CSBK - Weil, Tavares headline support class qualifying from Shannonville

Weil, Tavares headline support class qualifying from Shannonville

Details: Category: CSBK News; Published on Friday, May 17, 2024 19:50 EDT; Written by Cam Bickle

The opening round of the Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship continued with plenty of support action on Friday, as qualifying for all seven national classes got underway at Shannonville Motorsport Park, presented by the Fallen Rider Support Team and Pace Law.

The two feature classes were both headlined by Ben Young on Friday, as the three-time Canada Cup winner took pole position in both the GP Bikes Pro Superbike class and Economy Lube Pro Sport Bike category, but there was still plenty of other spots to be decided in the remaining five support classes.

Tops amongst them was the revamped Importations Thibault Pro-AM Twins division, which ran on-track alongside the new Niagara Race Crafters Ninja ZX-4RR Cup.

That qualifying session was paced outright by Amateur Twins rider Vincent Wilson, who snatched pole position with a superb time of 1:12.793 aboard his Atlantic Mini Suzuki machine, over a second clear of Aprilia rider Sebastian Silva and fellow Lightweight graduate Jack Beaudry for Yamaha.

All three nearly matched the pace of the Pro Twins category, though pole-sitter Justin Marshall made the most of his switch to the Pete’s Superbike Suzuki with a best time of 1:13.952 to take the top spot, just a second clear of Dallas Reynolds for Aprilia.

Joining them on the grid this weekend will be ZX-4RR Cup pole-sitter and rookie pro Mack Weil, who is doing double-duty for the MotorcycleCourse Kawasaki team as he also joins the Pro Sport Bike ranks in 2024.

Weil’s best time of 1:14.570 puts him squarely in contention with the Twins riders ahead of him, and a comfortable six seconds clear of Dave Walker in second.

Headlining the AIM Insurance Amateur Superbike grid will be debutant Tyrone Tavares, who earned his first career national pole with a time of 1:09.511 for Yamaha.

That was just 0.352 seconds clear of fellow Yamaha rider Tyler Brewer in second, while Goran Radisic took third for BMW in a trio separated by less than a half-second entering race one on Saturday.

Serge Boyer confirmed his status as one of the top returning amateurs for 2024 by taking pole in the EBC Brakes Amateur Sport Bike class for Kawasaki, holding off a pair of Yamaha riders in Alexis Beaudoin and Denis Giguere in what will be an all-Quebec front row for each of this weekend’s races.

Completing the day’s action was the Super Sonic Road Race School Pro-AM Lightweight class, where pro Cameron Walker took the outright pole position for Kawasaki with a best time of 1:14.508.

That puts him a half-second clear of the rest of the field entering Saturday’s race and well clear of the rest of the pro grid, as the remainder of the front row was filled out by amateur youngsters Ryan Beattie and Zaim Laflamme, both for Kawasaki.

The full rundown of support class action, as well as the schedule for each of the seven national races on Saturday, can be found on the series’ official website at CSBK.ca.