No, sucrose is split practically instantaneously into fructose and sucrose in the gut; you have an enzyme, sucrase, specifically to do it. The process is complete seconds after sucrose enters your small intestine. The process of getting the glucose into your bloodstream takes far longer. Where did you get this idea? I've heard other people say it too; there must be a source for it.
You said, "So excessive consumption of high fructose corn syrup is more harmful than excessive consumption of plain corn syrup or of sugar." This appears to be plainly false.
I have said that what matters is the total amount of ingested fructose, not its source. Eating large quantities of dried fruits can have the same effect as eating too much sugar or HFCS.
Besides HFCS-42 and HFCS-55, there is also HFCS-70, with an even higher amount of fructose.
I agree that saying that HFCS is bad without giving more details about what kind of HFCS is meant is ambiguous.
That does not change that at equal amounts HFCS-70 or HFCS-55 are more likely to provide excessive fructose than sugar, even if HFCS-42 is less likely to provide excessive fructose than sugar.
HFCS is also absorbed faster than sugar, which must first be split into glucose and fructose. This may be desirable during intense effort, but undesirable otherwise.