Last year’s champions, Mat Mladin (superbike) and Kurtis Roberts (600) will sit on pole in their respective race classes at Daytona this weekend. Roberts is a mild surprise, as Kawasaki’s Eric Bostrom seemed to be setting the pace earlier in testing. Mladin was no surprise, whatsoever.
What is surprising is the performance of Yamaha’s Anthony Gobert. Yamaha has been criticized by some for hiring the mercurial Gobert to race its superbike and supersport machines in the U.S. this year. Gobert, of course, despite his somewhat checkered past, has about as much natural riding talent as can be packed inside a human body. At Daytona, he nearly took pole, finishing just behind Mat Mladin’s track-record lap.
Only the first four places are set on the superbike grid, as the remaining bikes will continue to qualify for the second row back.
Daytona Superbike Qualifying Results (Top Four)
- Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 1:48.425
- Anthony Gobert (Yamaha) 1:48.663
- Nicky Hayden (Honda) 1:48.765
- Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 1:49.140
Daytona 600 Supersport Qualifying Results (Top Ten)
- Kurtis Roberts (Honda) 1:53.549
- John Hopkins (Suzuki) 1:53.624
- Nicky Hayden (Honda) 1:53.675
- Miguel DuHamel (Honda) 1:53.736
- Eric Bostrom (Kawasaki) 1:53.773
- Jamie Hacking (Suzuki) 1:54.166
- Jason Pridmore (Suzuki) 1:54.866
- Josh Hayes (Honda) 1:54.882
- Anthony Gobert (Yamaha) 1:54.893
- Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 1:54.986
