Dumas smashes wet FP2 at Shannonville

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Category: CSBK News

Published on Saturday, August 31, 2024 12:18 EDT

Written by Cam Bickle

Alex Dumas continued to pace the Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship finale on Saturday, navigating a wet FP2 session to top the timesheets ahead of race one at Shannonville Motorsport Park.

Having already led FP1 and taken pole position on Friday, Dumas could have played it safe like some of his GP Bikes Pro Superbike rivals and skipped out on the tricky conditions with no more rain expected this afternoon.

Instead, he decided to put his Economy Lube Ducati at the front once again as he obliterated the rest of the field by over two seconds, posting a best time of 2:05.904 on the damp circuit.

While forecasts suggest clear skies for the remainder of the day, the extra practice time could help Dumas decide what strategy to go with if the track is still mixed by the start of race one on Saturday, having trialed a slick/rain combo in similar conditions at CTMP before crashing out.

Going second-fastest in FP2 was Trevor Daley, who continued to showcase his wet-weather expertise with an excellent time aboard his OneSpeed Suzuki GSX-R750, displacing a handful of litre-bikes aboard his Sport Bike machine.

Third overall was 14-time champion Jordan Szoke, a master of mixed conditions himself as he wound up 0.927 seconds behind Daley aboard his CKM Kawasaki, albeit in half the number of laps.

Rookie teenager Mavrick Cyr would charge to fourth in the wet session, a terrific effort from the Economy Lube Ducati rider as he put his V2 Panigale roughly 1.5 seconds behind the Superbike-mounted Szoke.

Rounding out the top five was another middleweight rider in Alex Michel, who looked extremely comfortable on the damp track as he powered his way to fifth for SpeedFactory67 Kawasaki, displacing Connor Campbell in the final moments.

Campbell would settle for sixth but seemingly resolved the mechanical issue that left him 15th on the Superbike grid after Q1, at one point running second to Daley in FP2 aboard his B&T MacFarlane/Kubota Kawasaki.  

Notably absent from the running order were the BMW duo of Ben Young and Sam Guerin, who elected not to push their luck in the tricky conditions.

The decision could have implications for Young after fighting through a mechanical issue on his Van Dolder’s Home Team “A bike” on Friday, though he will have less to be concerned about after clinching a fourth career Canada Cup in qualifying.

Full session results can be found here.