Mladin takes provisional pole

From amasuperbike.com

Rockstar Makita Yoshimura Suzuki's Mat Mladin continued his recent return to form, scooping up the provisional pole in the first day of AMA Superbike action at Mid-Ohio on Friday, which comes on the heels of two consecutive race wins.

Mladin laid claim to the official circuit lap record with a quick time of 1:23.913, eclipsing teammate Ben Spies' '07 pole time of 1:24.139. However, he was still just short of setting a new outright mark, which he posted last season during a race at 1:23.712 (race lap times aren't counted as official lap records in the AMA record books).

Afterwards, Mladin said, "Everyone seems to be liking the same race tire so the race tire is pretty good. We were out there the whole session on the same one that we had on this morning just to get as many laps on it as possible. And then with about eight minutes on the clock we put a little bit softer tire on and went a little bit quicker.

"But the race tire is pretty good -- it's capable of running mid-fours pretty comfortably with a tire with race laps on it. Looks okay at the moment."

After suffering a number of crashes earlier in the season while Spies was racking up the wins, Mladin admitted that he was suffering with his confidence in his machinery. The six-time champ is starting to tap into his prior form, however, as he explained: "I've never doubted my ability in being able to win races. The fact that I didn't win any for a while probably had more to do with the front end of the motorcycle than anything else. I've had the old forks back on now since Miller -- since the day I crashed up there -- and slowly things have been coming around."

Top 12 Superbike times
1. Mathew Mladin, Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:23.912
2. Jamie Hacking, Kawasaki ZX-10R 1:24.329
3. Neil Hodgson, Honda CBR1000RR 1:24.737
4. Ben Spies, Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:24.923
5. Eric Bostrom, Yamaha YZF-R1 1:24.970
6. Jason DiSalvo, Yamaha YZF-R1 1:25.115
7. Aaron Yates, Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:25.259
8. Miguel Duhamel, Honda CBR1000RR 1:25.479
9. Tommy Hayden, Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:25.561
10. Roger Hayden, Kawasaki ZX-10R 1:25.918
11. Geoff May, Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:25.955
12. Chris Peris, Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:26.304