AMA Pro Racing: Daytona -- American Superbike Final Qualifying

By Mike Walt | Fri, 11/03/2011 - 16:43

Top 10:

1. Josh Hayes  Yamaha 1:38.228

2. Tommy Hayden  Suzuki 1:38.322

3. Roger Hayden  Suzuki 1:38.614

4. Blake Young Suzuki 1:38.767

5. Ben Bostrom Suzuki 1:38.955

6. Martin Cardenas Suzuki 1:38.980

7. Chris Peris BMW 1:39.023

8. Eric Bostrom Kawasaki 1:39.023

9. Larry Pegram BMW 1:39.248

10 Chris Ulrich Suzuki 1:40.531

 

Tommy Hayden sat at the top of the timesheet for a good portion of the session, 'til Josh Hayes put in a screaming 1:38.228 in the dying seconds to take pole. Surprise of the day has to be a revitalized Roger Lee Hayden on  the front row.

AMA

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Comments

Good to see Eric getting closer to the pace so quickly after such a long break from racing. I really like the Bostrom brothers. We need more people like them in racing.

It's going to be interesting to see who can remain in the tow. Daytona is one of the few tracks left in the world where slip streaming an SBK is still critical. The top speed data indicated that the Yamaha is fast in the infield which means the Suzukis may not be able to hang with Hayes.

He's had a factory ride for the past five years or so and hasn't done anything with it! Now he doesn't have a ride and has to work hard to re-earn it amongst a field of hungry competitors.

One thing that his ride does do is speak volumes for the work that the AMA has done to make the playing field a bit more level for non-factory teams to be able to field a bike that a good rider can put on pole. Let's see if he can convert that into a win...

The Project 1 Atlanta bikes are in fact 2011 factory Graves Yamaha's. They were last year as well. The only difference between Josh Herrin's bikes and Dane's bikes last year was sponsor decals.
Graves has an east coast facility from which the P1A team operates in Kennasaw, Ga.

Jake goes really well at Daytona, regardless of what bike he is on. Last year, he won the Superbike race at Daytona in his first ride on the Jordan GSXR.

Jason
www.fullspectrumpower.com

You appear to be someone in the know so I must ask you a question.

What is the impact of the new chassis rules in DSB? I noticed that chassis gussets and brackets can no longer be added? Is this causing problems for Herrin?

Thanks if you have any good info.

Phoenix- I am not working with Factory Yamaha this year, so this is just information from being there- but not looking directly at the data.
Josh has had a tough time since coming back from surgery on his wrist, and the crash today didnt help. I dont know that he would be physically able to ride at a level to tell the difference between the 2010 and 2011 DSB spec frame- to the extent that there is any real difference. The gusseting on the 2010 was minimal compared with the R1 kit stuff, as it just didnt need the same level of support.

I would also suggest that Daytona would not be the place to uncover such a problem, simply due to the nature of the circuit. We will likely know more when we get to Road America, Sears Point, etc...
Jake's performance in qualifying would suggest that the R6 is more than capable of the task.

Another interesting thing to note (for me anyway) is that almost all of the front running DSB machines are radically under weight in race trim, with many of the bikes unable to run lightweight batteries without significant ballast, if at all. The Celtic/Ferracci/Orient Express Ducati had to put the stock subframe back on to make weight. Expect AMA to lower the limit for the I4's, especially if the EVO's wind up stomping the 4's over the first few races.

Jason

www.fullspectrumpower.com

were a satellite team to Graves Yamaha last year but they have no link whatsoever with Graves nor Yamaha in 2011.

“Just to set the record straight, we’re no longer under the Graves Yamaha umbrella, " Melnecuic (team manager) explained. "We’re doing our own thing but Project 1 Atlanta lives on. Obviously, we’re on Yamaha equipment because that’s what we have and that made the most sense.”
http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/ama-dsb-one-race-for-glory/P1

Zemke laughed when asked about winning the Rolex awarded for pole and quipped, "Maybe we can pawn it and we can make another race."
Elaborating during the post-qualifying press conference, the Californian said, "The guys have been working non-stop since January to get us here today in March. We're an unsponsored team with no money so we're pretty happy to be here right now. It could pay off dividends. If we do well in the 200 maybe we can get some sponsorship to get us through the rest of the season."
http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/ama-dsb-zemke-snatches-rolex-fro…

I'm pretty excited to see the AMA start back up again. Last year was a great season full of some exciting racing in both SBK and DSB. It was a major relief in comparison to the controversy filled 2009 season. It will be nice to catch the AMA guys at Miller again, when they share the weekend with WSBK, hopefully they will run the full track. Thanks for posting on the AMA. I hope you continue to do so throughout the year, as well as keeping us up to date with BSB.

I'm looking forward to Miller b/c I want to see how AMA SBKs (Supersport 1000s basically) compare to WSBK machines. Imo, the Dunlop tire test indicates that AMA will run the WSBK-configuration. Dunlop will hopefully pull out all the stops to make the AMA bikes extra quick.

Usually they run different track configurations, in my mind to make direct comparisons more difficult. Although with the further divergence in the specs over the last few years, they may not find the need to do so anymore. I would think they have which tracks each will run up by now, but I haven't checked.