FIM Superbike World Championship Brands Hatch, England August 2, 2008 Superpole Results (all on Pirelli tires): 1. Troy BAYLISS (Ducati 1098 F08), 1:25.656 2. Noriyuki HAGA (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:25.679 3. Ryuichi KIYONARI (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:25.840 4. Jakub SMRZ (Ducati 1098 RS08), 1:25.960 5. Troy CORSER (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:26.021 6. Tom SYKES (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:26.166 7. Max BIAGGI (Ducati 1098 RS08), 1:26.169 8. Max NEUKIRCHNER (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:26.226 9. Yukio KAGAYAMA (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:26.501 10. Fonsi NIETO (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:26.688 11. Carlos CHECA (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:26.751 12. Michel FABRIZIO (Ducati 1098 F08), 1:26.807 13. Gregorio LAVILLA (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:27.148 14. Lorenzo LANZI (Ducati 1098 RS08), 1:27.217 15. Ruben XAUS (Ducati 1098 RS08), 1:27.246 16. Karl MUGGERIDGE (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:27.580 The Rest of the Grid: 17. Kenan SOFUOGLU (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:26.701 18. Sebastien GIMBERT (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:26.725 19. Roberto ROLFO (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:26.921 20. David CHECA (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:27.100 21. Ayrton BADOVINI (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:27.149 22. Regis LACONI (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:27.342 23. Chris WALKER (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:27.353 24. Shuhei AOYAMA (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:27.384 25. Makoto TAMADA (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:27.478 26. Vittorio IANNUZZO (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:28.401 27. Jason PRIDMORE (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:28.937 28. Tristan PALMER (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:29.245 29. Shinichi NAKATOMI (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:29.302 30. Luca MORELLI (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:29.325 31. Christian ZAISER (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:29.446 More, from a press release issued by Team YZF Yamaha: Nakatomi no starter On Friday, Shinichi Nakatomi crashed heavily in the last left hand curve. He landed on his wrists and was hurt. On Saturday morning, he came to see the official doctors of the Championship who took the decision not to let him race because there was a possibility of fracture. Martial Garcia (team-manager): “Nakatomi had a bad crash because of a highside. As he is hurt at his left wrist, the doctors decided to declare him unfit.” Qualifying results: 1-Bayliss (Ducati), 2-Haga (Yamaha), 3-Kiyonari (Honda), 4-Smrz (Ducati), 5-Corser (Yamaha) World Championship standings: 1-Bayliss (Ducati) 309 points, 2- Neukirchner (Suzuki) 230, 3- Corser (Yamaha) 218, 4-Checa (Honda) 215, 5- Haga (Yamaha) 210″¦ 19- Nakatomi (Yamaha) 29 11th round of the Superbike World Championship: September 7th at Donington (UK) Team YMF Yamaha Superstock YZF Yamaha Junior Team Superstock 600 European Championship Pole position for Loris Baz Great achievement for Loris Baz which a nice pole position in Brands Hatch, two tenths of a second in front Patrick Vostarek, his main opponent ifor the championship. Loris was the fastest on Friday and it was very efficient as it rained a little bit on Saturday and the wet surface could not allow the riders to go any faster. This is the second time (after Monza) that Baz is on pole position. Loris Baz: « Everything went really well. This is a track I really like. I have the potential to be on the front with Vostarek. We used a new tyre on Friday for the first qualifying session and it was a good idea. The most important is the pole position. » Martial Garcia (team-manager): “Loris’ performance is excellent. On Saturday, he did only a few laps to check the condition of the track.” Superstock 600 European Championship qualifying results: 1- Baz (Yamaha), 2-Vostarek (Honda), 3-Rea (Yamaha), 4-La Marra (Suzuki), 5-Lowes (Honda) Superstock 600 European Championship standings: 1- Baz (Yamaha) 117 points, 2-Vostarek (Honda) 110, 3- Linfoot (Yamaha) 74, 4- Bussolotti (Yamaha) 71, 5- Rea (Yamaha) 61 More, from a press release issued by HANNspree Ten Kate Honda: Double British Champion Ryuichi Kiyonari made his return to Brands Hatch count in a wet Superpole contest, by securing third place after a late push on a track that started out wet early on in the session, but became dry as the final minutes ticked away. Kiyonari’s knowledge of the Brands long circuit showed through in his final placing, adding to his strong regulation qualifying performances on race-tyres on his CBR1000RR Fireblade. Kiyo finally ended up only 0.184 seconds from pole, with a 1m25.840 lap time. Carlos Checa had his first Brands Hatch race weekend interrupted by the changeable weather that characterised the second day of action but his experience and hard work with the team put him 11th in