FIM Supersport World Championship Motorland Aragon, Spain June 17 Qualifying Session One Results (all on Pirelli tires): 1. Broc PARKES, Australia (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 2:02.773, crash 2. David SALOM, Spain (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 2:03.087 3. Sam LOWES, Great Britain (Honda CBR600RR), 2:03.320 4. Chaz DAVIES, Great Britain (Yamaha YZF-R6), 2:03.936 5. Luca SCASSA, Italy (Yamaha YZF-R6), 2:03.943, crash 6. Gino REA, Great Britain (Honda CBR600RR), 2:04.404 7. Fabien FORET, France (Honda CBR600RR), 2:04.466 8. Massimo ROCCOLI, Italy (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 2:04.503 9. Roberto TAMBURINI, Italy (Yamaha YZF-R6), 2:04.705 10. Florian MARINO, France (Honda CBR600RR), 2:04.889 11. James ELLISON, Great Britain (Honda CBR600RR), 2:05.285 12. Miguel PRAIA, Portugal (Honda CBR600RR), 2:05.498 13. Vladimir IVANOV, Ukraine (Honda CBR600RR), 2:06.147 14. Robbin HARMS, Denmark (Honda CBR600RR), 2:06.251 15. Pawel SZKOPEK, Poland (Honda CBR600RR), 2:06.336, crash 16. Alexander LUNDH, Sweden (Honda CBR600RR), 2:06.433 17. Ondrej JEZEK, Czech Republic (Honda CBR600RR), 2:06.546 18. Roman STAMM, Switzerland (Honda CBR600RR), 2:06.969 19. Vladimir IANNUZZO, Italy (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 2:07.003 20. Danilo DELL’OMO, Italy (Triumph Daytona 675), 2:07.425 More, from a press release issued by Parkalgar Honda: PARKALGAR HONDA’S Sam Lowes is third on the provisional grid for Sunday’s sixth round of the World Supersport Championship at Aragon in Spain and is relaxed and confident he can run at the front all weekend. Miguel Praia showed a major improvement in his speed and consistency from the morning practice to claim a good 12th place on the grid on his Parkalgar Honda. There are further practice and qualifying sessions tomorrow before the race takes place at 1330CET on Sunday 19th June. Sam: “I am happy as we are still changing a lot on the bike and making improvements every time I go out – we are working on the agility of my Parkalgar Honda and know we can improve more. We were the only ones to go faster in the afternoon because of the incredible heat and that is encouraging. This is Kawasaki and Yamaha’s test track so to be this close on the first day is great. I am very happy.” Miguel: “My shoulder is coming better now and this afternoon we made a lot of changes to my Parkalgar Honda. In the morning I was not confident on what will be our race tyre so we needed to make changes. The testing here pre-season was not so good for me due to food poisoning and now I am finding my way. I feel much stronger than Misano and will push more to the front. I am going for the second row tomorrow, it will be difficult but I will do my best.” Simon Buckmaster, Parkalgar Honda Team Manager: “We tested here in the winter, but it is much warmer today. Sam is third and only half second off pole – that is good as Kawasaki tested here recently and there is more to come. “Miguel is 12th and that is good as he is stronger than last weekend and riding well.” More, from a press release issued by Bogdanka PTR Honda: BOGDANKA PTR HONDA’S Pawel Szkopek is looking for a points scoring finish at the sixth round of the World Supersport Championship at Aragon in Spain after taking 15th on the provisional grid for Sunday’s race. James Ellison on his Bogdanka PTR Honda is in 11th and will be looking to improve significantly tomorrow after spending much of the day well within the top 10. Bogdanka PTR Honda’s Superstock 1000 racer Marcin Walkowiak is 23rd on the provisional grid. James: “I am not finding a good feeling with my Bogdanka PTR Honda and need to work hard with my team. We have some good ideas on which direction to go and I am confident we will improve.” Pawel: “This is a good start to the weekend and I am happy with how my Bogdanka PTR Honda is performing. In the morning practice I was faster and know that we can improve the lap time more. If I can stay 15th then this will be my best qualifying of the year and I will do my all to score points in the race.” Marcin: “I am trying very hard to improve my lap times and we are working on the set-up of my Bogdanka PTR Honda Fireblade. I think we can improve further and my first target is to get into the top 20 in qualifying.” Simon: “Pawel had a really good day, he had a small electrical problem that lost him some time but still finished strongly in 15th. He has carried positive momentum from Misano and if he can maintain qualifying and stay on for the first laps then he can score points. “James is struggling on feel, we will work with him on that and expect him to be up fighting for the front two rows. Marcin