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Young leads Bridgestone CSBK riders as seven Canadians crack provisional top-40 in Q1 at Daytona

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Category: CSBK News

Published: March 7, 2024

Two-time defending Bridgestone Canadian Superbike champion Ben Young took over as the lead CSBK representative at the Daytona 200 on Friday, provisionally qualifying 18th in the first of two qualifying sessions at Daytona International Speedway.

The Team BATTLAX Suzuki rider found himself 23rd and behind Trevor Dion in the morning practice session but made extensive changes to his GSX-R750 machine entering Q1, with the faster Group A heading out first in the afternoon.

Those changes seemed to be a step in the right direction, as Young slotted into 15th and within striking distance of a provisional top-12 spot, the crucial cut-off for Friday’s Time Attack session. 

The pace would ramp up considerably in the final moments, however, with Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki teammates Richie Escalante and Tyler Scott trading lap records at the front before Escalante ultimately moved the benchmark to a time of 1:47.833.

Young would make some late improvements of his own, posting a best time of 1:51.222 but ultimately dipping to 18th, as he now finds himself only 0.8 seconds off the top-12 group entering Friday as the top Canadian. 

That would pace both Dion and Young’s BATTLAX Suzuki teammate Trevor Daley, who completed Q1 in 28th and 29th, respectively. It was a frustrating development for Dion as he crashed his Warhorse HSBK Ducati halfway through the session and was unable to improve, but impressive nonetheless as three Canadian’s cracked the provisional top-30.

The rest of the CSBK contingent followed up in Group B, albeit in slightly cooler conditions as clouds rolled over the Daytona Speedway. Despite the lower track temperature, the pace remained red-hot with Diego Perez and Maximilian Gerardo each posting times good enough for the combined top-26, nearly two seconds faster than the rest of the group. 

The Canadian contingent still managed to headline that group, though, with Sebastien Tremblay chief amongst them in fourth place, good for 33rd overall. That was just over a half-second faster than Sam Guerin in 34th and Brad Macrae in 35th, with Mavrick Cyr only another quarter-second back in 39th. 

That means seven Canadians will sit inside the provisional top-40 entering Friday morning’s Q2 session, which will set the grid beyond the top-12 (which will be determined in the separate Time Attack shootout). 

Just missing that group was Alex Michel in 47th and Matt Simpson in 51st, while Alex Coelho crashed early in Q1 and was unable to register a time. Despite the struggles for Simpson and Michel, both are comfortably inside the 110% cut-off time entering the second half of qualifying on Friday. 

The Bridgestone CSBK competitors will return for Q2 at 10:10 am ET (Group A) and 10:50 am ET (Group B) on Friday, before Time Attack completes the qualifying process at 1:15 pm ET to set the grid for Saturday’s 57-lap race. 

More updates from the 82nd running of the Daytona 200 can be found on the series’ official website at CSBK.ca, or on MotoAmerica Live+.

Nine Bridgestone CSBK riders qualify for Daytona 200 after Friday improvements

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Category: CSBK News

Published: March 8, 2024

The 82nd running of the historic Daytona 200 will feature nine Canadians on Saturday, as a pair of rapid Friday morning qualifying sessions determined the grid spots for each Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship rider in attendance.

Ben Young continued his upward trajectory from Thursday afternoon, quickly entering the 1:51 territory to begin Q2 aboard his Team BATTLAX Suzuki. That left the two-time defending CSBK champion just outside a crucial Top-12 Time Attack spot in 14th, but the pace continued to increase throughout the 30-minute session.

That was also true for Warhorse HSBK Ducati debutant Trevor Dion, who jumped to 17th just before the halfway mark and less than two seconds behind his reigning Daytona 200 winning teammate Josh Herrin.

The second half of the session was a far different story, however, as Dion parked his V2 Panigale in pitlane for most of the final 15 minutes while Young continued to hammer out consistent 1:51 lap times aboard his GSX-R750. 

That would end with a last-minute flyer of 1:50.329 for Young, about a quarter-second faster than any time he put together a year ago, but that was still not enough against one of the most loaded Daytona 200 fields in history as he slipped to 19th in Q2.

A blazing time from Group B leader Maximilian Gerardo would later bump Young down to 20th, where he will start the race on Saturday as the top Canadian – albeit just 0.9 seconds off a spot in the crucial Time Attack.

Dion would settle for 30th overall and one spot ahead of Young’s Team BATTLAX Suzuki teammate Trevor Daley, though both riders dipped into the 1:51 mark and actually went faster than the 21st best qualifier from a year ago – an indicator of the immense talent on this year’s 66-rider grid. 

With the trio of Group A riders done for the day, the other six Canadians in the field took to the track in Group B for their Q2 session. That notably didn’t include Alex Coelho, who suffered a leg injury in Q1 on Thursday and will fail to qualify for the event. 

The biggest storyline in Group B was Sebastien Tremblay, who sat provisionally in the top-35 on Thursday but was disqualified from Q1 after failing to go to Parc Ferme. The Turcotte Performance Kawasaki rider made up for it in Q2, registering a best time of 1:53.667 to lead the CSBK riders in the group and put himself 36th overall. 

Just behind him in the session was another pair of Canadians in Sam Guerin and teenager Mavrick Cyr, who will slot in 38th and 39th, respectively, and one place ahead of Brad Macrae, who couldn’t improve his time in Q2 amidst mechanical issues. 

