Hodgson leads Xtreme field

By John Hopkins

DAYTONA BEACH, FL -- American Honda's newest addition Neil Hodgson paced practice Wednesday for this weekend's Daytona 200 by Arai feature event at Daytona International Speedway, the opening round of the AMA Formula Xtreme Series.

The British rider set a fastest lap of one minute, 39.732 seconds aboard his CBR600RR in the second of the day's two practice sessions, held in cool temperatures as the sun was going down.

Erion Honda's defending Formula Xtreme champion Josh Hayes was second quickest at 1:39.814 on his CBR600RR and defending Daytona 200 champion Steve Rapp was third quickest at 1:40.424 aboard his Attack Kawasaki ZX-6R. Rapp's teammate Chaz Davies was fourth quickest on the second of the Pirelli-shod Attack Kawasakis. Both Hondas were on Dunlops.

Montreal's Miguel Duhamel could only manage the 12th best time of 1:41.980 on his American Honda CBR600RR.

Fort Saskatchewan, AB racer Scott Decker placed 59th among the 71 competitors who recorded times with a best lap of 1:48.456 aboard his Suzuki GSX-R600.

Qualifying for Saturday's feature race goes at 1:30 p.m. Thursday.

Rockstar/Makita/American Suzuki duo Ben Spies and Mat Mladin led the way in practice for the AMA Superbike Championship curtain raiser on Wednesday.

Two-time defending class champion Spies topped the timesheets with a fastest lap of 1:36.223 on his GSX-R1000 while six-time Superbike champ Mladin turned in a 1:36.414.

Mladin was almost a second clear of third fastest Jason DiSalvo on the factory Yamaha YZF-R1, whose best lap was a 1:37.365. The third works Suzuki of Tommy Hayden was fourth fastest at 1:37.493.

Duhamel set the ninth best time on Wednesday at 1:38.450 on the American Honda/Shark/Joe Rocket Honda CBR1000RR as the team continued to come to grips with the new Superbike. Calgary rider Chris Peris was 13th in the order at 1:39.468 aboard his Team ESP/Dunlop/Ohlins/GPR-backed Suzuki GSX-R1000.

Superbike qualifying begins at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday.