Dion units gorgeous Superbike tempo in Thursday check at Grand Bend
Grand Bend, ON – Native teenager Trevor Dion emerged out of nowhere to set the early tempo on the Canadian Superbike Championship check day on Thursday, posting a blistering 1:03.678 lap time forward of the opening spherical at Grand Bend Motorplex this weekend.
Dion entered the weekend with no prior expertise within the characteristic Professional Superbike class, however the rookie wasted little time making his presence felt as he stormed to the quickest time of the day within the last check session aboard his LDS Consulting BMW.
The previous Light-weight star may have the tempo to remain on the entrance all through the weekend, as his time in the end wound up simply 0.633 seconds off the outright lap file set in 2019 by eventual champion Ben Younger.
Younger would accept the second-fastest time of the day as he rapidly bought in control aboard his Van Dolder’s House Group BMW Motorrad machine, ending roughly six-tenths of a second off the tempo on the entrance as Dion remained effectively away from the sphere.
The betting favorite getting into Grand Bend, Younger should discover further time on Friday if he hopes to safe his ninth profession pole place, however will nonetheless have each alternative to take action after smashing the lap file in his final look on the venue.
The hole was extremely marginal after that, as defending Canada Cup champion Alex Dumas posted a finest lap of 1:04.458 – simply three-tenths off Younger – in his first official CSBK look at Grand Bend. The Liqui Moly/Quick Faculty Suzuki rider may have far much less expertise across the 2.2 km circuit than his friends, however his early tempo will give Dumas loads of confidence getting into Friday follow and qualifying.
Trailing the reigning champion might be fellow Suzuki rider Trevor Daley, who enters the season opener with loads of confidence aboard his OneSpeed machine and backed it up on the timesheets, ending the day roughly 0.040 seconds behind Dumas and solely a quarter-second off Younger in second.
Finishing the highest 5 on the day was one other native star within the type of Steven Nickerson, who returns to the location of his finest profession nationwide end of fourth in 2019. The Dewildt Powersports Honda rider managed a finest time of 1:05.177 within the last session, a slight drop down from the top-four however one that ought to nonetheless maintain him in rivalry for a front-row grid spot in qualifying.
Only a brief hole again in sixth was Samuel Guerin, who went solely 0.191 seconds slower than Nickerson aboard his EFC Group BMW. Guerin might be making his first look at Grand Bend as a Professional however is already anticipating a return to the entrance, after a disastrous 2021 marketing campaign for the earlier 12 months’s runner-up.
The 25-entry characteristic Professional Superbike grid may have only one extra alternative to fine-tune their efforts earlier than qualifying on Friday afternoon, with a pair of races awaiting on Saturday and Sunday to kick off the 2022 CSBK season.
The total schedule of weekend occasions may be discovered on the sequence’ official web site right here.
