Second straight for DiSalvo

From AMA Pro Racing

BIRMINGHAM, AL - Jason DiSalvo earned his second straight AMA Pro Daytona SportBike Superpole and four different manufacturers were once again represented inside the top-four starting spots at Barber Motorsports Park on Friday.

After posting the quickest time in basic qualifying, DiSalvo was the last of 10 riders to take to the track for single-lap Superpole qualifying. He proceeded to turn a lap at 1:28.816 (96.469 mph) on his No. 40 Team M4 Suzuki GSX-R600, which knocked Jamie Hacking off the top of the scoring pylon. DiSalvo celebrated his Superpole with a wheelie or two, and is hoping to celebrate his first Daytona SportBike victory this weekend.

"The lap was really good," DiSalvo said. "I felt like the first, sort of, half of the lap, I was maybe a little conservative. Going down into the hairpin there, if you run wide, you can lose a lot of time. I kind of went a little easy into there. The last half of the lap was really good. The whole lap was really good, as far as mistakes. I didn't really miss any apexes or run wide anywhere.

"I'm just really happy. The M4 guys really tucked in this morning and we made a lot of changes during that session and it really, really paid off for us. I was just happy that I could come out and get pole for the guys. This pole just felt really special. It just felt a lot better than the one at Atlanta. When I finished the lap, I was just really pumped up. Just a big thank you to the crew and everything. It's kind of their home race. Their shop is only a couple of hours from here. I know it means a lot to them."

Hacking will start second on the No. 88 Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R thanks to a best lap at 1:29.269 (95.980 mph) in Superpole. Hacking's Superpole performance enabled him to gain four spots from where he ended basic qualifying, and he heads into the weekend looking to return to the podium for the first time since he finished second in round three at Auto Club Speedway.

"For us, that was a very good session," said Hacking. "I was really happy with the Monster Energy Kawasaki. I wish we would have had another practice session to try to test out some of the things that we tried in that session. It's kind of hard to go off of one lap, but the bike seemed to work pretty good for us. Hopefully, we can look into tomorrow morning and improve the bike, and maybe we can continue on from where we left off. I think we'll be a good contender for the race tomorrow."

Chaz Davies starts on row two for the second consecutive AMA Pro Daytona SportBike race after posting the third-quickest time in Superpole at 1:29.320 (95.925 mph) on the No. 57 Factory Aprilia Millennium Technologies Team Aprilia RSV1000R. Davies' best Daytona SportBike result of the season to date was a fifth-place run in the first race of the Road Atlanta doubleheader last month.

"The KWS, Aprilia, Millennium Technologies team is just improving all the time," the Welshman said. "To be honest, we were kind of playing catch up right from Daytona. I knew that, as soon as we'd get a bit of a break, from there we could improve a lot in a short space of time like these last three weeks. It's just been refinements all the way through and it's just coming good now."

Josh Herrin starts fourth on the No. 8 Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6 at 1:29.417 (95.821 mph), and Martin Cardenas - who won the first race of the Road Atlanta doubleheader - will start fifth on the No. 36 Team M4 Suzuki GSX-R600. Cardenas posted a lap at 1:29.489 (95.743 mph) in Superpole.

Conspicuous by his absence in the 10-rider Daytona SuperBike Superpole session was No. 9 Bruce Rossmeyer's Daytona Racing/RMR Buell 1125R rider Danny Eslick. The points leader and winner of three of the last four Daytona SportBike races was 12th quickest in basic qualifying.

The first race of the Daytona SportBike doubleheader goes off Saturday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. local time, with Race No. 2 of the weekend slated for 2:00 p.m. on Sunday. Both races are scheduled for 21 laps (50 miles).

No. 14 Crozier Motorsports Triumph Daytona 675 co-riders Mark Crozier and Phil Caudill have been plenty fast throughout the first two SunTrust Moto-GT events, but the teammates have yet to celebrate in Victory Lane this season. Their quest to do just that got off to a good start on Friday, as Crozier put the No. 14 bike on pole for Saturday's two-hour race at Barber Motorsports Park.

"It's a good start for the Triumph team," Crozier said. "Crozier Motorsports and Augusta Triumph/Ducati, we've been struggling all year. It goes back to Daytona. We were leading it by a lap and ran out of gas, and at Road Atlanta we had some engine problems while being up front. This is definitely a step in the right direction, so we're tickled to death. We've just got to carry it through to tomorrow."

In the GT2 class, Dane Westby placed the No. 77 Touring Sport Ducshop Ducati PS1000LE on the pole position with a lap at 1:35.836 (89.403 mph). Westby, who is also competing in the Daytona SportBike class on the No. 213 Westby Racing/Kneedraggers.com Yamaha YZF-R6, is slated to share the Moto-GT ride with Frank Shockley.

The Moto-GT qualifying session was red-flagged midway through due to an incident involving Armando Ferrer on the No. 69 HurtByAccident.com Suzuki GSX-R600. According to Drew Ferguson, UAB Medical Center Coordinator, Ferrer was transferred from the track to the UAB Medical Center Emergency Room in Birmingham for further evaluation and treatment. Ferrer was awake and alert at the track medical centre.

Daytona SportBike Superpole Results
1. Jason DiSalvo Suzuki GSX-R600 1:28.816
2. Jamie Hacking Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R 1:29.268
3. Chaz Davies Aprilia RSV1000R 1:29.319
4. Josh Herrin Yamaha YZF-R6 1:29.417
5. Martin Cardenas Suzuki GSX-R600 1:29.489
6. Jake Zemke Honda CBR600RR 1:29.925
7. Steve Rapp Yamaha YZF-R6 1:30.127
8. Tommy Aquino Yamaha YZF-R6 1:30.292
9. Damian Cudlin Yamaha YZF-R6 1:30.415
10. Michael Barnes Buell 1125R 1:30.950