Mladin takes American Superbike pole

By John Hopkins

DAYTONA BEACH, FL -- Mat Mladin will start on pole for Thursday afternoon's opening round of the AMA Pro National Guard American Superbike Championship at Daytona International Speedway after setting the quickest time in SuperPole qualifying.

The Australian took his Rockstar/Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 around the 2.90-mile 10-turn 'Short Course' in a time of one minute, 37.499 seconds, almost a full second quicker than team-mate Tommy Hayden, who turned a 1:38.345 after setting the fastest time in Thursday morning's session at 1:38.211.

The Rockstar/Makita Suzuki team is using 2008 versions of its GSX-R1000s as the squad couldn't get its 2009 bikes prepared in time for the season opener.

"I had to get acclimated with the bike fairly quickly," Mladin explained. "It was a good lap for us. We made a couple of small changes after qualifying this morning and the bike felt reasonable."

Larry Pegram was third fastest at 1:38.455 on the Foremost Insurance/Pegram Racing Ducati 1098R and the front row for the race is rounded out by Neil Hodgson, who turned a 1:38.479 aboard the Corona Extra Honda CBR1000RR.

This marked the debut of the single-bike SuperPole session as a regular feature of AMA Superbike competition.

Mladin was the penultimate rider to turn his lap after setting the second fastest time in morning qualifying at 1:38.419. He was fastest in all three sectors, and almost half a second up on his nearest challenger through the infield.

The third of the Rockstar/Makita Suzukis qualified fifth fastest in the hands of team newcomer Blake Young, who turned a lap at 1:39.633.

Saskatoon's Brett McCormick will start 21st in Thursday afternoon's race after turning a 1:42.507 on his Suzuki/Blackfoot/Picotte Motorsports Suzuki GSX-R1000.

Peterborough, ON's Larry Orde just missed making the cut-off time of 1:46.068 to make the grid on the Orde Racing Yamaha YZF-R1. Also out of luck was Vancouver's Kevin Boisvert on the Bayside Performance Suzuki GSX-R1000.

In other action Thursday morning, Josh Day qualified on poe for the AMA Pro SuperSport race with a time of 1:43.064 on his Yamaha YZF-R6. Suzuki GSX-R600 riders Kris Turner and James Wikle will line up second and third for Thursday afternoon's race.

The 12-lap SuperSport race starts at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, with the 15-lap Superbike event slated to go at 3:30 p.m.

Thursday activities also include SuperPole for the Daytona 200 at 6:30 p.m. Ben Bostrom paced morning qualifying with a time of 1:49.094 on the 3.55-mile traditional course aboard his Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6. Dan Eslick was second fastest at 1:49.253 on his Bruce Rossmeyer's Daytona Racing/RMR Buell 1125R.

Montreal's Miguel Duhamel will start 13th in Friday night's Daytona 200 after qualifying at 1:50.701 on his Suzuki/Blackfoot/Picotte Motorsports Suzuki GSX-R600.