Mat Mladin led a Yoshimura Suzuki sweep of the top three spots in Friday Superbike qualifying at California Speedway for round three of the AMA Superbike Championship. Mladin took the provisional pole by lowering his own lap record on the 2.3-mile road course to 1:24.184 minutes, well under last year’s pole time of 1:24.759 and Mladin put the improvement to a change in the track and new Dunlop tyres. “It’s got to be half a second quicker, I would say,” he said of the track change, which widened and softened the chicane on the back straight, making for a much faster transition and exit. “This area here was really bothering me,” said Honda’s Miguel Duhamel, who was instrumental in getting the change made. “I really thought it was a safety issue.” As for the tyres, Mladin said this year’s Dunlops have allowed him to race at 100% from start to finish, rather than at 90%, as he’d been forced to do for some time. “This year, there’s certainly a higher confidence from Dunlop for us and you can just give it to it for the whole race and grip’s good and the tyre just holds up a lot better than it ever has.” Mladin was 0.143 seconds faster than team mate Aaron Yates, whose last lap was his best, with Ben Spies 0.531 off the pole time. Asked whether he thought that meant the racing would be closer, Mladin said, “I’ve seen a lot of soft tyres going in at the end, so we’ll see what happens in the race.” The Ducati Austin team was fourth and fifth, respectively, Eric Bostrom leading team mate Neil Hodgson, as he had in their final Fontana test. American Hondas were next, with Miguel Duhamel sixth – despite a first turn crash – followed by team mate Jake Zemke. More, from a press release issued by Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin: BOSTROM ON PROVISIONAL FRONT ROW AT FONTANA Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin’s Eric Bostrom put his factory 999 Superbike on the provisional front row on Friday at the Fontana AMA Superbike event. His teammate Neil Hodgson was one spot behind him in fifth place despite feeling the effects of an illness. Bostrom began the day at the 2.3-mile California track by finishing second in the day’s first practice session. The Californian backed that up with his fourth place effort in qualifying. His best lap time was 1:24.938. “I’m really happy to be on the provisional front row,” Bostrom said afterward. “Jon (Cornwell) and Gary (Medley) made a change to the fork for the qualifying session that really worked. The front end was really nice. We haven’t quite got the rear end sorted out, so I know we still have a little time to be made. Overall, things are going well and our times on race tires are competitive with the others. We’re really looking forward to the race.” Hodgson was fifth in the first of two qualifying session on the weekend. An illness slowed the 2003 World Superbike champion’s efforts on Friday but he still managed a quite respectable 1:25. 623. “I’ve got a bit of a virus or something,” said Hodgson. “I got it from my little girl. The illness didn’t last long with her, so I’m hopeful I’m better for tomorrow. I have no energy and it was hard to concentrate, and you have to be aggressive and have the strength at a track like this. When you feel bad, you want to sit on the sofa, not race a motorcycle professionally against some great riders.” Team owner Terry Gregoricka is hopeful Hodgson will return to the podium at California Speedway just like he had been at Daytona and Barber, and that Bostrom will join him. “Both the riders were in the top 5 today, so that’s a good start,” said Gregoricka. “Neil was sick today and put in a strong effort despite that. It was good to see Eric on the provisional front row again and nice to see the hard work he and the team have put in pay off for us. We’re happy, but we’re far from satisfied. We want to be a little bit closer to the front. Our goal tomorrow is to get both riders on the front row and more podium finishes this weekend.” Tomorrow’s action sees the second round of qualifying conclude before lunch and the 28-lap Superbike race begins at 3:50 local time.