Blake Young, Tray Batey, Chris “Opie” Caylor and Cory West each earned a pole position during Michelin WERA/AMA National Challenge Series qualifying on a hot Friday afternoon at Miller Motorsports Park (MMP), in Tooele, Utah. Young earned pole position in the Formula One class with a time of 1:55.516 around the 3.06-mile layout of MMP, in spite of using used 17-inch Dunlop slicks on his Matsushima Suzuki. “It went really good,” Young told Roadracingworld.com. “I didn’t get hooked up with anyone. I pretty much did that lap on my own. That was only my second time on the bike [GSX-R1000] this weekend. We unloaded it off the truck, and it was working pretty good. It doesn’t always happen like that.” Young also qualified fifth in the 600cc Superstock and 750cc Superstock classes while using take-offs on his GSX-R600. Young’s teammate Danny Eslick had a similarly successful day Friday. The Oklahoma rider qualified on the front row of all four of his classes: Formula One (second), Open Superstock (fourth), 750cc Superstock (third) and 600cc Superstock (second). Eslick rode on the same used, DOT-labeled Dunlops on his GSX-R600 in 600cc and 750cc qualifying, then the same set of tires was put on his GSX-R1000 for Open Superstock qualifying. In order to save their tire budget for their primary mission, the AMA Supersport and Superstock Championships, Young and Eslick plan to use take-off tires throughout the WERA weekend, including in the 6-hour WERA National Endurance race on Saturday. Vesrah Suzuki did not have to resort to using take-off tires Friday, but when the multi-rider team learned their shipment of Pirelli tires never left the warehouse and would not be arriving in Utah in time for the race they were forced to make alternate plans, which included using tires they could find in their transporter and choosing from the limited selection on hand with the trackside vendor. The tire situation resulted in most of the Vesrah Suzuki riders using “Green” (medium) compound tires during qualifying Friday instead of “Blue” (soft) and “White” (super soft) compounds, which most of them saved for Sunday’s races. Still, Batey was able to put his Vesrah Suzuki GSX-R1000 on pole position for the Open Superstock class with a lap of 1:55.538, which was quicker than the 1:56.212 (third-fastest) he turned in Formula One. “I’m just getting more laps in. I’ve only been here once before,” said Batey, who turned his fastest lap on his second flier but stayed out the entire session. “I hadn’t used those ‘Greens’ yet, so I wanted to get some time on them.” Batey’s teammates fared nearly as well while feeling out the limits of the harder-compound Pirellis during qualifying. Junge, the Vesrah Suzuki team owner, was third in Open Superstock, sixth in Formula One and 16th in the crowded 600cc Superstock session. Jacobi qualified seventh in 750cc Superstock, 12th in Open Superstock and 13th in Formula One. Acree was seventh in 600cc Superstock (on his GSX-R600), fifth in Open Superstock (on his GSX-R750), 14th in Formula One (on his GSX-R750) and second-fastest (on his GSX-R750) in the 750cc Superstock class, behind Team EMGO USA’s Caylor. “I love 750s. They’re my favorite,” said Caylor, who lapped the 18-month-old circuit in 1:56.431 on his Dunlop-fitted GSX-R750. “It’s nice to have a second on everyone else, but that’s gonna be hard to maintain in the race on Sunday.” Caylor also took ninth in 600cc Superstock, sixth in Open Superstock and eighth in Formula One qualifying. Probably the most difficult pole position, 600cc Superstock, was taken by Team Hunter’s Cory West, who lapped at 1:57.767 on his Yamaha YZF-R6 in spite of using take-off Pirellis and sharing the track with 59 other riders. “There were so many people out there it was hard to get a clear lap,” said West. “On my last lap I got by a couple of guys in good spots and didn’t get held up as much.” Eslick, Moto Uno Kawasaki’s Taylor Knapp and Rojo Racing’s Jason Perez also qualified on the front row for the 600cc Superstock race. Perez, in fact, was one of the most successful riders Friday. In addition to his front-row qualifying effort in 600cc Superstock, Perez earned spots on the front row of the Formula One (fourth) and Open Superstock (second) races on his Suzuki GSX-R1000. In his first race back since quitting his team in the Supersport World Championship, Topline Racing’s Chris Peris qualified 11th in spite of a nasty crash caused by a radiator hose that came loose. The 20-year-old Canadian came back to put his Dunlop-backed Yamaha YZF-R6 on the front row in 750cc Superstock qualifying. Weather conditions Friday were clear with light winds, low humidity and an ambient temperature in the mid-90s F. The temperature could reach 100 degrees F or higher during