2009 AMA Daytona SportBike Championship runner-up Josh Herrin just edged out Martin Cardenas and Steve Rapp to claim the fastest lap time during Wednesday night’s chilly AMA Daytona SportBike practice at Daytona International Speedway. Herrin’s best time on his Graves Motorsports Yamaha YZF-R6 was a 1:50.379, which he said came on his 18th lap on the same rear tire. Herrin’s team plans to run 19-lap stints in Friday’s Daytona 200. “The session went really good,” Herrin told Roadracingworld.com. “I drafted Cardenas to get my fastest time, then I mounted a new rear tire and came within a few hundredths of doing the same time while riding by myself. So I’m really happy about that.” Asked if the cold temperatures (about 50 degrees Fahrenheit) during the practice affected him, Herrin said, “No, it was good. I was sweating out there. I was fine, and the track felt pretty good.” Herrin’s biggest issue during the 90-minute session came when he and Cardenas unintentionally made contact in the fast dogleg turn in the infield. Neither rider crashed, but it was a close call. Ironically, both riders accepted the blame and apologized to each other after the session. “It was kind of scary,” said Cardenas, who rides a Team M4 Monster Energy Suzuki GSX-R600. “I was trying to catch him, and I think he slowed down too much for the turn. I had nowhere to go. “The session went good. I was a little concerned about the cool weather at the beginning, but after doing some laps I started to feel more comfortable and I did a couple of good laps. I think we have a good setup. We will try some things in the morning, but both bikes feel pretty good.” Cardenas’ best time of 1:50.427 was identical to the best lap recorded by Latus Racing Ducati’s Steve Rapp. “The session went really good,” said Rapp. “We worked on getting the bike balanced. We tried the normal stuff with shocks and springs and got it feeling pretty good. Then we did some long runs on the tires and some fuel mileage work. It went good.” Just off the pace of the top three was Herrin’s teammate Tommy Aquino, who shaved over three second from his best time in the first practice, dropping from a 1:54.372 to a 1:51.077. Asked about the improvement Aquino pointed his relative lack of experience at Daytona. Project 1 Atlanta Yamaha’s Dane Westby (1:51.273) was once again near the top of the time sheets, as was defending Daytona SportBike Champion Danny Eslick, who lapped at 1:51.494 on his GEICO Powersports Suzuki GSX-R600. Jake Holden finished just behind Eslick in the evening practice order with a 1:51.885 on his new #23 Ducshop Racing Ducati 848. AMA Pro Daytona SportBike Championship Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida March 3, 2010 Provisional Free Practice Two Results (3.5-mile course, all on Dunlop tires): 1. Josh Herrin (Yam YZF-R6), 1:50.379 2. Steve Rapp (Duc 848), 1:50.427 3. Martin Cardenas (Suz GSX-R600), 1:50.427 4. Tommy Aquino (Yam YZF-R6), 1:51.077 5. Dane Westby (Yam YZF-R6), 1:51.273 6. Danny Eslick (Suz GSX-R600), 1:51.494 7. Jake Holden (Duc 848), 1:51.885 8. Shawn Higbee (Buell 1125R), 1:52.283 9. Brett McCormick (Suz GSX-R600), 1:52.393 10. Fernando Amantini (Kaw ZX-6R), 1:52.722 11. Josh Day (Yam YZF-R6), 1:52.729 12. Cory West (Suz GSX-R600), 1:52.765 13. P.J. Jacobsen (Suz GSX-R600), 1:52.829 14. Eric Wood (Hon CBR600RR), 1:53.112 15. Kevin Coghlan (Yam YZF-R6), 1:53.267 16. Jeff Wood (Suz GSX-R600), 1:53.495 17. Michael Barnes (Yam YZF-R6), 1:53.573, crash 18. Ryan Patterson (Suz GSX-R600), 1:53.849 19. Geoff May (Suz GSX-R600), 1:54.060 20. Clinton Seller (Yam YZF-R6), 1:54.459 21. Kris Turner (Suz GSX-R600), 1:54.515 22. Bostjan Skubic (Yam YZF-R6), 1:54.623 23. Santiago Villa (Suz GSX-R600), 1:55.189, crash 24. Walt Sipp (Buell 1125R), 1:55.751 25. Bobby Fong (Duc 848), 1:56.008 26. Mark Crozier (Duc 848), 1:56.310 27. Melissa Paris (Yam YZF-R6), 1:56.501 28. Paul James (Buell 1125R), 