Three times American Superbike champion, Australian Mat Mladin, has dominated the first day of official practice and qualifying for this weekend’s penultimate double-header round of the AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship being held at Virginia International Raceway.

Mladin was the fastest rider around the 3.58km (2.225 miles) layout, heading the time sheets in both the morning’s opening practice session and then later in the afternoon in the first of two qualifying sessions scheduled for the weekend.

In hot and humid conditions, Mladin rode his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 to a best time of 1:25.572, to lead the field by almost a second. Erion Honda’s Kurtis Roberts posted the second fastest time with a 1:26.486, followed by Italian Giovanni Bussei (Ducati Austin) with a 1:26.802 and Attack Suzuki’s Jason Pridmore who completes the provisional front row of the grid with a 1:26.861.

“We were a bit off the times that we have done there over the past couple of years, but we still achieved what we needed to do so far“ said Mladin. “It is difficult to get a clear lap in around here because of the nature of the track, but everyone is in the same situation as us. I was a bit surprised to see how much of a time gap we had on the others, so I’m not sure what they were up to. I know there was room for us to go a bit quicker, but we still have tomorrow to try and find a bit more with the bike.”

Heading into this weekend’s round, Mladin leads the championship points chase with a total of 431 and holds a 33-point break over second placed Aaron Yates on the second of the Yoshimura Suzuki’s. Yates posted the seventh fastest time in today’s qualifying session, which also saw him walk away from a crash in the final minutes of the session.

Qualifying for this weekend’s Double-Header Superbike round concludes tomorrow morning, before the first of two 26-lap AMA Superbike races takes place later in the afternoon.

Qualifying, Friday – AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship (Top 10)

1. Mat Mladin (Yoshimura Suzuki) 1:25.572 mins

2. Kurtis Roberts (Erion Honda) 1:26.486

3. Giovanni Bussei (Ducati Austin) 1:26.802

4. Jason Pridmore (Attack Suzuki) 1:26.861

5. Ben Bostrom (American Honda) 1:26.905

6. Miguel DuHamel (American Honda) 1:27.099

7. Aaron Yates (Yoshimura Suzuki) 1:27.102

8. Shawn Higbee (KWS Suzuki) 1:28.308

9. Jordan Szoke (Corona Extra Suzuki) 1:28.631

10. Michael Barnes (Prieto Suzuki) 1:28.693