American Honda’s Miguel Duhamel kept his AMA Formula Xtreme Championship hopes alive by taking pole position, and the bonus Championship point that comes with it, in Friday’s qualifying session at Road Atlanta. Riding a CBR600RR fitted with a rear Dunlop qualifying tire, Duhamel turned an incredible time of 1:24.866, smashing his old lap record of 1:26.120. In fact, Duhamel’s Formula Xtreme qualifying time would have put him eighth in Superbike qualifying, ahead of factory Ducati rider Eric Bostrom. “I had to do this to stay alive in the Championship,” said Duhamel, after taking his fifth pole position of the 2005 Formula Xtreme season. “There was no choice. If I (didn’t) get this pole point there’s no way tomorrow we even have a shot. I’m really pleased that I was able to go out there and ride with everything I’ve got.” Duhamel must lead the most laps and win Saturday’s Formula Xtreme finale to win the Championship, if his teammate and the current Championship leader Jake Zemke finishes second. Zemke is aiming to finish the Championship with a win, and therefore spent Friday afternoon’s 50-minute qualifying session working on his CBR600RR’s race set up. Zemke still qualified second with a 1:25.460. Third-fastest Friday afternoon was Team M4 EMGO Suzuki’s Michael Barnes, who turned a 1:26.497 on his Pirelli-shod GSX-R600. Attack Kawasaki’s Ben Attard earned the final spot on the front row with a time of 1:26.891 on his Dunlop-equipped ZX-6RR. Provisional AMA Formula Xtreme Qualifying Results: 1. Miguel Duhamel, Honda, 1:24.866 2. Jake Zemke, Honda, 1:25.460 3. Michael Barnes, Suzuki, 1:26.497 4. Ben Attard, Kawasaki, 1:26.891 5. Chris Peris, Yamaha, 1:27.758 6. Chris “Opie” Caylor, Suzuki, 1:27.765 7. Nicky Moore, Yamaha, 1:27.880 8. Robert Jensen, Yamaha, 1:28.483 9. Ryan Andrews, Ducati, 1:28.487 10. Alex Gobert, Honda, 1:28.600 11. Danny Eslick, Suzuki, 1:28.648 12. Mike Hale, Honda, 1:29.015 13. Mike Ciccotto, Suzuki, 29.073 14. Taylor Knapp, Yamaha, 1:30.088 15. Mike Smith, Suzuki, 1:30.279 16. Nathan Hester, Yamaha, 1:30.649 17. Ryan Elleby, Suzuki, 1:30.797 18. Armando Ferrer, Yamaha, 1:30.797 19. Victor Chirinos, Yamaha, 1:31.021 20. Shea Fouchek, Suzuki, 1:31.188 21. Myron Bell, Suzuki, 1:31.416 22. Dominic Jones, Suzuki, 1:34.062 23. Derek Keyes, Triumph Daytona, 1:34.875 24. Rodolfo Ramirez, Suzuki, 1:34.933 112% of fast time: 1:35.050 25. Mark Kittel, Honda, 1:35.520 More, from a press release issued by Team M4 EMGO Suzuki: BARNES QUALIFIES THIRD FOR ROAD ATLANTA FORMULA XTREME FINALE Team M4 EMGO Suzuki enjoyed a successful first day of the 2005 AMA season finale at Road Atlanta. Michael Barnes rounded out a strong outing by the team on Friday by locking up a front row grid position for Saturday’s Formula Xtreme contest at the end of the day. Barnes posted the third fastest mark in the FX qualifying session, stopping the clocks at 1:26.497 aboard his Pirelli slick-shod GSX-R600. Afterwards, the Floridian was pleased to have claimed yet another front row grid position but admitted there’s still room for improvement. Barnes will attempt to claim his second Formula Xtreme podium finish of the season. Barnes said, “We’ve made progress this weekend and I’ve been happy with the progress that we’ve made. We’ve got some things to try in the morning.” He continued, “We’ve been going stiffer and stiffer and stiffer on the suspension this weekend. I thought we had a pretty good baseline coming here, but we’ve been struggling a bit to get really comfortable. I feel like I’m working really hard to get these times. But the M4 EMGO Suzuki has run well ever since I got on it. The thing is a missile — I can hang with the factory bikes down the straightaways — I’m just struggling a bit with the suspension. I hope I can make a big gain by tomorrow because I plan to hang with the front pack.” Barnes was also impressive in the morning’s Superstock free practice. He muscled his fire-breathing GSX-R1000 around the 2.52-mile circuit with a fast lap of 1:24.759, the fourth best time of the session. Teammate Geoff May was solidly in the mix on Friday as well. He was seventh quick aboard both his big GSX-R in Superstock (1:25.492) and his middleweight GSX-R600 in Supersport (1:28.199). The Georgian was the fastest Suzuki-mounted rider in the Supersport practice at his home track. Saturday’s schedule is jam-packed, with final qualifying taking place in Superstock and Supersport and the 60K Formula Xtreme final finishing up the day’s activities.