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Young paces FP2 as gap tightens at Shannonville
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Ben Young continued to top the timesheets at the 2024 Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship opener on Saturday, though by a much slimmer margin as the pace tightened in FP2 at Shannonville Motorsport Park, presented by the Fallen Rider Support Team sponsored by Pace Law.
Young blitzed the GP Bikes Pro Superbike field on Friday to earn BS Battery Pole Position for both of this weekend’s races, setting a time over a second clear of rival Jordan Szoke in second, but the gap dropped considerably to begin day two of the season.
It was still Young who led for virtually the entire 40-minute practice session, but this time the Van Dolder’s Home Team BMW rider was followed – at times literally – by Sam Guerin, who ramped up his pace ahead of race one Saturday afternoon.
Both he and Young quickly dipped into the 1:05 mark in the first ten minutes, and Guerin managed to improve his own best time just as Young did in front of him, holding the deficit at a steady 0.4 seconds for most of the session.
Young would finally extend his advantage in the last stint as he posted a time of 1:05.056, opening up a gap of 0.765 to Guerin, but a margin that was still much smaller than the full second he enjoyed on Friday.
Complicating things was that Guerin was not the only one to trim that margin, as fellow rivals Szoke and Trevor Dion also tightened up the gap at the front. Dion, who qualified fourth aboard his Economy Lube Ducati, made the bigger jump as he wound up just 0.862 seconds off the top of the timesheets and only narrowly behind Guerin.
As for Szoke, the Canadian Kawasaki Motors rider gradually chipped away at his times to lower his mark to 1:05.962, the last in the 1:05 range and only 0.906 seconds off Young – the first time all weekend that the four title contenders have been covered by less than a second.
The final moments saw Sebastien Tremblay jump up to round out the top five, putting his Turcotte Performance Suzuki a more distant 2.114 seconds off the lead time and over a full second behind the lead quartet.
Young enjoyed a similar advantage in the morning Economy Lube Pro Sport Bike practice session, putting his Scot-Build Suzuki at the front ahead of rookie Andrew Cooney, who leapfrogged Tremblay to go second-fastest aboard his Two Wheel Motorsport Suzuki.
Tremblay would settle for the third best time of the morning and just over a second behind Young, while local rider Sean Latta put in an excellent lap of his own aboard his Latta Racing machine to lock out the top four spots for Suzuki entering race one.
Full results from the morning sessions, as well as the schedule for all of the weekend’s racing, can be found on the series’ official website at CSBK.ca.
Young overcomes early battle to take debut Sport Bike win at CSBK opener in Shannonville
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Reigning Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship winner Ben Young added a new accolade to his resumé on Saturday, taking his first career Economy Lube Pro Sport Bike victory in the season opener at Shannonville Motorsport Park, presented by the Fallen Rider Support Team sponsored by Pace Law.
It was anything but a straightforward win for Young, however, as Elliot Vieira grabbed the holeshot and stormed out to an early lead with 2021 champion Sebastien Tremblay moving up to second.
Vieira initially began to stretch out his lead before Tremblay and Young reeled him in by lap four, setting up a brilliant battle for the lead as they distanced themselves from the rest of the field.
It was on lap four where Young wasted no time in making his moves, though, out-breaking both riders as they went three-wide off the back straightaway, allowing rookie Mavrick Cyr and John Laing to briefly re-join the fight at the front.
The group of five began to thin out over the next handful of laps, with Young eventually squeezing out a one-second advantage while Vieira faded back to a comfortable third.
Tremblay started to cut into that gap with six laps to go, shrinking the deficit to around 0.7 seconds behind a pair of fast laps, but Young promptly responded as he successfully held off the pre-season favourite to escape with his first career Pro Sport Bike victory.
It was a long-overdue result for the three-time Superbike champion, who carved out an excellent Sport Bike career between 2013-2015 but never managed to take the top step of the podium before switching to the feature class.
“It feels good to be back in Sport Bike. I had a lot of fun battling with my buddies Jodi Christie and Kenny Riedmann back in the day, and now I get to fight with these two,” Young said, referencing Tremblay and Vieira. “Sebastien wouldn’t let me back off at all, he pushed us the whole way, but fortunately I was able to bring it home for the team and reward them for all their hard work.”
While Tremblay will be disappointed to begin the year from second, the Turcotte Performance Suzuki team will have some comfort in knowing he can run with Young right until the end – not an easy feat against the Canada Cup champion.
“The pace was good once we settled in behind Ben, but he was really on it today,” Tremblay said. “I tried to reel him in at the end and just didn’t have enough, but we’re happy to be here and build towards race two tomorrow.”
