Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

AMA Pro Racing released revised Superbike qualifying times just before 6:00 p.m. Saturday, showing Aaron Yates on pole.

Timing & scoring officials disallowed Mat Mladin’s fast time from Friday’s first Superbike qualifying session, saying it was inaccurate due to a timing & scoring hardware problem. Mladin said he did not try to improve his time in the second Superbike qualifying session, on Saturday, instead concentrating on race set-up.

AMA Pro Racing timing & scoring first acknowledged that there was a problem with times on Saturday, although crews saw problems on monitors starting Friday.

Revised times follow:

1. Aaron Yates, Suzuki, 54.079
2. Mat Mladin, Suzuki, 54.087
3. Anthony Gobert, Ducati, 54.166
4. Kurtis Roberts, Honda, 54.214
5. Eric Bostrom, Kawasaki, 54.690
6. Ben Bostrom, Honda, 54.814
7. Miguel Duhamel, Honda, 55.015
8. Larry Pegram, Ducati, 55.146
9. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki, 55.332
10. Jordan Szoke, Suzuki, 55.437
11. Josh Hayes, Suzuki, 55.542
12. Pascal Picotte, Yamaha, 55.704
13. Michael Barnes, Suzuki, 55.741
14. Dan Turner, Yamaha, 55.884
15. Steve Rapp, Suzuki, 56.161
16. Jeff Tigert, Suzuki, 56.259
17. Shawn Higbee, Suzuki, 56.284
18. Ricky Orlando, Suzuki, 56.308
19. Geoff May, Suzuki, 56.316
20. Jimmy Moore, Suzuki, 56.713
21. Mike Ciccotto, Suzuki, 56.726
22. Jake Holden, Suzuki, 56.814
23. Vincent Haskovec, Suzuki, 56.942
24. Mike Sullivan, Suzuki, 56.958
25. Jack Pfeifer, Suzuki, 57.008
26. Chris Caylor, Suzuki, 57.055
27. Tom Wertman, Suzuki, 57.259
28. Dean Mizdal, Suzuki, 57.472
29. John Haner, Suzuki, 57.660
30. Brian Stokes, Suzuki, 57.674
31. J.J. Roetlin, Suzuki, 57.706
32. Scott Jensen, Suzuki, 57.997
33. Chris Ulrich, Suzuki, 58.113
34. Gregory Glennie, Yamaha, 58.616
35. Sean Fey, Yamaha, 58.773
36. Jason Knupp, Suzuki, 58.812
37. Eric Haugo, Suzuki, 58.833
38. Kevin Hanson, Suzuki, 59.424
39. Jeremiah Johnson, Suzuki, 59.580
40. Michael Kosta, Suzuki, 1:00.038

112 percent of fastest time: 1:00.568

AMA Pro Racing Director of Timing & Scoring Ken Rogers explained that the problem was with a new AMB decoder, which was first put into service at Pikes Peak and which was randomly taking exactly one second off lap times. The new decoder incorporates a built-in GPS system for synchronizing the system’s clocks and decoders.

The timing & scoring crew detected the problem Saturday, comparing segment times produced by the new AMB system; some segment times seemed too slow, and others too fast. Once the timing & scoring crew detected the random problem, they consulted a back-up system which used a different decoder with a external GPS synch system.

The timing & scoring crew had to not only sort through the back-up system’s data but also remove lap times produced when riders short-cut the course. In Formula Xtreme qualifying, for example, riders short-cut the course 87 times, Rogers said.

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Yamaha’s Damon Buckmaster took AMA Supersport pole position with a new class lap record time of 0:54.706 around Pikes Peak International Raceway’s 1.315-mile road course Saturday.

Buckmaster’s time not only bettered Kurtis Roberts’ two-year-old mark of 0:55.755, it would have put Buckmaster second on the provisional Superbike grid, which led many competitors and one of Buckmaster’s own teammates to question its legitimacy.

“I know I rode my ass off and I did a 55.8,” said Buckmaster’s teammate Jamie Hacking. “I know a 54.7 is no way, no way. There’s no f**king way possible that motorcycle will go a 54 around here.”

“Absolutely,” said Buckmaster when asked if his lap was a legitimate lap. “It’s good that there’s a couple of riders thinking that (it’s not).”

Buckmaster explained, “Because the AMA took my Formula Xtreme time off me yesterday, which I did a 54.8, even though it still would’ve still put me second in qualifying for Formula Xtreme, there’s no way in the world that I was gonna short-cut the racetrack today in 600 qualifying. Because I knew regardless of if they called it an out-lap or an in-lap – no way! I’m staying right on the racetrack.”