Superpole, after he had originally qualified 15th. HANNspree Ten Kate Honda rider Kenan Sofuoglu was only 0.024 seconds from Superpole qualification, going 17th in the pre-race rankings. Such was his strong pace in qualifying that he was only 0.803 seconds from the pre Superpole best lap. Ryuichi Kiyonari P3, 1m25.840s: Obviously I like this track but Superpole was a difficult session. We are very happy with our set-up for the race and I want to thank my team staff for setting things up so well on the machine. I want to make a good show in front of my British fans as well as take good results for the team. Carlos Checa P11, 1m26.751s: This is not an easy track and it is difficult in some places to judge the correct speed. Of course the final lap time did not come out the way we wanted. We tried a few different things but I did not find the best way to negotiate the entry into the corners, at some places on the track at least. In most other places we are OK. I think things will come together and today we definitely made some improvements. We are only a few tenths from the race pace and we will try again to improve a couple more tenths in warm-up. That may be important for the race. Kenan Sofuoglu P17, 1m26.701s: It’s a shame to be so close to qualifying for Superpole and miss out but my race pace should be better tomorrow. I hope to have good starts and make up some places early in the race so that I can take away as may points as possible. Ronald ten Kate team manager: A wet Superpole can always turn out to be a lottery but in the end it did not, because the track dried quite quickly. To be on the front row with Kiyo we are really happy with and I think everyone can see his pace on race tyres. He should be there tomorrow in the races. For Carlos, I think he is learning the circuit step-by-step and from the third row he at least will have the opportunity to go with the front-runners. With one more night of sleep for him and some adjustments to his bike he should be capable of finishing in the top five or six tomorrow. For Kenan, he was very unlucky not to get into Superpole because we really wanted him to be in it. We may see a repeat, as we have seen in so many previous weekends, of him struggling in qualifying and then on Sunday propelling himself forward. We could see him collect a lot of points tomorrow. More, from a press release issued by Xerox Ducati: BAYLISS TAKES FIFTH POLE OF THE SEASON AFTER A “WET” SUPERPOLE AT BRANDS Brands Hatch (UK), Saturday 2nd August 2008: after mixed conditions throughout the day it came as no real surprise when this afternoon’s Superpole was declared “wet”. Rain ceased almost immediately however which meant that all of the sixteen participants adopted the same strategy, waiting until the final fifteen minutes of the fifty minute session before exiting on what had already become a drier track. The strategy worked perfectly for Troy Bayliss, whose final three laps were also his fastest, thus awarding him his fifth pole position of the season. It is the third year running that Troy has taken pole at Brands, and tomorrow will also see the fiftieth front row start of his World Superbike career. Joining him on tomorrow’s front row are Haga, Kiyonari and Smrz. Troy’s Ducati Xerox team-mate Michel Fabrizio had a more difficult day, qualifying for Superpole in sixteenth place. He did however make up several places during the Superpole and will start tomorrow’s races from the third row of the grid, in twelfth place. Troy Bayliss 1m25.6s “I’m very happy to take pole today in such mixed conditions. The wet Superpole meant we had twelve laps available during the fifty minute session. We decided to wait until the end of the session when the track would have had chance to dry out a bit, and then I went out and did one lap to take a look at the track before going out on a qualifier, with which I did three laps, the last of which was my fastest and just fast enough to take pole. We’re looking good on the race tyre for tomorrow so I’m pretty confident. I’d like tomorrow to be dry of course, it would make for great racing and be good for all the fans and hopefully we can get a good result!” Michel Fabrizio 1m26.8s “Today I had a few problems. I was never totally confident with the front of the bike and at two corners in particular I wasn’t able to control it. We worked with two different tyres and changed a few different things during the session but it didn’t make a lot of difference and I just never felt completely comfortable really. We hope to do much better tomorrow, in fact we are confident we will do so, though I also hope it will be dry for the races.” More, from a press release issued by Team Alstare Suzuki: WET SUPERPOLE CAUSES CONFUSION Just before the start of Superpole, rain began to fall on the Brands Hatch circuit and so the organisers decided that the 16-rider shoot-out would be a “Wet Superpole”, giving the riders 50 minutes and a maximum of twelve laps to set their fastest lap times. Team Suzuki Alstare rider Yukio Kagayama was one of the few riders to venture out on the wet track, whilst most of the others stayed in their pitboxes waiting to see if the rain would stop and the track dry out for the end of the session. The rain did stop, the sun came out and the track