Sonoma: Series Friday report

AMA Pro Road Racing Day One Recap
West Coast Moto Jam at Infineon Raceway

SONOMA, CA (May 14, 2010)- Ben Bostrom, Tommy Aquino and Cameron Beaubier staked their claim on the AMA Pro Road Racing weekend activities at the West Coast Moto Jam as the first round of qualifying concluded on a picture perfect day at Infineon Raceway.

After a somewhat quiet start to the season, Ben Bostrom and his Pat Clark Motorsports Yamaha jumped back into contention with an absolute flier on his very last lap of qualifying to steal the top spot from Josh Hayes, who had been quickest in practice and most of qualifying until the very end of the session.

Hayes, on his Team Graves Yamaha had taken his career first AMA Pro National Guard American SuperBike victory here last year and set the pace from the opening lap of practice. In qualifying, Hayes was in a league of his own with an early lap of 1:36.184 which looked unbeatable until Bostrom went one better with a lap of 1:36.108 to take the provisional pole position for the doubleheader races this weekend.

Bostrom attributed his improved pace to the overall chemistry that has been evolving since the beginning of the season with the Pat Clark Motorsports Team. "It takes time to get things just right, we have been getting better and even though we were better at the last race, we didn't get the results we thought we could have," said Bostrom.

After Hayes, Jake Holden, riding for John Ulrich and the M4 Monster Energy Suzuki team in place of the injured John Hopkins, showed tremendous pace by running up front in practice and then posted the third fastest time of 1:36.646 before suffering an accident at turn five in the closing moments of the qualifying session. Holden was uninjured in the mishap.

The Rockstar Makita Suzuki teammates of Tommy Hayden and Blake Young finished the session in fourth and fifth places after both riders showed good speed. Final qualifying is tomorrow before the first of two races on Saturday and Sunday, both of which will be shown on SPEED TV in same day broadcasts. Check your local listing for broadcast times.

In AMA Pro Daytona SportBike presented by AMSOIL, Team Graves Yamaha rider Tommy Aquino once again showed his speed by taking the provisional pole, just as he did at the last race at Road Atlanta. Aquino was also quick in the earlier practice session, ahead of M4 Monster Energy Suzuki rider and defending race winner Martin Cardenas and Project 1 Atlanta Yamaha rider Dane Westby.

In qualifying, Danny Eslick on his GEICO Powersports Suzuki set the early pace, only to be eclipsed by the continually on-form Steve Rapp and his Team Latus Motors Racing Ducati and then ultimately by Aquino. Daytona 200 winner Josh Herrin took third on his Team Graves Yamaha and Eslick ended up fourth.

Westby (Project 1 Atlanta Yamaha) took fifth ahead of Lenny Hale riding his Hale Racing Yamaha. Martin Cardenas took a quiet seventh place with his M4 Monster Energy Suzuki but remains a favorite for this weekend after his double win here last year and also at last month's Road Atlanta race. Final qualifying for the Daytona SportBikes will be tomorrow morning in split sessions and race one of the doubleheader weekend will at 3:45 p.m. local Pacific Daylight Time. The amazing competition in AMA Pro SuperSport continued but with a new twist. East Division Young Gun points leader Cameron Beaubier took the provisional pole position with a sensational lap of 1:40.355, which was just short of a full second faster than West Coast Division Young Gun point leader Joey Pascarella, but Pascarellawasn't on his usual LTD Yamaha. After his scintillating start to the season with three wins, Pascarella was pleased to announce that he had moved to a new program with the DNA Energy Drink Ducati team of CNR Motorsports.

Making the change with the full blessing of the LTD group, Pascarella acclimated himself to his new Ducati motorcycle quickly and posted the second fastest time in practice and qualifying. Beaubier, who usually rides for the Rockwell Yamaha team in his Divisional races back East, is riding his own bike this weekend supported by his father and Shawn Herrera and his Mazda Technologies Intel team, which makes his speed even more impressive.

Beaubier is coming off the Road Atlanta weekend where he could have won at least one race but for an untimely red flag that thwarted his charge to the front. Taking third and fourth places were LTD Yamaha teammates Jake Gagne and Huntley Nash, both of whom have also showed excellent form this season, Nash taking a number of top three finishes and Gagne splitting his time between riding in the States and his main program in Europe.

Top Gun entry and Auto Club Speedway star Scott Gilbert rejoined the series and took fifth place. Austin DeHaven took a useful sixth place on his DeHaven Racing Yamaha and local favorite Elena Myers took seventh on her Lucas Oil/RoadracingWorld.com/Richie Morris Racing Suzuki. Final qualifying for the SuperSport division will be bright and early tomorrow morning and then the first of the two weekend races will take the green flag at 1:30 PM local Pacific Daylight Time.

-source: ama