FIM Superbike World Championship Miller Motorsports Park Tooele, Utah May 30, 2010 Final Qualifying Results, After Superpole (all on Pirelli tires): From Superpole Three: 1. Carlos CHECA (Ducati 1098R), 1:47.081 2. Max BIAGGI (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 1:47.414 3. Cal CRUTCHLOW (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:47.648 4. Jakub SMRZ (Ducati 1098R), 1:47.662, crash 5. Leon HASLAM (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:48.006 6. Noriyuki HAGA (Ducati 1098F10), 1:48.035 7. Jonathan REA (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:48.378, crash 8. Leon CAMIER (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 1:48.621 From Superpole Two: 9. Ruben XAUS (BMW S1000RR), 1:48.141 10. Michel FABRIZIO (Ducati 1098F10), 1:48.154 11. Shane BYRNE (Ducati 1098R), 1:48.159 12. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:48.162 13. Luca SCASSA (Ducati 1098R), 1:48.274 14. James TOSELAND (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:48.640 15. Troy CORSER (BMW S1000RR), 1:48.706, crash 16. Max NEUKIRCHNER (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:48.964 From Superpole One: 17. Chris VERMEULEN (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:49.635 18. Tom SYKES (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:50.135, crash 19. Broc PARKES (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:50.479 20. Roger HAYDEN (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:50.596 The Rest of the Grid: 21. Matteo BAIOCCO (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:52.691 More, from a press release issued by Infront Motor Sport: Checa’s incredible lap time wins Superpole Althea Ducati rider Carlos Checa dominated the final Superpole session with a fabulous new track best lap of 1’47.081, beating Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia) by 0.333 seconds and Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha Sterilgarda) by 0.567 seconds, in a session that was red-flagged for a time and then re-started. Jakub Smrz (Pata B&G Ducati) was fourth, one place ahead of championship leader, Leon Haslam (Alstare Suzuki). Smrz was one of a few top riders to crash today, as track temperatures and the levels of competition heated up. Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox) was happy in sixth place, with Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) overcoming the effects of a huge crash that brought out the red flags to go seventh, one place up on Leon Camier (Aprilia Alitalia). Ruben Xaus (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) was just out of the final Superpole qualifying session, ninth fastest and top BMW rider after Troy Corser fell in Superpole two and finished 15th. The second factory Ducati of Michel Fabrizio was tenth fastest, ahead of Checa’s team-mate, Shane Byrne. Sylvain Guintoli (Suzuki Alstare) went 12th in his first qualifying experience at Miller. Impressive Ducati privateer Luca Scassa was 13th on his Supersonic Racing team 1098, ahead of struggling James Toseland, from the Yamaha Sterilgarda team. The official Kawasaki Racing Team duo of Chris Vermeulen and Tom Sykes missed out on Superpole 2, with Sykes having a crunching high-side crash in Superpole 1. Local rider Roger Lee Hayden (Pedercini Kawasaki) went 20th. Rider Comments: Carlos Checa: “I know this track and I really like this track. And we made a good job. I always have some success here; always feel well. Even now with the Ducati we have had fantastic performance. I didn’t expect to get this lap time and to get the Superpole win. We know the Aprilia has a lot of speed. With a lot of grip even this makes it more difficult. But finally, this lap time was fantastic.” Max Biaggi: “I think we have been in a good pace since yesterday and we have found a way to work better with one bike than the other, in chassis and set-up of the suspension. Today we have found a good way in Superpole and we will start from the front row, which is important.” Cal Crutchlow: “It has not been too bad but the pace was so fast. Carlos and Max have been fast all weekend. All credit to Carlos, what a fantastic lap. I could not get anywhere near that and yet I have been going well in Superpole lately. We should have two close races tomorrow and we have a good chance of being in the top five, because we have good race pace.” Times: 1. Checa C. (ESP) Ducati 1198 1’47.081 (163,691 km/h); 2. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 1’47.414; 3. Crutchlow C. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 1’47.648; 4. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1198 1’47.662; 5. Haslam L. (GBR) Suzuki GSX R 1000 1’48.006; 6. Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1198 1’48.035; 7. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR 1000 RR 1’48.378; 8. Camier L. (GBR) Aprilia RSV4 1’48.621; 9. Xaus R. (ESP) BMW S1000 RR 1’48.141; 10. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1198 1’48.154; 11. Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1198 1’48.159; 12. Guintoli S. (FRA) Suzuki GSX R 1000 1’48.162; 13. Scassa L. (ITA) Ducati 1198 1’48.274; 14. Toseland J. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 1’48.640; 15. Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 1’48.706; 16. Neukirchner M. (GER) Honda CBR 1000 RR 1’48.964;17. Vermeulen C. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX-10 R 1’49.635; 18. Sykes T. (GBR) Kawasaki ZX-10 R 1’50.135; 19. Parkes B. (AUS) Honda CBR 1000 RR 1’50.479; 20. Hayden R.L. (USA) Kawasaki ZX-10 R 1’50.956; 21. Baiocco M. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX-10 R 1’52.691 Sofuoglu the qualifying master Kenan Sofuoglu (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) took his tenth career pole position today to gain the psychological advantage over Eugene Laverty (Parkalgar Honda) before raceday tomorrow. Kenan’s pole time was a remarkable 1’51.281, another new track best. Third in the ranking is the third place rider in the championship, Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki Motocard.com) who has his team-mate Katsuaki Fujiwara for company on the front row. A late fast lap from David Salom (ParkinGo BE-1 Triumph) put him one place above his fellow Triumph rider Chaz Davies, with Michele Pirro (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) seventh. Fabien Foret (Lorenzini by Leoni Kawasaki) rounded out the top eight places and the second row of the grid. Times: 1. Sofuoglu K. (TUR) Honda CBR 600 RR 1’51.281 (158,744 km/h); 2. Laverty E. (IRL) Honda CBR 600 RR 1’51.363; 3. Lascorz J. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1’51.461; 4. Fujiwara K. (JPN) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1’51.531; 5. Salom D. (ESP) Triumph 675 Daytona 1’51.656; 6. Davies C. (GBR) Triumph 675 Daytona 1’51.797; 7. Pirro M. (ITA) Honda CBR 600 RR 1’51.929; 8. Foret F. (FRA) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1’52.033; 9. Harms R. (DEN) Honda CBR 600 RR 1’52.248; 10. DiSalvo J. (USA) Triumph 675 Daytona 1’52.287 More, from a press release issued by Althea Racing: Salt Lake City, May 31th 2010 – Carlos Checa had a great session today and awarded the Althea Racing team with their first Superpole. The Spanish rider demonstrated his incredible pace in each of the sessions, on both race and qualifying tyres and in the final phase he put together an extremely fast lap which secured him the pole for tomorrow’s races. It is worth noting that Carlos also significantly improved on his previous lap record set in 2008. “In the qualifying session we did a good job”, stated Carlos, “and then Superpole went extremely well: I was braking as late as possible, exiting corners at top speed and I finished with a time that I didn’t expect, so I’m extremely satisfied. I’m just as happy with the work that I’ve carried out with my team in preparation for the races.” Shane Byrne on the other hand is less satisfied. Having been fast in all of the practice sessions, uncertainty at a certain point during the decisive Superpole phase prevented him from doing better. “We made an error of judgment in the last lap”, said Shane, “and this meant we didn’t reach the final Superpole session. It’s a pity because the bike is ok and I’m really satisfied with the work my team has done.” Genesio Bevilacqua, General Manager of the Althea Racing team declared: “Carlos has given us all a great day, having worked in perfect harmony with his team. This Superpole has once again demonstrated the strength of our project. A pity for Shane who is both fast and determined. I am certain that tomorrow we will see satisfying performances from both of our riders.” The red light goes out tomorrow at midday (19.00 in the UK) while race 2 gets under way at 15.30 (22.30 UK time). More, from a press release issued by Team Pedercini: Second day of qualifying for Pedercini team Superbike riders in Salt Lake City on a sunny Miller Motorsports Park. In morning qualifying session Roger Lee Hayden reached the nineteenth place (1,50,806) entering his first Superpole of the season. Matteo Baiocco improved his best lap time compare with yesterday practices (1,52,691) but he obtained only the twenty first place, missing the Superpole. Both riders worked hard with their mechanics during the afternoon free session. Hayden prepared his bike for the Superpole while Baiocco continued to made modifications to enable him to improve his performances. In his first Superpole outing Hayden unfortunately did not enter the second session obtaining only the twentieth position (1’50″596). It was however a good experience for Roger and a nice present for his birthday. Fifth row for Hayden and sixth row for Baiocco in tomorrow’s 21-laps races starting grid. Superbike qualifying 2 : 1) Biaggi (Aprilia) 2) Smrz (Ducati) – 3) Corser (BMW) – 4) Checa (Ducati) 5) Byrne (Ducati)..”