Friday Jun 2 2006
Road America - Qualifying

Elkhart Lake (Wisconsin) June 2 2006: Parts Unlimited Ducati Team racers Neil Hodgson and Ben Bostrom completed qualifying at Road America on Friday, placing their Ducati 999 Superbikes on the provisional second row. Hodgson was sixth with a time of 2:14.470 and Bostrom was eighth at 2:14.611. The AMA Superbike field completed qualifying just before a rainstorm hit the beautiful Wisconsin circuit.

Neil Hodgson headed a group of three factory riders within two tenths of a second. Still, the Englishman was disappointed not to be on the provisional front row.


"A frustrating day, really," said Hodgson, a race winner at Elkhart Lake last season. "It was anything but smooth for us today as we had some small problems. It was compounded by the long track. If something goes wrong, you have a long way to ride before you come back around. That cut into our track time. We'll see what we can do tomorrow, come out fighting and see what we come up with."

Ben Bostrom was almost as fast as his teammate on Friday. "Since I was racing World Superbike last year, I haven't been here for a while and I wasn't riding my best today. Any time you're riding a new bike or a new track, it takes a little while to get into your groove," said Bostrom, who said the weather didn't affect him. "There were a few drops out there but not what I would call rain."

Both racers will return to the track for qualifying tomorrow and a 16-lap race at 3:30 local time.

Qualifying times: 1. Ben Spies, Suzuki 2:12.156 2. Mat Mladin, Suzuki 2:12.800 3. Jake Zemke, Honda 2:13.339 4. Miguel Duhamel, Honda 2:13.407 5. Aaron Yates, 2:14.060 6. Neil Hodgson, Parts Unlimited Ducati 2:14.470 7. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki 2:14.588 8. Ben Bostrom, Parts Unlimited Ducati 2:14.611 9. Larry Pegram, Honda 2:16.132 10. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki 2:16.285.