Saturday’s six-hour WERA National Endurance race. Michelin WERA/AMA National Challenge Series Miller Motorsports Park Tooele, Utah June 15, 2007 Qualifying Results: Formula One: 1. Blake Young (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, 1:55.516 2. Danny Eslick (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, 1:55.861 3. Tray Batey (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, 1:56.212 4. Jason Perez (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, 1:56.544 5. Aaron Clark (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, 1:56.544 6. Mark Junge (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, 1:57.428 7. Jason Curtis (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, 1:57.952 8. Chris “Opie” Caylor (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, 1:58.113 9. Chad Lewin (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:58.217 10. Dane Westby (Suz GSX-R1000), Michelin, 1:58.612 11. James Stroud (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:58.746 12. Keith Marshall (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, 1:58.748 13. John Jacobi (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, 1:58.784 14. Lee Acree (Suz GSX-R750), Pirelli, 1:58.962 15. Garry Combs (Suz GSX-R750), Dunlop, 1:59.753 16. Eddie Barajas (Suz GSX-R1000), 2:00.147 17. Seth Starnes (Suz GSX-R1000), 2:00.662 18. Alessandro Assanti (Suz GSX-R1000), 2:01.213 19. Ivan Garza (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, 2:01.888 20. Tom Savoca (Suz GSX-R1000), 2:02.352 Open Superstock: 1. Tray Batey (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, 1:55.538 2. Jason Perez (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, 1:56.264 3. Mark Junge (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, 1:56.591 4. Danny Eslick (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, 1:56.759 5. Lee Acree (Suz GSX-R750), Pirelli, 1:57.168 6. Chris “Opie” Caylor (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, 1:57.204 7. Aaron Clark (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, 1:57.650 8. James Stroud (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:58.127 9. Chad Lewin (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:58.427 10. Keith Marshall (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:58.631 11. Jason Curtis (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, 1:59.191 12. John Jacobi (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, 1:59.438 13. Alessandro Assanti (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:59.568 14. Eddie Barajas (Suz GSX-R1000), 2:00.077 15. Garry Combs (Suz GSX-R750), Dunlop, 2:00.116 16. Seth Starnes (Suz GSX-R1000), 2:00.861 17. Dane Westby (Suz GSX-R1000), Michelin, 2:01.137 18. Jason Bluth (Suz GSX-R750), 2:02.029 19. Matt Quigley (Kaw ZX-10R), 2:02.039 20. Ryan Brand (Suz GSX-R1000), 2:02.199 750cc Superstock: 1. Chris “Opie” Caylor (Suz GSX-R750), Dunlop, 1:56.431 2. Lee Acree (Suz GSX-R750), Pirelli, 1:57.356 3. Danny Eslick (Suz GSX-R600), Dunlop, 1:57.387 4. Chris Peris (Yam YZF-R6), Dunlop, 1:57.872 5. Blake Young (Suz GSX-R600), Dunlop, 1:58.320 6. Tommy Aquino (Yam YZF-R6), Dunlop, 1:59.026 7. John Jacobi (Suz GSX-R750), Pirelli, 1:59.361 8. Chad Lewin (Suz GSX-R600), 1:59.438 9. Garry Combs (Suz GSX-R750), Dunlop, 1:59.788 10. Garrett Carter (Yam YZF-R6), Dunlop, 2:00.025 11. Keith Marshall (Suz GSX-R600), Pirelli, 2:01.226 12. Scott Gilbert (Yam YZF-R6), 2:01.990 13. Gregory Grouleff (Suz GSX-R600), 2:02.052 14. Jason Bluth (Suz GSX-R750), 2:02.619 15. Kim Nakashima (Suz GSX-R600), 2:02.900 16. Morgan Broadhead (Suz GSX-R600), Pirelli, 2:03.198 17. Corey Neuer (Suz GSX-R600), 2:03.574 18. C.R. Gittere (Suz GSX-R600), Michelin, 2:03.927 19. Ali Khosroshahi (Yam YZF-R6), 2:04.918 20. Angie Loy-Catterson (Suz GSX-R750), 2:04.947 600cc Superstock: 1. Cory West (Yam YZF-R6), Pirelli, 1:57.767 2. Danny Eslick (Suz GSX-R600), Dunlop, 1:58.177 3. Taylor Knapp (Kaw ZX-6R), Pirelli, 1:58.195 4. Jason Perez (Yam YZF-R6), Dunlop, 1:58.225 5. Blake Young (Suz GSX-R600), Dunlop, 1:58.863 6. Josh Day (Yam YZF-R6), Pirelli, 1:59.029 7. Lee Acree (Suz GSX-R600), Pirelli, 1:59.047 8. Tommy Aquino (Yam YZF-R6), Dunlop, 1:59.358 9. Chris “Opie” Caylor (Suz GSX-R600), Dunlop, 1:59.383 10. Chad Lewin (Suz GSX-R600), 1:59.391 11. Chris Peris (Yam YZF-R6), Dunlop, 2:00.117, crash 12. Hawk Mazzotta (Yam YZF-R6), Dunlop, 2:00.175 13. Garrett Carter (Yam YZF-R6), Dunlop, 2:00.245 14. Bryce Prince (Yam YZF-R6), 2:00.766 15. Mikey Shreve (Yam YZF-R6), 2:00.788 16. Mark Junge (Suz GSX-R600), Pirelli, 2:00.828 17. Keith Marshall (Suz GSX-R600), Pirelli, 2:00.862 18. unknown, 2:00.869 19. Gregory Grouleff (Suz GSX-R600), 2:00.889 20. Scott Gilbert (Yam YZF-R6), 2:00.990