TOOELE, UTAH, MAY 26 – Monster Energy Graves Yamaha’s Josh Hayes earned the provisional pole for Monday afternoon’s Superbike race, though the cold, windy conditions prevented him from approaching his 2011 pole time.
Hayes finished the 45-minute session with a best lap of 1:51.046 mins., well off his 1:50.401 mins. lap from 2011. And even farther from the 2006 qualifying record of 1:49.167 mins. set by Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Ben Spies on a “proper” Superbike with non-control tires.
Hayes took over the top spot from National Guard Jordan Suzuki’s Roger Lee Hayden with around 17 minutes to run. His 12th lap of 1:51.374 was .140 sec. faster than Hayden’s 12th, and fastest lap to that point, of 1:51.514 mins. Then Hayes would lower it again to put the provisional pole out of reach.
Hayden didn’t improve his time, but it didn’t matter. The only other rider in the 1:51s was his teammate Ben Bostrom, whose 15th lap time of 1:51.954 mins. just snuck under the 1:52 mark. That lap put Bostrom third on the provisional grid and a mere .059 sec. up on Yoshimura Suzuki’s Blake Young. Young’s 1:52.013 mins. best effort was nearly a second off Hayes’ pace.
Behind Young comes Larry Pegram on the Foremost Insurance/Pegram Racing BMW S 1200RR. The next two riders on the provisional second row are EBR teammates Geoff May and Danny Eslick, both of whom finished on the podium in the previous round at Infineon Raceway. Kneedraggers.com’s David Anthony is a provisional eighth fastest.
The final two factory riders lead off the third row, Monster Energy Graves Yamaha’s Josh Herrin in front of Yoshimura Suzuki’s Chris Clark.
AMA Superbike Qualifying:
1. Josh Hayes (Yamaha) 1:51.046
2. Roger Lee Hayden (Suzuki) 1:51.514
3. Ben Bostrom (Suzuki) 1:51.954
4. Blake Young (Suzuki) 1:52.013
5. Larry Pegram (BMW) 1:52.698
6. Geoff May (EBR) 1:52.741
7. Danny Eslick (EBR) 1:53.023
8. David Anthony (Suzuki) 1:53.400
9. Josh Herrin (Yamaha) 1:53.824
10. Chris Clark (Suzuki) 1:53.903
