Bostrom, riding the No. 32 Ducati Austin, turned a track record qualifying lap of one minute, 46.835 seconds, 119.961 mph to capture the provisional pole for Saturdays 63rd Daytona 200 By Arai.

Bostrom's lap shattered the track qualifying record of Nicky Hayden, who turned a lap of 1:47.174, 119.580 mph in 2002.

"You just have to hit your marks," Bostrom said. "The bike was obviously working fantastic and the tires as well. I was a little surprised myself it came out as good as it did. You really just out there playing a video game, trying to hit your marks and do everything better than the lap before."

Rounding out the top-four qualifiers were 2003 Daytona 200 By Arai champion Miguel Duhamel (118.539), Jake Zemke (118.290) and Aaron Yates (118.144).

Defending American AMA Superbike champion Mat Mladin recorded the sixth fastest time.  In picture postcard weather conditions, Mladin and his Yoshimura Suzuki team spent the day acclimatising themselves to the ultra fast layout of the circuit and worked at getting the settings right on the teams Suzuki GSX-R1000 in preparation for Saturday’s 57-lap 200-mile classic.

Mladin, who hails from Camden south west of Sydney, is a two times winner of the Daytona 200 and knows exactly what it takes to not only win this race, but also the championship which he has won on an unprecedented four occasions.

“We had a good session out there,” said Mladin after the conclusion of the opening qualifying session. “I did about seven or eight laps at a decent pace with Aaron (Yates) just to get a feel for some race type conditions and it felt good. The rest of the session was spent circulating around, checking things out and getting things ready for Saturday’s race.”

“I did a lap on a soft qualifier at the end there, but it chunked a bit on my fast lap and that was the time I ended up with. I’m not concerned by times at the moment.”

“Overall things are going according to our strategy for the weekend, so we’re happy with the progress so far.”

Prior to the commencement of today’s practice and qualifying sessions, race officials announced a change in the qualifying format where traditionally the top four riders in the opening session would retain their positions for the race, while the remainder of the field would have their grid positions determined by the overall result of both sessions. The format now reflects the qualifying procedure for each of the other rounds of the championship with all grid positions being determined on combined times from both sessions.

Being a former Pole Position winner in the traditional format, Mladin was not overly perturbed by the late change to the qualifying format.

“I used to like the locking in of the front row after that first qualifying session as it used to put a bit of pressure on you to go out and work harder a bit earlier than at other race meetings. Now the format is the same as everywhere else so it’s no problem."

Final qualifying for the Daytona 200 By Arai is scheduled for Thursday at 1:55 p.m. The 63rd Daytona 200 By Arai is scheduled to go green on Saturday at 2 p.m.

In other qualifying sessions on Wednesday, Ben Spies, riding the No. 11 Yoshimura Suzuki, stole the Repsol Superstock pole from Yamaha rider Jason DiSalvo. Spies toured the 3.56-mile road course about his GSX-R1000 in a track record one minute, 48 seconds, 118.445 mph.

"Yeah (I'm surprised) for only doing three laps in all of qualifying," Spies said. "We went out this morning and I did three laps and we were second fastest. Then my bike broke right after the first couple of laps and I was sure we were going to get it figured out. Then I got on a bike (during qualifying) that I hadn't even ridden and I just went faster than on my Superbike around here. It feels good and hopefully we can keep it up."

DiSalvo, riding the No. 40 Yamaha, turned a fast lap of 1:48.496, 118.124 mph, was excited about his new Yamaha YZF-R1s performance.

"The bike is so fast", DiSalvo said. "It's unbelievable. You juice the power on and the front wheel pulls up in just about every gear. We did so much winter testing here and other places. It just goes to show you how it paid off and what a good bike Yamaha has put together here."

In Lockhart Phillips Formula Xtreme, Honda's Ben Bostrom captured the pole with a time of 1:52.800, 113.617 mph.

Aaron Gobert was the fastest man in Supersport practice in front of Tommy and Roger Lee Hayden.

2004 AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship - Wednesday Times

1. Eric Bostrom (Ducati Austin) 1:46.835 mins
2. Miguel DuHamel (American Honda) 1:48.116
3. Jake Zemke (Erion Honda) 1:48.344
4. Aaron Yates (Yoshimura Suzuki) 1:48.478
5. Ben Bostrom (American Honda) 1:49.051
6. Mat Mladin (Yoshimura Suzuki) 1:49.203
7. Pascal Picotte (Yamaha) 1:51.417
8. Josh Hayes (Kawasaki) 1:51.652
9. Larry Pegram (Yamaha) 1:51.780
10. Geoff May (Suzuki) 1:51.926

2004 American Supersport Championship (600cc) - Wednesday Times

1. Aaron Gobert (Yamaha) 01:52.235
2. Tommy Hayden (Kawasaki) 01:52.268
3. Roger Lee Hayden (Kawasaki) 01:52.924
4. Damon Buckmaster (Yamaha) 01:52.961
5. Jason Disalvo (Yamaha) 01:53.120
6. Jamie Hacking (Yamaha) 1 01:53.261
7. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 01:53.801
8. Michael Barnes (Yamaha) 01:54.027
9. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 01:54.220 B
10. Steve Rapp (Suzuki) 01:54.674

2004 American Formula Xtreme Championship (600cc) - Wednesday Times

1. Ben Bostrom (Honda) 1:52.800
2. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 1:53.339
3. Vince Haskovec (Suzuki) 1:54.213
4. Pascal Picotte (Yamaha) 1:54.297
5. Alex Gobert (Honda) 1:54.661
6. Jake Zemke (Honda) 1:55.990
7. Jason Pridmore (Suzuki) 1:56.180
8. Jacob Holden (Suzuki) 1:56.445
9. Jeff Wood (Yamaha) 1:56.687
10. Jimmy Moore (Suuzki) 1:57.657

2004 American Superstock (1000cc) Championship - Wednesday Times

1. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 1:48.202
2. Jason Disalvo (Yamaha) 1:48.496
3. Aaron Gobert (Yamaha) 1:48.631
4. Jamie Hacking (Yamaha) 1:48.643
5. Tommy Hayden (Kawasaki) 1:49.252
6. Damon Buckmaster (Yamaha) 1:49.294
7. Roger Lee Hayden (Kawasaki) 1:49.394
9. Jason Pridmore (Suzuki) 1:50.181
10. Josh Hayes (Kawasaki) 1:50.263