A surprising change of scenery couldn’t stop Torin Collins’ momentum on Friday, as the Pro Supersport championship leader secured his fourth consecutive pole position and first as a Ducati rider in a thrilling qualifying at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
Collins swapped out his Novalda Suzuki to join the Economy Lube Ducati squad for the season finale and immediately re-established himself at the front, though not by a big margin as he had his hands full with a number of challengers in one of the closest qualifying orders in recent history.
Second through seventh would shuffle repeatedly over the first half, before reigning champion Sebastien Tremblay finally disrupted Collins’ spot at the top with just over six minutes to go, taking provisional pole with only 0.134 seconds covering the top four riders.
That would then force a perhaps championship-defining moment, where Collins went back out on track squarely behind title rival Andrew Van Winkle, using him as a tow down the long Andretti Straightaway – something Van Winkle bizarrely seemed just fine with.
It would prove to backfire for Van Winkle and the rest of the field, as Collins immediately jumped back ahead of Tremblay for the final time with a benchmark of 1:23.841, just 0.087 seconds clear of the S.T. Motosport Suzuki rider.
A frustrated Tremblay would have to settle for second after encountering traffic near the end of the session, spoiling his attempt at a first pole of the season as Collins will once again lead the field into turn one on Saturday and Sunday.
Joining them on the front row will be two-time former champion Tomas Casas, a great start to his debut with the FAST Riding School Suzuki team as he wound up only 0.196 seconds shy of pole.
Casas was content with third as he adapts to the new machine, one he will try to capture his eleventh career victory on this weekend – though he will have plenty of competition both in front of and behind him.
Amongst them will be Van Winkle, who put in a spectacular effort of his own to qualify fourth and only 0.221 seconds behind Collins aboard his “old gen” Mountainview Motorsports Suzuki GSX-R600, one lacking significant power compared to his next-gen counterparts at Canada’s fastest circuit.
Rounding out the top five was CTMP specialist Elliot Vieira, who remains a strong contender for the GP Bikes Ducati team as he ended the day only 0.729 seconds adrift of Collins in what is a razor-thin lead group.
Alex Michel was second of the old-gen riders in sixth aboard his SpeedFactory67 Kawasaki, a strong performance of his own as he completes the second row just 0.877 seconds behind the front.
A not-so-distant seventh is Mavrick Cyr, who returned to the series aboard his fourth different machine in the last two years but didn’t look out of place at all, placing his privateer Suzuki at the front of row three with only 1.066 seconds blanketing the entire top-seven.
Joining him on the third row will be Rob Massicotte, a strong season debut for him aboard the 88Moto Yamaha, while Nathan Playford continued Ducati’s strong day in ninth for the Playford Company Inc. team.
Completing the top ten was former CTMP winner Matt Simpson, who was down plenty of straight-line speed on his Blackstock Motorsports Yamaha after an engine failure forced him onto a lesser-powered spare motor.
The field will now prepare for what should be the first of two nail-biting races this weekend, with Collins leading a wide group of contenders into race one on Saturday, scheduled for roughly 1 pm ET at historic CTMP.
Full results can be found here.
