Josh puts 'Day' in Daytona

From AMA Pro Racing

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - Josh Day (No. 4 Team E.S.P. Yamaha YZF-R6) continued his hot streak in AMA Pro SuperSport Friday at Daytona International Speedway (DIS) where the Orlando native won the pole on his home track for Sunday's season-ending SuperSport National Championship Shootout. The lucrative non-points race is open to any rider that has run at least one SuperSport race this season, with the winner earning the title of SuperSport National Champion.

Day, the 2009 SuperSport East Champion, sealed the top qualifying spot on his sixth lap of the session with a time of 1:51.228 (114.899 mph). The pole was Day's fifth of the year and second of the season at Daytona after he also qualified first for the season-opening event at DIS in March. He has also won the last four SuperSport races in a streak that began at Mid-Ohio in June.

"The bike is working pretty good right now," Day said. "We are just trying to make a few changes to it and try and make it better for all of this wind we have been having lately. Hopefully by Sunday it will all be gone once the cold front finally comes through and we will be able to stay up front and battle for the win."

Day edged Leandro Mercado (No. 92 Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R), who topped the time sheets early in the session before ending up second with a lap time of 1:51.416 (114.705 mph).

"I knew Leandro was going to be right there because he got quite a bit of practice on this layout in March when he did the Daytona 200 with the Attack guys filling in for Roger Hayden," Day said. "I knew he was going to be fast right away. I am happy to come out with the pole right now, but it is still not a win yet. We'll see how Sunday goes." 

Mercado was Day's toughest challenger for the SuperSport East title this season and picked up a pair of victories at Road Atlanta and Road America.

"We tried a different setup on the front," Mercado said. "It worked, but not so good, so for tomorrow we are going to try some other setup for the front and see if we can go a little faster. Running in the Daytona 200 helped me because I had much more time on the track, but that was my first race here. We want to work tomorrow on the bike and the points on the track where I have a little trouble to see if we can be a little faster."

The surprise of the day was returning rider Kris Turner (No. 3 Suzuki GSX-R600) who qualified third for his first SuperSport race since Barber Motorsports Park in May. Turner lapped at 1:52.917 (113.181 mph) as three different makes of bikes made up the SuperSport top three.

"We have been scrambling up for something to ride the last few months and we finally found a bike to buy," Turner said. "It's the same bike I was riding earlier in the year so I feel comfortable on it. It feels great to come back after not being on a bike for so long and putting it in third. For now it is just our own privateer team but we bought the M4 bike and its helping us out a little bit. We got this bike just yesterday and I really have not been on a fast bike since the middle of June. We just picked it up yesterday here at the track."

The final spot on the four-rider front row went to Joey Pascarella (No. 25 LTD Racing Yamaha YZF-R6), who turned a top lap time of 1:52.952 (113.145 mph).

SuperSport West Champion Ricky Parker (No. 96 Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6) qualified seventh.

The AMA Pro SuperSport National Championship Shootout starts at noon on Sunday for 12 laps/40 miles on the 3.55-mile Daytona road course.