Word around the paddock is Suzuki's Aaron Yates will be one of the men to beat on Sunday. He was reportedly running the dual compound Dunlop, and not the single compound slick most used to set their time his time this morning. Since the temperature is rising, the single compound tire may not be a good option for tomorrow.
"We ran about 34 laps on one (a dual-compound) this morning with no problems at all," said Yates' mechanic Vic 'Too Tall' Fasola. "With the times we were running, we would have won the race last year. here the tire never gets a chance to cool off, but the biggest effect of the 48 laps is on the rider."

Nicky Hayden has two RC51s at his disposal this weekend. The decision to have Kurtis sit out the Superbike race was made in part to give Nicky a second machine, since the recent Suzuka 8 Hour has taxed HRC's parts bin. The team plans to set them up exactly the same, then test back-to-back chassis changes.

Larry Maiers of Speedvision is practicing his intros for tomorrow's race in the pressroom. He is using a banana instead of a microphone.

Not everyone agrees that Nicky withdrawing from HP4 600 Supersport is a good thing. "I think it is a bad precedent,' says Al Ludington, Eric Bostrom's crewchief. "Kawasaki offered Eric the same deal with the Superbike, but we said 'No way, we're in.' It's a bad deal when a manufacturer takes the number one bike out of the class."

Pikes Peak International Raceway's elevation is over 5200 feet.

Erion Honda's Kurtis Roberts will attempt to break the tie at the top of the 600 Supersport standings from the pole position tomorrow. Roberts said of his fast lap: "I put in a fast time at the beginning of the session, then I did three 56.1s. I just put the time out there to see if anyone could beat it."

Would Kurtis have dropped out of the 600 class as Nicky Hayden did if he was in a similar position? "I wouldn't have done it. I don't like to quit anything I start. He only has one podium this year, but I feel he would have done well here and at Willow and maybe helped us out. But that is none of my business, that's his decision and Honda's decision."

Roberts the Younger's Formula Extreme time was blistering as well. His time was the second fastest of any class this weekend, bettered only by Yates in yesterday's Superbike qualifying session.

Kawasaki's Doug Chandler has almost been the forgotten man this season. This has been a season of struggling with set-up after his Kawasaki team adopted the full-factory spec ZX-7RR. After three wins last year, his best finish thus far is a third at Daytona, but he and the team are slowly making progress on making things right for the three-time AMA Superbike champ ... and the only guy on the grid to win a Grand National dirt track race ... besides Nicky Hayden.

Last season Chandler won this race PPIR, and was third in the final practice session. "We're a bit closer to those guys," said Chandler, in his subdued Northern California style. "Hopefully we can make some improvements and get closer yet."

Will the cooler temps allow some riders to try the single compound tire that Chandler used to win the race last year? "It will give a lot of guys a better look at that tire, whereas if the weather was like it was yesterday, everyone for sure would have stuck to the dual compound."