GT2): Saturday belonged to Misha Goikhberg, who guided his 2026 Toyota Camry to a Race 1 win with a weekend-best GT time of 1:16.829. Sunday shifted in favor of the sportscars; Rocco Marciello steered his #53 BMW M235iR to back-to-back overall victories in Races 2 and 3. Mark Busscher (GTU) and Doug Phillips (GT2) split the remaining class hardware.
- Pirelli GT Grand Touring (GT3, GT4, GT5): The production-based sprint groups provided the closest finishes of the weekend. Allan Lewis (#251 BMW M3) narrowly edged out Daria Khachi by 0.385 seconds to secure Saturday’s GT3 victory, repeating the feat on Sunday morning. By afternoon, Tom Kwok broke the streak, taking the final race victory in his Honda Civic SI. Peter Griesbach achieved a perfect weekend sweep in GT4 driving his Chevrolet Pinty’s car.
- Miata Canada Cup: The spec Miata field put on a masterclass in momentum racing. Shawn Shuiskiy (#14) was the class of the field, executing flawless defensive drives to capture a clean sweep of all three feature races. Owen Clarke and Matt Gauthier kept him under pressure all weekend, swapping 2nd and 3rd place podium spots across the triple-header.
- VARAC Vintage Historic (VH+): Classic motorsport soul was on full display in the Closed Wheel vintage grids. Guy Tremblay commanded the field from start to finish, piloting his beautiful #996 1999 Porsche 911 to a dominant clean sweep of the Vintage Historic weekend. Del Bruce consistently brought the muscle behind him, securing a trio of CL-1 class wins in his roaring 1971 Chevrolet Corvette.
Next Up: The Crown Jewel of Historic Racing at CTMP
With the BEMC opener successfully in the rearview mirror, teams are already thrashing in the workshops to prepare for the biggest weekend on the Canadian vintage calendar. From June 18–21, 2026, VARAC will host the highly anticipated 46th running of the VARAC Vintage Grand Prix on the legendary CTMP Grand Prix circuit. This year marks a momentous milestone as the club officially celebrates the 50th Anniversary of VARAC.
The four-day festival promises absolute grid overloads across Vintage, Historic, Classic, and Modern Classic production brackets. For open-wheel purists, the Formula Classic group will return to action alongside the highly competitive Toyo Tires F1600 Championship Series.
Adding to the massive schedule, the event will welcome the Kastner Cup as a special guest. This renowned all-Triumph feature race shifts to a different premier North American track every year. For 2026, it lands right here in Ontario, bringing out a historic reunion of race-prepared Triumph machinery that you won’t want to miss.
The weekend will also play host to The Ludwig Heimrath Open Wheel Challenge—a spectacular “all-comers” shootout that will pitch wings, slicks, and historic open-wheel variants directly against each other. Whether you are hunting for F4 championship points, sorting out a new vintage formula car setup, or looking to catch a massive Father’s Day field, the VARAC Vintage Grand Prix is the place to be. Registration is filling up fast, so ensure your license and entries are locked in early!