Martin Cardenas Tops Daytona SportBike Qualifying at Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix
MONTEREY, Calif. - While
Martin Cardenas has set the 2009 AMA Pro
Daytona SportBike presented by AMSOIL
championship on its ear to the tune of six
victories and a 51-point lead in the point
standings, it took until today for the
Colombian to score his first career pole
position.
Riding the No. 36 Team M4 Suzuki GSX-R600,
Cardenas posted a best lap at 1:27.585 (91.988
mph) around Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca to take
the top starting spot for Sunday's race at the
Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix. Cardenas has won
five of the last six Daytona SportBike races
and heads into the race leading Jamie Hacking
in the point standings by a count of 255-204.
"I've never started from the pole,"
said Cardenas. "This is my first pole
position ever and I'm very happy with it. I
hope that tomorrow's race will be good again.
It went pretty good. Yesterday, the bike was
working okay and we managed to improve the
setup every session. Today, in this qualifying
session, the bike was great. I want to thank
the team, M4, and all the sponsors, Suzuki,
Arai, Arlen Ness, everybody. They're doing
awesome. Everything can happen in a race, but
I think we're going to be, like, five, six
riders in the front and battling for all the
race. It's going to be tough."
Joining Cardenas on the front row will be Ben
Bostrom on the No. 1s Team Graves Yamaha
YZF-R6 at 1:28.035 (91.518 mph). Bostrom is
making just his second Daytona SportBike start
of the season at the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix
and won in his lone previous start, the
prestigious Daytona 200 By Honda to open the
2009 campaign. Earlier in the afternoon,
Bostrom qualified eighth for the American
Superbike race.
"The front row, I don't like starting
there, I'll be honest," Bostrom said.
"We've got our work cut out. That tire is
hard to ride on, that is for sure, so it's a
real balancing act out there. You try to go
fast and you actually go slower. It doesn't
reward any kind of fast-paced riding. You've
got to go out there and set your pace, be real
gingerly on the tire and roll around. It's the
strangest feeling to go out there and ride 80
percent and go 29-flat and ride 100 percent
and go 29.5 and actually lose time. Hopefully,
they'll get the tires a little more sorted.
Hats off to the guys, they've been doing a
great job."
Securing the inside of Row 2 was Bostrom's
teammate, Josh Hayes on the No. 4 Team Graves
Yamaha YZF-R6. Hayes posted a best qualifying
lap at 1:28.122 (91.427 mph). Like Bostrom,
Hayes is also making his first Daytona
SportBike appearance since the Daytona 200 and
he too is pulling double duty. He starts fifth
in American Superbike.
"Actually, I think qualifying has been my
best session so far," Hayes said.
"We've made a few improvements to the
bike. Ben (Bostrom) and I don't have a whole
lot of time on this bike. Ben's got all of
last year on the R6. For me, I'm still fairly
new to the R6. I had a pretty good Daytona on
it. Here, we're riding on different tires than
what we rode on at Daytona with the Dunlop
control tires. They're different here. I'm
happy I'm third. It's the second row for this
class, but I feel like I'm in a good position.
If I ride a smart race, hopefully I'll be
there at the end of that, too. I'm pretty
happy with where I'm at."
Wearing patriotic, red, white and blue
leathers on Independence Day, Josh Herrin
completed the top four in Daytona SportBike
qualifying with a lap at 1:28.144 (91.405 mph)
on the No. 8 Graves Motorsports Yamaha YZF-R6.
Unlike fellow Yamaha riders Bostrom and Hayes,
Herrin has contested the full Daytona
SportBike season and currently ranks fifth in
the championship standings. He heads into
Sunday's race looking for his first career
Daytona SportBike win.
"I think it's one of the best qualifying
efforts this year," Herrin said.
"I'm back to the same format that we were
at last year, so I'm able to do a little bit
better. I'm still working on the Superpole
thing. We threw on the soft today and it just
didn't quite do the job, so we ended up going
faster on the race tire within five laps of
going out. I think tomorrow we're really
prepared for the race. We're going to try and
give it our all. We're one of the most
consistent times right now. We're not just
trying to throw in one good time. We had the
chance to do a string of times and I think
everything is great for tomorrow."
Jason DiSalvo, who has taken each of the last
four Daytona SportBike Superpoles, qualified
fifth today on the No. 40 Team M4 Suzuki
GSX-R600 with a best lap at 1:28.170 (91.378
mph). The top nine riders in the session were
covered by less than one second.
The 23-lap (50-mile) Daytona SportBike
final takes the green flag on Sunday afternoon
at 3:30 p.m. local time.
More from a press release issued by Team M4
Suzuki:
Pole Position for Cardenas at Laguna Seca
For the fifth weekend in a row, a Team M4
Suzuki GSX-R600 will be starting from the pole
position in AMA Pro Daytona SportBike. While
Jason DiSalvo's qualifying streak ended after
four consecutive Superpole victories, teammate
Martin Cardenas stepped up to lead the way
today at Laguna Seca in Monterey, CA.
The Colombian has opened up a significant lead in the championship race thanks to his stellar race day form, winning six of the last eight contests, but Cardenas would readily admit that qualifying isn't typically his strong suit. However, he put on a qualifying clinic today, laying down a 1:27.585 to lead by 0.450 seconds in an otherwise tight session that saw that next 14 riders packed within one second of each other.
Remarkably, the pole position is the first of Cardenas' professional career.
"It's my first pole of any kind -- in Spain, Grand Prix, or here in America," Cardenas said. "I usually start from the second or third row so this is a very good result for us. I think not using the Superpole format this weekend helped because that puts a lot of pressure on you and you can't risk making any mistakes when you only have one lap. I prefer to get warmed up a little first.
"We tried the soft tire for the last five minutes and on my last lap I made everything good. That extra grip from the soft tire helped a lot."
Cardenas was already the fastest rider and only man in the 1:27 range before he fit a softer tire on his GSX-R to post his pole time. Not surprisingly, he feels optimistic about his chances on Sunday.
"The race set-up is also good," he confirmed. "We've been working all weekend on that and we're in pretty good shape for the race."
DiSalvo will open the 23-lap race from the inside of the third row, qualifying fifth fastest at 1:28.169, just 0.134 seconds off of a Team M4 Suzuki qualifying 1-2.
The New Yorker, who is currently ranked fourth in the championship standings, will look to claim his first win, sixth podium, and third Team M4 Suzuki 1-2 result tomorrow.
Sunday's 50-mile contest will get underway on Sunday at Laguna Seca at 3:30pm local time. Same-day television coverage of the Daytona SportBike race and all of the AMA Pro events at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca airs on SPEED beginning at 9:00 p.m. PT on Sunday night (late Sunday/early Monday at Midnight ET).