Rockstar Makita Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin broke the lap record during AMA Superbike qualifying Friday at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with a lap of 1:23.913 on his Dunlop-shod GSX-R1000. “It was OK,” said Mladin. “Everyone seems to be liking the same race tires. The race tire’s pretty good. We were out there the whole session on the same one we had this morning just to get as many laps on it as possible. With about eight minutes on the clock we put a little softer race tire on and went a little bit quicker, but the race tire’s pretty good. It was capable of running mid-1:24s pretty comfortably. It’s reasonably warm out there, and that was a tire with race laps on it. Everything’s Ok at the moment. We’ll see how it goes.” If Mladin’s time holds up during Saturday morning’s final qualifying session he will capture his third pole position of the season and the 55th pole position of his AMA Superbike career. Jamie Hacking was second-quickest with a time of 1:24.329 on his Monster Energy Kawasaki ZX-10R, slightly slower than he went in the morning session. He said he had some room for improvement with his electronics package that may allow him to go even faster on Saturday morning. Neil Hodgson’s final lap (1:24.739) on his American Honda CBR1000RR was good enough for third-fastest overall. Two-time Champion and current Championship point leader Ben Spies was fourth-quickest in the session with a 1:24.923 on his Rockstar Makita Yoshimura Suzuki, but Spies only did a relatively small amount of laps Friday due to his physical condition. Spies had his appendix removed 10 days ago, has lost a significant amount of weight and strength, and is experiencing a lot of pain that prevents him from riding his motorcycle like he would normally. AMA Superbike Championship Presented by Parts Unlimited Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio August 1, 2008 Provisional Qualifying Results, Combined Groups A & B : 1. Mat Mladin (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, 1:23.912 2. Jamie Hacking (Kaw ZX-10R), Dunlop, 1:24.329 3. Neil Hodgson (Hon CBR1000RR), Dunlop, 1:24.737 4. Ben Spies (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, 1:24.923 5. Eric Bostrom (Yam YZF-R1), Dunlop, 1:24.970 6. Jason DiSalvo (Yam YZF-R1), Dunlop, 1:25.115 7. Aaron Yates (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, 1:25.259 8. Miguel Duhamel (Hon CBR1000RR), Dunlop, 1:25.479 9. Tommy Hayden (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, 1:25.561 10. Roger Hayden (Kaw ZX-10R), Dunlop, 1:25.918 11. Geoff May (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, 1:25.955 * 12. Chris Peris (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, 1:26.304 * 13. Ben Thompson (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, 1:26.699 14. Matt Lynn (Hon CBR1000RR), Dunlop, 1:26.779 15. Kenny Noyes (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, 1:27.196 * 16. Scott Jensen (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, 1:27.217 17. David Anthony (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, 1:27.556, crash * 18. Shane Narbonne (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, 1:27.600 * 19. Ryan Elleby (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, 1:27.867 * 20. Hawk Mazzotta (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, 1:28.189 * 21. Keith Marshall (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, 1:29.431 * 22. Johnny Rock Page (Yam YZF-R1), Dunlop, 1:29.432 23. Scotty Van Hawk (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, 1:29.555 24. Dean Mizdal (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, 1:30.336 25. Reno Karimian (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:30.555 26. Eric Haugo (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, 1:30.583 108% of Fast Time: 1:30.626 Did Not Qualify: 27. James Kerker (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:31.090 *Known to be on a Superstock-spec racebike