Henny Ray Abrams | June 4, 2010
ELKHART LAKE, WI, JUNE 4: Team Graves Yamaha’s Josh Hayes took the provisional pole for the weekend’s Suzuki Superbike Doubleheader on a cool and overcast Friday afternoon at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.Hayes dominated the session from the start by putting up an early number no one could match. Then, on his last flying lap of the 4.05-mile road course, Hayes lowered the mark to 2:14.02 mins. and increased the gap on second fastest Tommy Hayden (Rockstar Makita Suzuki) to .334 secs.”Things are clicking pretty good,” Hayes said after setting the time on his spare bike.Hayes’ lap was about .8 secs. slower than Mat Mladin’s pole from last year and almost two seconds down on Ben Spies’ mark from 2008.Hayden was solidly in second until the 34th minute of the 40 minute session when Foremost Insurance Pegram Racing Ducati’s Larry Pegram dropped him to third. But Hayden struck back on his next lap to re-take the spot, this time for good.Pegram fell down to fourth, behind Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Blake Young, before rebounding with his final lap. That put him in third and .2 secs. ahead of Young, the final rider on the provisional front row.National Guard Jordan Suzuki’s Jake Zemke spent much of the session in the pits after a crash on his third flying lap. Zemke only completed a total of four laps, but his second lap time was good enough for the row two pole.Next to him on the provisional second row are Monster M4 Suzuki’s Jake Holden, riding in place of the injured John Hopkins, Pat Clark Motorsports’ Ben Bostrom (Yam), and Chris Ulrich on the second Monster M4 Suzuki.Ridersdiscount.com’s Taylor Knapp (Suz) was ninth fastest in front of Erik Buell Racing’s Geoff May (Bue).
Qualifying:
1. Josh Hayes (Yamaha) 2:14.02
2. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki) 2:14.336
3. Larry Pegram (Ducati) 2:14.669
4. Blake Young (Suzuki) 2:14.869
5. Jake Zemke (Suzuki) 2:15.207
6. Jake Holden (Suzuki) 2:15.427
7. Ben Bostrom (Yamaha) 2:15.797
8. Chris Ulrich (Suzuki) 2:16.060
9. Taylor Knapp (Suzuki) 2:17.079
10. Geoff May (Buell) 2:17.239
Henny Ray Abrams | Contributing Editor
Abrams is the longest-serving contributor at Cycle News. Over the course of his 35-some years of writing and shooting photos, he’s covered events from MotoGP to the Motocross World Championship - and everything in between.
