Photography by Larry Lawrence
Josh Hayes continued to set the pace Friday at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course by leading Friday’s Superbike qualifying session, turning a 1:25.986 on his factory Monster Energy Yamaha R1. Hayes was the only rider in the 1:25s.
His teammate Josh Herrin was second, just 2-10ths of a second back, recording a best of 1:26.218.
Jordan’s Suzuki’s Danny Eslick seems to have found something in his bike this weekend came in third fastest with a time of 1:26.222.
Hayes, the defending double-race winner at Mid-Ohio, did long stints in Friday’s session in order to test a tire at race distance. The long runs not only gave the team and Dunlop valuable data on the tire, it also served as a workout session for Hayes.
“It’s pretty typical honestly. That’s kind of the way I like to do things,” Hayes said of his long qualifying runs. “We have two tire options and one of them is new and we wanted to see what race distance looked like on it, so we tried to go out there and get it.
“It had maybe five or six laps from the previous session and just took that tire out there to get race distance on it and see if I could be consistent at the end the end of race distance. I got a little tired out there. It’s pretty hard to come in on the first day and bash out that many laps, but I know I’ll sleep good tonight and feel good tomorrow.”
Friday’s times are well off the track record of 1:23.638 set by Ben Spies in 2008.
Like in Superbike, the Daytona SportBike preliminary qualifying was dominated by a pair of Yamaha teammates. Series leader Cameron Beaubier was again the rider to beat. He set the mark in DSB qualifying Friday, posting a 1:28.503 on his Yamaha Extended Service R6.
Beaubier’s teammate Garrett Gerloff was next on the timing charts with a 1:29.882, followed by JD Beach (1:29.898) and Jake Lewis (1:30.121) making it a good day for Yamaha riders. The fastest non-Yamaha rider in DSB was Triumph mounted Jason DiSalvo (1:30.238 ) who was fifth.
Georgia’s Miles Thornton made it a Yamaha sweep of all classes in Friday qualifying by topping the on his CTR Racing Yamaha R6 with a time of 1:30.955.
Superbike qualifying from Mid-Ohio – Friday, July 12, 2013
1 1 Josh Hayes Gulfport, MS Yamaha R1 1:25.986
2 2 Josh Herrin Dublin, GA Yamaha R1 1:26.218
3 23 Danny Eslick Broken Arrow, OK Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:26.222
4 54 Roger Hayden Owensboro, KY Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:26.272 23
5 36 Martin Cardenas Medellin, Colombia Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:26.859
6 11 Chris Fillmore Oxford, MI KTM RC8R 1:27.135 20
7 99 Geoff May Gainesville, GA EBR 1190RS 1:27.580
8 72 Larry Pegram Hebron, OH Yamaha R1 1:27.661
9 20 Aaron Yates Milledgeville, GA EBR 1190RS 1:27.817
10 25 David Anthony Murrieta, CA Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:28.005
Daytona SportBike qualifying from Mid-Ohio – Friday, July 12, 2013
1 6 Cameron Beaubier Roseville, CA Yamaha YZF-R6 1:28.503
2 8 Garrett Gerloff Spring, TX Yamaha YZF-R6 1:29.882
3 95 JD Beach Philpot, KY Yamaha YZF-R6 1:29.898
4 85 Jake Lewis Princeton, KY Yamaha YZF-R6 1:30.121
5 40 Jason DiSalvo Batavia, NY Triumph Daytona 675 1:30.238
6 32 Jake Gagne San Diego, CA Yamaha YZF-R6 1:30.252
7 43 James Rispoli Londonderry, NH Suzuki GSX-R600 1:30.305
8 50 Bobby Fong Stockton, CA Yamaha YZF-R6 1:30.969
9 5 Dane Westby Tulsa, OK Honda CBR600RR 1:31.088
10 3 Benny Solis North Hollywood, CA Honda CBR600RR 1:31.324
SuperSport qualifying from Mid-Ohio – Friday, July 12, 2013
1 72 Miles Thornton West Point, GA Yamaha YZF-R6 1:30.955
2 12 Tomas Puerta Medellin, Colombia Yamaha YZF-R6 1:31.217
3 69 Hayden Gillim Philpot, KY Yamaha YZF-R6 1:31.342
4 24 Travis Wyman Macedon, NY Suzuki GSX-R600 1:31.516
5 37 Stefano Mesa Boca Raton, FL Yamaha YZF-R6 1:31.713
6 5 Corey Alexander Carmel, NY Suzuki GSX-R600 1:31.726
7 118 Nick McFadden Owensboror, KY Suzuki GSX-R600 1:31.961
8 33 Conner Blevins Noble, OK Kawasaki ZX-6R 1:32.392
9 9 Wyatt Farris Calistoga, CA Yamaha YZF-R6 1:32.887
10 51 Kaleb De Keyrel White Bear Lake, MN Yamaha YZF-R6 1:33.117
