DiSalvo on SportBike pole again

From AMA Pro Racing

TOPEKA, KS - Jason DiSalvo (No. 40 Team M4 Suzuki GSX-R600) boosted his class-leading run of Daytona SportBike Superpoles to five at Heartland Park on Friday. DiSalvo locked down the top spot with a lap of 1:38.924 (90.979 mph) and now has his sites set on his first win of the season.

"I think we can get the win and it is going to be a good race," said DiSalvo. "The crew has been working really hard and we have a new engine spec this weekend. I am just really excited. The bike feels great and we have made a lot of development to the chassis this weekend. I am really pumped to get out and race tomorrow."

DiSalvo will share the front row with Josh Herrin (No. 8 Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6) while their respective teammates Martin Cardenas (No. 36 Team M4 Suzuki GSX-R600) and Tommy Aquino (No. 6 Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6) rounded out the top four. 

"I figured I had a pretty good run all the way until the second-to-last corner when I tucked the front," Herrin said. "The slide was just normal, every lap is usually like that. It's just the style that I have. It felt really good the whole lap. We finally got the good solid Superpole lap we've been looking for the whole year. It's nice just for confidence going in to tomorrow knowing that we don't have to fight through that whole pack in the beginning."

Points leader Cardenas is locked in a tight championship battle with Danny Eslick (No. 9 GEICO Powersports/RMR Buell 1125R), who qualified 10th, claiming the final spot of today's Daytona SportBike Superpole qualifiers.

Aquino scored his first top-three finish of the year one race ago at Mid-Ohio and was on form again Friday at Topeka.

Jake Zemke (No. 1x Erion Racing Honda CBR600RR) rounded out the Daytona SportBike top-five qualifiers.

Saturday's first Daytona SportBike race of the weekend is scheduled for 20 laps/50 miles.

Josh Day (No. 4 Kerker Racing Yamaha YZF-R6) won his first race in AMA Pro SuperSport two weeks ago at Mid-Ohio to take the East division points lead. He kept the momentum up Friday at Heartland Park where he paced SuperSport practice and won the pole for Saturday's AMA Pro SunTrust Moto-GT race. In SuperSport, he was fastest in both of Friday's practice sessions and turned his top lap of 1:41.490 (88.679 mph) in the morning session.

Day is also joining fellow SuperSport rider Bryce Prince on Scotty Van Hawk's No. 27 Four Feathers Racing Yamaha YZF-R6 in SunTrust Moto-GT in addition to racing for Van Hawk in Daytona SportBike this weekend.

In SunTrust Moto-GT2, the No. 77 Touring Sport Ducshop Ducati PS1000LE will start first with young riders Cory Rech and Huntley Nash onboard. The duo won on the team's second Ducshop Ducati in their debut at Mid-Ohio and were assigned to the team's primary title contender for Topeka.

Daytona SportBike Qualifying Results -- Top 20 (Top 10 decided in Superpole)
1. Jason DiSalvo (M4 Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R600 1:38.923
2. Josh Herrin (Team Graves Yamaha) Yamaha YZF-R6 1:39.074
3. Martin Cardenas (M4 Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R600 1:39.217
4. Tommy Aquino (Team Graves Yamaha) Yamaha YZF-R6 1:39.632
5. Jake Zemke (Erion Racing) Honda CBR600RR 1:39.674
6. Chaz Davies (Factory Aprilia Millennium Technologies Team) Aprilia RSV1000R 1:39.702
7. Chris Fillmore (Chris Fillmore Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 1:39.877
8. Bobby Fong (Paradigm Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 1:39.993
9. Chris Peris (Erion Racing) Honda CBR600RR 1:40.478
10. Danny Eslick (Rossmeyer Geico Powersports RMR Buell) Buell 1125R 1:40.506
11. Aaron Gobert (Factory Aprilia Millennium Technologies Team) Aprilia RSV1000R 1:39.824
12. Taylor Knapp (Latus Motors Racing) Buell 1125R 1:39.913
13. Steve Rapp (Bazzaz/Pat Clark Motorsports) Yamaha YZF-R6 1:40.189
14. Roger Hayden (Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki) Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R 1:40.219
15. Dane Westby (Westby Racing · Kneedraggers.com) Yamaha YZF-R6 1:40.283
16. Robertino Pietri (Team E.S.P. Yamaha) Yamaha YZF-R6 1:40.420
17. Michael Barnes (GEICO Powersports · RMR · Buell Racing) Buell 1125R 1:40.831
18. Ricky Parker (RPR Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 1:41.054
19. Marcos Reichert (RockwallPerformance.com) Yamaha YZF-R6 1:41.061
20. Ty Howard (Paradigm Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 1:41.197