Erion Honda’s Alex Gobert backed up his fourth-place finish in the last Supersport race at Road Atlanta by qualifying second Saturday with a time of 0:55.293 on his CBR600RR.

American Honda’s Miguel Duhamel qualified third with a 0:55.496, and Aaron Gobert, Alex’s older brother, earned the last spot on the front row with a time of 0:55.547 on his factory Yamaha YZF-R6.

The AMA Supersport qualifying session at Pikes Peak was the first test of a new method of splitting qualifying groups. Instead of splitting Supersport competitors by odd and even bike numbers, AMA Pro Racing split the riders into a fast group and a slow group based on practice times from Friday.

A quick survey of the top riders after the qualifying session found unanimous and enthusiastic approval of the new system.

Provisional Supersport Qualifying Results:

1. Damon Buckmaster, Yamaha, 54.706
2. Alex Gobert, Honda, 55.293
3. Miguel Duhamel, Honda, 55.496
4. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha, 55.547
5. Pascal Picotte, Yamaha, 55.602
6. Marty Craggill, Honda, 55.780
7. Jamie Hacking, Yamaha, 55.876
8. Jason DiSalvo, Yamaha, 55.921
9. Jake Zemke, Honda, 55.925
10. Ben Spies, Suzuki, 56.091
11. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki, 56.260
12. Thad Halsmer, Yamaha, 56.495
13. Tony Meiring, Kawasaki, 56.574

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Annandale Honda’s Ty Howard was transported to Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs, Colorado for X-rays of his left hip area following a crash in Saturday’s AMA Formula Xtreme final at Pikes Peak International Raceway.

According to Annandale Honda Team Manager Anna Johnston, Howard’s left elbow was abraded “down to the bone” but she said her rider was in “good spirits.”

Howard crashed when he tried to overtake both Jimmy Moore and Jamie Hacking in one pass while braking for turn three on lap 27 of the 29-lap FX race.

According to eyewitness accounts from Moore, Roger Lee Hayden and Steve Rapp, Howard got into the corner too fast, hit Hacking broadside and went flying through the air over the top of Hacking’s motorcycle.

Hacking did not crash in the incident.

Supersport racer Jim Davis, who crashed Saturday during Supersport qualifying, was also transported to Memorial Hospital for X-rays of his left hip area and will be kept overnight.

From a press release issued by Mat Mladin Motorsports:

MLADIN HEADS SUPERBIKE QUALIFYING AT PIKES PEAK

In oppressively hot conditions, Australia’s Mat Mladin has set the fastest lap time during today’s opening qualifying session for round eight of the AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship being held Pikes Peak International Raceway in Colorado.

Mladin turned a time of 53.780 seconds around the short but demanding Colorado circuit aboard his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000, holding an advantage of almost a full second over fellow Australian Anthony Gobert (Austin Ducati) who posted a best time of 54.711 secs.

With track surface temperature rising above 60 degrees C (135 degrees F) during today’s opening qualifying session, finding a machine set up that would suit the hot conditions and allow for the best possible tyre wear became of paramount importance. Conditions are expected to cool over the weekend, but with Sunday’s Superbike national scheduled for 48 laps, the high altitudes of Pikes Peak mixed with the hot conditions will make for a very demanding race.

“We concentrated a lot on getting a race set up today,” said Mladin. “Yes, it was good to get a fast time in, but with the lap distance being so short around here, it is important to get a comfortable feel with it. Tyre wear is an issue here, so we do need to do a lot of work with matching the chassis to the tyres that will get us through the 48-lap distance. We also tend to get caught behind a lot of backmarkers around here, but today the traffic out on the track was quite good. If it remains like that over the next two days, we should get a good race in on Sunday.”

Third fastest was Mladin’s teammate and current championship points leader Aaron Yates who set a time of 54.913 who held a half second advantage over Erion Honda’s Kurtis Roberts (55.448) who completes the provisional front row of the grid.

Mladin arrives at this weekend’s round trailing Yates by two points in the championship, but with five wins from seven races completed this season he has proven to be the dominant rider of the series. The only blemish to his season so far has been a tyre failure at round six of the championship at Road Atlanta which forced him out of the race and subsequently lost his points advantage over Yates.

Qualifying continues tomorrow, with a final one-hour session, followed by Sunday’s 48-lap Superbike race.



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

Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki’s Steve Rapp had a successful first day at Pikes Peak International Raceway Friday, putting his GSX-R1000 on the front row for Saturday’s Formula Xtreme race. Rapp successfully negotiated the venue’s power-sapping altitude and the day’s sweltering conditions to qualify his machine fourth in class with a time of 55.311 .

