Ben Spies (Yamaha World Superbike) will start tomorrow's Utah US Round of the Hannspree FIM Superbike World Championship at Miller Motorsports Park from pole position after powering to a record seventh Superpole in seven races. The 24-year-old Texan wiped out the old record of six poles on the run set by fellow Texan Doug Polen in 1991. Spies was quickest both in Superpole 2 and Superpole 3 to take the front slot with a time of 1 minute 48.319 seconds. In Superpole 1 the fastest time of 1'49.261 was set by American Jamie Hacking, who surprised everyone on the Kawasaki World Superbike machine that has so far had a difficult start to the season. Second and third places on the grid went to the Ten Kate Honda pairing of Spain's Carlos Checa, last year's double race winner, and Ryuichi Kiyonari of Japan, while Italian Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) continued his good feeling with the Miller track with the final front row grid slot.

Shane Byrne (Sterilgarda Ducati) proved to be best of the Brits with a good run to sixth, a couple of tenths behind Jakub Smrz on a similar Guandalini 1098 machine. Broc Parkes and Hacking made it a positive day for Kawasaki with seventh and eighth places on the grid. Max Biaggi's unfortunate feeling with Superpole continued as Friday's provisional pole holder crashed during Superpole 2 and although the Italian managed to get back to the pits he was eliminated and will start from row 4 with sixteenth time. It was also a difficult Superpole for points leader Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox) who had a nasty-looking crash in qualifying from which he came away bruised and battered. Haga was eliminated from the second knock-out phase and will start from row 3 with ninth quickest time. Spies and Fabrizio, respectively 88 and 85 points behind, may now have a chance to cut the gap tomorrow in the two 21-lap races.

Ben Spies: "It was a good session for us, the last few minutes there were some drops coming down and we were pretty nervous, but we'd worked well since this morning and I stuck to the plan in Superpole. I think we have a good race pace, there are a few guys that have good pace as well so the race should be interesting. Twelve months ago I didn't think I'd be here on pole at Miller in Superbike but it's great. I'm having a blast!"

Carlos Checa: "Finally this year I'm starting to be in the front group, I feel that the second place is very important to make a good start tomorrow. Overall it looks good, I hope the weather stays dry because at the end of the practice it was a little bit scary, with dark clouds and lightning! I don't know what is happening here at Miller, I always have a good feeling with this circuit, it's a good track with a lot of grip so we need to check why we have no grip in the other circuits!"

Ryuichi Kiyonari: "That was much better than Kyalami qualifying and the feeling with my Honda is much better than the recent races. As for my race pace for tomorrow I think it is a little bit not fast enough but if I can do a good start maybe I can follow the group and hope to get a podium."

Michel Fabrizio: "Superpole went well and I'm really pleased with my form, I start from the front row of the grid and out race pace is really good, let's see if we can do a couple of good races on this track tomorrow. We are losing a bit to the four-cylinder machines coming out of the turns but all things considered we are in a good position and for sure tomorrow we'll be competitive."

Times: 1. Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF R1 1'48.344; 2. Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 1'48.908; 3. Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1'49.243; 4. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1'49.434; 5. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 1'49.658; 6. Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 1'49.982; 7. Parkes B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'51.3288. Hacking J. (USA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'51.438; 9. Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 1'49.516; 10. Nakano S. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'49.528; 11. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'49.541; 12. Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'49.765; 13. Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1'50.114; 14. Nieto F. (ESP) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1'50.488; 15. Scassa L. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'50.987; 16. Biaggi M. (ITA). Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'51.351

 WorldSBK.com

• Pairing scores overall victory in return to debut venue

• Simon Pagenaud and Gil de Ferran scored their second American Le Mans Series victory a year after making their debut with a win at the Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix at Miller Motorsports Park. The pairing dominated in their de Ferran Motorsports Acura ARX-02a with a comfortable 1:13.693 margin over Patrón Highcroft Racing’s Acura of David Brabham and Scott Sharp.
  
  Pagenaud and de Ferran finished third overall and in LMP2 last year. It was the second straight overall win for the de Ferran XM Acura, which won the previous Series round at Long Beach.
  
