Higbee fastest in MOTO-ST qualifying

From the SunTrust MOTO-ST Series

BIRMINGHAM, AL -- Shawn Higbee earned his second consecutive SunTrust MOTO-ST Series pole position on Saturday morning, when he posted the fastest time during qualifying in advance of Sunday's Barber 500K at Barber Motorsports Park.

The Oconomowoc, WI racer converted his ‘Destination Daytona Pole Award' into a Buell Motorcycle Company Super Sport Twins (SST) class victory in early June at the MOTO-ST event in Elkhart Lake, WI and is hoping for a repeat performance on Sunday at the scenic Barber circuit, located near Birmingham, AL.

Higbee's No. 8 Bruce Rossmeyer's Daytona Racing Buell 1125R lapped the 17-turn, 2.38-mile road course in 1 minute and 32.040 seconds, at an average speed of 89.960 mph. The effort was more than a quarter of a second better than that of second-fastest qualifier, Ryan Gordon of Clemson, SC, whose No. 75 Touring Sport Ducati 848 posted a lap of 1:32.313 (89.694 mph).

Saturday's schedule consisted of a 90-minute practice session, which was immediately followed by a 10-minute break and the 20-minute qualifying session. Higbee was pleased with the result and with the way his team tweaked the No. 8 Buell during the limited track time.

"Our practice time was cut a little short because we came in and swapped shocks on the bike. We wanted to come in and make some changes," said Higbee, who took part in an AMA race at Barber several years ago. "I think tire conservation is going to be a big part of the race; it's so hot that the track is really hard on tires. The bike is oversteering a bit right now, so we might make some changes to try to improve it... or else we'll be out there flat-tracking it."

Asked about the significance of starting up front on Sunday, Higbee deadpanned, "It's just a pole position, but hopefully it's a good indication of how things will go in the race tomorrow. It's going to be interesting. We feel like we've got a bit of momentum going after our win at Road America."

On Sunday, Higbee will be teamed with Mike Smith of Canton, GA.

The No. 75 Touring Sport Ducati team earned runner-up finishes in the season's first two races (at Daytona and Virginia) and is hoping to get back on form following a fourth-place showing in round three at Road America. Gordon is teamed with Ryan Elleby and Frank Shockley.

Ty Howard of Weatherford, TX will line up third on Sunday on the No. 1 Aprilia USA / Lloyd Brothers Motorsports Aprilia Tuono 1000R. Howard is pleased with his spot considering today's practice and qualifying sessions were the first time this particular bike has been pushed to the limit on the racetrack.

"We struggled out there a little bit; we don't quite have the right setup yet," said Howard, whose team enters the weekend as the series' points leader on the strength of wins in the first two rounds. "With just one practice session and the time split between two riders [teammate Mike Himmelsbach] it makes it hard to get the setup dialed in. Going into qualifying we weren't sure about how fast our setup was... and it wasn't. We just worked through it and it's also the first time this bike has really been ridden at race pace, so we know we have some stuff to do for tomorrow."

The No. 6 Aprilia USA / Lloyd Brothers Motorsports Aprilia Tuono 1000R will start fourth on Sunday (ridden by Zac Chapman and Henry Wiles) in front of the No. 55 Crozier Motorsports Ducati 848 (ridden by Mark Crozier and Nathan Dressman).

Leading the way in BMW GrandSport Twins (GST) class qualifying on Saturday was Justin Filice on the No. 59 RightsForBikers.com Ducati PS 1000LE. The Modesto, CA racer lapped the Barber circuit in a time of 1:35.536 (86.668 mph), which was seventh fastest overall of the 25 teams (in the three divisions) that took to the track during qualifying.

The No. 66 M4 AVTEQ Suzuki SV650 was the class of the field in the Sport Twins (ST) division during qualifying. Dane Westby of Tulsa, OK toured the Barber circuit in 1:36.994 (85.366 mph).

The Barber 500K gets the green flag at 8:00 a.m. Sunday morning. The race is scheduled for two hours and 30 minutes.