Buckmaster Takes AMA Supersport Pole With New Pikes Peak Lap Record

Buckmaster Takes AMA Supersport Pole With New Pikes Peak Lap Record

© 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

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Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Yamaha’s Damon Buckmaster took AMA Supersport pole position with a new class lap record time of 0:54.706 around Pikes Peak International Raceway’s 1.315-mile road course Saturday.

Buckmaster’s time not only bettered Kurtis Roberts’ two-year-old mark of 0:55.755, it would have put Buckmaster second on the provisional Superbike grid, which led many competitors and one of Buckmaster’s own teammates to question its legitimacy.

“I know I rode my ass off and I did a 55.8,” said Buckmaster’s teammate Jamie Hacking. “I know a 54.7 is no way, no way. There’s no f**king way possible that motorcycle will go a 54 around here.”

“Absolutely,” said Buckmaster when asked if his lap was a legitimate lap. “It’s good that there’s a couple of riders thinking that (it’s not).”

Buckmaster explained, “Because the AMA took my Formula Xtreme time off me yesterday, which I did a 54.8, even though it still would’ve still put me second in qualifying for Formula Xtreme, there’s no way in the world that I was gonna short-cut the racetrack today in 600 qualifying. Because I knew regardless of if they called it an out-lap or an in-lap – no way! I’m staying right on the racetrack.”

Erion Honda’s Alex Gobert backed up his fourth-place finish in the last Supersport race at Road Atlanta by qualifying second Saturday with a time of 0:55.293 on his CBR600RR.

American Honda’s Miguel Duhamel qualified third with a 0:55.496, and Aaron Gobert, Alex’s older brother, earned the last spot on the front row with a time of 0:55.547 on his factory Yamaha YZF-R6.

The AMA Supersport qualifying session at Pikes Peak was the first test of a new method of splitting qualifying groups. Instead of splitting Supersport competitors by odd and even bike numbers, AMA Pro Racing split the riders into a fast group and a slow group based on practice times from Friday.

A quick survey of the top riders after the qualifying session found unanimous and enthusiastic approval of the new system.

Provisional Supersport Qualifying Results:

1. Damon Buckmaster, Yamaha, 54.706
2. Alex Gobert, Honda, 55.293
3. Miguel Duhamel, Honda, 55.496
4. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha, 55.547
5. Pascal Picotte, Yamaha, 55.602
6. Marty Craggill, Honda, 55.780
7. Jamie Hacking, Yamaha, 55.876
8. Jason DiSalvo, Yamaha, 55.921
9. Jake Zemke, Honda, 55.925
10. Ben Spies, Suzuki, 56.091
11. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki, 56.260
12. Thad Halsmer, Yamaha, 56.495
13. Tony Meiring, Kawasaki, 56.574

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