CSBK riders complete Jennings, Roebling tests ahead of Daytona 200

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Category: CSBK News

Published on Tuesday, March 5, 2024 20:46 EST

Written by Cam Bickle

The preparations for the 82nd running of the Daytona 200 officially wrapped up on Tuesday in north Florida, as a quiet Bridgestone Test concluded in rainy conditions ahead of the first session on Thursday.

The test got underway with nine of the ten CSBK competitors in attendance, after a potentially record-breaking entry was reduced from eleven following the cancellation of Elliot Vieira’s plans (who finished 15th a year ago).

However, none of the nine riders were able to get any representative times in with persistent rain throughout the day, something that won’t be an issue at a Daytona event that can only run in dry conditions.

The lone rider not in attendance was Warhorse HSBK Ducati’s Trevor Dion, who enjoyed a strong effort in a private test Monday at Roebling Road near Savannah, Georgia.

Dion was believed to be within the top-four in terms of pace at Roebling, having switched to the Daytona-spec Warhorse machine after three previous days of testing on his own Economy Lube & Tire Ducati Panigale V2.

The 22-year-old is slated to join defending winner Josh Herrin in the HSBK garage this weekend, and was almost immediately comfortable aboard the V2 after joining Ducati for the first time at the Bridgestone CSBK finale aboard a V4 last season.

As for the rest of the ten-rider entry, the group traveled further south to Jennings GP near Valdosta, Florida, for a Bridgestone Test that also featured other Bridgestone riders – most notably the Truelove brothers from the United Kingdom.

While some managed to get two sessions of dry running in on Monday, the official test on Tuesday was all but wiped out by rain, with only Mavrick Cyr taking to the circuit for a handful of wet laps.

Cyr – piloting his Rizzin Racing Triumph – will be making his Daytona 200 debut along with Team BATTLAX frontrunner Trevor Daley, Original Garage Premont HD’s Sam Guerin, Turcotte Performance’s Sebastien Tremblay, Evans Racing’s Matt Simpson, Mac Racing’s Brad Macrae, and SpeedFactory67’s Alex Michel.

The only returning riders of the bunch will be Daley’s Team BATTLAX teammate Ben Young – the two-time defending CSBK champion – and MTRS Coelho Racing’s Alex Coelho, the latter of which finished 16th a year ago after Young crashed out.

Young is poised for a better result after switching to much more capable Suzuki GSX-R750 machines, as he and Daley have been pleased with the limited running thus far aboard the matching machines.

The absence of Vieira – who finished 15th in his debut one year ago – will drop the CSBK entry to ten, which would tie the record number of Canadians set in 1989, but the potential addition of former CSBK rider Darren James to the list could still raise the list to a record-breaking total when the event gets underway on Thursday.

The riders will now await the decision on grouping, with part of the provisional 67-rider entry joining Group A for practice and qualifying (considered the main, faster group by MotoAmerica officials) while the other list will join Group B, beginning with Thursday’s morning practice session. 

More updates can be found on the CSBK channels throughout the weekend, while the action can be watched live through MotoAmerica’s streaming service, MotoAmerica+.