Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

A new feature of AMA Pro Racing’s upgraded timing and scoring system debuted Wednesday at Laguna Seca, giving riders split times for what may be the first time ever. The new system’s benefit, which has been available in FIM competition for at least the 2001 season and most likely longer, is as a tool for riders to see where they are strong or weak compared to their fellow riders.

The 2.2-mile Laguna Seca track was separated into three segments. The first segment starts at the start/finish line on the front straight and runs to the pedestrian crossover bridge near turn four. The second segment runs from the bridge to the corkscrew. The final split time is measured from the corkscrew to the start/finish line.

From split times provided by AMA Pro Racing, the quickest rider in segment one was Anthony Gobert on his Yamaha Superbike at 32.676 seconds. Miguel Duhamel was the next-quickest rider in segment one, followed by Nicky Hayden and Kurtis Roberts, just hundredths of a second behind. Eric Bostrom was 0.8-second slower than “Go Show” through the first split.

The first split time spread from the fastest 600cc rider, Damon Buckmaster (34.063), to the slowest 600cc rider, Tony Meiring (34.707), was only 0.7-second.

The gap in first-split times from Gobert’s fast Superbike time to Buckmaster’s fast 600cc time was about 1.4 seconds.

Nicky Hayden was the fastest in split two with a time of 18.856 seconds, followed by Roberts, Duhamel, Gobert and Bostrom. The spread between Hayden and Bostrom’s second split times was 0.3-second.

Buckmaster was again the fastest 600cc tester through the second split at 19.953 with Roger Lee Hayden the slowest at 20.373. Meiring went from being the slowest 600cc rider in the first split to the second-fastest in the second split. The second-split time spread among 600cc riders was 0.4-second.

The second split gap from fastest Superbike time to 600cc Supersport time was 1.1 seconds.

Anthony Gobert was again the fastest Superbike in the final timing segment with a 34.545, just quicker than Hayden, Roberts, Duhamel and Bostrom. The difference between Gobert’s and Bostrom’s times was 0.46-second.

Buckmaster completed a sweep of all three segment times among 600cc racers Wednesday morning with a time of 35.832 as Meiring slipped back to the slowest time again. The difference between Buckmaster’s and Meiring’s third segment times was 0.5-second.

The difference in third-split times between Gobert’s Superbike and Buckmaster’s 600 was 1.3 seconds.

Overall, Gobert’s best Wednesday-morning Superbike lap time of 1:26.328 was 3.55 seconds faster than Buckmaster’s quickest 600cc Supersport time.

Note: Anthony Gobert turned the slowest 600cc lap time Wednesday morning on the AMA scoring system at 1:34.727. Considering Gobert’s best unofficial lap time of the test was a 1:29 Tuesday morning, his 1:34.727 was not taken into consideration as an accurate example of Gobert’s speed in this analysis.