Rome, Georgia: Defending Daytona 200 winner Steve Rapp is poised to preserve his title for Pirelli and Attack Kawasaki, on Daytona International Speedway’s slightly modified road course with its revamped International Horseshoe. In Wednesday’s practice for the 67th Daytona 200, Rapp set the third fastest AMA Formula Xtreme time of the day on his ZX-6R. Right with Rapp was his new teammate Chaz Davies with the fourth-fastest time of the day, which he set during first practice as the second fastest time in that session.

Meanwhile, Michael Barnes, who finished on the podium in third at last year’s 66th running of the Daytona 200, is back competing for M4 EMGO Suzuki on the same bike. Barnes proved there're been some sound developments on his GSX-R600 by setting the seventh-quickest FX time of the day, securely putting him on track for a place in the front two rows of the grid for Saturday’s main event. Larry Pegram also showed well in his first outing on Pirelli tires in a few years, setting the ninth best time on his Ducati 848. Just behind Pegram was M4 EMGO Suzuki’s Martin Cardenas at 10th fastest, going into Thursday’s qualifying for the Daytona 200.

In the AMA Superstock class, Pirelli riders earned the third through sixth fastest practice times, led by Michael Barnes setting his time on a Celtic Racing prepared Suzuki GSX-R1000, a mere three tenths of a second behind the fastest bike in the field. Barnes has the unusual bonus at Daytona this year of riding for two teams: M4 EMGO Suzuki in the FX class of the Daytona 200, and Celtic Racing in Superstock. In practice, the riders immediately with Barnes with the fourth, fifth and sixth quickest times were Robertino Pietri on his Roadracingworld.com Suzuki GSX-R1000, Blake Young on an M4 EMGO Suzuki, and Pietri’s teammate Chris Ulrich.

In Superstock qualifying, Barnes held on to the third-fastest time, securing a spot on the front row for Thursday’s 13-lap race with a time that was less than a tenth of a second from the pole winner. Joining Barnes on the front row is M4 EMGO Suzuki’s Blake Young, setting the fourth-fastest time in his first time competing for this team in the AMA series. Locked in on row two is Chris Ulrich, with teammate Pietri holding the inside position on row three. Another Pirelli rider starting from row three is Hawk Mazzotta, riding for HALOF Racing/Bravo Condoms, giving Pirelli a strong list of contenders at the front.

Wednesday’s Supersport action included morning practice and afternoon qualifying with Attack Kawasaki’s Chaz Davies winning the third spot on the front row of the grid for Thursday’s 22-lap race. The sixth-eighth spots on the grid went to Blake Young on an M4 EMGO Suzuki GSX-R600, Davies’ teammate Steve Rapp, and Young’s teammate Martin Cardenas, giving Pirelli riders all but one of the starting positions on row two. Superbike and FX qualifying takes place Thursday followed by the Superstock and Supersport races.