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Young takes decisive BS Battery pole for season finale at CTMP
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If there was any doubt that Ben Young was going to take the GP Bikes Pro Superbike championship down to the wire, that was quickly erased on Friday.
The three-time reigning champion earned his second BS Battery Pole Position of the season at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, leading the entirety of Q2 and nearly breaking his own lap record to put himself at the front of the field for this weekend’s Bridgestone CSBK finale.
Young paced the opening practice this morning to earn an automatic entry into Q2, but not with a lot of comfort as he was followed closely by title rivals Sam Guerin and Alex Dumas, with Dumas carrying a five-point lead into the weekend.
It was a different story this afternoon, as Young very quickly posted a time of 1:20.897 to put almost a full second between himself and the chasing pack, led by Jordan Szoke at the halfway point with Dumas third and Guerin still sitting pit-side.
That gap would close dramatically over the next few minutes, with Guerin joining the fight and Dumas jumping to second in a top-four that was covered by only 0.0387 seconds.
However, that was as close as Young would allow things to get, as he responded with a pair of blistering laps to end the day with a time of 1:20.592, only 0.223 seconds off his own outright lap record from 2022.
It was an incredible effort from the four-time Canada Cup winner, who becomes the only repeat pole-sitter of the season aboard his Van Dolder’s Home Team Honda – clinching his fifth consecutive BS Battery Pole Championship in the process.
“I’ve won a few of these now, but it always feels good to get another one,” Young said. “We made a lot of changes yesterday and today, and everything seemed to be working really well.”
Young would wind up 0.450 seconds clear of Dumas in the end, a relatively massive pole margin after the previous three rounds were decided by 0.014 seconds, 0.018 seconds, and 0.037 seconds.
While Dumas will have a bigger gap to erase than he would have hoped, the Economy Lube/Fast Company BMW star will still exit Friday in good shape as he starts alongside Young in the middle of row one.
The championship leader didn’t seem overly concerned with Young’s pole time, as the long Andretti Straightaway will make it difficult for the Honda rider to break away from the field, though Dumas will also have to worry about the threats behind him.
The biggest x-factor will be Guerin, who is still very much in championship contention himself and avoided any catastrophes on Friday as he put his EFC Group BMW third and at the end of row one.
Guerin would wind up just 0.065 seconds behind Dumas as he enters a crucial race one, a battle that could go a long way in deciding the title fight even with race two ahead on Sunday.
Narrowly settling for fourth was Szoke, who made significant progress on Friday to put himself only 0.242 seconds behind Dumas and right within the lead battle entering the weekend.
The Canadian Kawasaki Motors star needs a bit of luck to go his way to erase his 24-point deficit, though there is no one better suited for the unpredictable nature of CTMP than the 14-time Superbike champion.
Starting alongside Szoke for the second consecutive weekend will be David MacKay, who matched the improvements of the riders ahead of him in Q2 but remained 1.5 seconds off the pace aboard his ODH Snow City Cycle Honda.
MacKay will hope the lead group can beat each other up enough to limit that difference, as the former Supersport champion will be there to pounce on any opportunity as he eyes a first career Superbike podium.
Joining him on row two is Alex Michel, a sensational effort in his first ever Superbike qualifying as he fills in for the injured Connor Campbell aboard the B&T McFarlane Kawasaki.
Michel earned his way into Q2 with a strong performance in Q1 before finding even more time in the second session, leapfrogging Zoltan Frast in the final moments to wind up 0.850 seconds behind MacKay in his first weekend aboard the ZX-10R.
Frast would settle for seventh after topping Q1, missing out on the second row by a mere 0.022 seconds to Michel after his late time attack, though it was still a very impressive day for the Clare’s Cycle BMW rider.
Sebastien Tremblay would qualify eighth on his Supersport-spec S.T. Motosport Suzuki, nearly matching his time from middleweight qualifying earlier in the day as he prepares to possibly do double-duty this weekend.
Completing row three was Sebastian Hothaza, a career-best qualifying for the Ride42 Yamaha rider in his season debut as he hopes to join his teammate Frast in the midfield this weekend.
Mavrick Cyr wrapped up the Q2 order after narrowly squeaking through into the session, a strong performance on his Supersport-spec Suzuki as the former amateur champion returns to the series at CTMP.
The feature class will now prepare for the first half of their season-ending doubleheader on Saturday, before the 2025 Canada Cup winner is crowned on Sunday at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, just an hour east of Toronto.
Full Q2 Qualifying results can be found here.
Frast leads back-and-forth Q1 to join final BS Battery qualifying on Friday
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The full group for the final BS Battery Qualifying session of the year is set, as Zoltan Frast paced a dramatic Q1 on Friday to book his spot in Q2 later this afternoon at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
The 20-minute session saw 16 different riders vying for the final five spots in Q2, after the usual frontrunners of Ben Young, Sam Guerin, Alex Dumas, Jordan Szoke, and David MacKay punched their tickets with an automatic entry on Friday morning.
That group didn’t leave anything on track, either, with seven lead changes in the first ten minutes while four different riders took turns at the front. Frast would lead on three separate instances before Sebastien Tremblay took the top spot in the final eight minutes, holding steady until the final stint.
Both Tremblay and Frast looked safe with a quarter-second gap to third, but that same margin covered the next four riders in what was a dramatic battle for the final places in Q2.
