Ben Young’s quest for a fifth career GP Bikes Pro Superbike title began exactly as he envisioned on Friday, leading the P1 session at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park to earn an automatic entry into Q2 for this afternoon’s BS Battery qualifying.
Young enters the season finale with a five-point deficit to championship leader Alex Dumas and a red-hot Sam Guerin only 16 points back in third, and all three were instantly where they needed to be as they paced majority of the 40-minute opening practice.
That entire session was led from start to finish by Young, but never with much comfort as Dumas practically matched the reigning champion for the first half, trailing by only 0.046 seconds at the conclusion of their first stint.
Young would extend that gap in the second half as he became the only rider to dip into the 1:20 range, already faster than any lap at CTMP last season and just 0.6 seconds off the lap record, looking extremely comfortable in his first official action aboard the Van Dolder’s Home Team Honda.
Dumas would shrink that gap as he lapped consistently in the low 1:21’s, but a late flyer from Guerin would separate the two former champions, slotting his EFC Group BMW into second and 0.216 seconds behind Young at the top.
That was only 0.010 seconds clear of Dumas in the end, who won’t be fazed too much by the third-quickest time as he remains firmly in contention for BS Battery Pole Position this afternoon.
Slightly behind the three main championship contenders was another familiar face in Jordan Szoke, who enters “old Mosport” fourth in the standings and 24 points adrift of Dumas.
Szoke will need some good fortune this weekend to leapfrog the three riders ahead of him and capture a record 15th Superbike championship, but he did his part in P1 as he gradually put his Canadian Kawasaki Motors machine 0.812 seconds behind Young and only a half-second behind Dumas.
Securing the final automatic entry into Q2 was David MacKay, earning a bye through Q1 for the second time this season as he looks to join the podium battle at CTMP aboard his ODH Snow City Cycle Honda.
MacKay would wind up a little over a second behind Szoke in fourth but still in good shape to join the leaders in the weekend doubleheader, as the former Supersport champion tries to wrap up fifth place in the overall championship.
A group of Supersport stars would briefly threaten MacKay’s spot in Q2, with the duo of Tomas Casas and Sebastien Tremblay both within three-tenths of the Superbike rider before MacKay found a late improvement.
Casas would settle for a strong sixth and tops amongst the middleweight machines, as the new FAST Riding School Suzuki star aims for pole position in Supersport this afternoon in his return to the class.
Outgoing champion Tremblay would be only 0.093 seconds slower on his S.T. Motosport Suzuki, keeping him in contention for pole as well alongside Casas and championship leader Torin Collins, who didn’t participate in Superbike P1.
Zoltan Frast would put himself in good shape for a potential Q2 birth later on as he makes his second appearance of the season for Clare’s Cycle BMW, finishing the morning eighth-fastest and only a quarter-second behind the duo of Casas and Tremblay ahead of him.
The Q1 battle for the final Q2 spots will be a thrilling one, as Alex Michel ended the opening practice in ninth and at the front of a seven-rider group blanketed by only 0.3 seconds.
Michel is making his Superbike debut while filling in for an injured Connor Campbell aboard the B&T MacFarlane Kawasaki, and he found plenty of time in the closing laps to give himself a good shot at Q2 later this afternoon.
A mere 0.001 seconds behind him in tenth was Brian Worsdall, who holds a provisional Q2 spot aboard his Hindle/DP Brakes BMW but only marginally ahead of a pack that includes Sebastian Hothaza, Mavrick Cyr, Phil DeGama-Blanchet, Ernest Bernhard, and Elliot Vieira.
The first half of BS Battery qualifying will get underway with Q1 at 2:40 pm ET, before a crucial pole position is handed out in Q2 at 3:40 pm ET.
The season-long BS Battery Pole Award will also be decided this afternoon, where Young currently leads Dumas by two points with ten more up for grabs at CTMP.
Full results can be found here.
