FIM Supersport World Championship Imola, Italy September 25, 2009 Free Practice One Results (all on Pirelli tires): 1. Cal CRUTCHLOW (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:52.751 2. Kenan SOFUOGLU (Honda CBR600RR), 1:53.234 3. Joan LASCORZ (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:54.897 4. Eugene LAVERTY (Honda CBR600RR), 1:55.270 5. Miguel PIRRO (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:55.354 6. Mark AITCHISON (Honda CBR600RR), 1:55.499 7. Massimo ROCCOLI (Honda CBR600RR), 1:55.564 8. Andrew PITT (Honda CBR600RR), 1:56.198 9. Anthony WEST (Honda CBR600RR), 1:56.443 10. Chaz DAVIES (Daytona 675), 1:56.537 11. Danilo DELL’OMO (Honda CBR600RR), 1:56.737 12. Katsuaki FUJIWARA (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:57.438 13. Fabien FORET (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:57.449 14. Sam LOWES (Honda CBR600RR), 1:57.644 15. Miguel PRAIA (Honda CBR600RR), 1:57.662 16. Garry MCCOY (Triumph Daytona 675), 1:57.912 17. Cristiano MIGLIORATI (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:58.001 18. Michael LAVERTY (Honda CBR600RR), 1:58.236 19. Barry VENEMAN (Honda CBR600RR), 1:58.484 20. Flavio GENTILE (Honda CBR600RR), 1:58.674 More, from a press release issued by Parkalgar Honda: THE PARKALGAR HONDA team, along with the rest of the World Supersport paddock, faced a delayed free practice session today ahead of round 12 of the Championship at Imola, due to the track having a problem with grip. Lack of adhesion saw all sessions delayed and it wasn’t until some rubber had been tentatively laid down that the circuit started to become usable. Despite this lack of feel both Parkalgar Honda riders headed out on track. Eugene Laverty, who is currently second in the Championship chase, completed the session in fourth place, while his team-mate Miguel Praia rode to 15th. Cal Crutchlow was fastest. The race takes place at 1325CET on Sunday, September 27th. Simon Buckmaster, Parkalgar Honda Team Manager: “We’ve played the waiting game today and the track finally started to come good. We have already tested here so I know we have good pace, once the track gets more rubber laid down and has more feel I know the results will start to come in. Eugene finished in fourth which we know we can improve on and Miguel was 15th. We know which direction to go in so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by HANNspree Ten Kate Honda: Hannspree Ten Kate Honda’s Kenan Sofuoglu set the second fastest time in today’s delayed free practice session for round 12 of the 2009 World Supersport championship at Imola in Italy. The day’s schedule was severely disrupted when the circuit had to be treated in response to very low grip levels. The World Supersport action finally got underway 90 minutes late, with the World Superbike schedule reduced to one free practice session today. The rest of the weekend sessions are expected to run to schedule. Sofuoglu the fastest rider during a World Supersport test at the 4.93km Imola circuit in July was less than half a second behind today’s fastest rider, Cal Crutchlow, while his team mate, Australia’s Andrew Pitt, set the eighth fastest time. Kenan Sofuoglu – 2nd, 1’53.234s The track was very slippery in some places, so I couldn’t try at 100%, but it was the same for everyone, of course. It got better towards the end but, with one minute to go, I was the fastest, so I eased off a bit on my final lap. It’s important to be first tomorrow, though, and the bike was feeling very good so we won’t change anything for the morning. The acceleration, particularly, has improved since Nurburgring. It’s an area that we have been struggling in, so big thanks to the tuners for that! Andrew Pitt – 8th, 1’56.198s After the drama with the track earlier in the day, I was taking it easy to start with. It wasn’t so bad towards the end of the session, although the first chicane was still fairly greasy especially if you strayed off line. We’ve been trying some new electronics to help with the bike backing into corners and, although, we know what’s not working, there’s still some more to do tomorrow. Ronald ten Kate – team manager The track conditions were not perfect of course, but it was the same for all the riders and more laps and more rubber will improve things as the weekend progresses. We’ve been working on electronics and the engine since Nurburgring and the advances seem to be working well at the moment. Kenan is fairly happy but with Andrew there is still some more work to do. More, from a press release issued by Team YZF Yamaha: Learning session for Doni Tata Pradita It took a long time to clean the