The USGP weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on California’s Monterey Peninsula is always moving at a fast pace x– everything is quick here, except the autograph and food kiosk lines. The weekend began as normal with only a few notable changes to the standard event schedule. The first major change was the running of a one-off event known as the Monterey Challenge (though, they had practice, qualifying and the race all in one morning), which contains many AMA Pro regulars – mostly privateers - who are from the local area. Next was the addition of the FIM e-Power International Championship practice, a true first at Laguna Seca. The AMA Pro SuperSport practice was held during what would normally be the lunch break, which was obviously curtailed to fit everything in today.
Starting off the practice were 32 of 33 registered riders who were all very much ready to put some rubber down for the first time this weekend. The AMA Pro SuperSport field is designed to be a step up for young (under 18 years of age) club racers who wish to jump up into the AMA Pro Racing classes. Notable entries in the 2010 season are Elena Myers, the first female to win an AMA Pro race at Infineon Raceway earlier this year. Another well-known name is that of Cameron Beaubier who was recently in the Red Bull Rookies Cup (RBRC) series held at some rounds of the MotoGP Championship series. Another name you may know from the RBRC is young Californian Joey Pascarella. But, the star of today’s practice has to be relative unknown Austin DeHaven, who took the lead early in practice and only lost out briefly at the mid-way point to Myers.
Throughout the last half of the practice, the numbers on the leader board changed only a few times. Dehaven was rock
steady in first position eventually turning a 1:30.478 lap time. A mere half-second behind him for almost the entire practice was the #25 of Pascarella. Third and fourth place were occupied by Tyler O’Hara and Scott Gilbert until the final laps of practice; by the time the checkered flag was out indicating the end of the practice, it was Beaubier and Tomas Puerta, respectively, who took those slots. In the final order Myers had fallen from her one-time first place position to seventh, but she had plenty of good laps so that she averaged out at around fifth position. This is just the first practice…qualifying will likely change that order a bit.
So ended the first AMA Pro SuperSport practice of the 23 – 25 July 2010 weekend; tomorrow, look forward to more news on the series and the promising young talent vying for the Championship.
Final after first AMA Pro SuperSport Practice:
1. Austin Dehaven (Yamaha) 1:30.478
2. Joey Pascarella (Yamaha) 1:30.761
3. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha) 1:31.144
4. Tomas Puerta (Yamaha) 1:31.379
5. Huntley Nash (Yamaha) 1:31.540
6. Tyler OHara (Yamaha) 1:31.564
7. Elena Myers (Suzuki) 1:31.699
8. Scott Gilbert (Yamaha) 1:32.181
9. James Rispoli (Suzuki) 1:32.721
10. Matthew Sadowski (Suzuki) 1:32.875
