Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128376
Continued from poge '9 For the second straight event, Ben Spies proved that he belongs, the young Te""" putting his Yoshimura Suzuki second on the grid behind Mladin. His best was a 1:25.954 - .913 of a second behind. "I only really noticed [the wind] on the back straightaway a little bit," Spies said. "Qualifying went well. We've got a good serup. When we put on the softer tires, I went pretty good. I messed up both the laps but not big enough to get pole by any means. I was about two-tenths off every lap. It would have been like a 57 [a 1:25.57] or something like that. We're second, and we'll just see how the race goes." Third fastest in qualifying went to Ducati Austin's Neil Hodgon, the Brit happy that the team had tested at Barber earlier in the year, especially after rain hit the area on Friday, basically washing out most of practice. "I'm probably going half a second faster than I have been, but I don't think I can get a second off," Hodgson said. "That would have been maximum risk for nothing. I wasn't really in the position to do that. I'm glad that we tested here or I would have been screwed completely. That would have been my first laps on the track in the dry if we hadn't tested. I'm very thankful that this was one of the places we came to. Hopefully, the rest of the season the weather will be better. Everybody says it will be, but now I don't believe the Americans. Everybodly keeps saying. 'Don't worry the weather will get better,' but everywhere I go, it isn't." With just the 45-minute session to get ready for the race, Hodgson said he concentrated on getting a race setup. "I was just riding around on race tires. Honestly, at first I thought 1hadn't ridden the bike in 12 years, and I was doing 305 and 29s. It's not an excuse, but I have nevv set of leathers on, and I should have kept the old ones on. I fl"'llike Robo Cop, and I can't breathe. That was my stupid mistake. 1rode like crap early on. Luckily, Mat [Mladin] passed me, and it just woke me up a little bit. He pulled away, but I thought, 'C'mon you're racing - this isn't a dress rehearsal, this is serious stuff.' So 1started to focus a bit better." Tires wouldn't be a problem, according to Hodgson. He found what he liked at the test, and practice here just confirmed what he already knew. "We sort of knew after the test," Hodgson said. "Dunlop brought three rears and three fronts, and we found one we really liked. I didn't try all three, but I tried two, and the one I really liked felt the same as the test. I did 1I or 12 laps on it, and it was very consistent." The Hondas were definitely off the pace at Barber, the team struggling to make the bike as good as it was last year. After finishing fifth in the first race on Sarurday, Miguel Duhamel said things were getting better. "We're making progress on the bike," Duhamel said. "The CBRIOOO, the RR, and the guys are woriOng hard. And I have to give so much credit to my guys. I don't know if you saw what happened, but before the race, we tried a nevv serup before the red flag, and Continued on page 23