FIM Supersport World Championship Phillip Island, Australia February 27, 2010 Final Qualifying Results (all on Pirelli tires): 1. Joan LASCORZ (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:33.847 2. Kenan SOFUOGLU (Honda CBR600RR), 1:34.116 3. Michele PIRRO (Honda CBR600RR), 1:34.156 4. Eugene LAVERTY (Honda CBR600RR), 1:34.300 5. Katsuaki FUJIWARA (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:34.494 6. David SALOM (Triumph Daytona 675), 1:34.873 7. Chaz DAVIES (Triumph Daytona 675), 1:34.939 8. Robbin HARMS (Honda CBR600RR), 1:34.999 9. Massimo ROCCOLI (Honda CBR600RR), 1:35.051 10. Fabien FORET (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:35.072 11. Miguel PRAIA (Honda CBR600RR), 1:35.762 12. Jason DISALVO (Triumph Daytona 675), 1:35.623 13. Sebastien CHARPENTIER (Triumph Daytona 675), 1:35.860 14. Gino REA (Honda CBR600RR), 1:35.904 15. Alexander LUNDH (Honda CBR600RR), 1:36.936 16. Danilo DELL’OMO (Honda CBR600RR), 1:37.055 17. Paola CAZZOLA (Honda CBR600RR), 1:38.213 More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki: Lascorz Takes Pole Position On His Birthday WSS, Phillip Island, Australia, 27 February 2010 Joan Lascorz and Katsuaki Fujiwara enjoyed their first 2010 season qualifying outings at Phillip Island, with Lascorz on pole on his 25th birthday, and Fujiwara almost on the front row. Lascorz, a main force all through practice and qualifying, headed both official qualifying sessions and approaches the 21-lap race with a new track best lap for Supersport in his possession, a 1’33.847, set in final qualifying. Katsuaki was fastest of all in the opening unofficial session on Friday, and now heads up the second row of the starting grid, with a time of 1’34.494. The riders worked closely together in the final sessions to improve their overall times, and Katsuaki was unlucky to be balked by another rider when on course for an even faster lap that would have put him on the front row. Joan Lascorz: “Pole was a nice birthday present, one I can share with all the team. My lap was a good one, I just pushed harder near the end. We have a consistent set-up, and we also used a softer tyre to make a faster lap. We will decide on the final set-up depending on the weather on raceday. I think there will be a real fight with a few riders, because last year it was the same at this track. But we have worked well and I feel confident.” Katsuaki Fujiwara: “I am reasonably satisfied with a top five grid placing, but I was making an even faster lap when Pirro came past in the last split, just before the slow hairpin, and I lost a possible best time. We all worked together in the last ten minutes, the team and Joan and I, and I think I can go with the leaders tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Parkalgar Honda: Race ready and raring to go PARKALGAR HONDA racers Eugene Laverty and Miguel Praia qualified fourth and 11th for the opening round of the World Supersport Championship at Phillip Island in Australia but are confident they can score higher in the race. Kawasaki’s Joan Lascorz took pole position in good weather conditions. The race is at 1330 local time on Sunday, 28th February. For pictures and up-to-date news on Parkalgar Honda, visit www.parkalgarhonda.com. Eugene: “It was important to get on the front row and if I hadn’t achieved that I wouldn’t have been happy. I didn’t quite have the pace I hoped for but I am feeling real good and my Parkalgar Honda is performing well. I had an electrical problem this morning which lost me time and didn’t help. Lascorz and Sofuoglu are very quick and I’d like to find a bit more time in warm-up before the race. I think our tyre strategy is strong and will perform better over a race and we should be faster in the second half of the race. I will be pushing for the podium.” Miguel: “I went faster as expected but then I didn’t expect riders like Roccoli and Harms to go as fast as they did. We know qualifying is not my strongest point and that over the race distance we should be quicker than them. My Parkalgar Honda is OK but we are still considering whether to use the new or old Pirelli tyres as it seems dependant on temperature and wind conditions we will make the decision in warm-up.” Simon Buckmaster, Parkalgar Honda Team Manager: “We are race ready and raring to go. Eugene essentially is happy with his bike and on a similar pace to Lascorz and Sofuoglu and I think the winner will come down from one of these three. He might have wanted to be higher up the grid but we are working to win the race, not qualification. Miguel in 11th has a very good opportunity to fight for the top eight, in a close tight group of riders. Both riders are working on the two Pirelli tyres and can go quickly on either. Congratulations to Lascorz on pole position, it is nothing less than what we expected from him and it will make for a good race.” More, from a press release issued by Hannspree Ten Kate Honda: Sofuoglu and Pirro on Australian front row Kenan Sofuoglu and Michele Pirro will both start from the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s opening 2010 World Supersport championship race at Phillip Island in Australia. The Hannspree Ten Kate Honda riders set the second and third fastest times respectively in this afternoon’s final qualifying session, with Spain’s Joan Lascorz taking pole position and Ireland’s Eugene Laverty completing the front row as the third fastest Honda rider. After struggling with grip and tyre durability in yesterday’s warm conditions at the 4.445km Phillip Island circuit, the World Supersport championship’s most successful team made progress in today’s cooler conditions and both riders are confident for tomorrow’s season-opening 21-lap race. Kenan Sofuoglu P2 1’34.116s That wasn’t so bad and I am really much happier than I was after yesterday’s sessions. We have really improved our package today and I only hope that it stays cool for the race