Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin was on his A-game Friday at the Suzuki Superbike Showdown AMA event at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia.

Mladin started Friday afternoon’s 30-minute qualifying session by stringing together eight consecutive laps in the low-to-mid-1:23 bracket (breaking the old lap record of 1:23.520 on three consecutive laps) on a possible race tire, before mounting a Dunlop qualifier to lower the lap record to 1:22.917 and taking provisional pole for the double-header Superbike event.

“This is the best GSX-R1000 I’ve ridden in the last two years,” confidently said Mladin. “The engine is now as good as we had last year. It took us 12 months to get it there, but we’re back to where it was before the rule changes. Suzuki and Yoshimura have been working hard to get the most out of this motorcycle.”

Yoshimura Suzuki Team Manager Don Sakakura wouldn’t go into the specifics of what was changed on Mladin’s GSX-R1000 between the Mid-Ohio and Road Atlanta rounds, saying, “It’s the combination of a lot of little upgrades.”

The most noticeable change to Mladin’s Suzuki is a new fairing with smaller, reshaped ram-air intake openings which are designed to provide “more consistent airbox pressure,” but Sakakura said the gain from the new intakes was “very minimal.”

American Honda’s Miguel Duhamel was second-fastest with a final lap of 1:23.010 on his works CBR1000RR, just two ticks quicker than his teammate Ben Bostrom, who was third-quick with a 1:23.354. Bostrom spent most of the session second behind Mladin.

Erion Honda’s Jake Zemke earned the final spot on the provisional front row with a 1:23.575 on his CBR1000RR.

Attack Kawasaki’s Josh Hayes was fifth with a 1:23.974 on his factory-supported ZX-10R. Mladin’s teammate Aaron Yates turned the sixth-fastest time of 1:24.127 on his GSX-R1000. Ducati Austin’s Eric Bostrom was seventh with a 1:24.357 on his Michelin-shod Ducati 999. The final spot on the provisional second row and top privateer honors went to Prieto Racing’s Geoff May, who turned a 1:25.559 on his Pirelli-equipped Suzuki GSX-R1000.


Friday Afternoon’s Provisional AMA Superbike Qualifying Results:

1. Mat Mladin, Suz GSX-R1000, 1:22.917*
2. Miguel Duhamel, Hon CBR1000RR, 1:23.010
3. Ben Bostrom, Hon CBR1000RR, 1:23.354
4. Jake Zemke, Hon CBR1000RR, 1:23.575
5. Josh Hayes, Kaw ZX-10R, 1:23.974
6. Aaron Yates, Suz GSX-R1000, 1:24.127
7. Eric Bostrom, Duc 999F04, 1:24.357
8. Geoff May, Suz GSX-R1000, 1:25.559
9. Larry Pegram, Yam YZF-R1, 1:25.776
10. John Haner, Suz GSX-R1000, 1:25.821
11. Shawn Higbee, Suz GSX-R1000, 1:26.210
12. Jason Pridmore, Suz GSX-R1000, 1:26.714
13. Lee Acree, Suz GSX-R1000, 1:26.885
14. Brian Stokes, Suz GSX-R1000, 1:27.220
15. Chris Caylor, Suz GSX-R1000, 1:27.491
16. Marty Craggill, Suz GSX-R1000, 1:27.611
17. Mike Smith, Yam YZF-R1, 1:27.649
18. Chuck Sorensen, Yam YZF-R1, 1:27.817
19. Eric Wood, Suz GSX-R1000, 1:28.433
20. Jake Holden, Suz GSX-R1000, 1:28.451
21. David Weber, Suz GSX-R1000, 1:28.485
22. Scott Greenwood, Suz GSX-R1000, 1:28.658
23. Jeff Tigert, Hon CBR1000RR, 1:28.514
24. Jeremy Toye, Yam YZF-R1, 1:28.601
25. Byron Barbour, Suz GSX-R1000, 1:28.607
26. Jesse Janisch, Suz GSX-R1000, 1:28.957
27. Andy Deatherage, Suz GSX-R1000, 1:29.061
28. Heath Small, Yam YZF-R1, 1:29.121
29. Cory West, Suz GSX-R1000, 1:29.590
30. J.J. Roetlin, Suz GSX-R1000, 1:29.813
31. Ruben Frankenfield, Suz GSX-R1000, 1:29.911
32. Jason Curtis, Suz GSX-R1000, 1:29.985
33. C.R. Gittere, Suz GSX-R1000, 1:30.030
34. Roger Bell, Suz GSX-R1000, 1:30.069
35. Matt Lynn, Suz GSX-R1000, 1:30.234
36. Scott Jensen, Hon CBR1000RR, 1:30.581
37. Mark Ledesma, Hon CBR1000RR, 1:30.595
38. Dean Mizdal, Suz GSX-R1000, 1:30.721
39. David Bell, Suz GSX-R1000, 1:31.096
40. Anthony Fania, Suz GSX-R1000, 1:31.288
41. James Kerker, Hon CBR1000RR, 1:31.320
42. Kevin Pate, Yam YZF-R1, 1:32.374
43. Jeremiah Johnson, Suz GSX-R1000, 1:33.448
44. Lenny Beckman, Suz GSX-R1000, 1:33.690
45. Roland Williams, Suz GSX-R1000, 1:33.734
46. James Bonner, Yam YZF-R1, 1:37.676
47. Chris Ulrich, Suz GSX-R1000, no time
48. Jimmy Moore, Suz GSX-R1000, no time


