The reigning Bridgestone Canadian Superbike champion returned to the top of the timesheets on Sunday, pacing FP3 ahead of a pivotal race two at Atlantic Motorsport Park, presented by Pro Cycle and Canadian Kawasaki.
Young had to settle for third in race one after championship rival Sam Guerin made a daring tire gamble work in changing conditions, but clearer weather on Sunday allowed the three-time champion to put himself back on top in the final practice session of the weekend.
The Van Dolder’s Home Team BMW rider traded 1:08 lap times with Jordan Szoke in the middle portion of FP3 before moving the benchmark for good with a time of 1:08.141, holding firm across the final seven minutes of the session as Young tries to win his fourth race of the season from pole position later this afternoon.
Guerin’s up and down weekend continued on Sunday, as he crashed for the third time in four sessions in turn one. The EFC Group BMW rider was thankfully unhurt and should be good to go from fourth on the grid in race two, with another opportunity to try and trim his 28-point title deficit to Young.
Ending the morning second-fastest was race one runner-up Alex Dumas, who posted his best time as the chequered flag came out to move marginally clear of Szoke. The Economy Lube Ducati rider would wind up just 0.147 seconds behind Young after beating him in a last-lap duel on Saturday.
Szoke would be displaced to third in the final moments but remained just 0.348 seconds off Young overall, putting his CKM Kawasaki in good form to try and return to his winning ways in race two.
Sport Bike championship leader Sebastien Tremblay moved himself to fourth after Guerin’s crash, turning in a stellar time of 1:09.442 aboard his Turcotte Performance Suzuki as he tries to add a third middleweight win of the season later today.
Tremblay will have plenty of opposition, however, including from Andrew Van Winkle who ended the final Superbike practice in fifth. The 17-year-old FD Racing Suzuki rider pushed clear of Guerin in the final few minutes, shunting the race one winner to sixth.
The feature class will end their fourth round at approximately 3 pm local time (2 pm ET) on Sunday at AMP, with the full slate of afternoon racing kicking off at 1 pm local time.
