Young earns pole position after wild Saturday at SMP
Shannonville, ON – May 18, 2019 – It was a dramatic day two of the Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship season opener at Shannonville Motorsport Park, as Ben Young claimed pole position in the Mopar Pro Superbike feature class on Saturday.
Young, riding a Scot-Build Barrie BMW S1000RR, has paced the field for the entirety of the opening weekend, as the Collingwood, ON native looks poised to claim his second career victory on Sunday.
“I knew if Jeff [Williams] beat me it was going to be a long night, so I had to put a flyer in,” Young joked. “The conditions weren’t great, but the BMW was awesome as always, and hopefully it will warm up tomorrow and it will be a good race.”
Young’s performance in the Motion Pro Top Ten Superpole came in unfamiliar circumstances, however, as his biggest rival in Jordan Szoke endured a massive crash in morning practice that sent his Mopar Express Lane Kawasaki ZX-10R Ninja flying into the pit lane.
Thankfully no one was seriously injured in the incident, including the Lynden, ON native of Szoke, though the four-time defending champion was visibly less than 100 per cent in the qualifying session.
“Definitely a little sore, and my arm has a huge cut on it that I basically had to hold together,” said Szoke. “But really I’m just thankful the bike didn’t hurt anybody, and we can all just get back to racing.”
The 13-time Mopar Pro Superbike champion still managed to qualify in fourth position, but it was another CSBK veteran pushing Young to his limits in the form of Jeff Williams. The Inverary, ON native led most of the SuperPole session before giving way to Young in the later stages, settling for second behind his BMW counterpart.
“Everything felt amazing out there. The bike was phenomenal,” said Williams. “I’m 45 years old, I got like 20 years on these kids, so I think I need to relax tonight if I want to stay at the front tomorrow!”
Completing the front row for Sunday’s race ahead of Szoke will be Belfountain, ON’s Kenny Riedmann, who moved ahead of his long-time rival just as time expired in the SuperPole session aboard his Sturgess Cycle Kawasaki.
“The lap timer wasn’t actually working that well, so I didn’t know I got third until I came in and everyone told me,” said Reidmann. “I just put my head down and put in a few flyers, and the Sturgess Cycle bike was great.”
Rounding out the top five and leading off the second row will be Beaconsfield, QC’s Michael Leon, who was in line for a front-row start aboard his Royal Distributing BMW prior to Riedmann’s late push.
Notably absent from the front-running group was St. Isidore, QC’s Samuel Trepanier, who was also injured in a crash of his own in the morning practice and was forced to settle for tenth place aboard his Blysk Racing BMW.
Pole position in the Liqui Moly Pro Sport Bike class went to two-time defending champion Tomas Casas, as the Peterborough, ON youngster narrowly edged Sebastien Tremblay aboard his Parts Canada Yamaha YZF-R6.
“Obviously Sebastien was pushing really hard, so I knew we had to do the same if we wanted to stay with him,” Casas said. “I just worked hard and found some clean air, and the bike was working really well, so hopefully we can do the same tomorrow.”
Tremblay, meanwhile, put his DB Moto Kawasaki ZX-6R in second place, just 0.138 seconds behind Casas. The Mirabel, QC native will be the lone non-Yamaha on the front row, with Sarnia, ON’s Will Hornblower finishing third and Georgetown, Guyana’s Elliot Vieira claiming his best qualifying result as a Pro in fourth.
The first National race of the season was also completed on Saturday, with Blackstock, ON teenager Ben LeClair winning a thrilling TSN Motorcycle Experience Amateur Lightweight Sport Bike race aboard his Yamaha YZF-R3.
“I got a really good start and led for a few laps before Avery [Hart] caught me,” said LeClair. “But I just waited and stayed with him until the last lap, and then I was able to make my move. It was a lot of fun.”
The younger brother of last year’s champion, Jake, LeClair edged Princeville, NS’s Hart for the victory, with both riders aboard Yamaha machines, while Bowmanville, ON’s Matthew Simpson completed the podium aboard his Honda CBR500RR.
One of the closest qualifying battles from Saturday came down to the Mopar Express Lane Amateur Superbike class, with Markham, ON’s Dave Natale grabbing pole position aboard his Aprilia RSV4RR by just 0.066 seconds ahead of Ancaster, ON’s Jordan Royds and his Yamaha YZF-R1.
The same could not be said for the Parts Canada Amateur Sport Bike category, where St. Marc-sur-Richelieu, QC’s Christian Allard was over a full second clear of second place aboard his Kawasaki ZX-6R, earning pole position for Sunday’s race.
Full results from Saturday’s qualifying sessions and Lightweight race can be found on the series’ official website at www.csbk.ca.