Steve Rapp’s Harley Time Unbeatable This Morning At Laguna Seca
Andrea Wilson | July 12, 2014
MONTEREY, CA, JULY 11 – Suburban Motors Harley Davidson’s Steve Rapp earned his third AMA Pro Vance & Hines Harley-Davison pole of the season at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. And he earned it without even having to throw his leg over the motorcycle in this morning’s final qualifying.
In fact Rapp hadn’t even arrived at the track in time for the qualifying press conference. Rapp bet that no one could beat his time from yesterday’s afternoon session – a 1:35.279 – and he was right, because the other thing you can bet on at Laguna Seca in July – morning fog and colder conditions.
Also opting out of the session in order to conserve tires was Danny Eslick, who trailed Rapp by 0.920 of a second.
Making the most out of the morning session was KWR’s Kyle Wyman. Wyman dropped 0.326 of a second off yesterday’s time to join Rapp and Eslick on the front row of the grid. The team owner/racer was not only happy to be on the front row, but also just to be racing, period. Wyman had knee surgery earlier this Wednesday to repair a torn meniscus and is racing both the Harley and the Daytona Sportbike classes this weekend running the number 11 in honor of his grandfather who passed away recently.
Leading the second row of the grid was Folsom H-D’s Gage McAllister, followed by Rapp’s teammate Benny Carlson and Hayden Schultz.
Series-points leader Tyler O’Hara qualified seventh ahead of Ryan Kerr. And rounding out the top 10 for this afternoon’s race was Dave Estok and Darren James.
2014 Laguna Seca
AMA Pro Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson Series
Final Qualifying Results
1. Steve Rapp 1:35.279
2. Danny Eslick 1:36.159
3. Kyle Wyman 1:36.392
4. Gage McAllister 1:36.486
5. Benny Carlson 1:37.023
6. Hayden Schultz 1:37.045
7. Tyler O’Hara 1:37.469
8. Ryan Kerr 1:37.546
9. Dave Estok 1:38.389
10. Darren James 1:38.636
Andrea Wilson | Associate Editor / Website Coordinator
Andrea has been shooting everything from flat track to road racing in her job as a professional freelance photographer, but she's made the move to a full-time staff position at Cycle News where her love of all things motorcycling will translate well. Wilson has proven her worth as more than a photographer as she migrates to the written word with everything from race coverage to interviews.
