Spies beats heat to grab pole at Infineon

Ben Spies posted the top time Friday at Infineon Raceway in provisional qualifying for the Kawasaki AMA Superbike Showdown.

Spies (Suzuki) clocked a time of 1 minute, 35.840 seconds during qualifying in 90-degree temperatures. Spies, a two-time defending AMA Superbike champion, will attempt to sweep twin 28-lap main events today and Sunday.

"The bike is working good, and we're working more on race set-up," Spies said. "It's hot out there, so the track record (1:34.991) wasn't really going to happen today."

Spies was followed by Suzuki teammate Mat Mladin (1:36.423), Yamaha's Jason Di-Salvo (1:36.600) and Petaluma High grad Eric Bostrom (Yamaha, 1:36.655).

Mladin, the most decorated rider in AMA history with six Superbike championships and 66 victories, entered the weekend with a 20-point lead over Spies (178-158). Jake Zemke (Honda) took the pole for Formula Xtreme with a time of 1:36.853.

Final qualifying for Superbike takes place today at 9:30 a.m., which will set the grid for today's 28-lapper at 3:30 p.m. Formula Xtreme also will run its 17-lap main event today at 4:40 p.m. Other events at Infineon this weekend include Supermoto USA and Motocross on the hillsides behind Turn 7.