  Adrian Fernandez gave Lowe’s Fernandez Racing a tight 0.585-second victory in LMP2 in tandem with Luis Diaz. The Acura ARX-01b withstood a late fight with Dyson Racing’s Butch Leitzinger, who just missed the team’s first win with Marino Franchitti in one of Dyson’s Mazda-powered Lola B09/86 coupes.
  
  Fernandez and Diaz won their fourth straight race in class.
  
  Jörg Bergmeister and Patrick Long won for the third straight race in GT2 with a victory in their Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. The duo led the entire way and finished 74.559 seconds ahead of Farnbacher Loles Racing’s Porsche of Marc Lieb and Wolf Henzler.
  
  Martin and Melanie Snow were winners in the inaugural Challenge class race. The husband-wife duo took a 38.782-second victory in their Snow Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entry over the ORBIT Racing Porsche of Guy Cosmo and John Baker.
  
  The Snows were winners at the first American Le Mans Series race in 1999 at Sebring with a GTS class victory behind the wheel of a Porsche 911 Turbo.
  
  Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix
  Miller Motorsports Park, Tooele, Utah
  Sunday’s results
  1. (1) Gil de Ferran, Brazil; Simon Pagenaud, France; Acura ARX-02a (1, P1), 103.
  2. (2) Scott Sharp, Jupiter, FL; David Brabham, Australia; Acura ARX-02a (2, P1), 103.
  3. (3) Luis Diaz, Mexico; Adrian Fernandez, Mexico; Acura ARX-01B (1, P2), 100.
  4. (4) Marino Franchitti, Scotland; Butch Leitzinger, State College, PA; Lola B09 86 Mazda (2, P2), 100.
  5. (7) Jon Field, Dublin, OH; Clint Field, Dublin, OH; Chapman Ducote, Miami, FL; Lola B06/10 AER (3, P1), 93.
  6. (5) Chris Dyson, Pleasant Valley, NY; Guy Smith, England; Lola B09 86 Mazda (3, P2), 92.
  7. (9) Jorg Bergmeister, Germany; Patrick Long, Oak Park, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (1, GT2), 90.
  8. (11) Marc Lieb, Germany; Wolf Henzler, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (2, GT2), 90.
  9. (10) Pierre Kaffer, Germany; Jaime Melo, Brazil; Ferrari F430 GT (3, GT2), 89.
  10. (15) Ian James, England; Dominik Farnbacher, Germany; Panoz Esperante GTLM Ford (4, GT2), 89.
  11. (13) Nicky Pastorelli, Netherlands; Johannes Stuck, Austria; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (5, GT2), 88.
  12. (17) Johannes van Overbeek, San Francisco, CA; Seth Neiman, Burlingame, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (6, GT2), 87.
  13. (6) Johnny Mowlem, England; Stefan Johansson, Sweden; Ginetta-Zytek 09HS (4, P1), 87.
  14. (12) Tom Milner, Leesburg, VA; Dirk Mueller, Germany; BMW E92 M3 (7, GT2), 85.
  15. (14) Bill Auberlen, Hermosa Beach, CA; Joey Hand, Sacramento, CA; BMW E92 M3 (8, GT2), 83.
  16. (18) Chris Hall, Daytona, FL; Joel Feinberg, Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Dodge Viper Comp Coupe (9, GT2), 82.
  17. (20) Melanie Snow, Pleasant Grove, UT; Martin Snow, Pleasant Grove, UT; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (1, C), 82.
  18. (23) John Baker, New York, NY; Guy Cosmo, Long Island, NY; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (2, C), 82.
  19. (16) David Murry, Cumming, GA; David Robertson, Ray, MI; Andrea Robertson, Ray, MI; Doran Ford GT MK 7 (10, GT2), 81.
  20. (22) Ed Brown, Las Vegas, NV; Bill Sweedler, Westport, CT; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (3, C), 80.
  21. (19) Carl Skerlong, Mukilteo, WA; Nick Parker, Seattle, WA; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (4, C), 57, Transmission.
  22. (8) Michael Lewis, San Diego, CA; Bryan Willman, Kirkland, WA; Lola B06/10 AER (5, P1), 40, Mechanical.
  23. (21) Bob Faieta, Tujunga, CA; Wesley Hoagland, Tustin, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (5, C), 37, Overheating.

