He's At It Again.

Ben Spies has nabbed his fifth pole position, setting a track record of 1' 44.073", breaking Bayliss' previous record by nearly a second. Holy smokin sticky tyres Batman! Teammate Sykes got blocked by a slower rider on a critical lap and failed to make the top ten, but will start from the third row. Could be worse. Fabrizio managed second about 2/10ths behind Spies. The grid is all shook up on this wacko track that's like no other in the series. Joining the first two on the front row will be Kiyonari and Neukircher, all under 1'45". Haga leads the second row, followed by Rea, Biaggi and Kagayama. Jake Zemke was in attendance but way down the practice and qualifying results. He'll start 25th out of 29 ... almost four seconds off the pace. Should be a good first few laps if the front row gets a good start and Haga picks his way through them. Fabrizio will give Ben a good run for his money, but Spies will be trying to gap the field and pull away clear at the front before Haga and Neukircher can catch him. If Ben gets a bad start (which has happened before) watch for Neukirchner and Rea to stay with Fabrizio ... until Haga reels them in. There's also a possibility that Biaggi will pull one of his rare near-holeshots from the second row and run up front for awhile. There's a good chance that Spies will do the double at this very American-like track.