Bostrom Wins First AMA Pro Daytona SportBike Superpole in Daytona 200 by Honda Qualifying Four Manufacturers Represented In the Top Four as Bostrom and Graves Yamaha Edge Field DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – An inaugural AMA Pro Daytona SportBike presented by AMSOIL Superpole qualifying session that was the first in the world ever run at night provided plenty of fireworks as Ben Bostrom (No. 1s Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6) saved the best for last in the qualifying session that set the top-10 grid positions for Friday’s Daytona 200 by Honda (SPEED at 8:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. PT). Bostrom, who topped Thursday morning’s group qualifying, was the last of 10 riders to make an attempt in the special single bike/single lap Superpole session and his lap of 1:50.240 (115.929 mph) was the fastest of the night. Bostrom will start on the Daytona 200 pole for the second time in his career after also earning the top starting spot for the 2003 race. “The bike is pretty special and makes up for my mistakes,” said Bostrom, who finished sixth in the AMA Pro American Superbike race earlier on Thursday. “I hit the brakes going into the kink, which was pretty silly. For some reason I thought I was going to go right, or something, but I was on the wrong side of the track, and I figured it out. I said ‘I think we just gave this thing away’ but I was pleasantly surprised when I came around and saw the No. 1 up there.” The pole-winning lap edged Danny Eslick and the No. 9 Bruce Rossmeyer’s Daytona Racing/RMR Buell 1125 that held the pole before Bostrom’s final run. Eslick, 22, has been fast all week on the team’s new Buells and is confident heading into the Daytona 200. “I had no real big moments in the run except riding a wheelie out of the chicane on the first little part of the flyer, and I think that hurt me a little bit,” Eslick said. “The lap itself was fairly uneventful and it is good for the Bruce Rossmeyer/RMR Buell to be on the front row. We are super confident and tested here a little bit last weekend, we haven’t had any issues on my bike and I am looking forward to 57 solid laps and being there at the end of the race and having good clean pit stops.” Four different manufacturers were represented in the top-four qualifiers and the group also included Jason DiSalvo on the No. 40 Team M4 Suzuki GSX-R600 and Jamie Hacking on the No. 88 Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R. DiSalvo, who has already won three preliminary races during Daytona 200 Week by Honda, held the pole before relinquishing it to Eslick. “I am just really happy for all of the crew guys and I am really thankful for all of the hard work they have put in all week down here,” DiSalvo said. “I wanted to go out there and get pole for those guys but we will just have to go out there and get them a race win tomorrow instead.” Hacking was the 10th and final rider to advance to the Superpole round after this morning’s group session and made the most of the opportunity. “We benefitted the most out of anybody coming from 10th and qualifying on the front row, which is good,” said Hacking. “It is going to be a long race and hopefully we can keep improving our bike.” Friday’s Daytona 200 will be the first running in the 68-year history of America’s premier motorcycle race to be run under the lights at Daytona International Speedway. “It is going to be interesting to run at night,” Bostrom said. “It is a little bit more difficult to see and it seems like some humidity comes to the track. It’s a little bit greasier at night and should be a little more spectacular with bikes sliding around. You just don’t know what is going to happen. It makes for a good time riding, that’s for sure.” Friday’s Daytona 200 by Honda starts at 8 p.m. local time and will be showed in flag-to-flag coverage just 30 minutes later on SPEED at 8:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. PT. AMA Pro Racing is the premier professional motorcycle racing organization in North America, operating a full schedule of events and championships for a variety of motorcycle disciplines. From its Daytona Beach headquarters, the organization operates and manages AMA Pro Road Racing, which includes AMA Pro American Superbike, AMA Pro Daytona SportBike, AMA Pro SuperSport and AMA Pro SunTrust Moto-GT. AMA Pro Racing also manages and works closely with the day-to-day operational organizations of the AMA Pro Flat Track Championship and the AMA Pro Supermoto Championship Series in addition to other two-wheel and ATV series. Learn more about AMA Pro Racing at www.amaproracing.com. More, from a press release issued by Team M4 Suzuki: DAYTONA 200 FRONT ROW FOR DISALVO AND M4 SUZUKI Team M4 Suzuki’s Jason DiSalvo will open the Daytona 200 from the front row on Friday evening under the lights at Daytona International Speedway. The hard charging pilot improved from sixth position in basic qualifying to post the third fastest time in Thursday night’s tense AMA Pro Daytona SportBike Superpole session. With the riders struggling to find grip as they negotiated the intimidating circuit, DiSalvo guided his GSX-R600 to a quick time of 1:50.363, just over a tenth of a second away from earning the Rolex handed out for winning pole for the famed race. DiSalvo’s teammate, Martin Cardenas, qualified the #36 machine on the second row, following up his third-place result in basic qualifying with a sixth-place run to the checkered flag in Superpole. The Colombian registered a 1:50.520 in a session that saw the top six riders separated by less than three tenths of a second. Young gun Kris Turner will also take part in the grueling 200-miler, clocking the 20th best lap in basic qualifying. After the night’s Superpole session was completed, DiSalvo said, “I’m just really happy for all the crew guys. I’m just really thankful for all the hard work they’ve put in. The guys have been busting their butts and getting the bike ready and practicing