TOOELE VALLEY, UTAH (May 15, 2009) — At the very venue he made his American Le Mans Series debut a year ago, Simon Pagenaud turned in the fastest time in Friday's test for this weekend's Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix at Miller Motorsports Park. The young Frenchman posted the five fastest times in the No. 66 de Ferran Motorsports Acura ARX-02a during the two-hour session.

Pagenaud's best time was a 1:31.687 (119.677 mph), good enough to best Patrón Highcroft Racing's David Brabham and his No. 9 Acura LMP1 entry by an impressive 1.157 seconds (1:32.844). Both Acura LMP1 entries have won races this year – Brabham and Scott Sharp at St. Petersburg, and Pagenaud and Gil de Ferran at Long Beach in the most recent round.

Dyson Racing’s Guy Smith was the fastest LMP2 driver and was third overall in the Mazda-powered No. 16 Lola B09/86 he shares with Chris Dyson. The Englishman nipped Lowe’s Fernandez Racing’s Adrian Fernandez on the final lap of the session, a 1:34.670. Fernandez was 0.541 seconds adrift in the No. 15 Acura ARX-01b he co-drives with Luis Diaz. The pairing won the first three rounds of the season and own a hefty lead in the championship.

The brand-new hybrid-powered No. 48 LMP1 Ginetta-Zytek 09HS from Salt Lake City-based Corsa Motorsports with drivers Johnny Mowlem and Stefan Johansson was seventh overall and fifth in class. Its fastest time was a 1:38.875 in its first on-track outing, just a few days after arriving in the U.S. from a shakedown in England last week.

“It’s honestly a steep learning curve,” Mowlem said. “Normally you would do these types of things in private and behind closed doors. Instead we’re doing it in public. But we are making progress.”

In the GT2 class, Flying Lizard Motorsports’ Jörg Bergmeister went quickest in the No. 45 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR that he shares with Patrick Long. Bergmeister’s best lap was a 1:48.215 (101.398 mph) as Porsche held the top two spots. Farnbacher Loles Racing’s Marc Lieb was second in the No. 87 entry that he shares with Wolf Henzler with a time of 1:49.025.

“It’s fast, a real road course, and pretty smooth,” Bergmeister said. “Lots of fast corners, which are fun. The Lizards had a very successful race here last year - the pole, a win for the No. 45 and a double podium. Hopefully we can repeat that success again this year.”

The two Porsches were ahead of Risi Competizione’s No. 62 Ferrari F430 GT of Jaime Melo and Pierre Kaffer, who set the team’s fastest lap of 1:49.232.

Guy Cosmo was the fastest driver in the new Challenge class for Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entries. Cosmo turned a lap of 1:56.133 (94.485 mph) in the ORBIT Racing entry that he will drive with John Baker.

“It’s a different mindset (going from prototypes to GT cars),” Cosmo said. “At the end of the day, you’re trying to do the best possible program you can.”

Local favorites Martin and Melanie Snow, winners in the GTS class at the first Series race at Sebring in 1999, was second at 1:57.080 in their No. 57 Snow Racing entry.

The first race of the weekend was the first of three races for Formula BMW Americas. The 15-lap contest on the 2.2-mile East Course was won by Giancarlo Vilarinho, leading a 1-2 sweep for the Eurointernational team by 2.994 seconds ahead of teammate Gabby Chaves and Team Autotecnica’s Gianmarco Raimondo.

The fourth annual Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix continues Saturday with another full day of action starting at 8:00 a.m. The day’s schedule includes qualifying for the American Le Mans Series, the Cooper Tires Atlantic Championship and the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup, as well as the Star Mazda Championship race, the first of two races for the IMSA Lites presented by Frisby Performance Tire and the Patron GT3 Challenge and the second of three races for Formula BMW Americas.

In addition, lunchtime will see the 30th Anniversary Celebration for the Larry H. Miller Group of Companies, with a special presentation by the Miller family for an expected 4,000 employees.

For ticket information, visit www.MMPTix.com.

For more information on Miller Motorsports Park, call the track at (435) 277-RACE (7223) or visit the website at www.millermotorsportspark.com.