Ducati’s Eric Bostrom shattered the lap record at Daytona International Speedway today aboard his Ducati 999R superbike during the first round of qualifying for Saturday’s 200 mile classic. The lap record previously belonging to Honda’s Nicky Hayden (and established before a change in the track configuration last year — that actually made lap times longer) was 1:47.174, and Eric Bostrom is the first rider ever to dip under that time, recording a 1:46.835.
You may recall that Ducati is giving Eric Bostrom top level support this year, including their best superbike components (normally reserved for the factory WSB team) and the best Michelin tires available to them. This is the combination that Neil Hodgson used to dominate the WSB championship last year.
Qualifying will continue tomorrow, but it is almost unthinkable that Eric Bostrom’s position on provisional pole will be overtaken. The second quickest time from a superbike in today’s qualifying session was nearly a second and a half slower, a 1:48.116 recorded by Honda’s Miguel DuHamel.
