FIM Superbike World Championship Santamonica Circuit Misano, San Marino June 28, 2008 Superpole Results: 1. Troy CORSER (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:35.993 2. Troy BAYLISS (Ducati 1098 F08), 1:36.106 3. Ruben XAUS (Ducati 1098 RS08), 1:36.189 4. Michel FABRIZIO (Ducati 1098 F08), 1:36.403 5. Max BIAGGI (Ducati 1098 RS08), 1:36.506 6. Lorenzo LANZI (Ducati 1098 RS08), 1:36.609 7. Jakub SMRZ (Ducati 1098 RS08), 1:36.652 8. Regis LACONI (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:36.691 9. Fonsi NIETO (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:36.746 10. Max NEUKIRCHNER (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:36.856 11. Carlos CHECA (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:37.143 12. Makoto TAMADA (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:37.183 13. Yukio KAGAYAMA (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:37.243 14. Noriyuki HAGA (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:37.395 15. Karl MUGGERIDGE (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:37.950 16. Ayrton BADOVINI (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:37.962 The Rest of the Grid: 17. Roberto ROLFO (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:37.830 18. David CHECA (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:37.874 19. Gregorio LAVILLA (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:37.891 20. Shinya NAKATOMI (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:38.133 21. Sebastien GIMBERT (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:38.213 22. Ryuichi KIYONARI (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:38.288 23. Shuhei AOYAMA (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:38.323 24. Kenan SOFUOGLU (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:38.394 25. Vittorio IANNUZZO (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:38.873 26. Norino BRIGNOLA (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:40.311 27. Jason PRIDMORE (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:40.395 More, from a press release issued by Xerox Ducati: DUCATI XEROX RIDERS BAYLISS AND FABRIZIO TAKE FRONT ROW PLACES FOR TOMORROW’S RACES AT MISANO Misano (Italy) Saturday 28th June: despite the continuation of the heat wave today at the Misano World Circuit, the Ducati Xerox riders Troy Bayliss and Michel Fabrizio both put in flying Superpole laps, fast enough to secure themselves second and fourth place respectively on the grid for tomorrow’s Superbike races. This is the third time this season that both Ducati Xerox factory riders line up alongside each other on the front row. The second qualifying session that took place this morning saw both Ducati Xerox riders pick up the pace, to improve once more on the best times they set yesterday. As a result, Bayliss qualified second fastest and Fabrizio fifth fastest for the afternoon’s Superpole. Bayliss has recorded very fast times throughout the weekend, in keeping with the results he has achieved at this track in recent years, while Fabrizio gradually improved his times over the sessions, with his fastest time of the weekend so far being the 1m36.4s registered during Superpole. Troy Bayliss 1m36.1s “We’ve been working well all weekend. In Superpole I knew I was making good time but then I made a small mistake in the last split which cost me the pole I think, but we’re happy. Corser was really fast today and he has had some good results here in the past, as have I, so tomorrow we should see great racing. We’re all going to have to cope with the heat but it’s always this way at Misano so overall I’m feeling pretty confident for tomorrow.” Michel Fabrizio 1m36.4s “I’m very happy with a front row start. I had a bit of cramp at the end of my Superpole lap which perhaps affected me a little but I’m content with the result. Tomorrow will be hard as Troy and I will have to get ahead of a Yamaha and the heat wont help of course, but I hope we can do well and build on our points. The Ducati’s are going well here this weekend so let’s hope that continues tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service: Team Alstare Suzuki’s Fonsi Nieto, Max Neukirchner and Yukio Kagayama all had a difficult day in the heat during qualifying for the Misano World Superbike Championship round in Italy, and despite their grid positions, all three are in a positive frame of mind about tomorrow’s pair of 24-lap races. The day started