dried sufficiently for everybody to use slicks at the end of the session. Not everybody was able to take advantage of the improved conditions at the end and the last five minutes were filled with confusion and frantic tyre changing. In the end, Team Alstare Suzuki rider Max Neukirchner qualified eighth fastest, with Team Suzuki Alstare riders Yukio Kagayama and Fonsi Nieto in ninth and tenth places respectively. Series leader Troy Bayliss (Ducati) took pole position, with Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) second and Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) third. Max – 8th, 1:26.226 I am not so happy to be on the second row of the grid, but I think I should be OK for the races. Brands is a difficult track and it’s going to be hard to win here, but I will be trying my best for sure. We had some chatter problems yesterday and today and I’m not sure if the problem is worse here because of all the bumps. Also, I had a bit of a problem with my bike exiting the corners, so tomorrow we will alter the front and rear suspension to see if we can make the bike more stable. I don’t think anybody got a good wet set-up today, so I am hoping it will be dry tomorrow and we have two good races. Yukio – 9th, 1:26.501 Superpole was not easy today because of the conditions. I thought the rain would carry on throughout the session and I would be in a good position. But the rain stopped, the track became almost dry but I did not have enough time to put in as many fast dry laps as I would’ve liked. But we’ve got a good set-up for a dry race and I am hoping that it will be dry tomorrow. Ninth is actually not a bad grid position because you are the best side of the track for the run down to turn one. If I can make good starts, I can challenge for the podium. Fonsi – 10th, 1:26.688 We didn’t really have many problems in practice and qualifying today except that the bike was spinning up in a couple of places and that meant that I was losing drive. But the rest of the track was OK and I am quite happy because I did my best lap on old tyres. Superpole was not so good, but Superpole is not normally good for me anyway, so no difference! Tomorrow I will have a fresh engine and, because we have quite a good dry set-up, I think I can make good races. More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Haga close to a Superpole win Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) was only 0.023 seconds from a Superpole win at Brands Hatch, after a very confused ‘wet’ Superpole contest, which was eventually decided on a completely dry racetrack. Despite the confusion caused by a late switch from a regular ‘dry’ Superpole to a wet session, Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) secured fifth place and therefore the prime spot on the second row for Sunday’s 25-lap races. The final few laps of the Superpole session were conducted at near track best pace, despite the start of the session being completely wet, and the pole time of 1’25.656 was set by Troy Bayliss. Both Corser and Haga worked hard on their race pace in the regular qualifying sessions but the changes of weather at times today stopped them making a final tyre choice. Warm-up on Sunday morning will therefore be a vital spell for the team, which has high hopes for Sunday’s races. Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha GMT94) went 18th again today, as his team-mate David Checa (Yamaha GMT94) improved to 20th place. Shinichi Nakatomi (Team YZF Yamaha) did not ride due to his earlier injury. Noriyuki Haga (2nd – 1’25.679 – Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “Obviously I am happy to be second and before Superpole I was a little bit worried because of the rain stopping our plans. I was trying to improve my feeling on a dry track, and we did improve our performance. Anyway I will be trying absolutely my best for the races although I expect it to be very tough tomorrow. I really like this circuit, and I love to win here so I will be trying my best to do that.” Troy Corser (5th – 1’26.021 – Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “With the weather the way it was today it got a bit messy at times, and it caught everyone out. We had a wet Superpole but we couldn’t get enough qualifying tyres to let us finish Superpole properly. We had 12 laps but we only had two qualifiers. I had used my first one when it started raining, so I re-used it, and then only had one left to set our best time. The bike is working well and we’ll be ready for tomorrow. From row two it will be elbows out into turn one!” Massimo Meregalli (Team Manager, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “We are quite happy about things considering how much the weather had to do with today but we still need to think about tyre endurance. We have some good information already but tomorrow morning we will make a check and the forecast for the weather is better than today, It should be warmer, and I think we have a good set up for good results.” Martial Garcia (Team Manager, Yamaha YZF Team) “Nakatomi had a bad crash because of a highside yesterday and hurt his left wrist. The doctors decided to declare him unfit, so that is that for this weekend.” More, from a press release issued by Troy Corser’s publicist: TROY