Friday Apr 28 2006
Fontana - Qualifying

Fontana (California) 28 April 2006: Parts Unlimited Ducati's Neil Hodgson earned a spot on the provisional front row today at Fontana, setting a quick lap of 1:24.432 in the first day of qualifying at California Speedway. Neil's teammate Ben Bostrom was a close sixth, less than one tenth of a second behind his fellow Ducati 999 Superbike rider.

Neil ran near the front in both the morning and afternoon sessions. "We've improved a lot," said Hodgson. "Today I went faster around this track than ever before and I feel comfortable at that speed. We've been inside the top four all day here at Fontana and we haven't used the soft tires yet. I have two to use tomorrow. That was our plan, to work on race setup and then to use both of the softer tires in the last session. We are looking for the front row tomorrow and the podium this week. So far, so good."



In the afternoon session, Ben Bostrom sliced 1.8 seconds off his morning best lap time to close in on the leaders. The Californian wasn't happy with the AMA's placement of the brake markers, but said he was able to get into a groove with his riding on Friday. "My lap time is pretty close to being on the front row and for sure we can go faster than we went today. The bike is working better and we found a lot of time from the morning. I wasn't riding very well in the first session. As far as my health goes, I feel a lot better from last week and am looking forward to getting back out there tomorrow."

Saturday's race begins at 3:50 PM local time.

Qualifying times: 1. Ben Spies, Suzuki 1:23.374 2. Mat Mladin, Suzuki 1:23.613 3. Jake Zemke, Honda 1:23.957 4. Neil Hodgson, Parts Unlimited Ducati 1:24.432 5. Aaron Yates, Suzuki 1:24.481 6. Ben Bostrom, Parts Unlimited Ducati 1:24.514 7. Miguel Duhamel, Honda 1:25.212 8.Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki 1:25.362 9. Jake Holden, Suzuki 1:25.362 10. Larry Pegram, Honda 1:26.009