overcast, but the sun soon burned off the clouds and the temperatures began to rise. When Superpole began, the track temperature was over 50 degrees centigrade and the 16-rider shoot-out was dominated by Ducatis: They filled six out of the top seven places, but it was Troy Corser’s Yamaha that topped them all. The Aussie lapped under 1:36 – the only rider to do so – to claim his 42nd pole position of his career. Nieto scored ninth fastest with Neukirchner 10th and Kagayama – defying the pain barrier – 13th. Fonsi Nieto – 9th, 1:36.746: “Today was very hard, because of the heat, but also because we have six very strong Ducatis in the championship and this circuit seems to suit them well. It’s going to be two hard races tomorrow and the heat is going to affect the performance of the tyres for sure. My Superpole wasn’t so bad and one tenth of a second made such a big difference. It seems that I’m never lucky on my Superpole lap, so once again I’m going to have to get two good starts in the races to get good results.” Max Neukirchner – 10th, 1:36.856: “My first Superpole split was good, but the second was not because I made a small mistake at one of the fast right-handers and lost a little time. I’ve had a little problem getting the bike to keep the line on the brakes and that has been costing me time. My set-up is not quite right so we may try something in the warm-up tomorrow and see if we can improve the bike. It’s really strange to see six Ducatis in the top seven, but I am determined to get two good starts and make sure they don’t dominate the races.” Yukio Kagayama – 13th, 1:37.243: “I think the base set-up of my bike is quite good, so we will not make any big changes in the warm-up tomorrow. We’ve been working a lot on the electronics, trying to improve the feeling of the bike and we’re making progress. But my biggest problem is my injury. I had a small painkilling injection this morning, but I don’t think it worked! I had a stronger one in the afternoon, but I was still suffering a lot of pain – especially on the braking. Tomorrow is going to be very, very hard. But my job is a racer and I have to race tomorrow. If I have to forget the pain, that’s what I have to do, because I want to race. Final WSB qualifying: 1 Corser (Aus-Yamaha) 1:35.993, 2 Bayliss (Aus-Ducati) 1:36.106, 3 Xaus (E-Ducati) 1:36.189, 4 Fabrizio (I-Ducati) 1:36.403, 5 Biaggi (I-Ducati) 1:36.506, 6 Lanzi (I-Ducati) 1:36.609, 7 Smrz (CZ-Ducati) 1:36.652, 8 Laconi (F-Kawasaki) 1:36.691, 9 Fonsi Nieto (E-Suzuki Alstare) 1:36.746, 10 Max Neukirchner (D-Alstare Suzuki) 1:36.856, 13 Yukio Kagayama (J-Suzuki Alstare) 1:37.243. SUPERSTOCK 1000: Team Alstare Suzuki rider Xavi Simeon broke his left collarbone in the morning practice, but ignored the pain to ride in this afternoon’s final qualifying session, where he finished with the 12th fastest time! He fell this morning, when he was high-sided, and broke his collarbone in three places. He was X-rayed in the Clinica Mobile and heavily strapped before he was allowed out on his Suzuki GSX-R 1000 this afternoon. Amazingly, he ended up only one tenth of a second slower then his previous best time! Michele Pirro (Yamaha) took pole position, with Davide Giugliano (Suzuki) second, Maxime Berger (Honda) third and Brendan Roberts (Ducati) fourth. Xavi Simeon – 12th, 1:40.927: “The pain wasn’t too bad, except when I broke hard or changed direction from right to left! I was only one tenth of a second slower then before the crash, so I think that is pretty good really. This afternoon I didn’t do so many laps because I wanted to be as fit as possible for tomorrow. Also, I didn’t want to push too hard in case I crashed again. It’s going to be a long, tough 14 laps tomorrow – especially as it will be most likely very hot. My job is to finish the race and score as many points as possible. Even if I only score one point, I think it will be worth it, because you never know what might happen at the end of the championship. Final Superstock 1000 qualifying: 1 Pirro (I-Yamaha) 1:40.044, 2 Giugliano (I-Suzuki) 1:40.173, 3 Berger (F-Honda) 1:40.361, 4 Roberts (Aus-Ducati) 1:40.443, 5 Perotti (I-Suzuki) 1:40.484, 6 Antonelli (I-Honda) 1:40.528. 