Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies, winner of the Road Atlanta AMA Supersport race, was fined $2000 and penalized 20 Championship points for a technical rules violation found after the race.

“They found the oil pressure relief valve to be different than the production sample,” Yoshimura Suzuki Team Manager Don Sakakura told Roadracingworld.com.

Asked how the non-production part got in Spies’ GSX-R600, Sakakura said, “Right now, no comment.”

AMA Pro Racing made no announcement of the violation and only made the final determination of the violation Wednesday, May 28 at Pikes Peak International Raceway.

AMA Supersport Championship point standings distributed in the media center and available at post time did not reflect the 20-point penalty against Spies. Instead of being third and five points behind Championship co-leaders Jamie Hacking and Damon Buckmaster, Spies should have been listed in seventh, 35 points behind the leaders.

Spies was allowed to keep his race win.


This just in: After the penalty was announced by Greg White on a SPEED TV broadcast, AMA Pro Racing then issued a statement that read:

“#11 Ben Spies–Yoshimura Suzuki–Following the race at Road Atlanta the oil pressure relief valve was impounded and found to be a non-standard part. The penalty was issued at PPIR. He was penalized 20 points and fined $2000.”

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Kawasaki’s Tony Meiring took his first career AMA National win in an exciting 20-lap Superstock final Sunday at Pikes Peak International Raceway.

Riding his factory 636cc ZX-6R, Meiring battled fiercely with Suzuki GSX-R750 riders Adam Fergusson and Josh Hayes and factory Yamaha YZF-R6 rider Jason DiSalvo for most of the race.

Meiring, 19, took the lead with two laps to go, survived one last tire slide in the final series of corners and held on to win by 0.273-second over Corona Extra Suzuki’s Fergusson and DiSalvo, who earned his first Superstock podium on his new 600cc machine. Attack Suzuki’s Hayes finished a close fourth.

Tommy Hayden came home fifth, and the class points leader coming into the race, Vincent Haskovec, struggled with traction to finish ninth.

The new point standings following the Pikes Peak race list Hayden leading Haskovec and Fergusson with the three riders separated by three points.

AMA Superstock Race Results:

1. Tony Meiring, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 20 laps
2. Adam Fergusson, Suzuki GSX-R750, -0.273 second
3. Jason DiSalvo, Yamaha YZF-R6, -0.463 second
4. Josh Hayes, Suzuki GSX-R750, -0.904 second
5. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki ZX-6R, -2.900 seconds
6. Jimmy Moore, Suzuki GSX-R750, -3.749 seconds
7. Steve Rapp, Suzuki GSX-R750, -10.660 seconds
8. Vincent Haskovec, Suzuki GSX-R750, -13.114 seconds
9. Jordan Szoke, Suzuki GSX-R750, -13.487 seconds
10. John Haner, Suzuki GSX-R750, -20.919 seconds
11. Jake Holden, Suzuki GSX-R750, -22.082 seconds
12. Chris Caylor, Suzuki GSX-R750, -22.393 seconds
13. Mike Ciccotto, Suzuki GSX-R750, -23.854 seconds
14. Chris Peris, Honda CBR600F4i, -26.803 seconds
15. Chris Ulrich, Suzuki GSX-R750, -28.249 seconds
16. Brian Stokes, Suzuki GSX-R750, -28.775 seconds
17. J.J. Roetlin, Suzuki GSX-R750, -31.636 seconds
18. Jason Peters, Suzuki GSX-R750, -50.732 seconds
19. Kevin Pate, Suzuki GSX-R750, -52.439 seconds
20. Mickey Lane, Suzuki GSX-R750, -1 lap
21. Tom Wertman, Suzuki GSX-R750, -1 lap
22. Jeremy Chisum, Suzuki GSX-R750, -1 lap
23. Martin Sims, Suzuki GSX-R600, -1 lap
24. David Bell, Suzuki GSX-R750, -1 lap
25. Jason Chisum, Suzuki GSX-R750, -1 lap
26. Eric Haugo, Suzuki GSX-R750, -1 lap
27. Chris Lowe, Suzuki GSX-R750, -1 lap
28. Nathan Hester, Suzuki GSX-R750, -1 lap
29. Hawk Mazzotta, Suzuki GSX-R750, -1 lap
30. Michael Applehans, Suzuki GSX-R600, -1 lap
31. Michael Kosta, Suzuki GSX-R750, -1 lap
32. Mark Simon, Suzuki GSX-R750, -9 laps
33. Christopher Ancien, Suzuki GSX-R750, -16 laps
34. Shaun Summers, Suzuki GSX-R600, -20 laps, DNF, crash


