Mladin Pole Position at Laguna Seca
A full qualifying report will be posted at the conclusion of today’s sessions. Quotes from the front row of tomorrow’s AMA Pro National Guard American Superbike presented by Parts Unlimited follow:
LARRY PEGRAM (No. 72 Ducati): “Obviously, we’ve got a lot of momentum coming from Road America, but this is a different track in a different place and we’ve got all different obstacles. The bike is pretty good. I think we’re battling the same thing as everybody. The grip, for some reason with us, seems to be down here this year. It looks like the MotoGP guys are really going fast, and for some reason we’re spinning a lot. Basically, the qualifying session was just a lot of traffic. They really need to split up our qualifying sessions if they’re only going to give us 30 minutes or whatever, or make some of those guys really not ride in the class. I never got a clean lap the whole time, and you get frustrated when you keep catching guys and losing time and you don’t get to put your best lap in, and that’s kind of what it was for us. We’re on the front row, which is good, because I know my bike is great off the start and I’m really good on the start, so we’ll try to get out front. I think on race pace, we’re good. I just was frustrated in that session.”
TOMMY HAYDEN (No. 22 Suzuki): “It feels good. Obviously, the bike is working pretty good with all three of us up here. I feel like we’ve made a few improvements since the last race. The team’s been working hard, so I’d like to thank those guys. They’ve made things a little easier, basically, since I’ve been here. From the time I rolled out, things were coming a little easier this weekend, and things are going pretty smooth. It was definitely a crowded track out there. I was trying to pick through and try and get a clean lap here and there. I thought I could have gone a little bit quicker than that, but I’m glad to be on the front row. That was really what I wanted more than anything, to make sure I didn’t get stuck back a little bit. A lot of guys were running fairly similar lap times, so it would be easy to get boxed in and stuck behind some guys tomorrow. We have a good spot, I think the bike is pretty good and it seemed like we were running a pretty decent pace so we’ll see. Hopefully, tomorrow we can have a good clean race.”
BLAKE YOUNG (No. 79 Suzuki): “It went really good for us today. I mean, every time we get on the bike, we improve the bike a little bit better. I got some laps out there and I think we’re going to be good for the race. I think we’ve got a pretty decent race setup and qualifying went good. We got a good lap in there and we’re up on the front row, so I’ve got to really thank my Rockstar/Makita/Suzuki/Yoshimura guys for doing good for me this weekend and getting us up here.”
MAT MLADIN (No. 7 Suzuki): “It was a good lap for us. We’ve just been frantically working on the bike trying to make some improvement. Throughout each session, we’ve made some. We’re just trying to get it to consistently do good lap times and it feels pretty good. We made a couple of changes there before the last time we went out and they certainly helped out a little bit. Hopefully, we can make some more in the morning.”
2009 AMA Superbike Qualifying Results
1. Mat Mladin (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:24.592
2. Blake Young (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:24.936
3. Tommy Hayden (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:25.075
4. Larry Pegram (Duc 1098R), 1:25.199
5. Josh Hayes (Yam YZF-R1), 1:25.276
6. Aaron Yates (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:25.338
7. Neil Hodgson (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:25.530
8. Ben Bostrom (Yam YZF-R1), 1:25.895
9. Geoff May (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:25.949
10. Taylor Knapp (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:26.112
11. David Anthony (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:26.467
12. Jake Holden (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:26.701
13. Chris Ulrich (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:26.751
14. Aaron Gobert (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:27.159
15. Jeremy Toye (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:27.540
16. Cory Call (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:27.958
17. Hawk Mazzotta (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:28.225
18. Scott Jensen (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:29.128
19. Dean Mizdal (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:29.827
20. David Kunzelman (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:29.917
21. Shawn Higbee (Buell 1125R), 1:29.987
22. Ricky Corey (Yam YZF-R1), 1:30.036
23. Reno Karimian (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:30.082
24. Brad Puetz (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:30.662
25. Eric Haugo (Yam YZF-R1), 1:30.714
26. Johnny Rock Page (Yam YZF-R1), 1:30.716
27. Davie Stone (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:31.256
28. Trent Gibson (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:31.439
29. Skip Salenius (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:31.486
30. Chris Siebenhaar (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:31.486
31. Kevin Boisvert (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:32.929
32. Scotty Van Hawk (Yam YZF-R1), 1:33.761
- Matt Mladin Wins Seventh AMA Pro Superbike Vicotry in Daytona DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (March 5, 2009) – Rockstar/Makita Suzuki...
- AMA SBK: Matt Mladin Takes 50th Straight AMA Superbike Win in Atlanta Mat Mladin and the Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki team scored...
- AMA SBK: Jordan Motorsport’s Aaron Yates Earns First Ever Pole Position for Team at Daytona DAYTONA BEACH, FL, MAR. 4 – Foremost Ducati’s Larry...
