Surprise! J-Law Fastest at Daytona.

Shan Moore | March 7, 2009

Riding in the unseeded group, AMPM Boost Mobile Yamaha’s Jason Lawrence turned in a surprising performance during practice today, topping both San Manuel Yamaha’s James Stewart and Red Bull Honda’s Davi Millsaps for the fastest time during qualifying for tonight’s round of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Lawrence’s time was challenged at first, when he failed to pass a sound test immediately following the session. However, Lawrence asked to be tested again and the second time his bike passed.“There was a lot of noise from the loud speakers which affected the outcome of the test,” said FIM representative John Gallagher. “When they tested him again he passed without a problem.”

Lawrence’s time of 1:06.998 beat out Stewart’s time of 1:07.415 by nearly half a second. Millsaps followed in third with a 1:07.439.Lawrence’s speed on the rough and sandy Daytona course throws a bit of a wrench into the works for Reed and Stewart since Lawrence is not battling with the two points leaders in the series points standings, although he could be a factor in tonight’s race.

Fourth-fastest time went to Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Chad Reed, with a 1:07.637, while Yamaha’s Josh Hill was fifth with a 1:08.001.The weather is perfect today, in Daytona, where the skies are clear and the temperature is in the 70s. This is in stark contrast to last year’s race which was held in a deluge.In Lites qualifying, Christophe Pourcel was nearly two seconds faster than Star Racing’s Matt Lemoine, posting a 1:07.519 compared to Lemoine’s 1:09.134. Suzuki’s Nico Izzi came next with a 1:09.354, while Pourcel’s Monster Energy Kawasaki teammate Austin Stroupe was fourth with a 1:09.378.