Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship leader Alex Dumas wasted no time setting the benchmark for round three at Atlantic Motorsport Park, unofficially topping the GP Bikes Pro Superbike field in Thursday’s test day on the east coast.
Dumas showed his pace just two weeks ago at AMP’s most recent ARL regional event, breaking into the mid-1:08 lap times, but he needed just half a day to reach that territory a second time as the track continued to ramp up quickly throughout Thursday.
The Purple Skull Brewing/Liqui Moly Suzuki rider would go unofficially fastest in every timed session of the afternoon, ultimately concluding his day with a time to beat of 1:08.471, just 0.410 seconds off the FP1 pace from a year ago.
While the first official timesheets won’t roll in until Friday morning, few will be doubting the legitimate pace of Dumas or his main championship rival, Ben Young, who gradually improved as the day went along and track conditions improved.
Young would still wind up second in the unofficial times, completing the familiar top-two roughly 0.391 seconds behind Dumas, as the Van Dolder’s Home Team BMW rider and reigning champion eyes a crucial fifth-straight BS Battery pole position on Friday.
He and Dumas were the only two riders to dip into the 1:07 lap territory at AMP last season, but that may not be the case in 2023, as rookie phenom John Fraser also put the feature class on notice by posting a 1:08.904 time.
The 17-year-old out of nearby Hammonds Plains, Nova Scotia has plenty of expertise around his home circuit, and quickly showed as much aboard his RLS Contracting Suzuki as he was the lone other rider to dip into the 1:08 time range.
Just narrowly missing that cut-off was Sam Guerin, who posted a best unofficial time of 1:09.074 aboard his EFC Group BMW. Guerin remains firmly in the mix for a front-row spot in qualifying on Friday, sitting a quarter-second clear of the next group.
That group was led by OneSpeed Suzuki’s Trevor Daley, who posted an unofficial best time of 1:09.448 to clock in fifth-fastest, while 14-time AMP winner Jordan Szoke wound up only a fraction slower aboard his LDS Consultants Kawasaki in sixth.
Changing weather conditions are expected to be a major factor throughout the weekend, with rain predicted at various points throughout Friday and Saturday and possibly into Sunday as well.
The first official action of the weekend will kick off Friday with more practice sessions in the morning, prior to qualifying for all seven national classes in the afternoon. The full schedule can be found on the series’ official website at CSBK.ca.
