Ducati's Eric Bostrom is on provisional pole at Daytona with a new lap record. image by dean adams

The press conference for the provisional pole just ended here at Daytona. Here's what Eric Bostrom had to say.

Q Eric, just tell us what the mindset is when you go out there and are able to turn a 1:46?

A You're really just looking to hit your marks. The bike was obviously working fantastic, and the tires as well. And when you realize that, you kind of go out for your warmup lap and like, "wow, this thing's really got grip." And the bike's got a lot of speed. So I think it was a little bit of a surprise to myself, too, that the time came up as good as it did, but you're really just out there kind of playing a video game. Trying to hit your marks, and do everything better than the lap you did before. You're not trying to be Superman or anything. Especially not here at Daytona, because this place can kind of catch you out real easy, and you have to keep that in mind.

Q Are you surprised at the speed you were able to turn in on the first day?

A Yeah. I was thinking, "How come they don't lock in the pole on the first day, on the first qualifying session, any more?" [Laughing] No, I think that we got a really good bike, and I definitely hope that I accomplish these kinds of results all year. It's a bit of a surprise. Daytona's never really treated me that well. I've never had the best go at this place. So maybe this year'll be different for us.

Q What's your strategy going into tomorrow? It looks like your time is so good. Do you think anybody's going to be able to challenge it?

A It's really tough to say. I think that the competitors probably have something up their sleeve. I know that my brother was real fast here in testing. So I think that we definitely can't rest tomorrow. We've got to keep working. We've got some-the bike's pretty close, but we've got
several areas that we can improve. And I'd also say the same for my riding. I think I can improve. So I'd like to see things go better.

Tomorrow we've definitely got to focus harder on race setup. Today we tried to do some race setups, but the time was so short, and we ran into a couple of troubles. We tried to endurance test a race tire, and we ran into having-myself, I had a steering damper problem with the bike. So I had to pull in and it kind of ruined our endurance test. So tomorrow we've definitely got to hit the endurance test. And see where we're really sitting. Because the 57 laps is what's important, not the one lap.

Q You changed bikes right before you set your best time, is that correct?

A Yeah. We were jumping back and forth between the two bikes, and they were both working well. We just felt that that one-the suspension-it was just handling a little better. So we kind of said-they asked me, "Which bike do you want to go out with?" "That one." That's where we went.

Q Can you compare and contrast your Kawasaki to the Ducati?

A [Laughing] I'd rather not. I think the lap time is going to speak for itself.

Q What do you think the keys are that allowed you to come up to speed so quickly?

A Definitely coming here and testing twice has a lot to do with it. And certainly I've got a good feel for both the machine and the tires now. So it's pretty easy. I think this is definitely the easiest bike I've ever been able to just get on and it's pretty much set straight away. Your changes, rather than changing steering cups and swingarm lengths and everything else, you're just fine tuning suspension. So that's probably the biggest plus, is where you can get on it and have a good bike straightaway. My complaints are always pretty small.

Q Did it feel like a 1:46 when you set it?

A No, not really. It felt good, but it didn't feel special. Biggest thanks to the bike and the tires, because I think they really came through for me.