American Honda’s Miguel Duhamel pulled closer in the AMA Formula Xtreme Championship standings by earning his fourth pole position of the season during qualifying Friday at Virginia International Raceway — and the bonus Championship point that comes with it. Duhamel, who is the defending class Champion and currently second in the standings, succeeded Friday afternoon by turning a lap of 1:26.581 a new class lap record — on his Dunlop-qualifier-shod American Honda CBR600RR. Duhamel may have gone even faster had he not experienced a mechanical problem while on a fast lap with his second qualifying tire. Earning the bonus Championship point keeps Duhamel in a position where he can win the AMA Formula Xtreme Championship by taking the maximum points available in the final two race events. Duhamel’s teammate and the current Championship leader Jake Zemke (1:27.182) was satisfied with qualifying second, considering he missed a mid-season test at VIR while recovering from a minor injury, and the progress he made with his CBR600RR’s set-up Friday. Third-fastest Michael Barnes (1:27.270) just missed out qualifying Zemke on his Pirelli-qualifier-equipped Team M4 EMGO Suzuki GSX-R600. Young Australian Ben Attard earned the final spot on the Formula Xtreme front row with a time of 1:27.961 on his Dunlop-fitted Attack Kawasaki ZX-6RR. Provisional AMA Formula Xtreme Qualifying Results: 1. Miguel Duhamel, Honda, 1:26.581 2. Jake Zemke, Honda, 1:27.182 3. Michael Barnes, Suzuki, 1:27.270 4. Ben Attard, Kawasaki, 1:27.961 5. Chris Peris, Yamaha, 1:28.558 6. Robert Jensen, Yamaha, 1:28.686 7. Chris “Opie” Caylor, Suzuki, 1:28.707 8. Danny Eslick, Suzuki, 1:29.008 9. Mike Hale, Honda, 1:29.945 10. Ryan Andrews, Ducati, 1:30.409 11. Alex Gobert, Honda, 1:30.764 12. Mike Ciccotto, Buell, 1:31.012 13. Trey Yonce, Yamaha, 1:31.464 14. Taylor Knapp, Yamaha, 1:31.618 15. Nathan Hester, Yamaha, 1:31.720 16. Robertino Pietri, Yamaha, 1:31.763 17. Shea Fouchek, Suzuki, 1:31.808 18. Armando Ferrer, Yamaha, 1:32.136 19. Nick Moore, Yamaha, 1:32.176 20. Victor Chirinos, Yamaha, 1:32.759 21. Tim Rinaldi, Yamaha, 1:33.103 22. Justin Filice, Honda, 1:33.482 23. Scott Harwood, Honda, 1:34.777 24. Jeff Johnson, Buell, 1:35.080 25. Lance Yeager, Kawasaki, 1:35.594 26. Mark Kittel, Honda, 1:35.987 27. Charles Sipp, Buell, 1:36.498 28. Jessica Zalusky, Kawasaki, 1:36.530 112% of fast time qualifying limit = 1:36.970 More, from a press release issued by M4 EMGO Suzuki: BARNES THIRD IN FX QUALIFYING AT VIR Team M4 EMGO Suzuki kicked off the second to last round of the 2005 AMA road racing season with a strong showing on Friday at Virginia International Raceway. By the conclusion of the day, the squad had locked up a front-row grid position and put in several other impressive performances. Michael Barnes continued to challenge the front-running factory riders in Formula Xtreme, qualifying his trick GSX-R600-based FX machine on the front row. The Floridian’s best lap of 1:27.270 was good enough to claim the third spot on the grid and less than a tenth of a second off the time set by his factory-backed rival who qualified second. Afterwards, Barnes said, “I feel pretty good. We were on race tires for at least the first half of the session and we were nice and comfortable in the ’27s on the race tires. So we accomplished one of our tasks for qualifying and that was to be comfortable on race tires. Then we went for something a little bit softer for a fast lap and they kept on coming and coming. I feel like if I just kept on throwing tires at it, I was going to keep on taking tenths off. The Pirellis worked awesome and my Suzuki just worked flawlessly the whole time. The competition is very tough and they’re making work hard, but I couldn’t be more pleased.” Teammate Geoff May qualified for tomorrow’s Superbike final aboard his Superstock-spec GSX-R1000. May outpaced all but the riders armed with dedicated Superbikes, putting his big-bore Suzuki ninth on the provisional order with a fast lap of 1:26.768. May was also in the top ten in the morning’s Superstock and Supersport free practices. The Georgian was a stellar fourth quick aboard his 1000cc GSX-R in Superstock with a best lap of 1:27.551. He backed that up by running tenth overall in Supersport aboard his GSX-R600 at 1:29.247. Barnes also got in the top ten in the Superstock practice, laying down the tenth fastest lap at 1:28.162. Team Crew Chief Keith Perry said of the day, “It went pretty well, actually. I think coming here a month or so back helped us to get things sorted out quickly, and things went smoothly. Geoff looks good in Superbike. We’re using that class to help work on a few things for Superstock, but we’re going to race Superbike as well and see how we do. Formula Xtreme qualifying went well too. Barney was third but really close to second. It’s always a big challenge to go up against the factory guys, whether it’s practice, qualifying, or the races.” On Saturday, Barnes will look to claim his second Formula Xtreme podium of the year, while May will contest the 28-lap Superbike race following final qualifying for the class in the morning. Superstock and Supersport qualifying will be completed as well in preparation of Sunday’s 17-lap races.