pit stops and getting ready for tomorrow night’s race. “I wanted to go out there and get pole for those guys to thank them for all their hard work but we’ll just have to go out there and try to get them a race win instead.” Cardenas commented, “It was a great lap. I made only one mistake but everywhere else was a clean lap. I thought I was going to be a little closer to first position, but the second row is okay. I’m not satisfied with that but we what did the best that we could and will do the same again tomorrow night.” Turner also took part in the opening round of the AMA Pro SuperSport round. After qualifying second earlier in the day, Turner came together with a competitor at the start of the race but gradually worked himself as high as third position. Unfortunately, the incident resulted in a bent pipe and he was flagged by officials and forced to return to pitlane for repairs while running fourth with just a couple laps remaining. The promising teenager from Chattanooga, TN returned to the fray to claim 14th position. On Friday Team M4 Suzuki will conclude the opening round of a new era in American roadracing with the first-ever nighttime running of the Daytona 200. More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service: Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Mat Mladin celebrated his 73rd AMA Superbike victory by taking the win at Thursday’s Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. The six-time AMA Superbike Champion also captured the coveted pole position in the new Superpole procedure, taking his 56th career pole position. Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Tommy Hayden qualified right behind Mladin and rode an impressive 15-lap race. Hayden got a rough start but worked his way up into third place. Right down to the wire, he was battling for second position and the final result was a photo finish with Hayden taking third. The team’s newest team member, Blake Young, started the season strong by carding an impressive fifth-place finish in his first AMA Superbike race with his new team. Mat Mladin: “It was an interesting race, that’s for sure. It’s always nice to get any win, obviously, and with all the new stuff this year it was really nice to get one for the Rockstar Makita Suzuki team and keep that Suzuki win streak alive. Now I’m looking forward t the next race at Fontana, and the boys will be getting home and doing a little work and doing a few things so we can go to Fontana and have a bit of a go.” Tommy Hayden: “I felt like I was riding pretty good and my Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 was definitely working very well. Considering I got a little confused with the new starting process and was 10th off the line, this result is all right. Fortunately, I was able to get up to the front-runners pretty easily. And with Mat being a little wounded today, I thought this was my day to get a win but I came up a little bit short. We’ll do a few things before the next race at Fontana and come back strong.” Blake Young: “I have to admit it would have been nice to be up on the podium with Mat and Tommy today, but since this is my first Superbike race on the Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000, and running new tyres and after very little testing, I’m OK with fifth place. But every day, I’m getting to know my new crew better and I know we’ll come back for Fontana with a better bike and hopefully a better result.” Results: 1 Mat Mladin (Rockstar Makita Suzuki), 2 Neil Hodgson (Honda), 3 Tommy Hayden (Rockstar Makita Suzuki), 4 Larry Pegram (Ducati), 5 Blake Young (Rockstar Makita Suzuki), 6 Ben Bostrom (Yamaha), 7 Aaron Yates (Jordan Suzuki), 8 Josh Hayes (Yamaha), 9 Michael Laverty (Suzuki), 10 Geoff May (National Guard Jordan Suzuki). More, from a press release issued by LTD Racing: PASCARELLA SECOND FOR LTD RACING IN DAYTONA SUPERSPORT DEBUT Daytona, Florida — LTD Racing’s Joey Pascarella finished second in the Daytona SuperSport race on Thursday, battling for the victory in the 12-lap event with winner Tyler Odom and Russ Wikle. “Jo-Jo” ran at the front and led a significant portion of his first-ever AMA SuperSport race at the 3.51-mile Daytona International Speedway circuit, earning a podium result on his Yamaha R6 with Ohlins suspension. Teammate Huntley Nash fought for third place before crashing. Nash’s bid for a podium result came up fruitless but “Hunt” continued to fight hard and took sixteenth after remounting. Joey finished just 0.310 short of victory in the exciting three-way battle for the win. Pascarella and Wikle traded the lead approximately a dozen times throughout the event, but Odom made it a trio of riders going for the win with two laps to go. He was able to close the gap and take a narrow victory, beating his two rivals to the flag by less than a second. Pascarella looked especially aggressive on the infield throughout the race. “I got off to a good start and we swapped the lead a few times,” said the Vacaville, California racer. “I though Russ and I had pulled away but Tyler ended up catching us. When Tyler got by, he pulled us quite a but and I was concerned about the drafting and I thought I was gonna get passed by Russ. I was able to hold on and it was a really cool race and I had a lot of fun. We’ll have more battles as the year goes on and I’m looking forward to it.” Huntley’s bid to join his teammate on the podium went awry on lap eight. “I missed my shift going in to turn one, then I got a little too eager to get back on track and I crashed it,” said Nash, from Marietta, Georgia. “I had a good start and was third off the line. I was trying to catch up with Joey and just made a mistake. I was able to get back out there but the result we wanted was gone. Still, it was good to know we can run near the front.” Since Odom is competing in the West division of the AMA SuperSport Championship, Joey leads the East points chase after the first round. Pascarella and Nash will next race at Road Atlanta April 3-5.