Y.E.S. Graves Yamaha’s Garrett Gerloff rebounded from a problematic practice on Thursday to earn the MotoAmerica Supersport pole position during qualifying Friday at Circuit of The Americas (COTA).
Riding his Dunlop-shod YZF-R6, Gerloff navigated the 3.4-mile road course in 2:11.999, breaking his own lap record of 2:13.082 and earning the top starting spot for Saturday’s 12-lap race.
JD Beach, Gerloff’s teammate and the defending Supersport Champion, improved his best time from 2:13.656 in practice to 2:12.895 during qualifying but had to settle for second-best.
Valentin Debise will make his MotoAmerica Supersport debut starting third, from the front row, thanks to his lap of 2:13.582. Debise said he could have went faster but he pushed his M4 SportbikeTrackGear.com Suzuki GSX-R600 too hard in Turn Two and crashed out (without injury) halfway through the qualifying session.
Debise’s teammate Cameron Petersen overcame trouble downshifting his motorcycle to post the fourth-fastest time of 2:14.277.
Joe Roberts, the 2015 MotoAmerica Superstock 600 Champion, was unable to improve on his pace during practice (2:14.179) and qualified fifth (2:14.302) on his Wheels In Motion/Motosport.com/Meen Yamaha YZF-R6.
Benny Solis finished right behind Roberts with a 2:14.316 on his Team H35 Honda CBR600RR.
Millennium Technologies/KWR’s Travis Wyman lowered his time by one second to 2:15.121 during qualifying and ended up seventh. Wyman will be joined on the third row by fellow Superstock 600 wild card entrant Xavier Zayat, who chopped 1.6 seconds from his practice time and qualified eighth with a 2:15.400. Dakota Mamola, another Superstock 600 wild card rider, came away ninth-fastest with a 2:15.845 on his HB Racing/Meen Yamaha, but Mamola’s session ended with him limping away from a crash.
Texan Jay Newton rounded out the top 10 qualifiers with a 2:19.619 on his Newton Racing Yamaha YZF-R6.
The Supersport race is scheduled to run at 4:15 p.m. local time. The race will be broadcast on beIN SPORTS at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time/8:00 a.m. Pacific Time on Sunday, April 10. The Supersport race will also be webcast at the same time on the same date and archived for on-demand viewing on beIN SPORTS CONNECT.
MotoAmerica Superbike Championship of Texas
MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North America Road Racing Series
Circuit of The Americas, Austin, Texas
April 8, 2016
Supersport Qualifying Results (all on Dunlop tires):
1. Garrett Gerloff (Yam YZF-R6), 2:11.999
2. JD Beach (Yam YZF-R6), 2:12.895
3. Valentin Debise (Suz GSX-R600), 2:13.582, crash
4. Cameron Petersen (Suz GSX-R600), 2:14.277
5. Joe Roberts (Yam YZF-R6), 2:14.302
6. Benny Solis, Jr. (Hon CBR600RR), 2:14.316
7. Travis Wyman (Yam YZF-R6), 2:15.121*
8. Xavier Zayat (Suz GSX-R600), 2:15.400*
9. Dakota Mamola (Yam YZF-R6), 2:15, 845, crash*
10. Jay Newton (Yam YZF-R6), 2:19.619*
107% of Fast Time: 2:21.238
11. Kris Lillegard (Yam YZF-R6), 2:23.798
12. Phil Horwitz (Yam YZF-R6), 2:24.006*
*Superstock 600 rider competing as a wild card