CSBK - Dion paces Bridgestone CSBK riders in morning practice at Daytona 200

Dion paces Bridgestone CSBK riders in morning practice at Daytona 200

Details: Category: CSBK News; Published on Thursday, March 7, 2024 13:07 EST; Written by Cam Bickle

The 82nd running of the Daytona 200 officially kicked off on Thursday morning with ten Bridgestone CSBK riders in attendance at Daytona International Speedway, with Trevor Dion leading the group through the morning practice sessions.

The overall leader entering Thursday afternoon’s initial qualifying period was expected frontrunner Richie Escalante, who placed his Vision Wheel M4 Suzuki atop the 68-rider pack behind a blazing time of 1:48.968 – a half-second clear of defending Daytona 200 winner Josh Herrin in second and two-time winner Brandon Paasch in third.

It was Herrin’s new Warhorse HSBK Ducati teammate who was fastest amongst the CSBK competitors, however, as Dion continued his excellent start to the event by ending the first session 19th fastest and just 2.5 seconds off the reigning winner.

That would be enough to pace the other two Canadians in Group A – the lead group full of the regular contenders – as the Team BATTLAX Suzuki duo of Ben Young and Trevor Daley wound up 23rd and 25th fastest, respectively.

All three ran firmly in the top-25 of the 32-rider Group A field for the entire session, and while Young and Daley couldn’t quite match Dion’s late improvements, it was still an impressive showing amidst one of the strongest fields in Daytona 200 history.

As for the secondary Group B session, the CSBK talent was on full display at the front of the morning practice with six of the top seven riders hailing from north of the border.

Spain’s Diego Perez would top the session from start to finish to wind up 26th overall, putting in a blistering time of 1:53.766 – nearly four seconds faster than the FP1 pace of Group B a year ago.

Despite the scorching pace, CSBK riders quickly matched the rest of the field as Sebastien Tremblay led a run of six consecutive Canadians, besting rookie teenager Mavrick Cyr in third, Alex Coelho in fourth, Sam Guerin in fifth, Brad Macrae in sixth, and Alex Michel in seventh.

When combined with the Group A times, that placed the batch of riders from 30th to 37th fastest overall, an excellent start ahead of Q1 on Thursday afternoon. The lone other Canadian in the group, Matt Simpson, went 17th fastest in the session, good for 48th fastest overall.

Both groups will now try to sort out any issues ahead of the first part of qualifying on Thursday afternoon, set for 2:50 pm ET (Group A) and 3:30 pm ET (Group B). The field will then return for Qualifying 2 on Friday morning, with the top-12 riders advancing to the final Time Attack session to set the grid on Friday afternoon.

More information on the Daytona 200 can be found on the series’ official website at CSBK.ca, or through MotoAmerica+.