dirty track before the Supersport free practice session could start. Finally the riders started by the end of the afternoon. Doni Tata Pradita, who discovered this difficult circuit, learned the Italian track. With a beautiful sunshine on the Imola countryside, Cal Crutchlow and his Yamaha were the fastest in front of Kenan Sofuoglu and Joan Lascorz. Doni learned the layout of the Autodromo Enzo and Dino Ferrari, still being careful because of his former shoulder injury. After this learning stage, the young Indonesian rider is now ready to be quicker tomorrow. Doni Tata Pradita: “I tried to understand the track. This is my first time here. I couldn’t do the July tests because of my broken shoulder. To learn, I did many laps. It’s a difficult circuit. The first and second corners were very slippery. I preferred to learn. We worked on the suspension setting. I didn’t want to take too much risk. Tomorrow I will push harder and go faster. Martial Garcia (team manager): “The start of the practice session was delayed to clean the track. These are difficult conditions to learn a new track. Doni didn’t want to take chances and he learned carefully.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha: Following the un-scheduled closure of the track for further cleaning it was the Supersport riders who first took to the circuit to lay down some rubber in their delayed free practice session at Imola today. With 35 minutes of the practice session gone, Crutchlow ventured out onto the track and immediately took second place on the standings, two tenths of a second off leader Kenan Sofuoglu. With seven minutes remaining he had increased this to over two seconds as the grip increased on track. He ended the session a clear half second ahead of the rest of the field. Team mate Fabien Foret had a slower start to the day, again like Crutchlow waiting until mid way through the session before taking to the track. Foret was careful not push too hard in the difficult conditions, and was happy to confirm some settings in advance of a faster session tomorrow. Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha World Supersport Team (1st, 1’52.751) “I thought we made the best of a bad day today, with the sessions being stopped and delayed. The track temperature wasn’t great and the grip was really bad considering. It was so unpredictable making it very difficult to judge my speed round the track. We’ll just have to keep on doing what we’re doing and see what tomorrow brings.” Fabien Foret, Yamaha World Superbike Team (13th, 1’57.449) “What can I say, not the best conditions for us to make any changes to the bike after our test. I took it easy but even if I had been going faster I don’t think I would have made any changes to the bike before tomorrow. We know our base setting so hopefully when the track is more normal tomorrow we can fine tune it and get ready for Sunday.” Wilco Zeelenberg, Yamaha World Supersport Team Manager “We waited a long time to be able to get out on track to get some rubber down. We’ve been working today to be as fast as possible but also to keep some safety for the riders which is why we waited so long to come out in the session. None of the riders have enjoyed riding on the circuit today. Although Cal was fastest he wasn’t enjoying himself, and Fabien was the same. They had very little feeling, the tyres felt very un-precise on the surface, a completely different feeling to when we had our test here. I don’t think it should be our job to clean the track but it seems we were basically track cleaners today.” More, from a press release issued by ParkinGO Triumph BE1 Racing: Day 1 of World Supersport saw Garry McCoy and Chaz Davies ride a very cautious practice session due to the track conditions, which were the cause of a long delay. The surface was very slippery according to the riders who requested that it be cleaned, a process which took a number of hours. Otherwise, both riders worked on base setup which should help the team improve it for tomorrow morning’s practice session. GARRY McCOY | Triumph Daytona 675 | 16th in 1’57.912: “We basically continued what we started in testing but I didn’t want to force anything. My session then ended with 15 minutes left due to a small technical problem. However, the surface should improve by tomorrow morning so we can prepare the machine for the race”. CHAZ DAVIES | Triumph Daytona 675 | 10th in 1’56.537: “I immediately found myself at ease with the bike, although I started slow but I improved by the end of the session. I’ll have to work on the shifter though so it can adapt to my racing style but I’m sure things will get better tomorrow”.