AMA Superstock Point Standings (after 5 of 11 rounds):

1. Hayden, 144 points
2. Haskovec, 143 points
3. Fergusson, 142 points
4. Meiring, 129 points
5. Hayes, 128 points
6. DiSalvo, 121 points
7. Moore, 115 points
8. Caylor, 112 points
9. Haner, 98 points
10. Ciccotto, 95 points

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Supersport:

1. Jamie Hacking, Yamaha, 55.959
2. Ben Spies, Suzuki, 56.101
3. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha, 56.107
4. Jake Zemke, Honda, 56.167
5. Damon Buckmaster, Yamaha, 56.183
6. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki, 56.278
7. Pascal Picotte, Yamaha, 56.324
8. Jason DiSalvo, Yamaha, 56.442
9. Alex Gobert, Honda, 56.647
10. Jamie Stauffer, Suzuki, 56.720
11. Tony Meiring, Kawasaki, 56.757
12. Doug Chandler, Honda, 56.928
13. Roger Lee Hayden, Honda, 57.002
14. Craig Connel, Honda, 57.690
15. Thad Halsmer, Yamaha, 58.027
16. Chris Peris, Honda, 58.051
17. Heath Small, Yamaha, 58.722
18. Martin Sims, Suzuki, 59.257
19. Jason Hobbs, Yamaha, 59.509
20. Dirk Sanchez, Kawasaki, 59.585


250cc Grand Prix:

1. Rich Oliver, Yamaha, 55.801
2. Chuck Sorensen, Aprilia, 56.038
3. Simon Turner, TSR Honda, 57.115
4. Colin Jensen, Aprilia, 57.429
5. Ed Sorbo, Yamaha, 58.320
6. Perry Melneciuc, Yamaha, 58.824
7. Chris Pyles, Honda, 58.848
8. Ed Marchini, Yamaha, 58.911
9. Greg Esser, Honda, 59.043
10. Sandy Noce, Yamaha, 59.282
11. John France, Honda, 59.423
12. T. Russell Strobridge, Yamaha, 59.580
13. Darren Fulce, Yamaha, 59.786
14. Sean McNew, Honda, 1:00.628
15. Sean Wray, Yamaha, 1:01.116
16. M. Ben Welch, Yamaha, 1:01.187
17. Stephen Bowline, Honda, 1:01.665
18. Shawn Murray, Honda, 1:02.051
19. Steve Scott, Yamaha, 1:02.403
20. Glen Christianson, Yamaha, 1:02.550


Superstock:
1. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki, 56.106
2. Jason DiSalvo, Yamaha, 56.166
3. Adam Fergusson, Suzuki, 56.189
4. Tony Meiring, Kawasaki, 56.204
5. Josh Hayes, Suzuki, 56.304
6. Jimmy Moore, Suzuki, 56.315
7. Vincent Haskovec, Suzuki, 56.348
8. Steve Rapp, Suzuki, 56.595
9. Chris Caylor, Suzuki, 56.894
10. Jordan Szoke, Suzuki, 56.999
11. Jeremy Chisum, Suzuki, 57.108
12. Jake Holden, Suzuki, 57.110
13. Mike Ciccotto, Suzuki, 57.219
14. Brian Stokes, Suzuki, 57.276
15. John Haner, Suzuki, 57.432
16. Chris Ulrich, Suzuki, 57.663
17. Mikey Lane, Suzuki, 57.999
18. Chris Anchien, Suzuki, 58.058
19. Thad Halsmer, Yamaha, 58.368
20. J.J. Roetlin, Suzuki, 58.555


