USA: Sean Dylan Kelly (Suzuki) on provisional pole in Supersport at Road America

It was with undisguised pleasure that the MotoAmerica Championship riders in the Supersport category had the joy of finding themselves on the Elkhart Lake circuit, after such a long off-season. Despite the ban on spectator access, the atmosphere was excellent in the paddock for the reunion, and despite the few tests carried out to prepare for this inaugural event.

The approvals for the Supersport category are the same in the United States as for the world championship, and this Friday we saw a clear domination in numbers of the Yamaha R6s. If there were no Hondas at Elkhart Lake, there were two official Suzukis while there are no GSX-R600s in the World Championship. They were entered by the M4 Ecstar Suzuki team for Sean Dylan Kelly and Lucas Silva.

A Salvadoran was among those involved, as were two Mexicans, a Brazilian and a Venezuelan. One of these South Americans certainly dreamed of succeeding Colombian Martin Cardenas, winner of the AMA Sportbike Championship in 2010 on a Suzuki GSX-R600. He won 38 victories in the USA, after having completed two seasons of GP 250 in 2005 and 2006, then racing as a wildcard in Moto2 in 2011 at Indianapolis, finishing 28th, just behind Mike Di Meglio, and in front of JD Beach and Valentine Debise.

Here is the list of entrants:

Free practice session:

Competitors in the Supersport category had a single free session, lasting 40 minutes, before two timed sessions of 35 and 30 minutes.

At half-distance, Mexican Richie Escalante led in 2'24.388 on his Kawasaki. He preceded Brandon Paasch (from Brooklyn) on Yamaha by 1.1.

At the end of the session, Escalante kept first place with a time of 2'22.505, 1.3 ahead of one of the two official Suzukis, driven by Sean Dylan Kelly, and 2.2 ahead of the R6 of Nate Minster.

Results of the free practice session:

First Supersport qualifying session:

Mexican Richie Escalante (Kawasaki) quickly took command in 2'23.234, 0.004 ahead of Brandon Paasch (Yamaha) and 0.105 ahead of Jason Aguilar (Yamaha). Sean Dylan Kelly brought the first Suzuki into fourth position, 1.8 behind.

Kelly placed his GSX-R in the lead with 15 minutes to go in 2'22.101, 1.9 ahead of Escalante.

Escalante regained first position in 2'21'911 5 minutes from the checkered flag, 0.054 ahead of Kelly and 0.462 ahead of Aguilar. Then Kelly took command again in 2'21.196, 0.769 ahead of Escalante and 1.8 ahead of Aguilar. Kelly improved again on the penultimate lap in 2'21.100, 0.865 ahead of Escalante and 2.074 ahead of Aguilar.

Kelly concluded the session in 2'20.981, 0.183 ahead of Escalante and 0.322 ahead of Brandon Paasch.

Results of the first Supersport qualifying session:

Second Supersport qualifying session on Saturday at 17:30 p.m. French time, and race 1 at 21:12 p.m. Race 2 Sunday at 21:15 p.m.

Main information: click here.

Photos © MotoAmerica