Updated Post: Mladin Grabs Provisional AMA Superbike Pole Position With New Lap Record At Barber

Updated Post: Mladin Grabs Provisional AMA Superbike Pole Position With New Lap Record At Barber

© 2006, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

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Six-time and defending AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin topped qualifying Friday at Barber Motorsports Park, in Birmingham, Alabama to take the provisional AMA Superbike pole position. With severe thunderstorms approaching quickly (within sight of the racetrack during the session), Mladin went straight to work on his Dunlop-race-tire-equipped Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000, turning a 1:24.943 on his seventh flying lap of the undulating 2.3-mile road course — a new lap record. “I think that lap time will go fairly easily in the morning, if it’s dry,” said Mladin, when asked by reporters if he thought his lap time would hold up for pole position during Saturday morning’s final qualifying session. “Honda requested that Dunlop bring soft tires from now on so we can all qualify on soft tires, which we all sort of had an agreement that wasn’t going to happen, probably for the last couple of years, I guess. I didn’t want to use qualifiers, but soft tires have come back into the game now since Honda requested them. So we all have to deal with them now. Tomorrow, I’m sure, soft tires will come out, so if that lap time isn’t broken we’ve obviously messed up a lap.” “It’s pretty hard to speculate, to be honest with you,” continued Mladin, when asked if he would speculate why Honda would want to bring back special qualifying tires. “I couldn’t really understand it, simply because if they get soft tires we get them. So is it really going to make any difference in the end? I don’t know. To me, that really doesn’t make much sense. It means we’ve got to waste a bunch of our time, which is very limited these days, especially at these double-headers, to go and run soft tires. Silly, especially when everyone out there rides on Dunlops.” Also anticipating rain during the session, Mladin’s teammate and main challenger Ben Spies used a “softer” rear Dunlop race tire to turn a 1:25.139, before continuing to work on his race set-up for the remainder of the 40-minute session. Kawasaki’s Roger Hayden put in a late lap of 1:26.116 on his ZX-10R to claim the third spot on the provisional front row, just quicker than American Honda’s Miguel Duhamel, who turned a 1:26.142 on his CBR1000RR. After struggling in Friday morning practice, Duhamel’s teammate Jake Zemke (1:26.192) re-discovered his rhythm and ended up fifth. Parts Unlimited Ducati’s Neil Hodgson’s 1:26.206 on his factory 999 Superbike ranked him sixth in the session. Tommy Hayden, the older brother and teammate of Roger Hayden, turned the seventh-fastest lap time (1:26.345) on his ZX-10R. Hodgson’s teammate Ben Bostrom (1:26.572) shaved 1.6 seconds off his time in Friday morning practice and ended up eighth-fastest. Third Yoshimura Suzuki rider Aaron Yates (1:26.586) and Millennium KWS Suzuki’s John Haner (1:27.043), the fastest non-Dunlop qualifier on his Pirelli-shod GSX-R1000, rounded out the top 10 qualifiers Friday afternoon. Shortly after Superbike qualifying ended it started to rain at Barber Motorsports Park. AMA Superbike Championship Barber Motorsports Park Birmingham, Alabama April 21 Friday’s Provisional Qualifying Results: 1. Mat Mladin (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:24.943 2. Ben Spies (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:25.139 3. Roger Hayden (Kaw ZX-10R) 1:26.116 4. Miguel Duhamel (Hon CBR1000RR) 1:26.142 5. Jake Zemke (Hon CBR1000RR) 1:26.192 6. Neil Hodgson (Duc 999F06) 1:26.206 7. Tommy Hayden (Kaw ZX-10R) 1:26.345 8. Ben Bostrom (Duc 999F06) 1:26.572 9. Aaron Yates (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:26.586 10. John Haner (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:27.043 11. Larry Pegram (Hon CBR1000RR) 1:27.470 12. Pascal Picotte (Yam YZF-R1) 1:28.013 13. Jake Holden (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:28.230 14. Jason Curtis (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:28.287 15. Jason Pridmore (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:28.339 16. Francis Martin (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:28.468 17. Steve Rapp (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:28.720 18. Eric Wood (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:28.892 19. Jordan Szoke (Kaw ZX-10R) 1:29.013 20. Matt Lynn (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:29.084 21. Clint McBain (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:29.291 22. Cory West (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:29.810 23. Brad Hendry (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:29.921 24. Kevin Lacombe (Yam YZF-R1) 1:30.091 25. Brian Stokes (Yam YZF-R1) 1:30.190 26. Andi Notman (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:30.474 27. Mike Sullivan (Yam YZF-R1) 1:30.474 28. Taylor Knapp (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:30.841 29. Akira Tamitsuji (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:30.925 30. Michael Sanchez (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:30.966 31. James Stroud (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:31.229 32. James Kerker (Hon CBR1000RR) 1:31.348 33. Dean Mizdal (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:31.731 34. Dominic Jones (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:32.007 35. Scott Carpenter (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:32.162 36. C.R. Gittere (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:32.162 37. Matt Furtek (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:32.893 38. Fernando Armantini (Kaw ZX-10R) 1:32.950 39. Marco Martinez (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:33.000 40. Victor Chirinos (Kaw ZX-10R) 1:33.571 41. Armando Ferrer (Kaw ZX-10R) 1:33.974 42. Ricardo Sune (Kaw ZX-10R) 1:34.132 43. Reno Karimian (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:35.187 More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse: HODGSON COMPETITIVE IN BIRMINGHAM QUALIFYING FIGHT Leeds (Alabama) 21 April 2006: Parts Unlimited Ducati pilot Neil Hodgson qualified sixth in the first of two Birmingham Superbike Qualifying sessions on Friday, but the Isle of Man resident was less than one tenth off third place in a hotly contested battle. Teammate Ben Bostrom felt ill, but put his Ducati 999 in eighth spot nonetheless. On the day, the riders competed against each other and the weather as five spots inside the top ten were separated by just over half a second. Just as the session ended, the rains that had threatened the entire 50 minutes of qualifying and forced riders to go for their best times early finally fell. “Not too bad, not too bad, really. It’s hard work around here for us, as always,” said the 2003 World Superbike Champion Hodgson. “It’s close, and it’s going to be a good season I think, better than last year. It’s a shame the two Suzuki guys Mladin and Spies are out front a little bit. After those two guys, we have quite a level playing field out there. I’m pumped about the season and tomorrow. We have a direction we’re going to go in for tomorrow and I’ll be ‘hell for leather’, as they say, really going for it. I don’t feel like I’m sixth in line, a million miles a way. I’m just a tenth or so off third. We’re in the ballpark.” Bostrom struggled on Friday but put in a valiant effort to stay as close as he could to the leaders. The former series champ managed to get in quite a few laps despite his physical condition. “I was under the weather all day. I could barely do 1:28s in the morning, but I felt better in the afternoon and was able to cut a second and a half off the times,” said Bostrom. “We’ll need to cut another second and a half off tomorrow to the man on pole but we’re not so far behind the others, fortunately. Tomorrow, we will go to work in the morning and try to jump up a few spots for qualifying. Then it’s time to race!” Tomorrow’s 28-lap Superbike race begins at 3:50 local time.

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