Laing takes second consecutive Sport Bike pole at AMP

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Category: CSBK News

Published on Friday, July 12, 2024 13:11 EDT

Written by Cam Bickle

John Laing took his qualifying prowess across the country on Friday, earning pole position in the Economy Lube Pro Sport Bike class for a second consecutive round at Atlantic Motorsport Park, presented by Pro Cycle and Canadian Kawasaki.

After snatching his first career Bridgestone CSBK pole at his home track in round three, Laing ventured east and managed to keep the momentum with him, jumping to the top of the timesheets less than five minutes into the session and holding it the rest of the way.

The Vass Performance Kawasaki rider had very little prior knowledge of the track before last week, but a trip to the recent sARL regional event proved to be crucial as Laing improved by over a second from his qualifying time last season.

It was an especially important result for the Cochrane, Alberta native as he tries to claw back part of his now 28-point deficit to championship leader Sebastien Tremblay, who struggled in qualifying on Friday.

It took Tremblay the majority of the session just to break into the top-five, placing his Turcotte Performance Suzuki fifth and 0.645 seconds off provisional pole, though that would be as high as he would get as he battled with a number of youngsters vying for their own first career pole.

Taking second out of that group and centering the second row will be rookie Mavrick Cyr, who displaced fellow teenager Andrew Van Winkle in the final moments by only 0.015 seconds to put his Economy Lube Ducati next to Laing.

It was a career-best qualifying performance for Cyr as he continues to march towards his first career pro CSBK victory, while Van Winkle adds a second consecutive front row grid spot after the round three winner placed his FD Racing Suzuki third in Edmonton.

Leading off the second row ahead of Tremblay will be his former title rival Elliot Vieira, who led the session in the first few moments before relinquishing provisional pole to Laing. The Economy Lube Ducati rider gradually pushed his way back to the front in the final moments, but it wasn’t enough as he could only salvage fourth on the grid.

Next to Tremblay and completing the second row will be Philip DeGama-Blanchet, who has made the most of his first trip to AMP as he is already just 0.766 seconds off Laing aboard his own Vass Performance Kawasaki.

Laing and the Economy Lube Pro Sport Bike field will now prepare for race one of their round four doubleheader on Saturday, scheduled for roughly 1:10 pm local time (12:10 pm ET).

Full results can be found on the series’ official website.