Spies hangs on to pole

From amasuperbike.com

While his session was anything but ideal, Rockstar Makita Yoshimura Suzuki's Ben Spies ultimately claimed his fourth consecutive pole position, the 20th of his AMA Superbike career, Saturday morning at Road America.

Halfway through the session, Spies crashed at speed, lowsiding and sliding into the gravel in turn 13. The Texan jumped back to his feet and caught a lift back to the paddock in time to click off one last lap on his backup bike. Not surprisingly, he wasn't quite able to improve his mark following the spill on his 'B' machine, but fortunately for Spies he laid down a 2:12.260 on his second flying lap, a time that would not be bettered during the session.

Spies' teammate, Mat Mladin, looked capable of doing so on his final lap, but in the end fell just short at 2:12.431.

No other rider even threatened to break into the '12s. Yamaha USA's Eric Bostrom qualified third fastest at 2:13.781 while Jamie Hacking, who is riding high on the strength of four straight podium finishes, rounds out the front row at 2:13.872.

Later Saturday Spies will seek his seventh consecutive AMA Superbike race win, which would be a new series record. The trends seem to be in his favour, as every Superbike race winner this season has started on pole.

Qualifying Results
1. Ben Spies Suzuki GSX-R1000 2:12.260
2. Mathew Mladin Suzuki GSX-R1000 2:12.431
3. Eric Bostrom Yamaha YZF-R1 2:13.781
4. Jamie Hacking Kawasaki ZX-10R 2:13.872
5. Neil Hodgson Honda CBR1000RR 2:14.025
6. Jason DiSalvo Yamaha YZF-R1 2:14.315
7. Aaron Yates Suzuki GSX-R1000 2:14.456
8. Geoff May Suzuki GSX-R1000 2:14.534
9. Miguel Duhamel Honda CBR1000RR 2:14.700
10. Chris Peris Suzuki GSX-R1000 2:16.607
11. Matt Lynn Honda CBR1000RR 2:16.667
12. Robertino Pietri Suzuki GSX-R1000 2:17.673
13. Ben Thompson Suzuki GSX-R1000 2:17.951
14. Scott Jensen Suzuki GSX-R1000 2:18.027
15. Ryan Elleby Suzuki GSX-R1000 2:18.137
16. Alastair Seeley Suzuki GSX-R1000 2:18.665
17. David Anthony Suzuki GSX-R1000 2:18.732
18. Hawk Mazzotta Suzuki GSX-R1000 2:19.066
19. Keith Marshall Suzuki GSX-R1000 2:21.644
20. Dean Mizdal Suzuki GSX-R1000 2:22.074
21. Eric Haugo Suzuki GSX-R1000 2:23.024
22. Scott Ryan Kawasaki ZX-10R 2:23.997
23. Scotty Van Hawk Suzuki GSX-R1000 2:25.097
24. Brian Boyd Suzuki GSX-R1000 2:28.019
25. C. R. Gittere Suzuki GSX-R1000 2:28.378