Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Vesrah Suzuki’s John Jacobi turned a 2:40.253 late in the second, drier AMA Superstock qualifying session to apparently take the provisional pole position for Saturday’s 10-lap final, as shown on timing and scoring displays in the press room.

Later, AMA Pro Racing issued a sheet that showed Mike Ciccotto on pole at 2:36.551, followed by Tommy Hayden at 2:40.257 and Jacobi at 2:40.766.

Asked what happened, AMA Pro Racing Director of Timing & Scoring Ken Rogers said that spotters had radioed in that Tommy Hayden had short-cut the course between turns five and 13; Hayden did that to be able to start a flying lap before the 30-minute Superstock fast group qualifying session ended. By the time Timing & Scoring heard Hayden’s cut-through called in by spotters, Hayden had completed his final, fast lap. Timing & Scoring initially deleted Hayden’s fastest lap, but after double-checking on which lap Hayden short-cut the track, Hayden’s time of 2:40.257 was reinstated.

Mike Ciccotto’s fastest lap, a 2:36.551, was deleted automatically by the Timing & Scoring computer system. Rogers explained, “When we put into the system a minimum lap time, a lap faster than the minimum will be deleted automatically. As the rain increased this afternoon, we had edged our minimum up. As the sessions went on, it dried out, and we forgot to bring our minimum lap time back down.”

Ciccotto’s time came late in the drying session, and was reinstated after Ciccotto brought the problem to Rogers’ attention.

Rogers said that there would be one other revision.

Times from the second qualifying session now look like this:

1. Mike Ciccotto, Suzuki GSX-R750, 2:36.551
2. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 2:40.253
3. John Jacobi, Suzuki GSX-R750, 2:40.764
4. Jason DiSalvo, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:41.484
5. Mark Junge, Suzuki GSX-R750, 2:41.535
6. Josh Hayes, Suzuki GSX-R750, 2:$1.690
7. Steve Rapp, Suzuki GSX-R750, 2:42.076
8. Jamie Stauffer, Suzuki GSX-R600, 2:43.294
9. Vincent Haskovec, Suzuki GSX-R750, 2:43.586
10. Adam Fergusson, Suzuki GSX-R750, 2:43.740
11. Opie Caylor, Suzuki GSX-R750, 2:43.825
12. Chris Ulrich, Suzuki GSX-R750, 2:45.658
13. Jake Holden, Suzuki GSX-R750, 2:46.823
14. Tony Meiring, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 2:47.036
15. Jeremy Toye, Suzuki GSX-R750, 2:51.035
16. Steve Atlas, Suzuki GSX-R750, 2:55.192

Times from the first qualifying session now look like this:

1. Hawk Mazzotta, Suzuki GSX-R750, 2:49.716
2. Tom Wertman, Suzuki GSX-R750, 2:53.793
3. J.J. Roetlin, Suzuki GSX-R750, 2:54.811
4. John Haner, Suzuki GSX-R750, 2:55.191
5. Dr. Jeffrey Purk, Suzuki GSX-R750, 2:55.510
6. Matt Furtek, Suzuki GSX-R750, 2:57.319
7. Ruben Frankenfield, Suzuki GSX-R750, 2:57.962
8. Jason Peters, Suzuki GSX-R750, 2:59.023
9. Nathan Hester, Suzuki GSX-R750, 2:59.497
10. Jeff Bostrom, Suzuki GSX-R750, 2:59.658
11. James Kerker, Honda CBR600, 3:00.157
12. David Bell, Suzuki GSX-R750, 3:02.461
13. Eric Haugo, Suzuki GSX-R750, 3:06.576
14. Matt Malterer, Suzuki GSX-R750, 3:08.455
15. Eric Dooyema, Suzuki GSX-R750, 3:09.361
16. Peter Bohlig, Suzuki GSX-R600, 3:13.832
17. Michael Kosta, Suzuki GSX-R750, 3:15.295
18. Russ Intravartolo, Kawasaki ZX-7R, 3:17.201
19. Christopher Flores, Suzuki GSX-R600, 3:18.476
20. Jessica Zalusky, Suzuki GSX-R750, 3:21.003
21. Chad Rolland, Suzuki GSX-R750, 3:24.412
22. Michael Radke, Yamaha YZF-R6, 3:51.509

It stopped raining during Superstock qualifying, and as a result the faster Superstock qualifying group had a drier track than the first, slower group, and the course improved as the second session went on. On the last lap, a handful of riders jumped up the time order.

In the past, when the qualifying groups were separated by bike numbers, the grid would have been made up by alternating riders from each session. But according to the new fast-group/slow-group qualifying procedures, the Superstock grid at Road America will not be staggered.

The grid will be formed with the qualifying order of the faster group, then by the qualifying order of the slower group – even though Hawk Mazzotta, riding on a wetter track in one group, went faster than Jeremy Toye, riding on a drier track in the other group.


More, from a press release issued by Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki:

Rapp On A Charge At Wet Road America

Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki was back to full-strength on Friday at Road America, with all three riders in action and the team battling in three separate classes of AMA roadracing action in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

Steve Rapp headed the charge, overcoming inclement weather to qualify his Michelin-shod GSX-R750 on the second row for tomorrow’s 10-lap Superstock final. The 30-year-old Californian displayed considerable prowess to qualify sixth despite his relative lack of wet-weather experience. Of course, he’s hoping for more favorable conditions for the remainder of the weekend, a sentiment backed up by his second overall time in the dry morning practice.

“Lots going on today,” said Rapp, who also qualified 13th provisionally for the weekend’s dual Superbike finals. “We worked on getting a good set-up for the 1000. On the Superstock bike I think things went pretty well considering that growing up in California we don’t ride in the rain a lot. I’m looking forward to a dry race; the wet just doesn’t do this track justice. It’s one of my favorite tracks — fast and flowing.”

Meanwhile, teammate Chris Ulrich made a breakthrough with his race machine set-up on Friday. The 23-year-old and his crew made some radical changes to the front-end of his GSX-R750, which should enable Ulrich to improve upon his 11th place Friday Superstock standing throughout the remainder of this weekend and beyond.

He explained, “Today we switched forks and instantly I went faster. I had been struggling with the front quite a bit all year, which was getting me down. But the change made me comfortable again and allows me to readjust everything. I can go in deep again — I just have to re-expand my limits. Hopefully tomorrow will be dry and we will be able to refine the package even more. We’re going to go faster.”

He was almost able to do so on Friday. “We were jumping up at the end. I kept going faster, dropping two seconds a lap. One more lap and I could have jumped up further, but that’s just the way it goes.”

Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki teenager Matt Furtek made a welcome return to action today. The South Holland, Illinois-native was sixth best in Group 1 (22nd overall) of Friday’s Superstock qualifying.


More, from a press release issued by Marietta Motorsports:

1-888-FASTLAP RIDER CAYLOR QUALIFIES 11th AT ROAD AMERICA; STOKES CRASHES IN RAINY CONDITIONS

ELKHART LAKE, Wis.- 1-888-FASTLAP rider Opie Caylor qualified 11th for AMA Pro Racing’s Superstock race at Road America this weekend after crashing in a rainy Superbike qualifying session.

Caylor set a fast lap of 2:43.825 (87.899 mph) on his 1-888-FASTLAP/Team EMGO Taiwan Suzuki GSX-R750, giving him a starting position of 11th for Saturday’s race.

“We were about third in morning warm-up, so we were right where we wanted to be,” commented Caylor. “I went out in Superbike qualifying to get a feel for the rain, and I crashed on the second or third lap. I twisted my knee quite a bit, and bent my A bike up pretty bad, but I came in and rested, then went out on the B bike (in Superstock qualifying) and still qualified 11th.”

Stokes, another 1-888-FASTLAP rider, also crashed on the damp track, although he was quickly getting up to speed at Road America and was poised to set a fast qualifying time. Stokes was riding his first full lap of qualifying on his Team Embry Suzuki GSX-R750 when he crashed, so he was unable to post a time. He hopes to get a provisional spot on the grid for the race.

The 10-lap Superstock race will be the final event of the day on Saturday, June 7. It will get started following the Superbike race, which begins at 2:00, and 250 GP qualifying.

More information about 1-888-FASTLAP, Caylor and Stokes can be found on the Internet at www.1888FASTLAP.com.