AMA

It's always good to make the boss happy. Jordan Suzuki's Aaron Yates made his boss, Michael Jordan, very happy by taking the inaugural American Superbike pole of the 2010 season and the team's first pole ever at Daytona International Speedway.  Jordan, who was perched on the pit wall surrounded by his entourage, smiled broadly and fist-bumped every one in his proximity when the session ended with his rider on top.  Second place qualifier Larry Pegram claimed to have a traction control problem that sabotaged his session in the waning moments. Pegram was also a bit irritated at 4th place qualifier Blake Young 's supposed following tactics. Rockstar Makita Suzuki's Tommy Hayden merely had his brother, former MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden, in his pit to consult with when he took the third slot. Jake Zemke  had to qualify on his back-up bike after the  motor on his National Guard Suzuki blew late in the last practice session.

American Superbike Final Qualifying

Motomatters.com is on site at the Daytona International Speedway! Daytona Sportbikes are currently on track practicing. Weather this morning is a bit chilly but is expected to warm up to the mid-sixties (f) by this afternoon. Updates forthcoming!

One of  the big questions MotoGP fans have this year is just how well Ben Spies will do in his first full season of MotoGP. The Texan has already impressed Europeans and outperformed the expectations of Americans by winning the World Superbike title at his first attempt, but so far, World Superbike champions have had a rather patchy record of success in MotoGP. Consequently, fans are fishing about for any data they can find from experts and former riders, to help them make their own minds up.

Knowing this, the excellent US-based video website OnTheThrottle.com cornered former 500 GP champion and racing legend Kevin Schwantz at the testing session for the AMA Pro Racing test at Fontana, and asked him for his opinion of Spies' chances in MotoGP. Schwantz was pretty clear in his reply: "I think Ben will win a race in his first season for sure." Watch the full video for why he comes to that conclusion, and to hear what Schwantz has to say about the DMG series, his own plans for 2010 and the Red Bull Rookies.

After a month of intense speculation about the fate of John Hopkins, and whether the American would be joining the brand new FB Corse MotoGP project or heading back to the US to ride for John Ulrich's Team Hammer in the AMA Pro series, Hopkins' destiny is finally sealed. Last night, the newly christened Team M4 Monster Suzuki issued a press release announcing that John Hopkins will be riding for the team in the American Superbike class in the US in 2010.

This announcement confirms the news reported by MotoMatters.com earlier this week that Hopkins would be going back to the US. Hopper himself had told the crowd at the Anaheim Supercross meeting that he was intending to race in the AMA. This was then reported on MotoMatters.com, to the apparent annoyance of John Hopkins' mother Linda, who posted a waspish rebuttal over on Hopper's own website.