12 Xavi Simeon (B-Alstare Suzuki) 1:40.927. More, from a press release issued by HANNspree Ten Kate Honda: Struggle continues for Ten Kate Honda Team The HANNspree Ten Kate Honda team endured another day of struggling to get their Honda CBR1000RR on the pace at the Misano track today. Despite various changes to the set-up of their machines none of the three riders were capable to set satisfactory and consistent lap times. Carlos Checa managed to improve his performance in the last minutes of the second qualifying session and set his best lap in 1’37.054. In the afternoon’s free practice session Checa continued on the development of his bike but struggled in finding the right tyres for the conditions in Misano. He set out on his Superpole lap to improve upon his qualifying results but failed to dip under his best time. The Superpole session turned out to be a Ducati parade with six of the Italian manufacturer’s bikes capable of setting fast times on their ‘home track’. Only Yamaha’s Troy Corser was able to break the dominance and claimed the Superpole. Team-mates Ryuichi Kiyonari and Kenan Sofuoglu also had a day of disappointing results. Despite the hard work to find th right set-up for their machines throughout both practice sessions both riders were not capable of qualifying for Superpole. Kiyonari and Sofuoglu will start Sunday’s race from 22nd and 24th place respectively. Carlos Checa, 1’38.189; “It has been difficult all weekend to find the right set-up for the bike on this track. It looked like we made some improvement in the second qualifying, but I haven’t been able to ride a perfect lap in the Superpole. We’re still struggling with the tyres, I have lost the rear of the bike quite some times. “Nothing has changed much since yesterday. We are still a second behind the front runners. I can’t point out just one thing, it’s a combination of issues that makes us unable to find the right pace. We still have some work to do this evening to find some improvement. It will be a hard race tomorrow.” Ryuichi Kiyonari, 1’38.392; “Today feels like a lost day. We’ve spent two days qualifying and haven’t been able to improve much on our pace. My biggest struggle at the moment is the feeling with the machine. Over the last couple of weeks I have been testing the HRC bike for the 8-hours of Suzuka and am finding it hard to adjust to the Ten Kate bike again. I will have to work on my riding style to improve my lap times.” “I’m frustrated I cannot go faster at the moment, I hope the feeling will be better tomorrow and I can work my way forward through the field.” Kenan Sofuoglu, 1’38.895; “I’m disappointed with my results today and am still struggling to find the right feeling with my bike. Tomorrow is another day and hopefully things will be better then. I’m trying hard, but haven’t been able to improve much.” Ronald ten Kate, Team manager; “It is a very difficult weekend here for us. We find ourselves struggling with the tyres. For some reason we cannot get the Pirelli tyre to work for us on the Fireblade in these conditions. At least we are not the only ones struggling, but it is still a very frustrating day. Hopefully we can improve things tomorrow, but unfortunately we can’t work magic. More, from a press release issued by Team Alstare Suzuki: HARD DAY IN THE HOT SUN. It was a hard day in the hot sun for Fonsi Nieto, Yukio Kagayama and Max Neukirchner at Misano today and, despite their grid positions, all three are in a positive frame of mind about tomorrow’s pair of 24-lap races. The day started overcast, but the sun soon burned off the clouds and the temperatures began to rise straightaway. When Superpole began, the track temperature was over 50 degrees centigrade and the sixteen rider shoot out was dominated by Ducatis. They filled six out of the top seven places, but it was Troy Corser’s Yamaha that topped them all. The Aussie lapped under 1:36 – the only rider to do so – to claim his forty-second pole position of his career. Fonsi ended ninth fastest, with Max tenth, with Yukio defying the pain barrier to finish thirteenth. Fonsi – 9th, 1:36.746 Today was very hard, because of the heat, but also because we have six very strong Ducatis in the championship and this circuit seems to suit them well. It’s going to be two hard races tomorrow and the heat is going to affect the performance of the tyres for sure. My Superpole wasn’t so bad and one tenth of a second made such a big difference. It seems that I’m never lucky on my Superpole lap, so once again I’m going to have to get two good starts in the races to get good results. Max – 10th, 1:36.856 My first Superpole split was good, but the second was not because I made a small mistake at one of the fast right-handers and lost a little time. I’ve had a little