Young sets blistering pace in FP1 at Shannonville

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Category: CSBK News

Published on Friday, May 17, 2024 12:07 EDT

Written by Cam Bickle

Reigning Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship winner Ben Young picked up right where he left off to begin the 2024 season on Friday, smashing the opening practice session at Shannonville Motorsport Park, presented by the Fallen Rider Support Team sponsored by Pace Law.

Young’s start to FP1 wasn’t as dominant as he would have expected, as the three-time Canada Cup champion traded the provisional top spot with rivals Sam Guerin and Jordan Szoke throughout the first stint of the GP Bikes Pro Superbike weekend. 

The Van Dolder’s Home Team BMW rider would begin to stretch his legs around the 15-minute mark of the 40-minute session, laying down an impressive 1:05.278 lap, but Young had even more up his sleeve in the second half as he lowered his best time to 1:04.892.

That blistering pace – just a second off the outright lap record even in mild conditions – was comfortably clear of the rest of the field, who made marginal improvements after their early time attacks.

Guerin would cling to second for most of FP1 before Szoke put in a late flyer of his own, posting a time of 1:05.911 to put his Canadian Kawasaki roughly a second off Young at the top and nearly a quarter-second clear of Guerin.

The latter would not improve from his early stint but managed to hang onto third in the session aboard his EFC Group BMW, completing the most laps of any rider in FP1 as Guerin aims to perfect his race pace ahead of the season opener on Saturday.

Rounding out the lead quarter was Shannonville’s breakout star from the September finale, as Trevor Dion continued to get acclimated to his Economy Lube Ducati in fourth with a time just 0.079 seconds off Guerin in third.

Leading the next group of riders was Superbike rookie Connor Campbell in fifth, who quickly matched the leaders before crashing his B&T MacFarlane/Kubota Kawasaki around the ten-minute mark. Campbell thankfully avoided serious injury and is expected to continue this weekend, as he chases the Brooklin Cycle Racing Pro Rookie of the Year award in 2024.

Young will now hope to replicate his early pace in the afternoon when the grid returns for Q1 at roughly 2:10 pm ET, followed by the top-ten BS Battery Q2 session around 2:45 pm ET. 

Full results from the morning sessions can be found here.