Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

American Honda’s Miguel Duhamel solidified his claim to the AMA Superbike pole position at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin by improving on his Friday qualifying time, 2:13.976, to 2:13.346 during final qualifying Saturday morning.

It is the first pole position for Duhamel in 2004 and only the ninth AMA Superbike pole position of his long career.
“We tried a little different set-up, and that wasn’t the key. But that’s testing, that’s riding. And we tried this and we tried that, and basically, we just went back to the bike we had yesterday. It was, obviously, working good. Then I just went out with the qualifier,” Duhamel told reporters about his session. “Yesterday, I took it, I wouldn’t say easy, but I just tried to hit my lines and do a good lap and it came out good. It was a little surprising. Today, I tried the same but I put a little more emphasis. There was a little bit of fear. I didn’t know who might come up. I thought that 2:13.9 might not be enough to get pole. I just went out there and put a good lap together. I was really pleased with that.”

Duhamel was right in his suspicion that his 2:13.9 wouldn’t be enough to retain the pole position, as Erion Honda’s Jake Zemke turned a 2:13.707 on his final lap even though he still wasn’t completely happy with his bike set-up.

“We went out there, and same thing as yesterday – jumping on and off different bikes and trying different things, not really getting much time in on the bike. The only real lap I did was that last lap there,” said Zemke, who qualified second. “I was looking for something a little bit better, and we haven’t found that yet. I think we’ll be good enough to be in the race, for sure.”

Duhamel’s teammate Ben Bostrom mounted his qualifying tire too late to get a fast lap Friday but was able to run a 2:14.704 on a qualifier Saturday to earn the third spot on the grid. He told reporters that he’s hoping to latch onto Duhamel and Zemke to find speed in the race.

Saying he simply cannot do 2:13s no matter what tire he uses due his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000’s lack of speed relative to the factory Hondas, Mat Mladin qualified fourth with a 2:15.170. Mladin, however, was able to do 2:15s consistently on his race tires.

Mladin’s teammate Aaron Yates made improvements to the front end of his GSX-R1000, which allowed him to improve his qualifying time from 2:16.726 on Friday to a fifth-fastest 2:15.184 Saturday.

Attack Kawasaki’s Josh Hayes utilized a new, more powerful engine configuration, built for him at the track Friday by Crew Chief Richard Stanboli, to qualify sixth with a 2:15.589 on his ZX-10R.

Eric Bostrom crashed when the brakes on his Ducati Austin 999 Superbike failed in turn 14 on the first lap of qualifying Saturday. Bostrom was able to continue in the session on his back-up bike, but he was unable to improve on the 2:15.990 he turned Friday. Eric Bostrom will start both races at Road America from the seventh grid spot.

Multi-time Canadian Superbike Champion Steve Crevier earned the final spot on the second row of the grid with a 2:17.459, turned on his Diablo DXS Suzuki GSX-R1000.

Saturday’s Provisional AMA Superbike Qualifying Results:

1. Miguel Duhamel, Honda CBR1000RR, 2:13.346
2. Jake Zemke, Honda CBR1000RR, 2:13.707
3. Ben Bostrom, Honda CBR1000RR, 2:14.703
4. Mat Mladin, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:15.170
5. Aaron Yates, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:15.184
6. Josh Hayes, Kawasaki ZX-10R, 2:15.590
7. Eric Bostrom, Ducati 999F04, 2:16.387
8. Steve Crevier, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:17.459
9. Larry Pegram, Yamaha YZF-R1, 2:18.358
10. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:18.476
11. Geoff May, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:18.507
12. Pascal Picotte, Yamaha YZF-R1, 2:18.507
13. Lee Acree, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:19.280
14. Shawn Higbee, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:19.484
15. Jake Holden, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:19.705
16. Chris Caylor, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:19.977
17. Eric Wood, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:19.982
18. John Haner, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:20.795
19. Jeremy Toye, Yamaha YZF-R1, 2:20.976
20. J.J. Roetlin, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:21.369
21. Andy Deatherage, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:22.433
22. Roger Bell, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:22.605
23. Mike Sullivan, Yamaha YZF-R1, 2:23.031
24. David Bell, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:23.557
25. Greg Fryer, Yamaha YZF-R1, 2:29.315


Combined AMA Superbike Qualifying Results:

1. Miguel Duhamel, Honda CBR1000RR, 2:13.346
2. Jake Zemke, Honda CBR1000RR, 2:13.707
3. Ben Bostrom, Honda CBR1000RR, 2:14.704
4. Mat Mladin, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:15.170
5. Aaron Yates, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:15.184
6. Josh Hayes, Kawasaki ZX-10R, 2:15.589
7. Eric Bostrom, Ducati 999F04, 2:15.990
8. Steve Crevier, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:17.459
9. Jake Holden, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:17.710
10. Larry Pegram, Yamaha YZF-R1, 2:18.358
11. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:18.476
12. Geoff May, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:18.507
13. Pascal Picotte, Yamaha YZF-R1, 2:18.663
14. Shawn Higbee, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:18.936
15. Lee Acree, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:19.280
16. Chris Caylor, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:19.725
17. Eric Wood, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:19.982
18. Jeremy Toye, Yamaha YZF-R1, 2:20.758
19. John Haner, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:20.796
20. J.J. Roetlin, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:21.368
21. David Weber, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:21.885
22. John Jacobi, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:22.248
23. Andy Deatherage, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:22.431
24. Dave Ebben, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:22.579
25. Roger Bell, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:22.605
26. Mike Sullivan, Yamaha YZF-R1, 2:23.031
27. David Bell, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:23.503
28. Chris Voelker, Ducati 996, 2:23.614
29. Robert Christman, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:24.014
30. Cory West, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:24.246
31. Dean Mizdal, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:24.289
32. Jason Curtis, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:24.406
33. C.R. Gittere, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:24.461
34. Marco Martinez, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:24.487
35. Reuben Frankenfield, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:24.606
36. Scott Jensen, Honda CBR1000RR, 2:24.617
37. Jack Pfeifer, Honda CBR1000RR, 2:24.853
38. Jeremiah Johnson, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:25.489
39. Kevin Hanson, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:25.685
40. Brian Boyd, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:25.920
41. Paul Ducato, Yamaha YZF-R1, 2:26.296
42. Lenny Beckman, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:26.387
43. James Kerker, Honda CBR1000RR, 2:26.413

110 percent of fast time: 2:26.680

44. Matt Drucker, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:27.107
45. A.J. Ammann, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:27.136
46. Corey Sarros, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:27.409
47. Kevin Lehman, Yamaha YZF-R1, 2:27.486
48. Greg Fryer, Yamaha YZF-R1, 2:27.905
49. Darby Brauning, Yamaha YZF-R1, 2:30.061