Superbike:
1. Kurtis Roberts, Honda, 54.762
2. Ben Bostrom, Honda, 54.890
3. Aaron Yates, Suzuki, 54.907
4. Mat Mladin, Suzuki, 54.920
5. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki, 55.167
6. Eric Bostrom, Kawasaki, 55.241
7. Pascal Picotte, Yamaha, 55.586
8. Larry Pegram, Ducati, 55.641
9. Miguel Duhamel, Honda, 55.664
10. Jordan Szoke, Suzuki, 55.858
11. Anthony Gobert, Ducati, 56.192
12. Jimmy Moore, Suzuki, 56.423
13. Steve Rapp, Suzuki, 56.610
14. Vincent Haskovec, Suzuki, 56.611
15. Shawn Higbee, Suzuki, 56.687
16. Geoff May, Suzuki, 56.795
17. Michael Barnes, Suzuki, 56 995
18. Jeff Tigert, Suzuki, 56.963
19. Ricky Orlando, Suzuki, 57.081
20. Jake Holden, Suzuki, 57.195

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Annandale Honda’s Ty Howard underwent surgery at about 9:00 a.m. Sunday morning at Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to pin together a fracture in his left hip and place a skin graft on his left forearm.

According to Annandale Honda Team Manager Anna Johnston, Howard was in good spirits, said he would be out of action for four weeks and hoped to return to race at Mid-Ohio July 25-27.

Johnston said she wasn’t sure of the exact location of Howard’s fracture, but said that doctors told her that it was in the best possible location for a hip fracture.

Johnston said that Howard’s bike would be waiting for his return but did not rule out the possibility of putting another rider on Howard’s Hondas at Road America, Brainerd and Laguna Seca to “give exposure to Honda, Michelin and all our sponsors.”

Howard suffered his injuries when he collided with Jamie Hacking during Saturday’s Formula Xtreme race and crashed in turn three.

Copyright, 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

AMA Pro Racing issued a press release announcing additional details of the penalties assessed against Marty Craggill for Supersport rule violations.

The release read as follows:

“#134–Marty Craggill–Non-standard oil pressure relief valve and non-standard charging systems. Disqualified, penalized 20 points and fined $2500.”

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Damon Buckmaster won the twice-red-flagged-and-restarted Formula Xtreme race at Pikes Peak International Raceway Saturday.

Buckmaster held off a strong challenge from a fast-closing Adam Fergusson, who finished 0.108-second behind. Jake Zemke was third and Ben Spies was fourth.

The race was red-flagged on the 8th lap for a crash involving Leslie Gerber in turn 7. It was red-flagged again on lap 17 for a crash involving Jack Pfeifer in turn 2.

Provisional results follow:

1. Damon Buckmaster, Yamaha YZF-R1, 29 laps
2. Adam Fergusson, Suzuki GSX-R100, -0.108 second
3. Jake Zemke, Honda CBR954RR, -1.833
4. Ben Spies, Suzuki GSX-R1000 -3.301
5. Josh Hayes, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -4.619
6. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -9.004
7. Jimmy Moore, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -13.610
8. Steve Rapp, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -15.703
9. Jamie Hacking, Yamaha YZF-R1, -16.331
10. Roger Lee Hayden, Honda CBR954RR, -17.045
11. Marty Craggil, Honda CBR954RR, -18.886
12. Jason Curtis, Honda CBR954RR, -20.818
13. Craig Connell, Honda CBR954RR, -28.453
14. Geoff May, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -30.873
15. Chris Ulrich, Suzuki GSX-R750, -33.211
16. Lenny Beckman, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -33.325
17. Josh Graham, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -33.326
18. Travis Graham, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -36.688
19. Shane Turpin, Yamaha YZF-R1, -39.405
20. Chris Anchien, Suzuki GSX-R750, -43.693
21. Alex McElyea, Honda CBR929RR, -44.234 seconds
22. David Guy, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -48.451 seconds
23. Gregory Glennie, Yamaha YZF-R1, -48.450 seconds
24. Mickey Lane, Suzuki GSX-R750, -49.619 seconds
25. Nathan Hester, Suzuki GSX-R750, -49.930 seconds
26. Jeremiah Johnson, Suzuki GSX-R750, -56.479 seconds
27. Jasn Knupp, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -56.803 seconds
28. David Bell, Suzuki GSX-R750, -1 lap
29. Rich Deeming, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -1 lap
30. Benjamin Fox, Ducati 748, -1 lap
31. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha YZF-R1, -2 laps, mechanical
32. Jeff Tigert, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -2 laps, crash
33. Ty Howard, Honda CBR954RR, -3 laps, DNF, crash
34. Mark Simon, Suzuki GSX-R750, -6 laps
35. Jack Pfeifer, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -13 laps, DNF, crash
36. Vincent Haskovec, Suzuki GSX-R750, -14 laps, DNF, retired
37. Eric Haugo, Suzuki GSX-R750, -21 laps, DNF, retired
38. Leslie Gerber, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -22 laps, DNF, crash
39. Doug Chandler, Honda CBR954RR, -28 laps, DNF, mechanical

