Defending AMA Superbike Champion Ben Spies led another Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 clean sweep during qualifying for the Suzuki Showdown at Road Atlanta today.
Said Spies: “We just went out on some race set-up and got going pretty good. I just wanted to put in as good a lap as we could and if we got a point, we got a point and if we didn’t, we didn’t. I kind of took it turn by turn and I knew I was on a good one. I kept going with it and it was a decent lap.
“It was a pretty clean session, everything went pretty good. We made some changes to the bike last night and made it better. Hopefully it will be a good race.”
Rockstar Makita team mates Mat Mladin and Tommy Hayden were second and third - as they’d been on Friday’s opening sessions, although their Friday times had been disallowed after their crankshafts were found to be out of compliance. Spies’ crankshaft, on visual inspection, was said to be legal by AMA Pro Racing officials.
Added Spies: “My bike has been good all year. It’s a mess what’s going on and I’m not getting involved with that. I don’t know what’s going on but it’s a definite mess. It’s not up to me so I can’t speak for anybody on it.”
Jordan Suzuki’s Aaron Yates was seventh with Monster Kawasaki’s Roger Lee Hayden eighth.
Superbike Qualifying:
1. Ben Spies (Rockstar Makita Suzuki) 1:23.421
2. Mat Mladin (Rockstar Makita Suzuki) 1:23.801
3. Tommy Hayden (Rockstar Makita Suzuki) 1:24.404
4. Jason DiSalvo (Yamaha) 1:24.463
5. Eric Bostrom (Yamaha) 1:24.562
6. Jamie Hacking (Kawasaki) 1:24.701
7. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 1:24.911
8. Roger Hayden (Kawasaki) 1:25.392
9. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 1:25.652
10. Neil Hodgson (Honda) 1:25.671
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