Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.
Robert Jensen, Steve Rapp and Vincent Haskovec each earned a Formula USA pole position during qualifying Saturday afternoon at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama.
Riding his Butler Machinery Yamaha YZF-R6, Jensen claimed the Sportbike pole with a time of 1:30.149, nearly a half-second faster the next-fastest qualifier, Vesrah Suzuki’s Brian Stokes. Argo Cycles’ Scott Greenwood qualified third on his Yamaha, while Corona Extra Suzuki’s Ben Attard took the final spot on the front row, in spite of crashing his GSX-R600 halfway through the short session.
Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki’s Vincent Haskovec used his AMA Formula Xtreme GSX-R600 to record a time of 1:28.670 in Superbike qualifying, topping the next-fastest man, Jensen, by a huge, 1.6-second margin. Riding a Team Celtic Yamaha YZF-R6, former AMA 250cc Grand Prix regular Simon Turner qualified third in only his second weekend racing a 600cc production machine in the last eight years. Arclight Suzuki’s Chris Ulrich showed the field he is working back to full health by qualifying fourth.
Haskovec’s teammate Steve Rapp turned a 1:29.694 on his GSX-R750 to edge out Jensen by a half-second for the Formula Sportbike pole position. Stokes and Ulrich will complete the front row of the grid for Sunday’s final.
Jensen, Haskovec and Rapp all used Michelin tires.
Due to problems with Formula USA’s timing and scoring computer, the times from Thunderbike qualifying were thrown out and the field will be gridded by points for Sunday’s race.
This was good news for Harding Harley-Davidson/Buell’s Bryan Bemisderfer, the current class points leader, who tangled with teammate and defending Thunderbike Champion Dave Estok early in the qualifying session, causing both riders to crash. Bemisderfer accepted blame for the incident.
Both Bemisderfer and Estok walked away from the incident, but Estok suffered a concussion.
Starting next to Bemisderfer will be Suzuki SV650-rider Darren Danilowicz, Hal’s Performance Buell’s Dan Bilansky and Suzuki rider David Yaakov.
Due to delays in Saturday’s schedule, CCS Unlimited Grand Prix qualifying was canceled and USGPRU 125cc and 250cc qualifying was moved to Sunday morning.
Saturday’s Formula USA Qualifying Results:
Sportbike:
1. Robert Jensen (Yam YZF-R6), 1:30.149
2. Brian Stokes (Suz GSX-R600), 1:30.603
3. Scott Greenwood (Yam YZF-R6), 1:30.624
4. Ben Attard (Suz GSX-R600), 1:30.688, crash
5. Chris Ulrich (Suz GSX-R600), 1:30.811
6. Trey Yonce (Yam YZF-R6), 1:30.961
7. Scott Harwell (Suz GSX-R600), 1:31.059
8. Jeff Wood (Suz GSX-R600), 1:31.491
9. Simon Turner (Yam YZF-R6), 1:31.491, crash
10. Carlo Gagliardo (Yam YZF-R6), 1:31.520
11. Michael Himmelsbach (Yam YZF-R6), 1:31.598
12. Des Conboy (Yam YZF-R6), 1:32.153
13. William Meyers, III (Yam YZF-R6), 1:32.860
14. Justin Filice (Hon CBR600RR), 1:33.021
15. Jason Smith (Yam YZF-R6), 1:33.117
16. Matt Wait (Yam YZF-R6), 1:33.145
17. Joseph Arico (Yam YZF-R6), 1:33.359
18. Logan Young (Suz GSX-R600), 1:34.032
19. Brian Johnson (Yam YZF-R6), 1:35.434
20. Shane Kuehler (Yam YZF-R6), 1:35.499
21. Derek Keyes (Yam YZF-R6), 1:35.523
22. Nick Cummings (Hon CBR600RR), 1:36.186
23. Robert Hilliard (Yam YZF-R6), 1:36.379
24. J. Peterson, 1:36.675
25. Chad Bakkene (Yam YZF-R6), 1:38.010
26. K. Brown, 1:38.343
27. Ned Brown (Yam YZF-R6), 1:38.536
28. Leighton Patrick (Suz GSX-R600), 1:38.842
29. David Dalzell (Yam YZF-R6), 1:39.314
30. John Roop (Suz GSX-R600), 1:40.124
31. T. Smith, 1:43.647
Superbike:
1. Vincent Haskovec (Suz GSX-R600) 1:28.670
2. Robert Jensen (Yam YZF-R6), 1:30.288
3. Simon Turner (Yam YZF-R6), 1:30.668
4. Chris Ulrich (Suz GSX-R600), 1:30.728
5. Ben Attard (Suz GSX-R600), 1:30.765
6. Matt Wait (Yam YZF-R6), 1:31.036
7. Jeff Wood (Suz GSX-R600), 1:31.249
8. Scott Greenwood (Yam YZF-R6), 1:31.275
9. Michael Himmelsbach (Yam YZF-R6), 1:31.532
10. Trey Yonce (Yam YZF-R6), 1:31.615
11. Scott Harwell (Suz GSX-R600), 1:31.851
12. Carlo Gagliardo (Yam YZF-R6), 1:32.594
13. William Meyers, III (Yam YZF-R6), 1:33.303
14. Des Conboy (Yam YZF-R6), 1:33.338
15. Joseph Arico (Yam YZF-R6), 1:33.594
16. Logan Young (Suz GSX-R600), 1:33.691
17. Justin Filice (Hon CBR600RR), 1:34.209
18. Jason Smith (Yam YZF-R6), 1:34.897
19. Brian Johnson (Yam YZF-R6), 1:35.009
20. Barrett Long (Yam YZF-R6), 1:35.067
21. Shane Kuehler (Yam YZF-R6), 1:35.140
22. Nick Cummings (Hon CBR600RR), 1:35.320, mechanical
23. Kevin Gordon (Suz GSX-R600), 1:35.500
24. Ryan Patterson (Yam YZF-R6), 1:35.806
25. Ned Brown (Yam YZF-R6), 1:36.265
26. Brian Baker (Suz GSX-R600), 1:36.769
27. Robert Hilliard (Yam YZF-R6), 1:37.525
28. David Dalzell (Yam YZF-R6), 1:40.982
Formula Sportbike:
1. Steve Rapp (Suz GSX-R750), 1:29.694
2. Robert Jensen (Suz GSX-R750), 1:30.182
3. Brian Stokes (Suz GSX-R750), 1:30.478
4. Chris Ulrich (Suz GSX-R750), 1:30.824
5. Scott Harwell (Suz GSX-R750), 1:31.049
6. Scott Greenwood (Suz GSX-R750), 1:31.329
7. Logan Young (Suz GSX-R750), 1:31.763
8. Kevin Gordon (Suz GSX-R750), 1:34.159
9. S. Kuehler (Yam YZF-R6), 1:34.915
10. Brian Baker (Suz GSX-R750), 1:34.951
11. Dave Ebben (Suz GSX-R750), 1:34.955
12. Joe Riberio (Suz GSX-R750), 1:36.643
13. C. Bakkene, 1:36.885
14. T. Smith, 1:37.571
15. Matt Malterer (Suz GSX-R750), 1:37.949
16. David Dalzell, 1:40.663
17. J. Farrell, 1:42.657
18. E. Bingham, 1:42.741
Thunderbike:
No qualifying times to report