Rapp is keen to improve upon his current fifth-place standing in the class points race this weekend. The 30-year-old Californian’s hard riding style is well suited to the tight 1.3-mile mountainside circuit, a fact evidenced by a previous top-five Superbike finish at the track to his credit.

“I like the track a lot and have had some good results here in the past. I’m looking forward to the race,” Rapp said of his day in the sweltering heat. “We had a just a little bit trouble at the end of qualifying and never got to use a soft tire,” Rapp said. “Other than that it was really good.”

Rapp is also taking on additional duties this weekend subbing for injured teammate Matt Furtek in the Superstock class. It didn’t take Rapp long to get back into the Superstock groove, running fourth in the morning’s practice session.

Chris Ulrich spent his day dialing in his Valvoline EMGO Suzuki Superstock and Formula Xtreme race machines. The Formula Xtreme rookie was unable to find ideal solutions on Friday but expects to improve throughout the weekend.

“We made forward progress, but we just didn’t move forward as fast as I would like,” Ulrich said after the day’s action had concluded. “We’re just going to keep our heads down, make some changes, and see what we can do.”

Next, Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki will contest the Formula Xtreme race on Saturday and the Superstock race on Sunday.

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Final Supersport Qualifying Results (as of 5:57 p.m. MDT):

1. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha, 55.547
2. Damon Buckmaster, Yamaha, 55.706
3. Jamie Hacking, Yamaha, 55.876
4. Jason DiSalvo, Yamaha, 55.968
5. Ben Spies, Suzuki, 56.094
6. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki, 56.253
7. Alex Gobert, Honda, 56.259
8. Pascal Picotte, Yamaha, 56.502
9. Tony Meiring, Kawasaki, 56.573
10. Ty Howard, Honda, 56.608
11. Jamie Stauffer, Suzuki, 56.855
12. Roger Lee Hayden, Honda, 56.984
13. Doug Chandler, Honda, 57.026
14. Jason Curtis, Honda, 57.402
15. Thad Halsmer, Yamaha, 57.496
16. Chris Peris, Honda, 57.582
17. Craig Connell, Honda, 57.801
18. Heath Small, Yamaha, 58.342
19. Elton Curry, Yamaha, 59.160
20. Hector Romero, Yamaha, 59.200
21. Martin Sims, Suzuki, 59.276
22. Mark Ledesma, Honda, 59.280
23. Dirk Sanchez, Kawasaki, 59.539
24. Shaun Summers, Suzuki, 59.605
25. Quentin Wilson, Yamaha, 59.948
26. Terry Skogen, Yamaha, 59.967
27. David Lambert, Suzuki, 1:00.147
28. Torsten Zorn, Suzuki, 1:00.482
29. Jason Hobbs, Yamaha, 1:00.309
30. David Guy, Suzuki, 1:00.375
31. Darin Scherer, Yamaha, 1:00.426
32. Chris Lowe, Suzuki, 1:00.482
33. James Davis, Yamaha, 1:00.722
34. Michael Applehans, Suzuki, 1:00.914
35. Adam Scott, Suzuki, 1:00.992
36. Mike McCracken, Suzuki, 1:01.021
37. Jeff Grace, Yamaha, 1:01.263
38. Will Sequino, Yamaha, 1:01.438
39. Jake Zemke, Honda, 56.086*
40. Miguel Duhamel, Honda, 56.201*

Qualifying Cutoff Time: 1:02.213

Maximum Grid Size: 40

* Moved to the back of the grid for a technical violation.

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

AMA 250cc Grand Prix Qualifying Results:

1. Rich Oliver, Yamaha, 55.789
2. Chuck Sorensen, Aprilia, 56.130
3. Simon Turner, TSR Honda, 56.881
4. Colin Jensen, Aprilia, 57.181
5. Perry Melneciuc, Yamaha, 58.162
6. Ed Sorbo, Yamaha, 58.241
7. Ed Marchini, Yamaha, 58.302
8. Chris Pyles, Honda, 58.818
9. Greg Esser, Honda, 58.846
10. Sandy Noce, Yamaha, 59.252
11. Darren Fulce, Yamaha, 59.931
12. T. Russell Strobridge, Yamaha, 1:00.166
13. John France, Honda, 1:00.234
14. Sean McNew, Honda, 1:00.436
15. M. Ben Welch, Yamaha, 1:00.761
16. David Gallant, Yamaha, 1:00.799
17. Stephen Bowline, Honda, 1:00.965
18. Sean Wray, Yamaha, 1:01.000
19. Shawn Murray, Honda, 1:01.066
20. Silbanio Trujillo, Yamaha, 1:01.397
21. Glen Christianson, Yamaha, 1:01.867
22. Steve Scott, Yamaha, 1:01.961
23. Andrew Edwards, Yamaha, 1:02.436
24. John Burbach, Yamaha, 1:02.695

