Yamaha's Josh Hayes (seen here at Laguna Seca #4) claimed pole position for the Mid-Ohio American Superbike races. Joining Hayes on the front row is Jordan Suzuki's Aaron Yates (#23).
Factory
Yamaha rider Josh Hayes claimed the American Superbike pole position at Mid-Ohio. The Yamaha R1 pilot’s pole position is the first of his career in the premier superbike class and breaks runaway points leader Mat Mladin’s string of seven-consecutive Superpole victories. Mladin qualified ninth-fastest.
Hayes’ time of 1:26.303 bettered Aaron Yates and his Suzuki GSX-R1000 by just under two tenths. Yates is joined on the front row by Jordan
Suzuki teammate Geoff May. The final front row position belongs to the top-finishing Yoshimura Suzuki rider, Tommy Hayden.
Leading Row 2 is Celtic Racing’s Michael Laverty, who also pilots the popular Suzuki GSX-R1000. Yoshimura’s Blake Young was sixth-fastest, followed by Yamaha’s Ben Bostrom and Ducati 1098R rider Larry Pegram.
Yoshimura’s Mat Mladin will shoot for his 11th victory of the 2009 season from Row 3, his Superpole time a full second off Hayes’ mark.
The first 21-lap American Superbike race will begin at 3 p.m. EST.
American Superbike Superpole Results
1 Joshua Hayes Yamaha YZF-R1 01:26.3
2 Aaron Yates Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000 +0.165 01:26.5
3 Geoff May Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000 +0.261 01:26.6
4 Tommy Hayden Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 +0.438 01:26.7
5 Michael Laverty Celtic Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000 +0.45 01:26.8
6 Blake Young Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 +0.504 01:26.8
7 Ben Bostrom Yamaha YZF-R1 +0.594 01:26.9
8 Larry Pegram Foremost Pegram
Ducati 1098R + 0.747 01:27.1
9 Mat Mladin Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1.153 01:27.5
10 Jake Holden Holden Racing Honda CBR1000RR +1.532 01:27.8
Daytona SportBike
The Daytona SportBike class (seen here at Laguna Seca) was rained out of Superpole qualifying at Mid-Ohio and will qualifying in a Saturday morning session.
Rain put a damper on the planned Daytona SportBike qualifying session. The running order for Saturday and Sunday’s 21-lap mains will be determined in a Saturday morning qualifying session.
The SportBike riders did run a morning practice session, however, with Grave Yamaha’s Tommy Aquino topping the timesheet, just ahead of
Buell’s Danny Eslick and
Aprilia’s Chaz Davies. The top riders in the Daytona SportBike points, M4 Suzuki’s Martin Cardenas and Monster Kawasaki’s Jamie Hacking, were a respective fifth and fourth on the practice timesheet.
Daytona SportBike Mid-Ohio Friday Practice Results
1 Tommy Aquino Graves Yamaha YZF-R6 01:28.6
2 Danny Eslick Geico RMR Buell 1125R 01:28.7
3 Chaz Davies Millennium Aprilia RSV1000R 01:28.8
4 Jamie Hacking Monster Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R 01:28.8
5 Martin Cardenas M4 Suzuki GSX-R600 01:29.0
6 Jake Zemke Erion Racing CBR600RR 01:29.0
7 Steve Rapp Bazzaz Yamaha YZF-R6 01:29.1
8 Josh Herrin Graves Yamaha YZF-R6 01:29.2
9 Taylor Knapp Latus Motors Racing Buell 1125R 25:55.2 01:29.2
10 Jason DiSalvo M4 Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R600 08:38.4 01:29.3
SuperSport
The SuperSport qualifying session will commence Saturday morning. Until then the Honda CBR600RR-equipped J. Beach leads the 25-rider field after Friday’s practice times. A large contingent of Yamaha R6 riders fill the sheet behind Beach, including podium contender Joey Pascarella in sixth. Title contender Tyler Odom was 10th-faster aboard his Honda.
SuperSport Mid-Ohio Practice Results
1 J. Beach Honda CBR600RR 01:33.3 17
2 Lloyd Worrell Yamaha YZF-R6 01:33.5 16
3 Joshua Day Yamaha YZF-R6 01:33.5 16
4 Kyle Wyman Yamaha YZF-R6 01:33.6 14
5 Tomas Puerta Yamaha YZF-R6 01:33.9 15
6 Joey Pascarella Yamaha YZF-R6 01:33.9 15
7 Dustin Dominguez Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R 01:34.4 12
8 Derek Wagnon Suzuki GSX-R600 01:34.6 18
9 James Rispoli Suzuki GSX-R600 01:35.0 18
10 Tyler Odom
Honda CBR600RR 01:35.4 13