¦19) Hayden (Kawasaki) “¦”¦ 21) Baiocco (Kawasaki) Superbike – Superpole : 1) Checa (Ducati) 2) Biaggi (Aprilia) 3) Crutchlow (Yamaha) 4) Smrz (Ducati) 5) Haslam (Ducati) “¦”¦. 20) Hayden (Kawasaki) – 21) Baiocco (Kawasaki) Roger Lee Hayden :”I’m pretty satisfied about my today qualifying and Superpole. We didn’t improve as much as we wanted probably because we focused a lot on a race tyre and still the decision is up in the air. Anyway I entered my first Superpole and it was really fun. I didn’t use the soft tyre as well as I should, but it was a learning experience. I’m really excited to race tomorrow in front of my home country fans and I’ll try my best to reach a good result for them and for all my team”. Matteo Baiocco : “Today we have not got the results we were hoping for. This morning during the qualifying session I found for the first time a very good feeling with my Kawasaki ZX10R and I improved my best lap time. Unfortunately during afternoon free practice I suffered for some electronic problems on my bike and I was not able to continue to improve and to better understand this difficult track. I hope we can find a better set up for the race tomorrow during warm up. It’s not ideal to start from the sixth row but nothing we can do now except make up places as quick as I can tomorrow”. More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki Alstare: LEON ROBBED OF FRONT ROW BY RED FLAG. Team Suzuki Alstare rider Leon Haslam was on course for a place on the front row of the grid in Superpole 3 until crashes by Jonathan Rea (Honda) and Jakub Smrz (Ducati) caused the red flag to be brought out and halt the session with just a few minutes remaining. Although Superpole 3 started again, Leon had already used up his qualifiers and was unable to go any faster and so will now start tomorrow’s 21-lap races from the second row of the grid. His team mate, Sylvain, improved from yesterday and would’ve probably finished on the second row of the grid, but for the smallest of mistakes in one of the timed splits. The Frenchman will now start from row three. Spaniard Carlos Checa (Ducati) shocked everybody by blasting his way to Superpole victory with a lap of 1:47.081, almost four tenths of a second faster than his nearest rival. Second was Max Biaggi (Aprilia), with Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) third and Jakub Smrz (Ducati) fourth. Leon – 5th, 1:48.006 In final Superpole, I was on a flyer and, according to my first two splits, on course for the second or third quickest time. Then the red flag came out and that was the end of that. Although the session started again, I did not have any qualifiers to use and there really wasn’t enough time to make an improvement, so row two it is for me. It’s not so bad, because turn one is a long way off, but it could be bad if Max (Biaggi) makes a good start because the Aprilia is so fast and he could easily exit the first corner with a good advantage. I’m pretty happy with my bike set-up, though of course I always think that we can improve it further. We will all sit down and look at the telemetry this evening and decide if we want to make some small changes in tomorrow morning’s warm-up. One thing is sure – tomorrow’s races are going to be long and hard and there are going to be some really good battles. The nature of this track suits the Ducatis and Aprilias and I think all of us four cylinder boys are going to have work our socks off to stay with them, but we will see what happens as the races play out. I am leading the championship now and I want to be still leading it when we leave tomorrow evening. Sylvain – 12th, 1:48.162 Before Superpole I was pretty happy because I felt that we had made a big step forward today. I missed out on getting into Superpole 3 by a whisker, probably because of a very small mistake on my fast lap. As I said before, the very smallest of mistakes can be fatal at this level and that’s how it was today. However, I am happy with the set-up of my bike and happy with my rhythm on the track today – especially as this is my first time here. The first turn is quite wide and I hope to make good starts and be in a good position as I head into it. If I can do that, I think I can fight with the front guys for sure. Tomorrow