Qualifying Cutoff Time: 1:03.599

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

World Superbike Superpole Results:

1. Neil Hodgson, Ducati 999F03, 1:26.907
2. Pierfrancesco Chili, Ducati 998RS, 1:26.942
3. James Toseland, Ducati 998F02, 1:27.199
4. Chris Walker, Ducati 998F02, 1:27.574
5. Regis Laconi, Ducati 998RS, 1:27.741
6. Steve Martin, Ducati 998RS, 1:27.797
7. Gregorio Lavilla, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:27.885
8. Ruben Xaus, Ducati 999F03, 1:28.087
9. Vittorio Iannuzzo, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:28.111
10. Juan Borja, Ducati 998RS, 1:28.352
11. Lucio Pedercini, Ducati 998RS, 1:28.352
12. Troy Corser, Foggy Petronas FP1, 1:28.824
13. Marco Borciani, Ducati 998RS, 1:28.850
14. Mauro Sanchini, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:28.970
15. Ivan Clementi, Kawasaki ZX-7RR,1:29.141
16. Giovanni Bussei, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:29.693

17. Nello Russo, Ducati, 1:29.881
18. Serafino Foti, Ducati, 1:30.580
19. Walter Tortoroglio, Honda, 1:31.428
20. Jiri Mrkyvka, Ducati, 1:31.837
21. Sergio Fuertes, Suzuki, 1:31.950
22. Steinar Sundby Dag, Yamaha, 1:32.388
DNQ. James Haydon, Foggy Petronas, 1:33.726

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Honda CBR600RR Supersport bikes ridden by Marty Craggill, Miguel Duhamel and Jake Zemke were found to have illegal modifications following qualifying at Pikes Peak, and all three riders were penalized.

According to a statement released by AMA Pro Racing, Craggill’s Honda had a “non-standard oil pressure relief valve and non-standard charging system.”

Duhamel and Zemke’s Hondas had “non-standard oil pressure relief valve.”

Craggill was disqualified, will not be allowed to start the Supersport race at Pikes Peak, and will be fined a yet-to-determined amount.

Duhamel and Zemke were each fined 20 points and $2000, and were moved to the back of the grid.

From a press release:

SILKY WEBSTER CRUISES TO OSCHERLEBEN TRIUMPH

Steve Webster notched up his second win of the Superside World Championship Saturday at Oschersleben in Germany to move to within 11 points of leader Klaus Klaffenböck.

Webster was overtaken at the start by Jörg Steinhausen and Klaffenböck but fought back to retake the lead by the end of lap one. The Yorkshireman never looked back and fired through 22 laps to record a hat-trick of wins at Oschersleben.

“It was all about keeping it smooth and closing the gap in the standings. We managed to achieve both goals,” said a delighted Webster.

Klaffenböck had to deal with oil on his visor following Steinhausen’s blow-up but the Austrian was happy with his machine’s reliability and second place.

Reigning world champion Steve Abbott was involved in a battle royale with Tom Hanks, finally overtaking his fellow countryman on lap 14 and holding on for a gritty third.

Superside World championship race result
(22 laps -80.674km/50.421miles):
1 Steve Webster, GB (Suzuki) 34:45.872
2 Klaus Klaffenböck, Austria (Yamaha) +13.249
3 Steve Abbott, GB (Suzuki) + 17.370
4 Tom Hanks, GB (Yamaha) +18.340
5 Martien van Gils, Holland (Suzuki) +43.897
6 Mike Roscher, Germany (Suzuki) +1m21.507
7 Billy Gallrös, Sweden (Suzuki) +1 lap
8 Gerhard Hauzenberger, Austria (Suzuki) +1lap
9 Bill Philp, GB (Suzuki) +1 lap
10 Sepp Doppler, Austria (Yamaha) +1 lap.

Championship points after three of nine rounds:
1 Klaffenböck 61
2 Webster 50
3 Abbott 38
4 Roscher 34
5 Van Gils 27
6 Hauzenberger 24
7 Jörg Steinhausen, Germany (Suzuki) 20
8 Dan Morrissey, GB (Yamaha) 20
9 Gallrös 18
10 Philp 17