It was a similar result for Vieira, who was forced to settle for third after his brilliant start but will be pleased to start the 2024 campaign with a podium after missing last year’s opener for the GP Bikes Ducati team.
While the top three distanced themselves after the early battle, the fight for fourth went almost right to the finish, as Cyr and Laing continued their scrap for the final spots in the top-five.
Cyr would lead most of the early portion before Laing pushed past the Rizzin Racing Triumph rookie, snatching fourth around the midway point. Cyr nearly mounted a late comeback as the two closed back together in the final laps, but Laing would hold onto fourth aboard his Vass Performance Kawasaki.
Nathan Playford was unable to improve upon his career-best qualifying result of fourth but still managed to exit race one with a strong sixth, fending off a fierce late duel with rookie Philip Degama-Blanchet aboard his Playford Company Ducati.
Degama-Blanchet would settle for seventh, an excellent pro debut for the 17-year-old for Vass Performance Kawasaki, while Zoltan Frast got the best of a thrilling seven-rider battle for eighth aboard his Eurorace Kawasaki machine.
Completing the top ten in race one was local riders Sean Latta and Rob Massicotte, who will hope to carry the momentum into race two on Sunday for Latta Racing Suzuki and Lean Angle Yamaha, respectively.
The debut of the new Pro Sport Bike Constructors championship will begin with plenty of momentum for Suzuki, as they exit with a maximum 45 points thanks to their one-two finish on Saturday.
Vieira’s podium and Playford’s sixth-place result would prove to be a big boost for Ducati’s hopes, however, while Kawasaki countered with solid performances from Laing and Degama-Blanchet to sit third entering the second half of the weekend doubleheader.
Young outlasts Guerin for historic Superbike win at Shannonville
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The 2024 Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship season kicked off in exciting fashion on Saturday, as defending champion Ben Young outdueled rivals Sam Guerin and Jordan Szoke for a sensational victory at Shannonville Motorsport Park, presented by the Fallen Rider Support Team sponsored by Pace Law.
Young began the day with a stellar victory in the Economy Lube Pro Sport Bike class, returning to his familiar ranks in the GP Bikes Pro Superbike category with a chance to become the first double-winner in the same season since Jodi Christie in 2014.
Instead, Young’s title defence got off to a brutal start, as Szoke grabbed the holeshot with Guerin promptly moving into second. Things would get even worse for Young before they got better, as Trevor Dion shunted the three-time Canada Cup champion into fourth on lap two while Szoke and Guerin escaped out front.
The lead duo would begin to stretch out their advantage before Guerin moved into the lead on lap three, seizing the front in turn eight as he continued his quest for a maiden pro national victory.
Young’s comeback would then begin on lap four, moving back past Dion and on the hunt for Szoke, who in return had continued to battle with Guerin. That would set up a hectic three-way fight for the lead on lap six, which waged on for two laps before Young moved through his long-time rival Szoke on lap eight.
That would set up the final, decisive battle between Guerin and Young for the middle portion of the race, but Guerin’s impressive defensive effort ultimately caved on lap 13 as Young snatched the lead for the first time and squeezed out a slight advantage, holding firm the rest of the way for the season-opening victory.
The comeback was not one many were expecting after Young’s dominant pace on Friday, but the Van Dolder’s Home Team BMW rider chalked it up to a bit of rider error thanks to his double-duty earlier in the Sport Bike class.
“The BMW was phenomenal as always today, but the first couple laps felt a bit strange until I realized it was just the difference between the two bikes, which is completely a mistake of my own,” Young admitted. “It was really cool to battle with Jordan again – a bit of a flashback to some of our races in 2019 – and Sam made it really hard on us in the end, but to lead both championships even for a day feels pretty awesome.”
The result proved to be a historic one for Young in more ways than one, as he also moved out of a tie with Pascal Picotte and into sole possession of third all-time with his 17th career Superbike victory.
“I knew we were tied coming in, but to pass a legend like that is pretty cool,” Young said, though he remains a far way off Szoke’s record of 78 career wins. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m not ever passing Jordan’s record! That one’s safe, but we’ll keep this going as long as we can.”
As for Guerin, it’s yet another runner-up finish for the EFC Group BMW rider as he chases win number one, but a result that will likely turn some heads after making things very difficult on his BMW counterpart.
“It took us a couple laps to get going, but I saw these two were still figuring some things out, so I thought ‘okay, let’s go for it,’” Guerin said. “I held on past the mid-race point which is a huge step, but Ben had the better pace at the end so I decided to keep things on-track and be fine with second today.”
