AMA Racing Friday Results
Tommy Hayden and his Rockstar Makita Suzuki threw down the gamut today with his exceptional performance in the last moments of AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike initial qualifying at New Jersey Motorsports Park.
Tommy’s lap of 1:20.624/98.234 MPH eclipsed Ben Bostrom’s similar time in the 1:20 range which bested the quick time set early in the session by Josh Hayes.
Hayes, on his Team Graves Yamaha and Bostrom on his Pat Clark Motorsports Palms Casino Yamaha had set times that didn’t look like they could be beaten.
 First, Hayes led the way, then Ben popped in his time and then right at the end, Hayden lowered the time even further, resulting in the provisional pole position for the weekend’s races here in Millville, N.J.
Final qualifying will be tomorrow morning at 9:30 AM in preparation for the doubleheader race weekend. The point for the pole position will be critical in the championship fight between Hayden and Hayes. Eleven points separate the two with this weekend’s two races and then the season finale at Barber Motorsports Park later this month.
Another rider showed good form today, John Hopkins on the M4 Monster Energy Suzuki was quick for the entire session and ended up third overall, just ahead of Hayes. A resurgent Jake Zemke and his National Guard Jordan Suzuki ended up fifth after a good morning practice and qualifying session.
In Daytona SportBike Presented by AMSOIL, six time race winner and championship contender Martin Cardenas put together an almost perfect lap in posting the best overall time in the first round of Daytona SportBike qualifying.
Martin rode his M4 Monster Energy Suzuki to a time of 1:23.683/94.643 MPH, just ahead of championship points leader Danny Eslick who got close to Martin’s time right at the end of the session. Martin posted his lap early and then watched the weather conditions and his other competitors to see if anyone would challenge his time and after Eslick got close, Martin went back out but he still held the upper hand and stayed on top.
Danny, riding is GEICO Powersports Suzuki is leading the championship by twelve points from Josh Herrin and the Team Graves Yamaha team. Cardenas is third in points, just fourteen back from Eslick.
Herrin’s Team Graves Yamaha teammate Tommy Aquino ended up third just ahead of Cory West who rode his Vesrah Suzuki to a time of 1:24.465/93.766 MPH.
In AMA Pro Racing SuperSport, East Division Young Gun Champion, Joey Pascarella rode his DNA Energy Drink Yamaha to the fastest time of 1:25.547, ahead of his former teammate Huntley Nash on the LTD Racing Yamaha. Pascarella was the only rider to break into the 1:25 range. Joey was quick early, then Huntley topped the charts for a while but Pascarella went out towards the end of the session and really upped the ante.
Joey Pascarella says: "I actually slowed down and almost just rode around and the time ended up being really fast. I haven’t had much time around this track but I get used to new tracks pretty quick."
Eric Stump ended up third with a lap of 1:26.655 on his Markbilt Racebikes Yamaha.
Final Qualifying will be tomorrow morning for all three classes and the Vance & Hines XR1200 series as well here at New Jersey Motorsports Park.
