American Superbike 2003 - Round 2 - Fontana

Australia's Mat Mladin has set the fastest time during the opening qualifying session for this weekend's double header, second and third rounds of the 2003 AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship being held at California Speedway in Fontana, California.

In taking provisional pole position, Mladin's fastest time of 1-min 25.123-secs was under the existing lap record of 1:25.250 for the 3.70km / 2.30 mile Californian circuit that is located one hour east of Los Angles.

Mladin, a three times winner of the AMA Superbike Championship, was well clear of his Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Aaron Yates with 0.805 seconds separating the pair, with Yates producing a best time of 1:25.928. The Suzuki GSX-R1000 mounted pair were the only riders to break into the 1:25 barrier.

Third fastest was Erion Honda's Kurtis Roberts (1:26.146), with Kawasaki's Eric Bostrom completing the provisional front row of the grid with a time of 1:26.259.

"That was a good session for us this afternoon," said Mladin. "I was happy with the times and with the progress that we made with the setup of the bike. We've got another one hour session in the morning before tomorrow afternoon's race that will give us some more time to check a few more settings, so it's looking good at the moment."

"We did a lot of laps when we tested here a few weeks ago and that is definitely paying off. The Showa suspension technicians have worked really hard since that test and have given us some updated parts for this weekend, which have worked well. Last year we had some problems in that area, but it appears that we are now on top of that and it's great to see the support and responses made by Showa."

Qualifying for the AMA Superbikes concludes tomorrow morning with the first of the two 28-lap Superbike races being held later on Saturday afternoon.

Friday Superbike Qualifying

1. Mat Mladin, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:25.123
2. Aaron Yates, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:25.928
3. Kurtis Roberts, Honda RC51, 1:26.146
4. Eric Bostrom, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:26.259
5. Larry Pegram, Ducati 998RS, 1:26.308
6. Miguel Duhamel, Honda RC51, 1:26.405
7. Anthony Gobert, Ducati 998RS, 1:26.460
8. Ben Bostrom, Honda RC51, 1:26.496
9. Doug Chandler, Honda CBR954RR, 1:28.081
10. Shawn Higbee, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:28.738
11. Michael Barnes, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:29.041
12. Josh Hayes, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:29.688
13. Chris Caylor, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:29.792
14. Jordan Szoke, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:29.863
15. John Haner, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:30.058
16. Jimmy Moore, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:30.269
17. Vincent Haskovec, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:30.438
18. John Dugan, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:30.623
19. Mark Ledesma, Honda CBR954RR, 1:30.666
20. Jeremy Toye, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:30.719
21. Mike Ciccotto, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:30.916
22. Jake Holden, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:30.932
23. Francis Martin, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:30.970
24. Andy Deatherage, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:31.008
25. Geoff May, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:31.123
26. Jack Pfeifer, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:31.304
27. Brian Livengood, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:31.359
28. Rich Conicelli, Suzuki, 1:31.432
29. Robert Christman, Suzuki, 1:31.447
30. Jason Curtis, Honda CBR954RR, 1:31.447
31. Clint McBain, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:31.734
32. Matt Furtek, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:31.863
33. Alan Schmidt, Suzuki, 1:31.905
34. Steve Crevier, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:31.926
35. James Compton, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:32.325
36. Robert Mesa, 1:32.385
37. Scott Jensen, Suzuki, 1:32.463
38. Kim Nakashima, 1:32.468
39. Marco Martinez, Suzuki, 1:32.803
40. Jeff Williams, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:33.022

Friday FX Practice

1. Ben Spies, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:26.766
2. Damon Buckmaster, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:27.261
3. Jamie Hacking, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:27.579
4. Marty Craggill, Honda CBR954RR, 1:27.841
5. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:27.873
6. Josh Hayes, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:28.111
7. Roger Lee Hayden, Honda CBR954RR, 1:28.445
8. Doug Chandler, Honda CBR954RR, 1:28.465
9. Adam Fergusson, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:28.774
10. Jake Zemke, Honda CBR954RR, 1:29.554
11. Steve Rapp, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:29.863
12. Ty Howard, Honda CBR954RR, 1:30.468
13. Jimmy Moore, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:30.844
14. Craig Connell, Honda CBR954RR, 1:31.652
15. Scott Jensen, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:32.203
16. Chris Ulrich, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:32.689
17. Sandor Bitter, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:32.959
18. Lenny Beckman, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:33.211
19. James Compton, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:33.669
20. David Guy, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:33.763

Friday Supersport Practice

1. Ben Spies, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:29.182
2. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:29.254
3. Jamie Hacking, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:29.504
4. Damon Buckmaster, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:29.659
5. Jamie Stauffer, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:30.021
6. Jake Zemke, Honda CBR600RR, 1:30.037
7. Doug Chandler, Honda CBR600RR, 1:30.080
8. Miguel Duhamel, Honda CBR600RR, 1:30.204
9. Jason DiSalvo, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:30.208
10. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki ZX-6RR, 1:30.283
11. Ty Howard, Honda CBR600RR, 1:30.557
12. Alex Gobert, Honda CBR600RR, 1:30.685
13. Marty Craggill, Honda CBR600RR, 1:31.211
14. Matt Wait, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:31.622
15. Craig Connell, Honda CBR600RR, 1:31.686
16. Roger Lee Hayden, Honda CBR600RR, 1:31.762
17. Tony Meiring, Kawasaki ZX-6RR, 1:32.337
18. Chris Peris, Honda CBR600F4i, 1:32.640
19. Steve Crevier, Honda CBR600RR, 1:32.747
20. Jason Perez, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:33.113

Results courtesy of Road Racing World