Road America: Pro Road Racing classes qualifying report

Hayes, Herrin and Beaubier to Start from the Front of their Respective Classes for this Weekend's Road America Doubleheader

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (June 5, 2010) - Josh Hayes, Josh Herrin and Cameron Beaubier rocketed to the pole positions of their respective classes for this weekend's Suzuki SuperBike Doubleheader at Road America. The AMA Pro Road Racing stars will be featured in afternoon races on Saturday and Sunday at the historic 4.05-mile circuit in Elkhart Lake, Wis.

Hayes earned his second AMA Pro National Guard American SuperBike pole of the season and fourth of his career after piloting his No. 4 Team Graves Yamaha R1 to a fast time of 2:13.121 (109.471 mph) in the Saturday morning qualifying session.

"The bike is working well and we're able to do good strong laps, I definitely don't think you're going to see any runaways here," said Hayes. "I love riding around this racetrack. I always have fun and come off the track with a big smile on my face when I'm here. All of these things come together and so far so good."

Tommy Hayden nearly claimed his first career SuperBike pole with a fast time of 2:13.147 (109.449 mph) on the No. 22 Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000, just .026 seconds behind Hayes. Both riders turned their fastest time in their 14th and final laps of the qualifying session.

Hayden's teammate Blake Young will start in third position aboard the No. 79 Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 with a qualifying laptime of 2:13.207 (109.399 mph), and Larry Pegram will close out the front row on the No. 72 Foremost Insurance Pegram Racing Ducati 1098R after completing the circuit in 2:13.400 (109.242 mph).

Definite Daytona SportBike Thriller in Store Herrin led the opening AMA Pro Daytona SportBike presented by AMSOIL practice session, placed second in the opening qualifying round and posted a laptime of 2:20.161 (103.972 mph) in final qualifying aboard the No. 8 Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6 on his way to earn his first pole position of the 2010 season. The Daytona 200 winner has two wins to his credit so far this year and is trailing Danny Eslick by just 10 points in the championship.

"All weekend has been pretty good for us," said Herrin, Road America is usually our worst track the whole year and so far it's been our best track this year. I'm really pumped for the race. Rain or shine, I think we have a really good motorcycle and we'll be up there in the front. I think we're ready."

Steve Rapp posted the second-fastest time of the session on the No. 15 Team Latus Motors Racing Ducati 848 with a laptime of 2:20.572 (103.668 mph), followed by Eslick's laptime of 2:20.711 (103.566 mph) aboard the No. 1 GEICO Powersports RMR Suzuki GSX-R600. Cory West will start the No. 57 Vesrah Suzuki GSX-R600 from the outside of the front row after climbing the charts with a 2:20.718 (103.560 mph) in final qualifying.

SuperSport Stars Set to Shine Beaubier recovered from yesterday's crash to top the charts in final qualifying session and earn the AMA Pro SuperSport pole position. The 17-year-old rider has continually lowered his times and completed the fast lap of 2:23.712 (101.403 mph) on the last lap of final qualifying aboard the Rockwall Performance Yamaha YZF-R6.

"Coming out of the carousel I was trying to pass another rider and I just went off course and fell in the grass because the grass was all wet," Beaubier commented on yesterday's incident. "I crashed my bike pretty good but my team got it all together and I rode it this morning and did pretty well. Hopefully in the race it's a good battle for the win."

Tomas Puerta has consistently posted times in the 2:24 range on the No. 12 LTD Racing Yamaha YZF-R6, turning his fastest time of 2:24.386 (100.930 mph) on his second-to-last lap in today's session. J.D. Beach was involved in an on-track incident in the session which caused a short red flag delay, but the young standout turned the third fastest lap of the weekend at 2:24.490 (100.857 mph) in yesterday's qualifying session to qualify third. Beach is expected to start both of this weekend's races aboard the No. 73 Rockwall Racing Yamaha YZF-R6.

Fourth position on the grid belongs to Huntley Nash, who pushed the No. 75 LTD Racing Yamaha YZF-R6 around the racetrack in 2:24.685 (100.721 mph) in yesterday's session to edge out the No. 17 Suzuki GSX-R600 of James Rispoli.

Finals for the AMA Pro Road Racing classes will be held on Saturday and Sunday afternoon at Road America, with doubleheaders slated for AMA Pro National Guard American SuperBike, Daytona SportBike and SuperSport, and the inaugural AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series set to go green at 12:30 p.m. local time Sunday. Flag-to-flag coverage of American SuperBike and Daytona SportBike can be seen in same-weekend broadcasts on SPEED. Highlights from the SuperSport and XR1200 Series races will be included in the broadcasts. Be sure to check your local listings for details.

-source: ama