Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin earned the provisional AMA Superbike pole position Friday during qualifying at California Speedway in Fontana, California.

Riding his GSX-R1000 around the 2.36-mile, 17-turn infield road course, Mladin turned a 1:25.157, just off his track record of 1:25.123, and Mladin did it easily – in fading darkness, with rain sprinkling and without the aid of a qualifying tire.

“I didn’t need it today,” said Mladin, calmly answering reporters’ questions on why he chose not to use a qualifying tire. The four-time Champion described his laps during the session as “not fliers, just laps.”

“We went quicker than that in testing here, so we know what we can do with a qualifying tire,” Mladin continued.

Mladin complimented the hard work of Showa and Dunlop over the off-season but said his Suzuki was 4 mph slower through California Speedway’s speed traps versus last year and felt “like a big Supersport bike” coming off the turns.

“It’s slow, but it does work good,” said Mladin.

Riding their factory Honda CBR1000RRs, Ben Bostrom, Jake Zemke and Miguel Duhamel earned the second, third and fourth positions on the provisional front row, respectively.

Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin’s Eric Bostrom was fifth-fastest, the last of the full-factory Superbike riders.

Final AMA Superbike qualifying is set for Saturday morning.


Friday’s Provisional AMA Superbike Qualifying Results From California Speedway:

1. Mat Mladin, Suzuki, 1:25.157
2. Ben Bostrom, Honda, 1:26.556
3. Jake Zemke, Honda, 1:26.716
4. Miguel Duhamel, Honda, 1:27.085
5. Eric Bostrom, Ducati, 1:27.627
6. Geoff May, Suzuki, 1:28.475
7. Chris Caylor, Suzuki, 1:28.583
8. Josh Hayes, Kawasaki, 1:28.593
9. Larry Pegram, Yamaha, 1:28.775
10. Shawn Higbee, Suzuki, 1:29.015
11. John Haner, Suzuki, 1:29.826
12. Marty Craggill, Suzuki, 1:30.293
13. Eric Wood, Suzuki, 1:30.512
14. Jeremy Toye, Yamaha, 1:30.716
15. Clint McBain, Suzuki, 1:30.845
16. Jeff Williams, Suzuki, 1:30.859
17. Lee Acree, Suzuki, 1:30.997
18. Chris Siglin, Yamaha, 1:31.059
19. Scott Jensen, Suzuki, 1:31.102
20. Steve Crevier, Suzuki, 1:31.254
21. Jason Curtis, Suzuki, 1:31.314
22. Cory West, Suzuki, 1:31.738
23. J.J. Roetlin, Suzuki, 1:31.877
24. Mark Ledesma, Honda, 1:32.021
25. Rob Mesa, Suzuki, 1:32.148
26. Craig Connell, Suzuki, 1:32.203
27. Garry Combs, Suzuki, 1:32.243
28. Corey Sarros, Suzuki, 1:32.626
29. Dean Mizdal, Suzuki, 1:32.807
30. A.J. Ammann, Suzuki, 1:32.902
31. Jack Pfeifer, Honda, 1:33.003
32. Lenny Beckman, Suzuki, 1:33.337
33. David Bell, Suzuki, 1:33.534
34. Kim Nakashima, Suzuki, 1:33.551
35. Robert Christman, Suzuki, 1:33.609
36. Jeremiah Johnson, Suzuki, 1:33.678
37. James Kerker, Honda, 1:34.365
38. John Scott Wilson, Suzuki, 1:34.538
39. Kevin Hanson, Suzuki, 1:35.065


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

PROVISIONAL AMERICAN SUPERBIKE POLE POSITION FOR MLADIN AT FONTANA

Fontana, California, USA (Friday 2 April) – Defending American Superbike champion Mat Mladin had set the fastest time in today’s opening qualifying session to claim provisional pole position for this weekend’s double header round of the 2004 American AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship being held at California Speedway, Fontana, California.

Mladin blasted his Yoshimura GSX-R1000 to a time of 1:25.157 on his seventh of twelve laps completed in the session and was fractionally outside of his own existing lap record of 1:25.123 for the 3.70km / 2.30 miles Californian circuit.

The four times American Superbike champion had set the pace in both of the morning’s free practice sessions and wasted no time in getting down to business as he rolled off a 1:25.859 on just his third lap. By the conclusion he was the only rider to have dropped his times into the 1:25 bracket.

A brace of factory Honda’s filled the remaining three positions on the provisional front row, with Ben Bostrom (American Honda) reeling off a last lap time of 1:25.556 to grab second, 1.399 seconds adrift of Mladin’s time. Third fastest was Jake Zemke (Erion Honda, 1:26.716) followed by Miguel DuHamel (American Honda, 1:27.085).

“Everything went fine for us out there today,” said Mladin. “We got down to business fairly quickly which is always a good thing. The recent track time that we have had here has been a benefit that for sure as we were straight onto the pace this morning. We’ll be looking at a few minor changes for tomorrow’s final qualifying session and then work on finalising our race set up for tomorrow afternoon.”

Qualifying for rounds two and three of this year’s AMA Superbike Championship concludes tomorrow morning with the first of the weekend’s two 28-lap (100km) Superbike nationals being held later in the afternoon.


More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

BOSTROM PROVISIONAL FIFTH OVERALL IN DAMP QUALIFYING

Fontana (California) – April 2, 2004: Light rains during qualifying prevented Eric Bostrom from capitalizing upon gains made in morning practice aboard his Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin 999 at California Speedway.

“The track was getting dangerous,” commented 27-year-old Bostrom on the conditions. “It’s too bad about the weather because we made tremendous progress in the last session and unfortunately we didn’t get to improve on that.” During morning practice Bostrom’s 999 was fastest through the speed trap at 183.30 mph.

“We tested here in February and the tires are even better now that Michelin’s had a chance to see the track. We would’ve loved a dry session to really take another step forward, but I guess we’ll have to wait.”

Team owner Terry Gregoricka commented, “At least it looks like we’ll get a dry day tomorrow. We never even put on a qualifying tire; there was no point in having Eric push it under the conditions we had during qualifying.”

Qualifying concludes tomorrow morning with race 1 (100km – 28 laps) of the weekend doubleheader scheduled in the afternoon.