Formula Xtreme Point Standings (after round 4 of 10):

1. Zemke, 125
2. Spies, 117
3. Buckmaster, 112
4. Fergusson, 105
5. Hayes, 104
6. Rapp, 97
7. Craggill, 92
8. Moore, 88
9. Hacking, 78
10. Ulrich, 73
11. Aaron Gobert, 70
12. Pridmore, 65
13. Roger Lee Hayden, 63
14. Howard, 61
15. Chandler, 53
16. May, 39
17. Curtis, 37
18. Connell/Guy, TIE, 35
20. James King, 21

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Timing and scoring problems have radically changed the grids for at least two races already and may result in Mat Mladin’s pole-winning time from Friday at Pikes Peak being disallowed.

Late Saturday afternoon, AMA Pro Racing issued revised Supersport times from those shown on timing & scoring monitors during and immediately after qualifying, and may issue revised Superstock qualifying times as well.

The Supersport results were issued about 3 hours after qualifying actually ended.

AMA Pro Racing also issued a new Formula Xtreme grid a day after FX qualifying–producing the new grid less than an hour before the scheduled start of the race.

The AMA Pro Racing staff did not notify the SPEED TV production crew; SPEED’s Greg White found out that the Formula Xtreme grid was revised in a conversation with a Roadracingworld.com staffer. White rushed a revised grid to the TV truck and said that if he hadn’t found out about the grid change, the TV show would have shown the original grid.

The new Supersport Qualifying results move Alex Gobert from 2nd-fastest to 10th-fastest, for example, and 8 of the top 11 times have been revised. The new Formula Xtreme grid moves Steve Rapp from 4th-fastest to 11th-fastest and moves Marty Craggill from 11th-fastest to 14th-fastest.

The timing & scoring system has been displaying bogus times all weekend at Pikes Peak, and frequently did not display riders’ new times as they completed laps.

Timing & scoring problems have been present to some degree at every race this year, including a complete system meltdown at California Speedway.

At just before 4:00 p.m. Saturday, AMA Pro Racing issued a statement regarding the timing & scoring problem, which reads as follows:

“31 May, 2003
“Statement from AMA Pro Road Racing

“Due to a hardware problem with the AMB transponder/decoder attached to the loop from the last segment, (turn six to the start/finish line), times for the Supersport and Formula Xtreme qualifying have been revised.

“The decoder has been replaced and times for the Supersport and Formula Xtreme qualifing have been set from the back up system. Times from the Superbike qualifying (Friday) are also being revised.”

The biggest changes in the Supersport grid affected Yamaha–Damon Buckmaster had pole position taken away from him and given to teammate Aaron Gobert, who was originally scored as fourth-fastest.

