Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin earned the provisional AMA Superbike pole position during qualifying Friday at California Speedway in Fontana, California. Mladin rode his Dunlop-race-tire-equipped GSX-R1000 to a time of 1:24.184, eclipsing his own lap record of 1:24.759, which he set while using a qualifying tire in 2004. “I wasn’t too happy after the morning, but this afternoon we definitely got it back on track,” Mladin told reporters. “We just rushed through a few too many things in 45 minutes (of morning practice), and we got a few things wrong. We got back on track this afternoon. “The bike’s working well, and the new race tires Dunlop has brought are just awesome.” Mladin also said the change to open up the turn 10/11 chicane on the infield straightaway was responsible for 0.5 second off his lap time. Mladin’s teammate Aaron Yates turned a second-fastest 1:24.327 on his 21st and final lap of the session. Yoshimura Suzuki’s Superbike rookie Ben Spies was third-fastest with a time of 1:24.715. Eric Bostrom earned the final spot on the provisional front row with a lap of 1:24.938 on his Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin 999, which was the fastest bike through the start/finish speed trap Friday. Bostrom’s teammate Hodgson (1:25.623) was fifth in Friday’s qualifying session, 0.001 second better than Miguel Duhamel’s sixth-fastest 1:25.624. Duhamel crashed late in the 40-minute qualifying session, picked his bike up, rode it back to the pits, got on his spare bike and then turned his fastest lap. Duhamel’s teammate Jake Zemke turned the seventh-fastest time of 1:26.002 (just 0.037 second quicker than his Formula Xtreme pole time, 1:26.039) on his CBR1000RR Superbike. Zemke said, however, that he made dramatic progress with his Superbike Friday and had a direction to go for more improvement Saturday. Steve Rapp turned the ninth-fastest time (1:26.919) on his Superstock-spec Michael Jordan Motorsports Suzuki GSX-R1000. Team M4 EMGO Suzuki’s Vincent Haskovec rounded out the top 10 qualifiers Friday with a time of 1:26.994 on his Pirelli-fitted GSX-R1000, the fastest non-Dunlop rider. Friday’s Provisional AMA Superbike Qualifying Results: 1. Mat Mladin, Suzuki, 1:24.184 2. Aaron Yates, Suzuki, 1:24.327 3. Ben Spies, Suzuki, 1:24.715 4. Eric Bostrom, Ducati, 1:24.938 5. Neil Hodgson, Ducati, 1:25.623 6. Miguel Duhamel, Honda, 1:25.624 7. Jake Zemke, Honda, 1:26.002 8. Josh Hayes, Kawasaki, 1:26.559 9. Steve Rapp, Suzuki, 1:26.919 10. Vincent Haskovec, Suzuki, 1:26.994 11. Larry Pegram, Honda, 1:27.022 12. Marty Craggill, Suzuki, 1:27.278 13. Geoff May, Suzuki, 1:27.572 14. Jake Holden, Suzuki, 1:27.582 15. Jeff Tigert, Honda, 1:27.663 16. Kurtis Roberts, Honda, 1:27.763 17. Clint McBain, Suzuki, 1:27.846 18. John Haner, Suzuki, 1:28.149 19. Scott Jensen, Suzuki, 1:28.534 20. Eric Wood, Suzuki, 1:28.646 21. Jeremy Toye, Honda, 1:28.713 22. Cory West, Suzuki, 1:28.727 23. Chris Ulrich, Suzuki, 1:28.909 24. Heath Small, Yamaha, 1:28.963 25. Matt Lynn, Suzuki, 1:29.044 26. Tony Meiring, Suzuki, 1:29.227 27. Lee Acree, Suzuki, 1:29.234 28. Brent George, Suzuki, 1:29.333 29. Jason Curtis, Suzuki, 1:29.516 30. J.J. Roetlin, Suzuki, 1:29.757 31. Jimmy Moore, Suzuki, 1:29.819 32. Mark Ledesma, Honda, 1:30.242 33. David Sanders, Suzuki, 1:30.836 34. Mike Sullivan, Yamaha, 1:31.253 35. David Bell, Suzuki, 1:31.513 36. C.R. Gittere, Suzuki, 1:31.544 37. Dean Mizdal, Suzuki, 1:31.580 38. Peter Holzinger, Suzuki, 1:31.857 39. James Kerker, Honda, 1:31.988 40. Taylor Knapp, Yamaha, 1:32.962 41. Reno Karimian, Suzuki, 1:33.882