From a press release issued by Mat Mladin’s publicist:
2003 AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship
Round 2 & 3 – California Speedway, Fontana, California, USA
First Qualifying Session Report
MLADIN TAKES AMERICAN SUPERBIKE POLE AT FONTANA
Fontana, California, USA (Friday, 4 April) – Australia’s Mat Mladin has set the fastest time during the opening qualifying session for this weekend’s double header, second and third rounds of the 2003 AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship being held at California Speedway in Fontana, California.
In taking provisional pole position, Mladin’s fastest time of 1-min 25.123-secs was under the existing lap record of 1:25.250 for the 3.70km / 2.30 mile Californian circuit that is located one hour east of Los Angles.
Mladin, a three times winner of the AMA Superbike Championship, was well clear of his Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Aaron Yates with 0.805 seconds separating the pair, with Yates producing a best time of 1:25.928. The Suzuki GSX-R1000 mounted pair were the only riders to break into the 1:25 barrier.
Third fastest was Erion Honda’s Kurtis Roberts (1:26.146), with Kawasaki’s Eric Bostrom completing the provisional front row of the grid with a time of 1:26.259.
“That was a good session for us this afternoon,” said Mladin. “I was happy with the times and with the progress that we made with the setup of the bike. We’ve got another one hour session in the morning before tomorrow afternoon’s race that will give us some more time to check a few more settings, so it’s looking good at the moment.
“We did a lot of laps when we tested here a few weeks ago and that is definitely paying off. The Showa suspension technicians have worked really hard since that test and have given us some updated parts for this weekend, which have worked well. Last year we had some problems in that area, but it appears that we are now on top of that and it’s great to see the support and responses made by Showa.”
Qualifying for the AMA Superbikes concludes tomorrow morning with the first of the two 28-lap Superbike races being held later on Saturday afternoon.
AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship, Qualifying – Friday
1. Mat Mladin (Team Yoshimura Suzuki), 1:25.123
2. Aaron Yates (Team Yoshimura Suzuki), 1:25.928
3. Kurtis Roberts (Erion Honda), 1:26.146
4. Eric Bostrom (Team Kawasaki), 1:26.259
5. Larry Pegram (Dream Team Ducati), 1:26.308
6. Miguel DuHamel (American Honda), 1:26.405
7 Anthony Gobert (Ducati Austin), 1:26.460
8. Ben Bostrom (American Honda), 1:26.496
9. Doug Chandler (No Limits Honda), 1:28.081
10. Shawn Higbee (Suzuki),1:28.738
More, from a press release issued by Dream Team Ducati:
Larry Pegram on his Dream Team Racing DUCATI, blazed his way to a very strong 5th place qualifying time against the heavily supported Japanese Factory Teams. He accomplished that feat on his back-up bike after some minor setbacks on his primary bike. In fact his Michelin shod Ducati 998RS03 may find its way to the front row tomorrow depending on if Kurtis Roberts’ qualifying time is made offical or disallowed. (Roberts’ Honda is currently shown in 3rd place.)
Pegram in an interview said, “It’s nice to be the top Ducati on the grid. I felt good today even though I qualified on my secondary 998 after I had a lowside in the tight turn 10-11 section. It really wasn’t a big deal, just enough damage to force me to ride my slightly slower bike for the qualifying session. I want to thank Michelin for working so closely with us at Fontana. The tire testing we did here in February is making a difference in our times. Tomorrow and Sunday should be very interesting.” He said with a smile.
Dream Team Racing (DTR) DUCATI is currently being sponsored by Michelin, Options Italia, Competitions Accessories, Pro Italia, Nutec, Spiegler, Ferodo, Kerker and Ducati Corse.
Press Releases From Fontana
Press Releases From Fontana
© 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.
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