Hodgson 3rd on AMA grid

Neil Hodgson has qualified in third place for the first round of the AMA Superbike championship in Daytona, Florida.

Hodgson set a 1:39.884 lap but it was Suzuki Rider Matt Mladin that really impressed setting a best of 1:38.232, over a second and a half faster than Hodgson and 0.73 seconds faster than second placed man Ben Spies (also a Suzuki rider).

When Mladin set that time everyone else pretty much gave up trying to beat it. Hodgson said, “I don’t know where Mat found a shortcut. That lap time is very, very impressive. I don’t think most people realize just how quick that is.”

The new Suzuki GSX-R1000 proved how good it was in the qualifying session with Hodgson the only non Suzuki rider in the top five.

Factory Honda riders Miguel Duhamel and Jake P Zemke were pushed in to sixth and seventh but they were running more than two and a half seconds down on the pole time.

Brit John McGuinness qualified in 16th place on the Kawasaki ZX-10R he was due to be using in British Superbikes this year. McGuinness has already won the Solo class of the Formula USA Team Challenge last week.

He was going to use the event to test his bike before the start of the British season but the team has since decided to switch to running a Yamaha R1 in BSB.

Click here for the full list of official qualifying times.