Peris fifth in Daytona Superstock

By John Hopkins

DAYTONA BEACH, FL -- Calgary's Chris Peris will start fifth in Thursday's AMA Superstock Series season opener at Daytona International Speedway.

Peris set a fastest lap of one minute, 38.761 seconds on his Team ESP/Dunlop/Ohlins/GPR-backed Suzuki GSX-R1000 in qualifying Wednesday afternoon to grab the inside spot on the second row of the grid.

"The bike's awesome, I'm just loving it," said Peris, who paced the morning's practice session with a lap at 1:38.920. "I went a little quicker than in practice, but a few of the guys picked up the pace as well. But we should be in good shape for the race. We're lined up right behind pole."

The Dunlop-shod Jordan Suzuki duo of Aaron Yates and Geoff May annexed the first two positions on the grid. Yates toured the 2.90-mile road course in 1:38.231 while May set a fastest lap of 1:38.287.

"It felt pretty good," Yates said. "It could be a little bit better I think. We got hung up in just qualifying and going after that point in qualifying. We could've worked on the chassis just a little bit I think."

The front row is rounded out by Michael Barnes, who set a fastest lap of 1:38.321 on the Celtic Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000 and Blake Young, who recorded a 1:38.548 on the M4 EMGO Suzuki.

This is Peris's first year on a 1000cc sport bike after cutting his teeth on 125 GP and 600cc machinery.

"It's easier to ride than I thought," he said. "The power is so smooth coming on. I expected to hit a lot harder."

Thursday's 13-lap race is scheduled for a 3:50 p.m. start.