Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Yoshimura Suzuki’s Aaron Yates came back from a crash in Friday’s AMA Superbike qualifying session to snatch the pole position from Mat Mladin Saturday morning at Virginia International Raceway (VIR). Yates’ time of 1:25.071 came on the final lap of the final qualifying session, beating Mladin’s best time of 1:25.304.

Mladin’s time was good enough for the second slot on the grid.

Erion Honda’s Kurtis Roberts retained a spot on the front row by improving his time from Friday (1:26.486) with a 1:25.702 Saturday morning.

American Honda’s Miguel Duhamel took over one second off his time from Friday (1:27.099) with a 1:25.925 in the final qualifying session, good for the last front-row starting spot.

Giovanni Bussei, Jason Pridmore, Ben Bostrom and Jordan Szoke also improved their qualifying times in Saturday’s session, and will start from the second row of the grid.

Unofficial AMA Superbike Qualifying Results:

1. Aaron Yates, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:25.071
2. Mat Mladin, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:25.304
3. Kurtis Roberts, Honda RC51, 1:25.702
4. Miguel Duhamel, Honda RC51, 1:25.925
5. Giovanni Bussei, Ducati 998RS, 1:26.644
6. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:26.650
7. Ben Bostrom, Honda RC51, 1:26.758
8. Jordan Szoke, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:27.836
9. Shawn Higbee, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:27.945
10. Geoff May, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:27.992
11. Steve Rapp, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:28.203
12. Michael Barnes, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:28.212
13. Vincent Haskovec, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:29.052
14. Eric Wood, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:29.236
15. Jake Holden, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:29.377
16. John Haner, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:29.440
17. Matt Furtek, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:29.782
18. Chris Caylor, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:29.838
19. Mike Ciccotto, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:29.913
20. Jeremy Toye, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:30.121
21. Chris Ulrich, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:30.233
22. Scott Harwell, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:30.489
23. Andy Deatherage, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:30.771
24. Chris Voelker, Ducati 996, 1:30.786
25. Dean Mizdal, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:30.888
26. J.J. Roetlin, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:31.286
27. Brian Stokes, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:31.304
28. Doug Duane, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:31.425
29. Marco Martinez, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:31.487
30. Byron Barbour, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:31.618
31. Monte Nichols, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:31.675
32. Scott Jensen, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:31.744
33. Tom Wertman, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:31.931
34. Scott Carpenter, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:31.958
35. David Duprey, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:32.041
36. Robert Christman, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:32.068
37. Anthony Fania, Jr., Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:32.120
38. Rick Narup, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:32.447
39. Kevin Hanson, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:32.462
40. Chris Greer, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:32.646
41. Chuck Allen, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:32.673
42. Kevin Lehman, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:32.847
43. James Kerker, Honda CBR929RR, 1:33.094
44. Mickey Lane, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:33.928
45. David Bell, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:34.189
46. Jeremiah Johnson, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:34.421
47. Shane Gonyea, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:34.815
48. James Bonner, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:35.073

112 percent of fastest time: 1:35.280


Fastest trap speed: Kurtis Roberts, Honda RC51, 173.933 mph