Vieira earns first career Sport Bike pole at Grand Bend

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Category: CSBK News

Published on Friday, June 7, 2024 15:58 EDT

Written by Cam Bickle

The Economy Lube Pro Sport Bike class produced another interesting twist on Friday, as Elliot Vieira secured his first career Bridgestone CSBK pole position for the second round at Grand Bend Motorplex, presented by Southwest Marine & Powersports.

The provisional pole time changed hands throughout the 20-minute qualifying session, but Vieira couldn’t quite manage to hit the front for majority of that period, watching as Trevor Daley, Zoltan Frast, and briefly Sebastien Tremblay all traded fast laps.

The GP Bikes/Economy Lube Ducati rider saved his best for when he needed it, however, climbing to the top spot with just under three minutes to go behind a time of 1:04.872.

That only narrowly pushed him past Daley, who was unable to retaliate after a late crash in turn five (he was thankfully uninjured), giving Vieira his first career pole position by just 0.055 seconds – the fourth-smallest margin in class history.

Vieira’s superb time attack will also represent the first ever pole position for Ducati in the Sport Bike class, following its homologation into the middleweight ranks a year ago. 

It was a crucial one as well for the championship runner-up, as points leader Tremblay could only muster third on the grid. The Turcotte Performance Suzuki rider lifted himself onto the front row in the final minute and still wound up only 0.140 seconds shy of Vieira, but he will nevertheless lose two points to his rival entering race one on Saturday.

Splitting the pair on the front row will be Daley, who hasn’t missed a beat since returning from his round one absence. The OneSpeed Suzuki rider paced majority of the session and likely could have mounted one last charge at Vieira if not for his crash, though he will still leave himself in an excellent position to fight for a second career victory this weekend.

The breakout star of the weekend could prove to be Frast, as the local star looked poised to earn a shock first career pole himself before fading to fourth in the end. The Clare’s Cycle Kawasaki rider ended up just 0.159 seconds off Vieira and appeared to have consistent race pace as well, lapping consistently in the low 1:05’s as he aims for a debut podium this weekend.

Rounding out the top-five and centering the second row will be pro rookie Mavrick Cyr, who fought through traffic to salvage a solid grid spot aboard his Rizzin Racing/Economy Lube Triumph, although with a quarter-second gap to the front four.

Completing that row will be Nathan Playford and the Playford Company Ducati squad, who just managed to squeeze past the third-row trio of Dylan Bauer, Sebastian Hothaza, and title frontrunner John Laing, all of whom were covered by only 0.114 seconds.

Full results from Friday’s qualifying session can be found on the series’ official website at CSBK.ca.