That battle would get even more complicated when Frast returned to the circuit with teammate Sebastian Hothaza in tow, setting his fastest lap of the session to jump back into first for the final time and in the process dragging Hothaza into third.
Hothaza would be shunted back to fourth after a late improvement from Alex Michel, but the damage was done as it knocked Tomas Casas out of the top five just moments after he sat in a comfortable third.
Frast will bring his Clare’s Cycle BMW into Q2 with plenty of momentum after setting a time of 1:23.720, nearly matching MacKay’s pace from this morning, while Tremblay ended up only 0.175 seconds slower on his Supersport-spec S.T. Motosport Suzuki.
Michel’s strong Superbike debut continued for the B&T McFarlane Kawasaki team, filling in for the injured Connor Campbell and entering Q2 for the first time in his career with a best lap of 1:24.188, less than a half-second behind Frast.
Hothaza would put in a great late effort for Ride42 Yamaha, helped by his teammate Frast in front but still an excellent time of his own as he would go only 0.108 seconds slower than Michel.
Barely hanging on to the final birth in Q2 was Mavrick Cyr, the second Supersport-spec rider to advance aboard his Suzuki GSX-R750, though it came at the expense of fellow Suzuki frontrunner Casas – by a mere 0.020 seconds.
Brian Worsdall and Ernest Bernhard would also wind up marginally short of a Q2 appearance, with Worsdall unable to make a last-lap improvement aboard his Hindle/DP Brakes BMW while Bernhard will start a strong 13th for Farnham Lager Yamaha.
Notably absent from the final battle was 17-year-old phenom Phil DeGama-Blanchet, who had battled mechanical issues all day before his session was ultimately cut short in turn five, bowing out halfway through and being forced to settle for 15th on the grid aboard his Mots Machining Honda,
The five riders will now prepare to join a well-rested Young, Guerin, Dumas, Szoke, and MacKay in Q2 later this afternoon, with the fight for the final BS Battery Pole Position award of the season getting underway at 3:40 pm ET.
Full results can be found here.
Collins squeezes out nail-biting Supersport pole at CTMP
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A surprising change of scenery couldn’t stop Torin Collins’ momentum on Friday, as the Pro Supersport championship leader secured his fourth consecutive pole position and first as a Ducati rider in a thrilling qualifying at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
Collins swapped out his Novalda Suzuki to join the Economy Lube Ducati squad for the season finale and immediately re-established himself at the front, though not by a big margin as he had his hands full with a number of challengers in one of the closest qualifying orders in recent history.
Second through seventh would shuffle repeatedly over the first half, before reigning champion Sebastien Tremblay finally disrupted Collins’ spot at the top with just over six minutes to go, taking provisional pole with only 0.134 seconds covering the top four riders.
That would then force a perhaps championship-defining moment, where Collins went back out on track squarely behind title rival Andrew Van Winkle, using him as a tow down the long Andretti Straightaway – something Van Winkle bizarrely seemed just fine with.
It would prove to backfire for Van Winkle and the rest of the field, as Collins immediately jumped back ahead of Tremblay for the final time with a benchmark of 1:23.841, just 0.087 seconds clear of the S.T. Motosport Suzuki rider.
A frustrated Tremblay would have to settle for second after encountering traffic near the end of the session, spoiling his attempt at a first pole of the season as Collins will once again lead the field into turn one on Saturday and Sunday.
Joining them on the front row will be two-time former champion Tomas Casas, a great start to his debut with the FAST Riding School Suzuki team as he wound up only 0.196 seconds shy of pole.
Casas was content with third as he adapts to the new machine, one he will try to capture his eleventh career victory on this weekend – though he will have plenty of competition both in front of and behind him.
Amongst them will be Van Winkle, who put in a spectacular effort of his own to qualify fourth and only 0.221 seconds behind Collins aboard his “old gen” Mountainview Motorsports Suzuki GSX-R600, one lacking significant power compared to his next-gen counterparts at Canada’s fastest circuit.
Rounding out the top five was CTMP specialist Elliot Vieira, who remains a strong contender for the GP Bikes Ducati team as he ended the day only 0.729 seconds adrift of Collins in what is a razor-thin lead group.
Alex Michel was second of the old-gen riders in sixth aboard his SpeedFactory67 Kawasaki, a strong performance of his own as he completes the second row just 0.877 seconds behind the front.
A not-so-distant seventh is Mavrick Cyr, who returned to the series aboard his fourth different machine in the last two years but didn’t look out of place at all, placing his privateer Suzuki at the front of row three with only 1.066 seconds blanketing the entire top-seven.
Joining him on the third row will be Rob Massicotte, a strong season debut for him aboard the 88Moto Yamaha, while Nathan Playford continued Ducati’s strong day in ninth for the Playford Company Inc. team.
Completing the top ten was former CTMP winner Matt Simpson, who was down plenty of straight-line speed on his Blackstock Motorsports Yamaha after an engine failure forced him onto a lesser-powered spare motor.
The field will now prepare for what should be the first of two nail-biting races this weekend, with Collins leading a wide group of contenders into race one on Saturday, scheduled for roughly 1 pm ET at historic CTMP.
Full results can be found here.
Young leads razor-thin P1 session as familiar names grab Q2 spots at CTMP
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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.
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