1:56.600 29. Ricky Orlando (Kaw ZX-6R), 1:56.872 30. Alex Lazo (Yam YZF-R6), 1:57.053 31. Dario Marchetti (Duc 848), 1:57.192 32. John Ashmead (Kaw ZX-6R), 1:57.585 33. Andrea Padovani (Duc 848), 1:58.856 34. David McPherson (Yam YZF-R6), 1:59.068 35. Craig Moodie (Yam YZF-R6), 1:59.110 36. Reese Wacker (Suz GSX-R600), 1:59.118 37. Roberto Vargas (Kaw ZX-6R), 1:59.261 38. Eric Haugo (Yam YZF-R6), 1:59.398 39. David Dumain (Yam YZF-R6), 2:00.798 40. Calvin Martinez (Duc 848), 2:00.808 41. Anthony Fania (Yam YZF-R6), 2:01.049 42. Paul Schwemmer (Kaw ZX-6R), 2:22.054 43. Mark McCormick (Yam YZF-R6), 2:47.094 More, from a press release issued by Team M4 Monster Energy Suzuki: CARDENAS QUICK UNDER THE LIGHTS AT DAYTONA Team M4 Monster Energy Suzuki kicked off the season in ideal fashion on Wednesday with Daytona SportBike title hopeful Martin Cardenas posting the fastest lap in the opening practice of the 2010 AMA Pro Road Racing season at Daytona International Speedway. Cardenas continued to show impressive pace in the day’s second free session, which was held under the lights in preparation of Friday’s 69th running of the Daytona 200. The Colombian improved upon his 1:50.807 lap by clocking a 1:50.427 aboard his Suzuki GSX-R600, the identical time posted by Steve Rapp, who ranked second in the session. “We’re going good,” Cardenas remarked. “Both bikes seem to perform really good and the set-up is close. Maybe we have the race set-up right now or maybe we’ll do a little bit of work, but the bikes are feeling really fast. I’m just hoping for a good race.” Chilly conditions may play a factor in the grueling 200-miler, but like many other aspects of the rigorous race, Cardenas claims it’s just a matter of taking the right mental approach. “It’s more a mental thing. You feel that it’s very cold and you’re not sure the front tire is going to have grip so at the beginning I was a little bit worried about it but I steadily got more confidence. But it’s really nice to get the season underway. Hopefully we’ll have no injuries and just see what happens.” Former MotoGP ace John Hopkins made his official AMA Pro American Superbike debut with the team on Wednesday, working through settings while learning the nuances of the shorter circuit layout utilized by the Superbike contenders. The Californian was eighth fastest in the first of two free sessions on the day with a best lap of 1:42.155 aboard his Monster Energy-backed Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbike. He dropped his time by nearly a half second in the next session, circulating at 1:40.723, but remained eighth in the standings. Hopkins said there’s plenty of room for improvement, but noted it will have to come quickly as the season’s first pole position and race victory will be up for grabs on Thursday. “We’ve got a few issues with the bike that we’ve got to fix,” he explained. “We have some settings that were off a little today so we can improve our times tomorrow, especially through the infield in the tight section. The main thing today was learning the track. It’s the first time I’ve been on the newer section of the track.” “Tomorrow we go right into qualifying and racing, but I’ve always been pretty decent about switching my brain to race mode. I think if we get the settings right we should be able to qualify well and get right up in the mix. You don’t want to be too far off and lose the draft of the top guys right in the beginning. Hopefully our choices work and the changes we make to the settings tonight make a huge difference because we don’t have a whole lot of track time tomorrow before we’ve got to race. It’s pretty wild but I think we’ll be all right.” Team M4 Monster Energy Suzuki will have a packed day at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday as Cardenas attempts to win the pole for the famed Daytona 200 and Hopkins tackles the season’s first Superbike qualifying session and race.