morning we’ll make some small adjustments and see if we can improve the bike further, but really it’s more or less ready to race now. I am looking forward to the races, having some good battles and getting some good results. More, from a press release issued by Hannspree Ten Kate Honda: Jonathan Rea will start tomorrow’s two seventh round World Superbike championship races at Miller Motorsports Park in the USA from the second row after setting the seventh fastest time in this afternoon’s Superpole qualifying. The 23-year-old from Northern Ireland suffered a cruel highside in the third Superpole outing and was unable to improve his time further. Rea sustained tyre burns to his neck and chest but expects to be fit enough to compete in tomorrow’s two 21-lap races at the 4.907km circuit near Salt Lake City. Rea’s Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team-mate, Max Neukirchner, will start from the fourth row of the grid after getting through to Superpole two. The German was eliminate with the 16th fastest time and is looking for further improvements from his CBR1000RR in tomorrow’s warm-up. Tomorrow’s event marks only the second time in World Superbike championship history that races have taken pl ace on a Monday the last time was at Donington Park in the UK in 1994. Tomorrow is Memorial Day in the USA, a public holiday in honour of the country’s military. Jonathan Rea P7 I was getting massive chatter from the rear when we put the qualifier in, so we changed the bike a little bit for Superpole 3. I went out on a slightly used qualifier but the rear just chattered its way round to a highside and I went over the bars. The tyre had the last word on my neck and chest, too, which is a little sore but I’ll be OK for tomorrow. I guess the second row is not too bad and we’re fairly confident that the race set up will be good right the way through the 21 laps. As long as I can get away well at the start, I’ll be hoping to have something to say about the finish. Max Neukirchner P16 The team has been working very well today but we can’t seem to lose the chatter at the rear and the qualifying tyre seemed to just make it worse. We have improved the braking and corner entry but it’s still not enough, so we will try to follow the same path as today in tomorrow’s warm-up to find a little bit extra for the race. We still have a lot of work to do to get up to a good race pace, but I will try my best tomorrow. Ronald ten Kate team manager I believe we are again ready to race, but the Kyalami story has repeated itself here, because there we couldn’t really get in a single fast lap. The chatter that we experienced from the qualifying tyres here has certainly set new standards for our data system. Jonathan took a nasty hit but we know he’s a tough guy and tomorrow is Monday, which we hope, like most Sundays, will be his fun day. With Max we still have some work in progress. After a disastrous round in Kyalami we’re no longer in the dark and I believe we’ve found the right direction to follow. More, from a press release issued by Yamaha: Crutchlow scores a front row start for Salt Lake City Race day Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike rider Cal Crutchlow kept his cool in the Utah sunshine today to score a front row start on the grid for tomorrow’s two World Superbike races at the Miller Motorsports circuit in Salt Lake City. Crutchlow switched to a qualifier tyre for the second heat, securing a place in the third by finishing sixth. The second qualifying tyre was used to good effect in the third heat, taking him under the 1’48 second mark to secure third on the grid with a 1’47.648. Team mate James Toseland passed comfortably through the first Superpole heat however was unable to pass through the second. The British rider had been using a set up which had worked perfectly for a slower speed whilst learning the circuit but needed to be modified to cope with the higher speed and extra grip offered by the qualifier tyres in Superpole. He starts tomorrow’s races from 14th on the grid. Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team (3rd, 1’47.648) “Today hasn’t been too bad, the pace is so fast out there for everybody. Carlos Checa and Max Biaggi have been fast all weekend, all credit to Carlos what a fantastic Superpole lap, not even I could get near it and I’ve been pretty good in Superpole this year! I’m looking forward to the races tomorrow, I think we’ve got a good chance of being top five and we’ve got good race pace.” James Toseland, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team (14th, 1’48.640) “We went out on the standard bike set up at the beginning of the weekend at a slower pace learning the track, going from 1’51 second laps then down into the 1’50’s. We then switched to a new set up which seemed to work at those speeds, but as we got down into the 1’48’s it made it a lot harsher over the bumps on the track, unfortunately it was too late to change this before Superpole. So tomorrow morning we’ll go back to a set up we know works well, it’s just a shame as it’s cost us a good grid position. Hopefully tomorrow morning we’ll be able to get back down to some good lap times and get more comfortable again. In the race I’m going to need a good start and then I’m just going to get stuck in.” Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team Manager “The first row for Cal is great and a good starting point for the races. It’s a little bit different on James’s side having to start from the fourth row, for sure the race will be tougher for him. We will work tonight to make sure we understand what isn’t right in the set up, I’m confident we will have a good solution tomorrow morning to give him the set up he needs to fight in the races.” More, from a press release issued by Xerox Ducati: HAGA (DUCATI XEROX) QUALIFIES SIXTH FOR TOMORROW’S WORLD SUPERBIKE RACES AT SALT LAKE CITY Salt Lake City (USA), Sunday 30th May : in warm but windy conditions Ducati Xerox riders Noriyuki Haga and Michel Fabrizio participated in a closely fought Superpole session this afternoon at the Miller Motorsports Park in Salt Lake City. Haga and his squad were very satisfied with the sixth place finish, while Fabrizio closed today’s Superpole in tenth position. Earlier in the day, the Superbike riders were out on track for the second qualifying session and both Michel and Noriyuki made some consistently fast laps, before improving on their best times set yesterday in the final minutes of the session. By the end of a very competitive 45-minute session, both Ducati Xerox riders had qualified easily for the afternoon’s Superpole, Michel in sixth position and Noriyuki in thirteenth. Superpole 1: In the first of the three mini-sessions, the Ducati Xerox riders both went out on race rubber and at the end of the fourteen-minute phase, Nori lay in tenth and Michel in thirteenth place, both riders therefore passing safely to the second stage. Superpole 2: both Fabrizio and Haga chose to use qualifiers for the second session and registered, in a first exit, the sixth and seventh fastest times respectively. When the times of other riders began to drop, the Ducati Xerox men returned to the track, both taking advantage of the second “Q” available to them, to close in eighth (Nori) and tenth (Michel) position. Michel’s Superpole thus ended here; he will lie up on the third row of tomorrow’s grid. Superpole 3: Noriyuki continued to ride with the qualifier used in the previous session. When Jonathan Rea crashed mid-session, a red flag stopped proceedings for a couple of minutes. Noriyuki and his team took this opportunity to substitute the used “Q” with a race tyre and in his last exit of the afternoon, the Japanese rider improved once more on his best time, to conclude today’s Superpole with the sixth fastest time and assuring himself of a place on the second row of tomorrow’ grid. Noriyuki Haga “I am of course very happy to have qualified on the second row for tomorrow’s races. It seems we have found a solution to one of the problems I was having, I have a better level of feeling and I have been able to turn the bike as I want to. Tomorrow morning we’ll make a few more small changes to see if we can further improve there but I’m feeling quite confident, let’s cross our fingers that tomorrow conditions allow us to make two great races.” Michel Fabrizio “I’m disappointed as I hoped to qualify on the front rows and it won’t be at all easy to start from the third. I was losing valuable time in the final split and didn’t manage to put together that extra fast lap that was needed. However we’ve found good race pace over these two days and, if I can make a good start, I’m confident I can make two good races; I really like this track and would like to do well here.” More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki: Chris and Tom Battle on in Superpole Both Chris Vermeulen and Tom Sykes improved on the qualifying times set by Kawasaki’s official riders in 2009 at Miller Motorsports Park, but could not make it beyond Superpole session one. Vermeulen, in his first visit to the impressive Miller Motorsports Park complex, learned the long 4.907km circuit quickly and improved his previous best lap times once he got into Superpole and used qualifying tyres, but he missed moving into Superpole Two by only one place. Vermeulen is still feeling the effects of his right knee injury, which makes riding particularly difficult