A pair of familiar faces took their first pole positions of the season on Friday, as Ryan Beattie and Louie Raffa headlined a dramatic day of qualifying in the support classes for the Bridgestone CSBK finale at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
Beattie is making his season debut this weekend after taking the early part of the year to adjust to his bigger BMW at the regional level, though it was safe to say the reigning Lightweight champion is comfortable with it as he blitzed the AIM Insurance Amateur Superbike class for a dominant pole position.
The 17-year-old would put a whopping 1.5 seconds between himself and John Cadman in second, inching close to the lap record with a stellar time of 1:24.289 aboard the S1000RR – a mark that would have put him ninth on the Pro Superbike grid.
Beattie’s incredible effort will make him the clear favourite entering the weekend, though there will be a very interesting battle set to unfold behind him, and one that may not include championship rivals Cole Alexander and Zaim Laflamme.
The two title protagonists were a surprising fifth (Alexander) and seventh (Laflamme) on the day, complicating things for Laflamme as he needs to make up plenty of ground on Alexander to erase his 23-point championship deficit.
Instead, it was Cadman who wound up “best of the rest” behind Beattie in his season debut for Ducati, putting in a respectable time of 1:25.813 to go marginally quicker than 2024 CTMP winner Jason Thoms.
Alexander and Laflamme would return to their usual spots at the front of the EBC Brakes Amateur Supersport grid, with Alexander taking a crucial pole by only 0.209 seconds over his title rival entering a pivotal race one.
The 18-year-old Alexander holds just a three-point lead over Laflamme in that category, and will have far less wiggle room with the Triumph rider starting right alongside him and firmly on the pace entering race one on Saturday.
Cadman would take his second front-row start of the day in third, going just 0.467 seconds slower than Laflamme as he could potentially complicate the title fight this weekend.
Dante Bucek will celebrate his Super Sonic Road Race School Lightweight Sportbike championship from pole position on Saturday, putting in a late time attack to outlast Norbert Joo and Gary McKinnon.
It was a closer session than the final timesheets would indicate, as all three riders traded provisional pole in the last five minutes before Bucek smashed his personal best on his final lap, going 0.745 seconds clear of Joo in second.
The veteran McKinnon will complete the front row in third, crucially one spot ahead of Scott Szollos as they battle for the runner-up spot and top pro position in the championship behind the amateur Bucek.
Bucek’s hopes of a double-pole on Friday were negated in the late moments by Louie Raffa, who earned the first pole position of his career since moving to the Importations Thibault Twins Cup class.
The former Pro Supersport race winner took a significant step aboard his Aprilia at CTMP, leapfrogging title rivals Bucek and J.P. Tache to go 0.229 seconds quicker than the duo as he eyes a first victory in the category this weekend.
While Bucek had to settle for second, he will be pleased with his grid spot as he lines up ahead of Tache in third, entering the weekend with a 20-point deficit to the veteran.
Tache will have a bit of breathing space behind him with J-F Cyr the only other rider within two seconds of the leaders, though Bucek will try to put as many rivals as he can between them on Saturday to set up a closer title fight in race two.
Jared Walker returned to the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-4RR Cup class in a big way by claiming a comfortable pole position on Friday, putting almost a second between himself and championship leader Jacob Black.
Black remains in good enough form to clinch his first career national championship this weekend, though he will have a deeper field than usual to contend with as McKinnon would wind up a close third as he joins the class at CTMP.
Edmonton winner Rob Cousineau was also in the mix in fourth, though championship contender Jean-Pascal Schroeder was dealt a big blow to his title hopes after being disqualified for using improper fuel, forcing him to the back of the grid this weekend.
Full results can be found here.
