The 7th annual Suzuki Canadian Fastest Streetbike Shootout is officially in the books after a successful completion on Sunday, June 21st at Grand Bend Motorplex.

A record crowd for an all-bike event came through the Grand Bend gates, nearly 4000 fans packing the stands. They were treated to a true Can-Am final as Michigan racer Bud Yoder defeated Alberta's David Burleigh to become the first ever 2-time Event Champion.

It should be noted that a solid 12+ hours of rain fell on Saturday, resulting in a racing surface that was less than ideal come Sunday. Grand Bend staff did a commendable job bringing back the bite in the track through the day.

Qualifying was incredibly tight as just .014 seconds separated the top three qualifiers. Last year's runner-up Rob Budgell claimed the Mickey Thompson Tires Low Qualifier Award with a 7.620/181.78 aboard his 2008 Suzuki Hayabusa, followed closely by the Kawasaki ZX-14 of Mike Bayes in second (7.630) and Yoder in third (7.634). Ethan Barkley took the Hybrid Racing Quickest Qualified Canadian award with a great 7.862 aboard his Suzuki GSX-R1000 despite spinning the tire past half track. Canucks Burleigh, Dave Gowland and Richard Peppler were also in the mix heading into eliminations with 7-second, 180 MPH potential.

#5 qualifier Burleigh had some good fortune en route to the finals as he received two bye runs in eliminations, one due to opponent breakage and the other due to a lopsided ladder. However, his quarter-final win over #2 qualifier Mike Bayes was a huge upset as Bayes spun the tire numerous times and couldn't catch Burleigh's safe 8.15/179.

On the other side of the ladder Yoder used a 7.63 and 7.62 to get past the RCC Turbos-powered machines of Dustin Tellier and Richard Peppler before squaring off with #1 qualifier Budgell in the semis. The two left the line in tandem with great reaction times and had a hell of a matchup going until Budgell began to spin the tire on the top end. Yoder's consistency again came through as a 7.62/185 disposed of Budgell's troubled 7.86 pass.

The all-Hayabusa, Canada vs. U.S. final round matchup pitted #3 qualifier Yoder against #5 Burleigh. Burleigh was in the finals despite competing on a new bike he purchased in the off-season from Ontario's Mike Mildon, who was tuning for him on this weekend. Yoder, the 2007 Event Champion, had been here before and was the odds-on favourite with Ronnie Mitchell tuning in his corner.

Yoder got the big holeshot on the line and ran Low E.T. and Top Speed of the meet in the finals with a 7.59-second, 189.47 MPH lap on the Team RMR 'Busa. Burleigh went home with his head held high, carding a decent 8.09/172.

Photos by: www.Fastpix.com

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