Mat Mladin has set the fastest time during the opening qualifying session for this weekend’s double header AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship round at the Road Atlanta circuit in Braselton, Georgia.

The Yoshimura Suzuki rider set a time of 1-min 23.520-secs to head an Australian one – two at the top of the timesheets as Anthony Gobert posted his best qualifying result of the season with a 1:24.304 aboard his Ducati.

Rain threatened throughout the day, but held out long enough for the days practice and qualifying sessions be completed, but the one-hour afternoon qualifying session was disrupted by two serious incidents that forced the officials to stop proceedings on each occasion before the session was finally completed.

Mladin continues to be the form rider of the championship having won four of the opening five races of the season and arrived at the round holding the points advantage over his rivals before taking to the circuit and dominating both the free practice session in the morning, then the important afternoon qualifier.

“It was important to get in a good lap time today as no-one is real sure as to what the weather will do tomorrow,” said the three-times American Superbike champion. “We managed to get a pretty good set up early on with the bikes, but as usual we are always trying to make them better. This afternoon it was a bit difficult to get a clear lap in. There was a lot of traffic out there and you had to plan it as best you could to get a clear break to allow a good shot at a fast lap. Itt all worked out well at the end, so we’ll just and see what tomorrow brings.”

Gobert has gone back to a different front end set-up with the Ducati and is pleased with the results.  "It was a good day! Second place," said Gobert, who showed his best qualifying performance of the year Friday at Atlanta. "I'd like to think the Parts Unlimited and the Ducati Austin guys. Our hard work is finally starting to pay off.

"I'm a big front-end rider, so I can really get out there and fire into the corners. I'm really happy with it," said the former World Superbike star.

"It was a long time coming," said Vic Fasola of the Ducati Austin team. "We changed some things with the forks and got the feel back Anthony needed. Just this one change has made a big difference and improved the feel over the bumpy American tracks."

Third fastest was Mladin’s teammate Aaron Yates with a time of 1:24.368, followed by American Honda’s Ben Bostrom who completes the front row of the grid with a time of 1:24.474.

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

1. Mat Mladin (Yoshimura Suzuki) 1:23.520

2. Anthony Gobert (Ducati Austin) 1:24.304

3. Aaron Yates (Yoshimura Suzuki) 1:24.368

4. Ben Bostrom (American Honda) 1:24.474

5. Eric Bostrom (Team Kawasaki) 1:24.512

6. Miguel DuHamel (American Honda) 1:24.645

7. Kurtis Roberts (Erion Honda) 1:24.825

8. Larry Pegram (Dream Team Ducati) 1:25.905

9. Josh Hayes (Suzuki) 1:26.414

10. Steve Rapp (Valvoline EMGO Suzuki) 1:26.543

Friday – AMA Supersport (Top 10)

1. Jamie Hacking (Yamaha) 1m26.963

2. Damon Buckmaster (Yamaha) 1m26.964

3. Aaron Gobert (Yamaha) 1m27.717

4. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 1m27.759

5. Jason DiSalvo (Yamaha) 1m27.765

6. Tommy Hayden (Kawasaki) 1m28.189

7. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 1m28.409

8. Jake Zemke (Honda) 1m28.705

9. Alex Gobert (Honda) 1m28.917

10. Jamie Stauffer (Yamaha) 1m28.961

Friday – AMA FX (Top 10)

1. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 1m24.593

2. Damon Buckmaster (Yamaha) 1m24.822

3. Jamie Hacking (Yamaha) 1m24.886

4. Aaron Gobert (Yamaha) 1m25.700

5. Marty Craggill (Honda) 1m26.155

6. Josh Hayes (Suzuki) 1m26.192

7. Jake Zemke (Honda) 1m26.649

8. Steve Rapp (Suzuki) 1m26.983

9. Roger Lee Hayden (Honda) 1m27.136

10. Jimmy Moore (Suzuki) 1m27.180