Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Provisional Friday Afternoon AMA Superbike Practice Times:

1. Miguel Duhamel, Honda CBR1000RR, 1:26.325
2. Ben Bostrom, Honda CBR1000RR, 1:26.380
3. Jake Zemke, Honda CBR1000RR, 1:26.424
4. Mat Mladin, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:26.620
5. Josh Hayes, Kawasaki ZX-10R, 1:27.524
6. Eric Bostrom, Ducati 999F04, 1:27.707
7. Aaron Yates, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:28.073
8. Geoff May, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:28.988
9. Jake Holden, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:30.475
10. John Haner, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:30.618
11. Shawn Higbee, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:30.745
12. Larry Pegram, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:30.908
13. Thomas Montano, Ducati 999R, 1:31.592
14. Lee Acree, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:32.011
15. Ken Hill, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:32.058
16. Marty Craggill, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:32.166
17. Mike Sullivan, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:32.255
18. Chris “Opie” Caylor, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:32.535
19. Ricky Orlando, Kawasaki ZX-10R, 1:32.724
20. Chris Siglin, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:32.737


More, from a press release issued by Mat Mladin Motorsports:

MLADIN FOURTH FASTEST AT LAGUNA SECA

Monterey, California, USA (Friday, July 9) – A revised schedule for this weekend’s combined World Superbike Championship and American AMA Superbike Championship rounds at Laguna Seca Raceway, left the AMA competitors with just a single 45-minute practice session for them to acclimatise themselves with the conditions of the Californian circuit.

By the completion of the session, four times and defending American Superbike champion Mat Mladin had posted the fourth fastest time, three tenths of a second off the quickest time of the session. Mladin piloted his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 around the undulating 3.610km (2.2miles) Monterey circuit to a best time of 1-min 26.620-secs.

Fastest rider in the opening session was Miguel DuHamel who posted a 1:26.325 late in the session, bumping teammate Ben Bostrom to second (1:26.380), with Jake Zemke (1:26.424), just ahead of Mladin.

The heavy race schedule planned at Laguna Seca this weekend has meant that the AMA Superbike competitors did not get their customary first qualifying session on Friday afternoon. This weekend’s schedule has them slated for two practice sessions and a single qualifying session on Saturday afternoon that will determine grid positions for Sunday’s single 28-lap race.

“There won’t be as much time for us out on the track in practice and qualifying, but it’s the same for everybody,” said Mladin. “For us it was business as usual for the opening practice session of any race meeting. It allowed us a chance to run through a few different tyres and some basic chassis changes, but we’ll sit down tonight and work out some more changes that we’ll use in tomorrow’s sessions. Traffic was also a bit of a problem today. With so many guys out there in the session, it was very hard to get a clear run.”

Mladin arrives at Monterey holding a slender six-point advantage at the top of the championship table, heading DuHamel (358 – 352), with Zemke close on their heels with 348. The trio have dominated this year’s series to date, with Mladin scoring five race wins, closely followed by DuHamel (4) and Zemke who broke through for his debut win at the last round at Brainerd.

After competing in both AMA and the SWC races at Laguna in previous years, this weekend Mladin will be concentrating his efforts solely on the AMA Championship race.

This weekend, Mladin will be aiming to replicate his results of 2003 where he took pole position for the round (with a time of 1:25.549) and then went on to score his maiden Laguna Seca AMA Superbike race win.