Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin collected his 27th career AMA Superbike pole position Saturday when his time of 1:23.520 from Friday afternoon’s session held up as the fastest time overall.

“Things are going well at the moment,” said Mladin. “When the motorcycle is working well you need to take advantage of it and take the wins when you can because this is such a tough series.”

Mladin told reporters that he didn’t really try for a faster lap time during Saturday morning’s qualifying session because “there were still damp sections on the track” and he didn’t know “how much to trust the paint lines” and because he didn’t think anyone else was capable of doing a 1:23.5 lap time.

Eric Bostrom said he was just turning laps and only decided late in the sessions to go for a faster time. The result was that Bostrom improved on his Friday time of 1:24.416 with a 1:23.944 on his last flying lap.

In the post-qualifying press conference, Bostrom said the track surprisingly “came good” and he put on a tire that worked really well. In fact, Bostrom added that after his fast lap he felt he didn’t take full advantage of the tire.

Asked if he felt confident that he could race at the front in today’s Superbike race, Bostrom said he felt confident he could.

Anthony Gobert’s 1:24.304 from Friday kept him in the third spot on the front row for both Superbike races.

Mladin’s teammate Aaron Yates improved on his time from Friday with a 1:24.321 Saturday, good enough for the final spot on the front row of the 50-rider grid.

Larry Pegram and Steve Rapp crashed in separate incidents during Saturday morning’s AMA Superbike qualifying sessions. Both riders appeared to relatively uninjured after their crashes. Rapp rode his Suzuki GSX-R1000 back to the pits.


Saturday’s 25-lap Superbike race starts at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.


Provisional AMA Superbike Qualifying Results:

1. Mat Mladin, Suzuki, 1:23.520*
2. Eric Bostrom, Kawasaki, 1:23.944
3. Anthony Gobert, Ducati, 1:24.304*
4. Aaron Yates, Suzuki, 1:24.321
5. Kurtis Roberts, Honda, 1:24.442
6. Ben Bostrom, Honda, 1:24.474*
7. Miguel Duhamel, Honda, 1:24.645*
8. Josh Hayes, Suzuki, 1:25.569
9. Larry Pegram, Ducati, 1:25.905*
10. Steve Rapp, Suzuki, 1:25.543*
11. Geoff May, Suzuki, 1:26.842
12. Jordan Szoke, Suzuki, 1:26.858*
13. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki, 1:26.962*
14. Chris Caylor, Suzuki, 1:27.098*
15. Michael Barnes, Suzuki, 1:27.412*
16. Chris Ulrich, Suzuki, 1:27.419
17. Eric Wood, Suzuki, 1:27.902
18. Mike Ciccotto, Suzuki, 1:27.932*
19. Adam Fergusson, Suzuki, 1:27.934
20. Jimmy Moore, Suzuki, 1:28.001
21. Shawn Higbee, Suzuki, 1:28.068*
22. Anthony Fania, Suzuki, 1:28.120
23. Jack Pfeifer, Suzuki, 1:28.161
24. Vincent Haskovec, Suzuki, 1:28.235*
25. Lee Acree, Suzuki, 1:28.507*
26. Brian Stokes, Suzuki, 1:28.555*
27. Matt Furtek, Suzuki, 1:28.565*
28. Andy Deatherage, Suzuki, 1:28.571*
29. John Dugan, Suzuki, 1:28.837*
30. Greg Moore, Suzuki, 1:28.948*
31. Rich Conicelli, Suzuki, 1:29.036*
32. John Haner, Suzuki, 1:29.198*
33. Brian Livengood, Suzuki, 1:29.608*
34. Scott Harwell, Suzuki, 1:29.696
35. Jake Holden, Suzuki, 1:30.013
36. Tom Wertman, Suzuki, 1:30.323
37. Scott Jensen, Suzuki, 1:30.582
38. J.J. Roetlin, Suzuki, 1:30.819*
39. Scott Carpenter, Suzuki, 1:30.822
40. Marco Martinez, Suuzki, 1:30.871
41. Chris Voelker, Ducati, 1:30.936
42. Doug Duane, Suzuki, 1:31.119*
43. Chuck Allen, Suzuki, 1:31.191*
44. Kevin Hanson, Suzuki, 1:31.625
45. Chuck Ivey, Suzuki, 1:31.643*
46. Jeff Muskopf, Suzuki, 1:31.791
47. Deam Mizdal, Suzuki, 1:31.890
48. Jason Knupp, Suzuki, 1:32.495*
49. Rick Narup, Suzuki, 1:32.999*
50. Mike Johnston, Suzuki, 1:33.321*
112 percent of fast time: 1:33.542
DNQ. Rick Shaw, Suzuki, 1:34.292*
DNQ. Michael Hanley, Suzuki, 1:36.146
DNQ. James Bonner, Yamaha, 1:37.344*
DNQ. R. Todd Keesee, Suzuki, 1:37.613*
* Time recorded Friday