More, from a press release issued by Mat Mladin Motorsports:

NEW LAP RECORD EARNS MLADIN ROAD ATLANTA AMERICAN SUPERBIKE PROVISIONAL POLE POSITION

Braselton, Georgia, USA (Friday, September 3) – With a string of sub lap record times, Australian Mat Mladin controlled the opening qualifying session for this weekend’s double header round of the American AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship and emerged with provisional pole position for the event.

Thirty two year old Mladin lowered his own track record setting a new mark of 1-min 22.917-secs for the 4.087km (2.54miles) Georgian circuit, well under his previous best of 1:23.520 set last year.

The four times American Superbike champion and current points leader proved to be the man to chase as he powered his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 to the fastest time during the morning’s free practice session, before returning later in the afternoon to dominate the afternoon’s opening 30-minute qualifying session.

“Everything worked out well for us today,” said Mladin. “The team has put a very good package together for us today, with a lot of that being credit for a lot of hard work that they have put in over the past six-week break.”

“We had a good test here after the last round at Mid-Ohio and they made further improvements to the bike and those results showed today. We felt confident after that test, so it’s always a good thing to know that you have been able to go away, make some changes and see that they work.”

“We also have to give Suzuki a lot of credit as they are getting right behind us now, which is great leading into these final two rounds.”

“As for today, we went through a number of tyres that gave us some very good results, but that won’t stop us chasing a few more things in tomorrow morning’s session.”

Mladin led a trio of Honda’s who make up the provisional front row of the grid. Miguel DuHamel posted the second fastest time of the session with a 1:23.010, pushing teammate Ben Bostrom (1:23.354) to third in the closing minutes. Completing the front row is Jake Zemke with a best of 1:23.575

With just four races remaining in this year’s championship, Mladin heads into tomorrow’s first Superbike national of the weekend holding a 21-point advantage at the top of the points table over Zemke. With the AMA awarding additional points for earning pole position and then for the rider who leads the most number of laps in the race, every point is critical at this stage of the season.

Qualifying wraps up tomorrow morning with another 30-minute session, before the field takes to the circuit for the opening race later that afternoon.


More, from a press release issued by Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin:

BOSTROM ON PROVISIONAL SECOND ROW AT ROAD ATLANTA

Braselton (Georgia) – September 3, 2004: Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin’s Eric Bostrom qualified seventh at Road Atlanta, setting a time of 1:24.357 in the half-hour afternoon session in the Georgia heat. The fan favorite had been fifth in the morning’s hour-long session at the 2.54 mile (4.09 km) track located just outside of the metro Atlanta area, but dropped two spots in qualifying.

“We were off to a little bit of a slow start, but we’re working to get it sorted out,” said the 27-year-old from Las Vegas, Nevada. “I thought we had a good base setting from when we tested here.

“In the qualifying session we found a setting that worked pretty well and the tires were great. They offered some more suspension damping and held their own in the turns and we could do mid-1:24 on race tires. Still, I want more. I think we need to drop about a half second with a better set-up for tomorrow.” Bostrom tried a different front end suspension setting today at Road Atlanta.

“We’re looking to cut some time for tomorrow, but things look promising,” said Racing Manager Tom Bodenbach. “We’ll think about it tonight and see what we can come up with.”

Final qualifying concludes tomorrow morning with race 1 (25 laps – 100 km) of the weekend doubleheader scheduled for 4:00 EDT.