American SuperBike 2001 - Final Round - Alton

Even though he could play it safe this weekend, AMA Superbike champ and current series points leader Mat Mladin was up to his old tricks Friday at Virginia International Raceway. Mladin put his No. 1 Suzuki GSXR750 on the provisional pole for Sunday’s AMA Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship finale with a lap of one minute, 25.689 seconds at an average of 94.948 mph on the 2.25-mile VIR North Course.

“Going fast is easy if the bike is set up properly,” said Mladin nonchalantly after the qualifying session. “I’m here to win the pole and the point that goes with it. The bike feels good. I actually ran off the track on my fast lap coming out of the final turn. I think we could be chasing a 25.1 or 25.2 tomorrow (referring to a lap time of 1:25).”

Mladin was nearly a half second faster than Honda’s Nicky Hayden, who turned a time of 1:26.075. Yamaha’s Anthony Gobert (1:26.197) and Aaron Yates of Suzuki (1:26.613) rounded out the provisional front-row starters.