tomorrow. I think I could have gone faster but on both my fast laps I came across slower riders which took away my rhythm. I think maybe I could have taken three or four tenths off my time, but I am happy enough with a front row start. It’s important to get a good start tomorrow because I will try, of course, to win the race. We also found a way to get a longer life for the tyre today and I will do my best to save it for the end of the race tomorrow. Michele Pirro P3, 1’34.156s Well, of course I am happy because I said yesterday that my target today was to get a front row start. We achieved this goal but I had some problems with grip at the front, especially on the corner exit. The bike is new for me this season so the race tomorrow will be my first. It’s difficult to know what to expect but, for sure, there are a lot of fast riders and they will be at the front in the race. I am looking forward to it, but the front row is a good place to start. Ronald ten Kate team manager Well, after the problems we had during the test here and yesterday, we put on a clean shirt today and made the improvements we needed. Things really started to shape up for us today and I am delighted that both riders will start from the front row. Big compliments especially to Michele who has arrived immediately at the front in his debut for the team. Hopefully, both riders can finish the job off tomorrow. More, from a press release issued by Gino Rea’s publicist: Gino completes Final Qualifying at Phillip Island, Round 1 of World Supersport Gino has continued to progress and has finished the final qualifying session at Phillip Island in 14th place, only 1.5 seconds off the front row. The team have worked hard together all weekend and are still improving the chassis and electronic’s set up of the bike. Gino Rea: “It’s been a challenging start to the season for us. But I like a challenge. New team, new motorcycle, new circuit, new championship. Even though there is a language barrier between Andrew and our mechanics, they have both worked hard to get though it and it has been successful. I’m determined to keep improving and repay the team for their hard work with any points I get. “We are getting there slowly, our best laptime a 1:35.9, it’s 1.5 seconds from Eugune Laverty, who is on the front row. I think considering the limited time we have had on the bike and on a new circuit, it is a respectable laptime. The top teams have had years developing their bikes with electronics etc, we have had two days. It was hard to find a mixture of learning the circuit and trying different things on the bike, which meant we ran out of track time to find the right setting. We still have a long way to go in terms of chassis and electronics. Andrew has been working flat out since we have been here and is improving our set up each time. He has a change for us to try tomorrow which he hopes will be the right direction… if it stays dry, so I’m looking forward to racing! We have discussed set up if it was to rain, but being the first time we have seen the bike this round, we will have to guess one! “ Tomorrow’s race starts at 1:30 PM local (Melbourne) time, which equals 2:30am in the morning in the UK. The race can be watched on Eurosport or Eurosport 2. More, from a press release issued by ParkinGO Triumph BE1 Racing: Team ParkinGO Triumph BE1 Racing is looking forward to tomorrow’s race after David Salom and Chaz Davies both qualified in the second row, while Jason Di Salvo and Sebastien Charpentier will start from row 3 and 4 respectively. As a consequence, each rider will have his own different goal for the first race of the season. David Salom, who was forced to remain in the pit due to a bureaucratic mistake found a better feeling with the bike after the good performance displayed in this week’s test. Chaz Davies also did well and improved session after session. However, the Brit tends to perform at his best in race and the second row he took is like a springboard for him. Jason Di Salvo made some progress as well and managed to improve his time. The American , who is at his debut on both track and bike, will try to gather as much information as possible on the machine’s behaviour without setting any particular goal for the race itself. Same goal for the two times champion Sebastien Charpentier , who is making a comeback after two years. The Frenchman is still trying to get a better feeling with the bike. Some small changes will be made and will be tested in warm up which should enable him have more sensitivity in the fast corners but the race atmosphere itself should help him overcome this obstacle. DAVID SALOM | Triumph Daytona 675 | 6th in 1’34.873: “I’m very happy with the sixth place especially after I wasn’t allowed to race yesterday. I felt at ease on the bike right from the beginning and Phillip Island is a good track for my racing style. I had a series of fast laps and got really close to my best time so I hope to get a good start and score a good result”. CHAZ DAVIES | Triumph Daytona 675 | 7th in 1’34.939: “I further improved my time from yesterday. I posted my fastest time with nobody on the track today, while yesterday I set my best time in the wake of Lascorz. I still have to improve my feeling with the bike’s front end but I nonetheless aim high tomorrow”. JASON DI SALVO | Triumph Daytona 675 | 12th in 1’35.623: “I improved myself today as well but there’s still work to be done setupwise in warm up tomorrow. I am however confident I can get a good result”. SEBASTIEN CHARPENTIER | Triumph Daytona 675 | 13th in 1’35.860 : “I don’t feel much stability in the faster sections of the track but in others I set similar times to Salom’s and Davies’. I’ll try to get more sensitivity in the faster corners in warm up tomorrow. However, I do need some time to perform at my best after two years of absence. I made some major progress nonetheless compared to the Infront Motorsports test at Portimao”.