Ben Young returned to the top of the timesheets on Sunday at the Grand Bend Motorplex, leading the morning Warmup session ahead of a decisive race two this afternoon in the second round of the Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship, presented by Southwest Marine & Powersports.
Young saw his bid for a perfect season end abruptly on Saturday as Sam Guerin scored his first career Pro Superbike victory, trimming the title gap to just seven points, but Young made the first step towards continuing his winning ways in the final practice session of the weekend.
The Van Dolder’s Home Team BMW rider led the early portion of the Warmup behind a time of 1:03.795, while Guerin put in a 1:04 flat to sit second. The race one winner jumped clear of Young around the midway point, moving only 0.023 seconds clear of the championship leader, but Young restored that advantage in the final five minutes with a time of 1:03.379.
Guerin would hold onto second and just 0.393 seconds behind Young, as the EFC Group BMW rider looks to add a second career victory Sunday afternoon.
Jordan Szoke finished the session in a familiar third, the same result he’s taken in all three races thus far this season, as he wound up 0.770 seconds off the top time for CKM Kawasaki.
Home favourite David MacKay was fourth-fastest for ODH Snow City Cycle Honda, a mere 0.181 seconds behind Szoke as he eyes his first career podium on Sunday. That time put him clear of Trevor Daley by the finest of margins, as the OneSpeed Suzuki rider finished the morning 0.001 seconds off MacKay in fourth.
Saturday’s breakout star, Steven Nickerson, would end the morning sixth, after rebuilding his DeWildt Honda following his race one crash. Nickerson was leading Guerin with just over two laps to go when he went down in turn eight, and he will hope to make up for it with a debut victory in race two this afternoon.
The second half of the weekend doubleheader is scheduled to get underway at roughly 3:00 pm ET, with Young on pole position for the pivotal feature race.