has improved a lot in time, which is good, we have made big steps forward and want that to continue.” More, from a press release issued by Infront Motor Sports: World Supersport Misano winner Broc Parkes was the man to watch in Supersport qualifying as the expert Australian set the quickest time of 2 minutes 02.773 seconds, three-tenths ahead of his Kawasaki Motocard.com team-mate David Salom. It was a good day all round for the Spanish team as they dominated the timesheets at their home track. Sam Lowes (Parkalgar Honda) made a late move up into third place, half a second adrift from the poleman’s time, but the British rider did well to put some clean air between himself and the Yamaha ParkinGO duo of Chaz Davies and championship returnee Luca Scassa. Both Parkes and Scassa had crashes during the session. The top 10 also sees Gino Rea (Step Racing Honda) well up in sixth place, with Fabien Foret (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) and Massimo Roccoli (Lorenzini by Leoni Kawasaki) completing the overnight second row. Times: 1. Parkes B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX-6R 2’02.773; 2. Salom D. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-6R 2’03.087; 3. Lowes S. (GBR) Honda CBR600RR 2’03.320; 4. Davies C. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R6 2’03.936; 5. Scassa L. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 2’03.943; 6. Rea G. (GBR) Honda CBR600RR 2’04.404; 7. Foret F. (FRA) Honda CBR600RR 2’04.466; 8. Roccoli M. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX-6R 2’04.503; etc. Superstock 1000 Danilo Petrucci (Barni Racing Ducati) took the provisional pole in the first Superstock 1000 qualifying session at Aragon, the Italian coming out on top with a time of 2 minutes 02.268 seconds. Danilo, who was also quickest in the morning, put almost half-a-second between himself and the next man, fellow Ducati runner Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing). The current FIM Cup points leader is one of the few riders who has not previously tested at the Spanish track. Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad Italia Superstock) was third quickest, while South African Sheridan Morais finally had a good run to provisional fourth on his Lorenzini by Leoni Kawasaki ZX-10R. Fifth and sixth quickest were two more Italians on Ducatis, with Lorenzo Baroni (Althea Racing) ahead of Niccolò Canepa (SS Lazio Motorsports), with German Markus Reiterberger next up for the Garnier Alpha BMW team. Times: 1. Petrucci D. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 2’02.268; 2. Giugliano D. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 2’02.748; 3. Barrier S. (FRA) BMW S1000 RR 2’03.110; 4. Morais S. (RSA) Kawasaki ZX-10R 2’03.133; 5. Baroni L. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 2’03.153; 6. Canepa N. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX-10R 2’03.372; 7. Reiterberger M. (GER) BMW S1000 RR 2’03.380; 8. Zanetti L. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 2’03.401; etc. Superstock 600 Stephane Egea (ASPI Yamaha) headed the field in the opening qualifying session for round 4 of the Superstock 600 European Championship. The 20-year-old Frenchman set a time of 2 minutes 07.649 seconds, almost half-a-second faster than 18-year-old Italian Riccardo Russo (Trasimeno Yamaha). The top two in the championship, Romain Lanusse (MRS Yamaha Racing France) and Jed Metcher (MTM-RT Motorsports Team Yamaha) were next up, but with the Australian ahead of his French rival in third. Times: 1. Egea S. (FRA) Yamaha YZF R6 2’07.649; 2. Russo R. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 2’08.119; 3. Metcher J. (AUS) Yamaha YZF R6 2’08.552; 4. Lanusse R. (FRA) Yamaha YZF R6 2’08.579; 5. Duwelz G. (BEL) Yamaha YZF R6 2’08.989; 6. Major N. (FRA) Yamaha YZF R6 2’09.067; 7. Vd Mark M. (NED) Honda CBR600RR 2’09.303; 8. Day J. (USA) Kawasaki ZX-6R 2’09.334; etc. More, from a press release issued by Hannspree Ten Kate Honda: Fabien Foret and Florian Marino both secured provisional top ten qualifying positions in this afternoon’s opening qualifying session for round six of the World Supersport championship at Motorland Aragon in Spain. The Hannspree Ten Kate Honda pairing qualified in seventh and tenth places respectively, with the pace being set by Misano winner, Broc Parkes, who tested at Aragon recently with his team-mate David Salom who was second quickest. While Foret admits there is still some work to do to find a good front-end feeling on his CBR600RR, his compatriot Marino is satisfied with progress today and believes he is now connected much better to his machine. Fabien Foret P7, 2m04.446s It has