on right hand corners, and in changes of direction, as he cannot put weight the footpeg properly. He qualified 17th, with a best lap of 1’49.635. Tom Sykes had exited combined qualifying in 15th place, but was caught out by a violent highside crash in Superpole One and fell hard, hurting his left shoulder and wrist but not sustaining any fractures. He starts the races from 18th place on the grid. Track temperatures climbed to over 40°C today, which complicated the set-up work for both Tom and Chris’s technical staff, all of whom are now working on finding ultimate race set-up for tomorrow’s 21-lap races. Chris Vermeulen: “We got the bike working on a qualifying tyre and my Superpole time was half a second faster than I had been until then. We have been struggling a bit here and the pace is really, really fast. This is a track that Kawasaki went well at last year and we are going quicker than the guys did last year, but everyone else is going faster as well. We have a lot of work to do. I did not take any painkillers yesterday but it was too painful so I am back on them again. My knee is still not good enough yet.” Tom Sykes: “Last year the team qualified pretty well here but even though we are lapping faster, it is still not quite there. I got caught out in Superpole One with a big high-side crash, which puts me in an unfortunate position on the grid for tomorrow’s races. The high track temperature this afternoon affected us quite a lot and even though we’ve been in the 1’49’s, the pace is so fast that it’s not quite good enough to be in a decent qualifying spot. Despite our misfortune this afternoon the team is working hard on improving the set-up issues and we’ve tried a lot of different things to try and quicken the lap times. I haven’t had a big crash for quite a while so I’m hoping that after a good night’s sleep I won’t be too sore. We have a lot of work to do tomorrow and some ground to be made up but we’ll keep trying and hope for the best.” More, from a press release issued by Troy Corser’s publicist: CRASH MESSES UP TROY’S SUPERPOLE PLANS. A crash in Superpole 2 ruined Troy’s chances of getting into Superpole 1 and so now he will have to start tomorrow’s pair of 21-lap races from the fourth row of the grid. To make matters worse. Troy was fined 1000 euros by the Course Direction for ‘borrowing’ a marshal’s motorbike so that he could get back to the pits in time to complete the rest of the session. Troy was unharmed in the crash, but until the fall, he was on course for a start on the front two rows of the grid, but now he will have his work cut out challenging for a podium place. Spaniard Carlos Checa (Ducati) astounded everybody by blasting his way to Superpole victory with a lap of 1:47.081, almost four tenths of a second faster than his nearest rival. Second was Max Biaggi (Aprilia), with Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) third and Jakub Smrz (Ducati) fourth. Troy -15th, 1:48.706 Up until the crash in Superpole 2, things had been going pretty good and I was happy with the set-up of the bike. After looking at all the lap times everybody was doing I was fairly confident of getting into Superpole 2, so I used a race tyre in Superpole 1 and that worked out OK. I used a qualifying tyre on the rear for Superpole 2, but there was a lot of chattering on one of the long right-handers on my out lap. I crossed the line on my flying lap and headed into turn one and the bike seemed to push out as I released the brakes and I just sort of fell off it. It seems to be that our bike needs to be set up differently when we use qualifying tyres and that’s something that we are always have to work on. Our bike is quite critical for the tyres and when we have a tyre which is not so good, like we did in practice, we just cannot get the best out of the bike. It may be a good thing that the first turn is a long way off and if I make my normal good starts, I reckon I could be in the first six or so riders going into the turn. This track is a bit abrasive for tyres and I think that the laps times at the end of the race will be quite a bit slower than at the beginning – maybe be as much as two seconds difference. When I crashed in Superpole 2 this afternoon at turn one, I wanted to get back to the pits as soon as possible so that I could get another couple of laps in on my other bike. So I borrowed a cornerworker’s bike and rode back to the pits and made it in time to go out again. But, apparently, I was supposed to get on the back of a bike and by doing it myself I had done something wrong. I didn’t know I had done anything wrong, but I had to go to the Course Direction and was fined 1000 euros as a result! Let’s hope there’s no such dramas tomorrow.