Two-time defending Bridgestone Canadian Superbike champion Ben Young took over as the lead CSBK representative at the Daytona 200 on Friday, provisionally qualifying 18th in the first of two qualifying sessions at Daytona International Speedway.
The Team BATTLAX Suzuki rider found himself 23rd and behind Trevor Dion in the morning practice session but made extensive changes to his GSX-R750 machine entering Q1, with the faster Group A heading out first in the afternoon.
Those changes seemed to be a step in the right direction, as Young slotted into 15th and within striking distance of a provisional top-12 spot, the crucial cut-off for Friday’s Time Attack session.
The pace would ramp up considerably in the final moments, however, with Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki teammates Richie Escalante and Tyler Scott trading lap records at the front before Escalante ultimately moved the benchmark to a time of 1:47.833.
Young would make some late improvements of his own, posting a best time of 1:51.222 but ultimately dipping to 18th, as he now finds himself only 0.8 seconds off the top-12 group entering Friday as the top Canadian.
That would pace both Dion and Young’s BATTLAX Suzuki teammate Trevor Daley, who completed Q1 in 28th and 29th, respectively. It was a frustrating development for Dion as he crashed his Warhorse HSBK Ducati halfway through the session and was unable to improve, but impressive nonetheless as three Canadian’s cracked the provisional top-30.
The rest of the CSBK contingent followed up in Group B, albeit in slightly cooler conditions as clouds rolled over the Daytona Speedway. Despite the lower track temperature, the pace remained red-hot with Diego Perez and Maximilian Gerardo each posting times good enough for the combined top-26, nearly two seconds faster than the rest of the group.
The Canadian contingent still managed to headline that group, though, with Sebastien Tremblay chief amongst them in fourth place, good for 33rd overall. That was just over a half-second faster than Sam Guerin in 34th and Brad Macrae in 35th, with Mavrick Cyr only another quarter-second back in 39th.
That means seven Canadians will sit inside the provisional top-40 entering Friday morning’s Q2 session, which will set the grid beyond the top-12 (which will be determined in the separate Time Attack shootout).
Just missing that group was Alex Michel in 47th and Matt Simpson in 51st, while Alex Coelho crashed early in Q1 and was unable to register a time. Despite the struggles for Simpson and Michel, both are comfortably inside the 110% cut-off time entering the second half of qualifying on Friday.
The Bridgestone CSBK competitors will return for Q2 at 10:10 am ET (Group A) and 10:50 am ET (Group B) on Friday, before Time Attack completes the qualifying process at 1:15 pm ET to set the grid for Saturday’s 57-lap race.
More updates from the 82nd running of the Daytona 200 can be found on the series’ official website at CSBK.ca, or on MotoAmerica Live+.
