SPIES ON POLE IN WISCONSIN
AMA Superbike Championship leader Ben Spies has set pole
position for this weekend's 10th and 11th-round double header
at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
The Rockstar Makita Suzuki rider finished almost one second
ahead of Kawasaki's Jamie Hacking and Suzuki team mate Mat
Mladin in blustery conditions during the 40-minute session.
Said Spies: "We went to our old settings on the GSX-R1000
and it was really good. In the end we tried to put a decent
lap together to try to put it on pole in case it's worse conditions
or raining tomorrow, so we would have that pole. But if the
track's dry, everybody's obviously going to speed up and so
are we, so it should be good.
"Hopefully we can still have an edge, but it's definitely
going to be tough. And today worked out good."
Spies' time was well off Mat Mladin's 2:11.970 minute lap
record from 2006, but he admitted to being more cautious than
normal after last year's event: Spies hurt his right foot
when he crashed during practice before the race. He finished
second to Mladin in Saturday's race, and then ran away in
Sunday's wet final.
Spies has a chance to make history this weekend. After winning
the last three double-headers-at Fontana, Sonoma, and Tooele,
he's tied with Mladin and American Honda's Miguel Duhamel
with six wins in a row each. A win in Saturday's race would
put him on top.
Friday Superbike Qualifying:
1. Ben Spies (Rockstar Makita Suzuki) 2:13.088
2. Jamie Hacking (Kawasaki) 2:14.087
3. Mat Mladin (Rockstar Makita Suzuki) 2:14.683
4. Geoff May (Suzuki) 2:15.970
5. Eric Bostrom (Yamaha) 2:15.975
6. Neil Hodgson (Honda) 2:16.016
7. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 2:16.244
8. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 2:16.691
9. Jason DiSalvo (Yamaha) 2:17.400
10. Matt Lynn (Honda) 2:18.231
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