UNHAPPY WITH FIFTH IN WET SUPERPOLE. A shower of rain this afternoon caused a “Wet Superpole”, with the sixteen riders having 50 minutes and a maximum of twelve laps in which to set their fastest laps. But the rain at the start of the “Wet Superpole” soon gave way to sunshine and by the end of the fifty minutes the track was more or less dry and the riders were able to go out on slicks. The last five minutes or so saw teams frantically changing tyres and riders going all-out for quick laps. There was some confusion about how many tyres were available at the end of the session and Troy was unable to get out on the tyre he wanted in time to go for pole position. Instead, it was his fellow Aussie Troy Bayliss (Ducati) who took Superpole today, with Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) second and Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) third. Troy – 5th, 1:26.021 I am unhappy because I really believed that I could get pole position today at the end of the session. I don’t know if there was a mix-up or not with the tyres, but whatever the reason I wasn’t able to go out at the end on a fresh qualifier and go for pole. But I am not worried about fifth position because it is right behind Bayliss and is the best side of the track for the run down to the first corner. During practice and qualifying we found a good bike set-up and sorted out which tyres we’ll use for the races – as long as it doesn’t rain of course! Nobody has got a good set-up if it is wet, so it could be a bit of a lottery if it rains tomorrow. Like everybody else here, I am hoping that it will be dry tomorrow and we can put on a good show for the fans. More, from a press release issued by Sterilgarda Go Eleven: An half wet half dry Superpole shuffled the grid came out from the second day of qualifying at Brands Hatch. Max Biaggi and Ruben Xaus will start from the seventh and the fifteenth position respectively, with different kind of goal. The Italian champion aims to be immediately among the leaders in both tomorrow’s race, while the Spanish rider will ride without any particular target as he is still in bad physical conditions. His fever caused another crash to Xaus during the 45 minutes wet Superpole and forbids him to ride the bike with the right strength. In Superstock1000 Alex Polita will start from the 4th line; he took the 13th position on a ‘tight’ starting grid since all the riders recorded very close times: his gap from the pole-position is just one second. MAX BIAGGI | Ducati 1098 RS | 7th classified in 1’26.169: “We have not reached the top yet, therefore tomorrow morning during the warm-up we are going to work further on fine-tuning the bike. Repeating the last two rounds results will be hard but I’ll give my best to be one of the leaders. The tyre choice according to the weather will be very important and I feel confident to have picked up the right one for me”. RUBEN XAUS | Ducati 1098 RS | 15th classified in 1’27.246: “I feel very low. I would like to ride as usual but I suffer the movements of the bike and I cannot react. It’s hard to think to get a good result under these conditions, after 4-5 laps I’m strengthless. I hope that some night rest can buck me up”. ALEX POLITA | Ducati 1098R | 13th classified in 1’29.924: “I’m so angry! Unfortunately the session was stopped several times due to the red flag. It prevented me to finish the lap while I was improving my time and it forced me to start from the 4th line. Anyhow I feel confident for the race. I must start very well and I aim to enter the battle for the first positions in order to climb the championship ranking”. More, from a press release issued by Team Pedercini: Ayrton Badovini and Vittorio Iannuzzo will start from the sixth and seventh row respectively after the green light of the 10th WSBK round at Brands Hatch. The goal for the Italian duo is to play two good performances although both the race are expected to be very hard due to the unpredictable weather conditions and the difficulty to pass on this track. In Superstock1000 Sheridan Morais confirms the sixth best time while Yoann Tiberio is 19th and Alessio Aldrovandi will start from the 22nd place. Al the three young riders recorded similar times and they are separated by only six tenths of seconds on the closest grid of the season. Morais’ arrival has contributed to fix several issues which have influenced negatively the season of the French-Italian duo. Now the two young rider aim to be among the best riders of the race therefore they must not fail the start tomorrow. AYRTON BADOVINI | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 21st classified in 1’27.149: “I improved my time respect to yesterday but I’m not totally satisfied. We have tyres wear problems due to excessive rear chattering. I will try to fix it tomorrow during the warm-up after having analyzed data and having evaluated several solutions”. VITTORIO IANNUZZO | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 26th classified in 1’28.401: “I can not be satisfied with my starting position but I don’t give up for the race. We have problems on the rear tyres where the bike doesn’t work as I wished. We will try to reverse the bad trend tomorrow during the warm-up in order to have the chance to run two good race”.