The reigning Bridgestone CSBK champion returned to the top of the timesheets on Saturday, as Ben Young paced his first session of the 2025 campaign in morning practice at Shannonville Motorsport Park.
The new Van Dolder’s Home Team Honda rider sat parked in pit lane for most of the session – as did many of his rivals – as the track slowly dried out following early morning rain, with his team using the time to help sort out some setup issues that Young was easing through on Friday.
The adjustments clearly worked for the four-time Canada Cup winner, as Young immediately fired himself into the top three behind Sam Guerin and Jordan Szoke, with Guerin the leader for majority of the 40-minute session after taking to the track early.
Szoke would then move to the top of the leaderboard despite a razor-thin top four, with only 0.083 seconds covering the entire group of Szoke, Guerin, Young, and BS Battery pole-sitter Alex Dumas.
A late improvement from Szoke pushed the benchmark even further, moving 0.3 seconds clear of Guerin with under five minutes to go, but Young had one more flyer of his own as he jumped into first with only two minutes to spare.
None of the leaders would manage to top that in the final moments, with Young pacing his first Superbike session as a Honda rider in only his second official day aboard the CBR1000RR-R, progress he will hope to carry into race one this afternoon as he starts second to Dumas.
Szoke would retain P2 in the morning practice and only 0.153 seconds adrift of Young, and the threat of potential rain in race one will be welcome news for the 14-time champion as he eyes a return to the top step of the podium for CKM Kawasaki.
Dumas would fire in a pair of late laps to squeeze past Guerin at the end of FP2, going only 0.013 seconds slower than Szoke as he prepares for a debut of his own aboard his new Economy Lube BMW.
Guerin would settle for a solid fourth in the morning for EFC Group BMW, though perhaps on a different strategy as he put in more laps than any other frontrunner in the 40-minute window, giving him plenty of data ahead of the first 20-lap feature race on Saturday.
Sebastien Tremblay would round out the top five in the morning practice, a great effort on his Turcotte Performance Suzuki as he does double-duty this season alongside his title defence in the Pro Supersport category.
That performance would narrowly push David MacKay to sixth, though the ODH/Snow City Cycle Honda rider is expected to be back with the frontrunners this afternoon after qualifying fifth on Friday.
The GP Bikes Pro Superbike class will return to the track for race one of the season this afternoon, scheduled for 3 pm ET, after the full day of racing begins at 1 pm ET.
Full schedule and results can be found on the series’ official website.