The season opener was also a welcome return for Szoke to the front, after he grabbed the holeshot and paced the Superbike field in the early going. The Canadian Kawasaki Motors rider is still recovering from his serious injuries in 2022, but Saturday’s effort was proof that a return to full fitness could be a problem for the BMW rivals in front of him.
“I was hoping to hang on a little longer, but once Sam got by me and Ben had caught up it was only a matter of time. I’m still getting my strength back, but I feel better and better every day,” said the 14-time champion. “We’re still settling in here, so to bring it home for the team and for Kawasaki is huge.”
As for Dion, it was a tale of two halves in a race where he briefly battled with Young at the front, only to then slip back to a distant fourth at the finish. The Economy Lube Ducati rider is still gaining familiarity with his new machine after the late switch in 2023, but will hope to replicate more of his early-race pace on Sunday and close the gap to the lead trio.
Rounding out the top-five on Sunday was Superbike debutant David MacKay, who made major progress on his Snow City Cycle Honda. The reigning Sport Bike champion flashed his best pace of the weekend and began to reel in Dion in the late stages, something he will hope to carry into race two on Sunday.
Sebastien Tremblay would make a late charge of his own to climb to sixth, a strong result for the Turcotte Performance Suzuki rider as he marked five different manufacturers inside the top-six spots on Saturday.
Full results from the day’s action, including the schedule for Sunday’s racing, can be found on the series’ official website at CSBK.ca.
Radisic, Wilson headline day one winners in CSBK support classes at Shannonville
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The opening round of the Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship season may have been headlined by a pair of Ben Young victories on Saturday, but there was plenty to come out of the five support classes to begin the 2024 season at Shannonville Motorsport Park, presented by the Fallen Rider Support Team sponsored by Pace Law.
The day included first-ever races in the amateur division of Pro-AM Twins and both halves of the Pro-AM Ninja ZX-4RR Cup, as well as a return to racing for Pro Twins, Pro-AM Lightweight, Amateur Superbike, and Amateur Sport Bike.
The most dominant outing of the day came in the Importations Thibault Pro-AM Twins category, where Vincent Wilson cruised to an outright victory in his class debut aboard the Atlantic Mini Suzuki.
Wilson – an amateur – immediately marched clear of the chasing pack, which included frontrunning pro’s Craig Atkinson, Justin Marshall, and Dallas Reynolds along with amateur Sebastian Silva.
The race for second overall was hardly as straightforward, as all four riders battled throughout the contest. Atkinson would hold onto second and the pro division victory despite a late charge from Marshall, while Reynolds narrowly fended off Silva at the line to complete the pro podium, though Silva would take second in the amateur ranks.
As for the Niagara Race Crafters Ninja ZX-4RR Cup runners, it was Mack Weil who converted his pole position into a maiden pro victory, cruising clear of runner-up Dave Walker aboard his MotorcycleCourse Kawasaki.
The last pro winner of the day came in the Super Sonic School Pro-AM Lightweight class, as Cameron Walker outlasted an early attack from top amateurs Ryan Beattie and Zaim Laflamme to take the outright race victory.
Walker was locked into a spirited battle with the amateur youngsters but would wind up a massive 25 seconds clear of pro runner-up Gary McKinnon, who came out on top of a thrilling battle with Johann Plancque to decide the pro top-three.
As for Beattie and Laflamme, the two kicked off their rivalry with a race-long battle at the front of both their own split and the overall action. While neither had enough to displace the more experienced Walker, it was Beattie who escaped with the crucial amateur win ahead of Laflamme and debutant Dante Bucek.
The AIM Insurance Amateur Superbike season got underway with a hectic battle of its own, as Goran Radisic held off a late comeback attempt from Tyrone Tavares to claim his first career national victory for PMR BMW.
Tavares started from pole position but quickly ceded the lead to Radisic, who held off an early three-way fight with him and Tyler Brewer before extending his advantage.
Tavares nearly charged his way back to the front, however, hunting down Radisic in the late stages but ultimately coming up a half-second short as he was forced to settle for second, with Brewer bringing home the final podium spot in third.
The race of the day – and perhaps the weekend – came in the EBC Brakes Amateur Sport Bike class, where as many as six riders battled for the lead throughout the contest.
In the end, it was a methodical debut victory for Laurent Laliberte-Girard, who picked his way through the field and saved his best times for the end as he carved his way to the front in the final laps.
Local rider Scott Szollos would fall just shy of the victory but still managed to push his way up to second in the dramatic fight for the win, fending off pole-sitter Serge Boyer who wrapped up the podium places in race one.
Each of the five support races will now return for the second half of their doubleheader on Sunday, in what is shaping up to be a thrilling and unpredictable year of action across the national slate.
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