Westby lapped the 2.38-mile, 14-turn road course in 1:28.113 mins., which is under the previous qualifying mark of 1:28.374 mins. that Josh Herrin ran to take the 2010 DSB pole. The lap was the second of four low 28s that Westby strung together at the end of the session. And the time could drop farther in Saturday's final qualifying session, which will be held in cooler morning temperatures.

Hayden was only .080 sec. slower overall, though far less consistent. He had only one lap in the 28s and one in the 29's. Beaubier's best lap of 1:28.279 mins. was the fastest of his final three-lap run.

Championship leader Martin Cardenas (Geico Suzuki) was fourth fastest at 1:28.504 mins. to fill out the provisional front row. Cardenas, winner of six races, has a 206 to 159 points lead on Jason DiSalvo, the Team Latus Motors Racing Castrol Triumph rider who was sixth fastest today.

Row two was led off by Meen Motorsports Racing's Bobby Fong, the Yamaha rider only slightly slower than Cardenas, with DiSalvo next. Barber is now DiSalvo's home track; he recently moved to the Birmingham area.

First into the 1:29s was Benny Solis on the Kneedragers.com/Triple Crown Industries Yamaha. Huntley Nash filled out the provisional second row on the LTD Racing Yamaha.

Abrams is the longest-serving contributor at Cycle News. Over the course of his 35-some years of writing and shooting photos, he’s covered events from MotoGP to the Motocross World Championship - and everything in between.