As the Superbike riders got down to the first day of qualifying at the Miller circuit today it was no surprises for Yamaha World Superbike rider Ben Spies as he showed the form that’s seen him win here in five of his last six visits in the AMA Championship. The Texan’s smooth lines and confident pace saw him finish the first free practice session of the day top of the leader boards. The afternoon qualifying session saw much of the same as Spies laid down consistently fast laps to end the day one place off provisional pole with a time of 1’49.901.
Team-mate Tom Sykes spent the free practice session working hard to familiarize himself with what is another new circuit for him in the 2009 championship. The afternoon’s qualifying saw him capitalize on the earlier session, finding an extra second and a half through qualifying whilst he worked hard with his team to find a good set up for the track.
Ben Spies, Yamaha World Superbike Team (2nd, 1’49.901)
“today went really good, we got down to some decent times and we were working on the race set up. We definitely can improve it though. We were stuck with the gearbox setting today and didn’t have time to change it before the end of the session, it wasn’t ideal but it was good to get some good times with what we had. Tomorrow we’ll go in and make some changes with the bike and come out swinging.”
Tom Sykes, Yamaha World Superbike Team, (19th, 1’51.387)
“It was quite a steady day, but I think we have a lot of improvements to make. We found 1.5 seconds in the last session from this morning which is great, I’m sure we can make another significant step tomorrow. We’ll go to bed tonight, have time to sleep on it and think about the circuit, take it all in and am pretty confident the boys and I will have something even better tomorrow.”
Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha World Superbike Team
“Part of the day went well for us. We have some more time to spend on Tom’s side. The track is not so easy to learn and it’s his first time riding here. We will maybe make some comparisons between Tom and Ben and help Tom find where he’s missing something on the lap. We will continue to work hard on both sides of the garage to find improvements for tomorrow’s sessions.”
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