“I’m still not 100 percent sure that they’re correct,” said Yamaha Team Manager Tom Halverson. “It’s really unfortunate because there’s a Championship point on the line here. The guys trust the times they’re getting on the TVs out there to strategize their sessions. Unfortunately Damon (Buckmaster) thought he had the pole, so he sat out probably a good two-thirds of the sessions because he thought he was on the pole. Had he known the times were bogus I’m sure he would’ve went back out there and tried to do better. So that was really unfortunate.

“On the other side Jamie (Hacking) he was really right up front, but they had him back in eighth. So he could have thrown it down the road trying to qualify at the front thinking he was really back when he was really farther up than he was.

“It’s really kind of bad for both those guys. Probably both of them are a bit angry right now, understandably. It’s unfortunate for the AMA. I guess they had a glitch in the system, but maybe they should have acted a lot sooner.”

Halverson said AMA Pro Racing should have acted sooner because several teams recognized timing and scoring discrepancies earlier in the weekend.

“The overall times were pretty accurate, but there were some discrepancies in the splits,” explained Halverson. “All of a sudden Damon and Jamie were down in the teens for the split from turn seven to the start/finish. So we knew something wasn’t really correct there. I didn’t really think that was going to play into combined lap times for qualifying, so I didn’t raise the issue. But maybe we should have because there was definitely some discrepancies in the splits.”

Asked if the times taken on their teams’ watches and data gathering equipment matched the times displayed by AMA Pro Racing timing and scoring monitors, Aaron Yates’ Crew Chief Chris Weidl said, “No. And it’s not a tenth or two tenths or three tenths – it’s a second!”

Yates, overheard the conversation and added, “Yesterday I was doing 56.0s. I came in and they (AMA) had me at a 55.0.”

When asked if his team’s times matched the times provided by AMA timing and scoring, Kawasaki Racing Team Manager Michael Preston said, “No.”

Asked the same question, Attack Suzuki Team Owner/Crew Chief Richard Stanboli also said, “No.”

American Honda’s Merlyn Plumlee, Crew Chief for Ben Bostrom, said, “We haven’t had any problems at all.”

Revised Overall Supersport Qualifying Results:

1. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha, 55.547
2. Damon Buckmaster, Yamaha, 55.706
3. Marty Craggill, Honda, 55.779
4. Jamie Hacking, Yamaha, 55.876
5. Jason DiSalvo, Yamaha, 55.968
6. Jake Zemke, Honda, 56.086
7. Ben Spies, Suzuki, 56.094
8. Miguel Duhamel, Honda, 56.201
9. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki, 56.253
10. Alex Gobert, Honda, 56.259
11. Pascal Picotte, Yamaha, 56.502
12. Tony Meiring, Kawasaki, 56.573
13. Ty Howard, Honda, 56.573
14. Jamie Stauffer, Suzuki, 56.855
15. Roger Lee Hayden, Honda, 56.984
16. Doug Chandler, Honda, 57.026
17. Jason Curtis, Honda, 57.402
18. Thad Halsmer, Yamaha, 57.496
19. Chris Peris, Honda, 57.582
20. Craig Connell, Honda, 57.801


Revised Formula Xtreme Qualifying Times:

1. Ben Spies, Suzuki, 55.032
2. Damon Buckmaster, Yamaha, 55.191
3. Jake Zemke, Honda, 55.288
4. Adam Fergusson, Suzuki, 55.369
5. Josh Hayes, Suzuki, 55.428
6. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki, 55.454
7. Ty Howard, Honda, 55.467
8. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha, 55.615
9. Jamie Hacking, Yamaha, 55.779
10. Doug Chandler, Honda, 55.801
11. Steve Rapp, Suzuki, 55.054
12. Roger Hayden, Honda, 56.103
13. Jimmy Moore, Suzuki, 56.204
14. Marty Craggill, Honda, 56.208
15. Craig Connell, Honda, 56.365
16. Jason Curtis, Honda, 56.717
17. Goeff May, Suzuki, 57.083
18. Vincent Haskovec, Suzuki, 57.122
19. Chris Ulrich, Suzuki, 57.337
20. Mickey Lane, Suzuki, 57.346

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