IN
THE
WIND
P36
at all the racetracks on the calendar. At Motegi,
however, all riders will be required to use the 340s.
Valentino Rossi and Cal Crutchlow are the rid-
ers who have been most vocal regarding the use
of the larger brakes.
"…going out tonight to celebrate!" Crutchlow
wrote on his Twitter feed today. "Can eat this week
now instead of trying to starve myself to be able to
stop…"
NEW QUALIFYIN G FORMAT
FOR SUPERBIKES
W
hen AMA Pro Road Rac-
ing gets back to action at
Road America this weekend,
the Superbike class will have a
new qualifying format in place.
Instead of the traditional A and B
groups, there will be three ses-
sions with all riders participating
in the first two sessions. The top
12 will then advance to the third
session, which will determine
the first 12 positions on the grid.
Qualifying 3 is a shorter 15-10
minute session, depending on
whether it's a three- or two-day
event schedule.
AMA Pro Racing looks at the
new format as a way to provide
more excitement for the fans,
something that the other series
– MotoGP, World Superbike and
British Superbike – have already
experimented with as well.
Both Monster Energy Graves
Yamaha's Josh Hayes and Yo-
shimura Suzuki's Roger Hayden
were positive about the new for-
mat in the AMA Pro Racing is-
sued release.
"I think it's a really cool for-
mat, and I like that it's similar to
the way final qualifying is done in
World Superbike and MotoGP,"
said three-time AMA Superbike
Champion Hayes. "Plus, it gives
us a little more time to work on
bike setup during that first quali-
fying session. Getting the fastest
12 guys out there on the track
and all going for the pole during
a short session adds excitement
for the fans, and it's going to be
fun for us, too."
Hayden concurred.
"I think the new qualifying for-
mat is really cool and something
different," said Hayden. "It gives
the fans something else to get
excited about and I'm really look-
ing forward to getting our first
crack at it at Road America."
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
BRIAN
J.
NELSON
A new qualifying procedure will be in
place for this weekend's AMA Super-
bike National at Road America.