not been the best start to the weekend, and I was surprised to be in P7, to be honest. This morning I had some issues with the clutch but I was confident that my guys could sort that so I went into qualifyin g quite confident. It was a lot hotter this afternoon though and the front was not working properly. There’s more work to do but I think we can improve tomorrow for sure. Florian Marino P10, 2m04.889s The position is not so good, but I am so much happier on the bike than I was last weekend in Misano. There is a really good connection now and I am feeling comfortable. Before, it felt like the bike was at its limit, but now it’s me that can improve and Aragon is a very long lap so there are plenty of places to make up the time. Today I rode by myself and was very comfortable. Tomorrow I would like to go with one of the faster guys to see where are the best places that I can improve. Ronald ten Kate team manager: We came here for a test in the winter, but the circumstances were a little different then about 35 degrees different! The riders learned which way the corners went and that was about it. The others have been testing here recently in better conditions, so we’ve been playing a little bit of catch-up today. We’re not too worried yet and there are some issues that we need to resolve with the machine which, luckily, are solvable. So for tomorrow we think we’ll be closer to the front and chipping away time in order to be ready for Sunday. More, from a press release issued by Yamaha ParkinGO Team: Yamaha ParkinGO Team is looking for their way to the top of the classification. Chaz Davies and Luca Scassa completed the first day of practices in fourth and fifth provisional position respectively at the end of the two sessions. The British Italian couple have rode around the brand new track in very difficult grip conditions; the tar, hot and still not gripy has been very slippery. Nevertheless both riders have tried a different set up from the one they tested two months ago at this circuit and thanks to the job done today, they are quite confident to know the right set up for tomorrow. Luca Scassa – Yamaha YZF R6 #9 – “We have tried a different set up and I am not quite satisfied with it, but it has allowed me to stop a little bit the chattering problem I had at the test. Tomorrow morning we will go in a different direction to be ready to fight with the Kawasaki at the second qualifying.” Chaz Davies – Yamaha YZF R6 #7 – “We wanted to try different solutions to the test we did here, but only a few have worked the way we thought. At the end of the session I have had a little electronic problem that hasn’t allowed me to go hard. Tomorrow we will work in the set up of the bike, we have still margin to go better.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha: Top 5 finishes for Scassa and Davies in first Qualifying at Aragon Yamaha ParkinGO riders Luca Scassa and Chaz Davies faced extremely hot track temperatures on the exclusive new Spanish track in Aragon for today’s first qualifying session. Both Yamaha ParkinGO riders got straight down to business in the morning’s free practice, testing the base set up used just over a month ago, while testing a cooler track with their Superbike counterparts. Chaz Davies struggled with an electronic issue in the afternoon’s first Qualifying heat but despite this completed the session in fourth place. Just behind him in fifth place was his team-mate, Luca Scassa. The Italian, back on his YZF-R6 machine after almost five weeks of absence, suffered a minor crash in the early stages of the first qualifying heat. Unhurt, the Italian proceeded to re-familiarize himself with his R6 and search for the ideal chassis setting for Sunday’s race. Chaz Davies Yamaha ParkinGO Team – 4th, 2’03.936 “I actually had a few problems today so it wasn’t a very good first qualifying session. I struggled with the electronics and didn’t get to run through the tyres like we had planned. Today was useful to get familiar with the track again and to get back into the swing of things. We changed the chassis set up used during the tests and that just didn’t work so well so tomorrow we’ll go back to the test set up again and work from there.” Luca Scassa Yamaha ParkinGO Team – 5th, 2’03.943 “Today was the hottest day so far this season. We tried a different chassis set up than usual but that didn’t work out as I was struggling from a lack for grip. But I think we know which direction to work in tomorrow. It’s great to be back on the bike as it’s been five weeks since I last raced and I also need to get my eyes used to such speed again. I’m confident that with a little more work tomorrow we’ll be as strong as ever.”