Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Parts Unlimited PJ1 Erion Honda’s Jake Zemke took his first-ever AMA Superbike pole position with a new lap record for Pikes Peak International Raceway (PPIR) during qualifying Saturday.

Running a Dunlop qualifying tire on his factory Honda CBR1000RR Superbike, Zemke turned a 53.774, good enough to just eclipse Nicky Hayden’s mark of 53.776, set in 2001.

“My crew’s been working so hard. It’s good to finally give them a pole position and track record,” Zemke told reporters. “I knew that record’s been standing for a while, since Nick left. I knew I had a 53-something. I’m going, ‘Man, I hope I got it.’ I knew it would be close but luckily we squeezed it in there.

“I was really surprised at the amount of grip that (qualifying tire) had. It was kind of scary coming through that fast turn two going onto the back straight. I was on my knee, wide open from the middle of that turn all the way until I stood the thing up to brake for turn three. That was a bit scary, but the tires were holding great.”

Zemke said he also had a good race set-up, turning a string of 15-16 laps in the high-54/low-55 second range early in the qualifying session on one of the possible race tires.

The qualifying tire on Miguel Duhamel’s American Honda CBR1000RR caused a chatter problem, but the veteran was still able to qualify second-fastest with a 54.220. Duhamel said he was relatively happy but still had work to do on his race set-up in Sunday morning practice.

Asked if he was going to make any changes to his bike Saturday night for Sunday’s race, third-fastest Mat Mladin (54.413) joked, “Yeah, we’re going to grab about 20 horsepower out of the truck tonight, and we’ll be good. I’ve just got to find it. Someone put it in one of the drawers, and I’m not sure where it is…We just can’t get off the corners. When we’re behind one of the Hondas or the Ducati it’s like we’re on a 600.”

Mladin’s Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Aaron Yates earned the final spot on the front row with a lap of 54.548.


Provisional AMA Superbike Qualifying Results:

1. Jake Zemke, Honda CBR1000RR, 53.774
2. Miguel Duhamel, Honda CBR1000RR, 54.220
3. Mat Mladin, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 54.413
4. Aaron Yates, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 54.548
5. Ben Bostrom, Honda CBR1000RR, 54.717
6. Josh Hayes, Kawasaki ZX-10R, 54.890
7. Eric Bostrom, Ducati 999F04, 55.297
8. John Haner, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 55.821
9. Shawn Higbee, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 55.849
10. Geoff May, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 55.969
11. J.J. Roetlin, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 56.449
12. Ricky Orlando, Kawasaki ZX-10R, 56.668
13. Larry Pegram, Yamaha YZF-R1, 56.669
14. Lee Acree, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 56.723
15. Eric Wood, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 56.752
16. Dan Turner, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 56.794
17. Chris Caylor, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 56.982
18. Mark Ledesma, Honda CBR1000RR, 57.117
19. Cory West, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 57.317
20. Robert Christman, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 57.349
21. Mike Sullivan, Yamaha YZF-R1, 57.528
22. Darren Luck, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 57.608
23. Dean Mizdal, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 57.846
24. Jason Curtis, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 57.997
25. David Bell, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 58.072
26. Lenny Beckman, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 58.114
27. Jack Pfeifer, Honda CBR1000RR, 58.577
28. Kevin Hanson, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 58.902

DNQ. Corey Sarros, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 59.654