Dumas leads Thursday test ahead of pivotal finale at CTMP

Alex Dumas got the start to the weekend he needed on Thursday, topping the Superbike field at the unofficial test day ahead of the season finale tripleheader at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. 

Dumas will return to CTMP needing to erase a 31-point deficit to rival Ben Young, but is on the right track after posting an unofficial best time of 1:22.315 in the second afternoon practice to lead an abbreviated Superbike field, with a few of the top riders – including Young – electing to save themselves for official practice on Friday.

Despite not having his main rival as a reference, Dumas was still well clear of anyone else aboard his Liqui Moly/Fast School Suzuki, pacing Sebastien Tremblay by 1.333 seconds around the ten-turn, nearly 4km “Old Mosport” circuit. The 20-year-old reigning champion was just as consistent as he was fast, though, with all of his times in the second session falling either in the 1:22’s or low 1:23’s. 

Tremblay, meanwhile, continued to come to grips with his Turcotte Performance Kawasaki superbike, improving in each session before concluding his day with a best time of 1:23.648 in the final practice of the day.

The lead Kawasaki man just edged out fellow Quebec frontrunner Sam Guerin, who also improved in each session before wrapping up his day with a time of 1:24.395, putting his EFC Group BMW into the top-three overall on the day.

Guerin’s late flyer knocked Steven Nickerson out of that place, who returns to the series after skipping rounds two and three in part to recover from lingering injuries. Nickerson ran inside the top-three for much of the day behind a 1:24.863 lap time, just less than half a second off Guerin aboard his privateer Honda machine.

Completing the unofficial top five on the day was Ivan Babic, who posted his best time back in the first session of the afternoon. The BMW rider was just barely faster than fellow Motorrad-mounted star Anthony Bergeron, who enters the weekend with a shot at the Brooklin Cycle Racing Pro Rookie of the Year award with three strong races.

Pro Superbike Thursday Test Day – Unofficial Top 5
1. Alex Dumas                       1:22.315
2. Sebastien Tremblay          1:23.648 (+1.333)
3. Sam Guerin                       1:24.395 (+2.080)
4. Steven Nickerson              1:24.863 (+2.548)
5. Ivan Babic                         1:26.117 (+3.802)

Notably absent from the day was not just Young, who tested his Van Dolder’s Home Team BMW throughout the week at CTMP, but also his new one-off teammate Kenny Riedmann and the wildcard entry of Rennie Scaysbrook, amongst others. 

Young will hope his extra day of rest won’t leave him on the backfoot with Dumas entering the first official action on Friday, while Riedmann looks to shake off some rust of his own after a two-year hiatus away from the CSBK paddock.

Scaysbrook, meanwhile, will be turning a wheel around CTMP for the first time on Friday, with his factory-backed Aprilia team arriving late Thursday in preparation for the Australian’s CSBK debut this weekend.

Also set to join the feature grid on Friday will be the likes of Trevor Daley, who sits third in the overall championship and tested earlier in the week, and Tomas Casas, who makes his season debut after recovering from an early-season injury.

The weekend will kick off with FP1 scheduled for 10:30 am ET on Friday, before the first part of BS Battery qualifying gets underway with Q1 at 1:00 pm ET, with the second Q2 top-ten shootout at 2:30 pm ET – featuring the return of the special Dunlop “Q” tires. 

The full schedule can be found on the series’ official website.