The biggest benefactor of the secondary session was Matt Simpson, who found more than two seconds of improvement to jump up to 46th overall and just a half-second from the top-40 aboard his Evans Racing Yamaha.

Concluding the Canadian contingent was Alex Michel, who found some extra pace of his own in the morning session to put his SpeedFactory67 into 53rd on the grid out of 66 competitors.

The Bridgestone CSBK riders will now await the 57-lap feature Daytona 200 race on Saturday, with only the morning warm-up left to make any last-minute changes before the event kicks off at roughly 2 pm ET. 

Meanwhile, the Top-12 Time Attack shootout saw 18-year-old Tyler Scott take pole position for the Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki team, beating out Stefano Mesa and Bobby Fong in a surprising front row. 

Full coverage of Saturday’s Daytona 200 race can be found on the series’ official website, and can be watched live on MotoAmerica Live+.

UPDATED: Young charges to ninth as five Canadians finish at Daytona 200

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Category: CSBK News

Published: March 9, 2024

The 82nd running of the historic Daytona 200 concluded with five Canadians taking the chequered flag on Saturday, as three-time Bridgestone Canadian Superbike champion Ben Young led the group with a ninth-place finish at Daytona International Speedway.

After qualifying tops amongst CSBK riders in 20th on Friday, Young returned to DIS for the 57-lap feature race on Saturday and quickly settled in at the front, climbing to 16th after the first two laps with four Canadians inside the early top-30.

The group of nine CSBK entries would rapidly shrink to five, however, as both Sebastien Tremblay and Brad Macrae got tangled up with four other riders in a chaotic lap-one crash at the chicane, as Tremblay was collected by another rider and Macrae crashed while taking avoiding action. Both were thankfully uninjured.

Shortly after, a pair of mechanical issues would bring the event to an early end for both Trevor Dion and Sam Guerin, who were each running firmly inside the top-30. 

It was an especially crushing result for Dion, who had put his Warhorse HSBK Ducati into 19th in the opening battle and began to catch the lead group when he suddenly ran into front brake issues. The Ducati team tried to fix the problem, but were unable to manage it and Dion was forced to retire on only lap four.

Guerin would continue through most of the first stint and climb as high as 27th, but a Friday night engine swap proved to be unsuccessful as he bowed out with a motor failure on lap 13.

That left the Team BATTLAX Suzuki duo of Young and Trevor Daley, Matt Simpson, Alex Michel, and Mavrick Cyr on-track approaching the end of the first stint, with the first round of pit stops projected between lap 17 to 21. 

Both Daley and Young would manage to extend their first shift on the Bridgestone tires toward the later end of that period, making up valuable time on the midfield behind a pair of excellent pit stops. 

Young would really make his gains in the second stint, however, again squeezing the most out of his tires to stay out later than majority of the field and pit for a final time on lap 40, avoiding a three-stop strategy that proved to be disastrous for a handful of other riders. 

With fresher BATTLAX rubber in the final phase, Young managed to string together a batch of strong laps to climb into the top-ten, nearly catching Stefano Mesa for ninth after exiting the pits down more than 20 seconds to the Ducati rider.

Ultimately he would fall just six seconds shy of Mesa at the line, but managed to bring home a spectacular tenth-place finish in what was considered one of the strongest fields in Daytona 200 history, scoring higher than names like PJ Jacobsen and four-time Daytona winner Danny Eslick. 

The tenth-place finish would later become ninth, however, as provisional fourth-place runner Bobby Fong was disqualified for a fuel infraction, moving each of the Canadian riders up one spot in the end results. 

As for Young’s teammate, Daley was working inside the top-20 himself when he was forced into a longer second stop than usual due to a loose tail-section, coming back out in 25th position.

Daley would fight his way back through a handful of riders during the pit window to claim 21st on-track and later 20th overall, an impressive finish that would put him second amongst the CSBK entries and secure an excellent result for the Team BATTLAX Suzuki program. 

Making up the most ground on Saturday was Evans Racing Yamaha rider Matt Simpson, who avoiding the early chaos and settled into a strong middle stint to climb from 46th on the grid to 25th in the final table.

Simpson ran into engine problems of his own in the morning warm-up but was able to nurse his YZF-R6 machine to the end, leaving Daytona with a strong effort to finish as the third Canadian and fifth-best Bridgestone rider on the day. 

Rounding out the field of Bridgestone CSBK riders were fellow debutants Alex Michel in 28th and pro rookie Mavrick Cyr in 30th, helping establish five Canadians inside the top half of the order after a whopping 62 riders took to the grid. 

Michel rode a quietly steady race, moving inside the top-35 early on and avoiding any major moments compared to the rest of the midfield aboard his SpeedFactory67 Kawasaki. As for Cyr, the 18-year-old showed early flashes before a few key mistakes left him further down the order, but the Rizzin Racing Triumph rider clawed his way back to end the day well inside the group of 40 finishers.

Also representing Bridgestone in the final order was the Yamaha Austrian Racing Team duo of Karel Hanika and Marvin Fritz, who put their World Endurance machines fifth and sixth respectively (third team member Niccolo Canepa was unable to race due to injury). 

As for the overall star of the day, a dominant showing gave Josh Herrin his second consecutive Daytona 200 victory for Warhorse HSBK Ducati and third win of his career, with pole-sitter Tyler Scott and Hayden Gillim joining him on the podium. 

Full coverage of Saturday’s race – including a more in-depth look at Herrin’s historic Daytona 200 victory – can be found on the series’ official website at CSBK.ca.