problem getting the bike to keep the line on the brakes and that has been costing me time. My set-up is not quite right, so we may try something in the warm-up tomorrow and see if we can improve the bike. It’s really strange to see six Ducatis in the top seven, but I am determined to get two good starts and make sure they don’t dominate the races. Yukio – 13th, 1:37.243 I think the base set-up of my bike is quite good, so we will not make any big changes in the warm-up tomorrow. We’ve been working a lot on the electronics, trying to improve the feeling of the bike and we’re making progress. But my biggest problem is my injury. I had a small painkilling injection this morning, but I don’t think it worked! I had a stronger one in the afternoon, but I was still suffering a lot of pain – especially on the braking. Tomorrow is going to be very, very hard. But my job is a racer and I have to race tomorrow. If I have to forget the pain, that’s what I have to do, because I want to race. More, from a press release issued by PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse: Laconi Finds Competitiveness In San Marino Qualifying Régis Laconi took his blue-and-white painted Ninja ZX-10R to a pre-Superpole qualifying fourth best time, and despite finding some issues with vibration from his machine’s rear wheel, he finished on row two after Superpole, recording the eighth best time of all. Makoto Tamada, also running in San Marino’s blue-and-white colours today, overcame the effects of his injured hand to set 12th best lap in Superpole. The Japanese star had also been 12th going into Superpole. Tamada had been using the team’s new design of rear swingarm this weekend and found real improvements as soon as it was fitted. Laconi is already convinced that after such good qualifying results Misano will be full of opportunities on raceday, while Tamada hopes his hand injury will settle down enough to allow him to race to his full potential. Régis Laconi: “I think a front row start was really possible today but we experienced some vibration from the rear of the bike, but in every practice so far we have been able to get rid of the chatter. I think something happened with the wheel – maybe the tyre spinning on the rim. It’s a shame because the bike has been good all weekend. We improved all the time, and we are on the second row, and that is one of our best pre-race positions this year. I want to go out and make a good result for Kawasaki – and for the team and San Marino, as this is their home race.” Makoto Tamada: “I was sure I could do better than 12th because the bike is so good now. We still have to improve the feeling with the front so tomorrow, during the warm up session, we’ll try making the suspension a little bit more rigid. I started to feel pain in my hand and now it is quite swollen. I really hope that it will be OK for tomorrow as I want to do my best for the races.” More, from a press release issued by Troy Corser’s publicist: TROY TAKES HIS 42ND SUPERPOLE! Troy fully lived up to his “Mr Superpole” nickname by winning Superpole at a scorchingly hot Misano today. Troy blasted round the 4.226 kilometre circuit in 1:35.993, the only rider to go under 1:36, beating fellow countryman Troy Bayliss (Ducati) in the process. Third was Ruben Xaus (Ducati), with Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) fourth. Six out of the top seven fastest bikes in Superpole are Ducatis, so Troy did amazingly well to put his Yamaha at the top of the pile. Troy – 1st, 1:35.993 I couldn’t honestly remember if this Superpole win was number forty-one or forty-two, but it feels sweet to win it and even sweeter that I had to beat six Ducatis to do it. All weekend we’ve been working really hard on our race set-up and I feel pretty confident about tomorrow’s races now. We changed the bike a little for Superpole, so that we had better grip, and it worked out very well. It’s a bit of a Ducati circuit, so I’m really happy to put one over them today. Anders Andersson from Ohlins has been a big help this weekend, so I’d like to thank him and the whole team for helping me get Superpole number 42! More, from a press release issued by Team YZF Yamaha: Corser (Yamaha) in front of 6 Ducatis Troy Corser deserved one more time the name of “Mr Superpole” when he performed this difficult task for the 42nd time in his career, which is the record. Shinichi Nakatomi was 20th. On Friday, Shinichi Nakatomi qualified with the 21st time in 1’38.652, 1.789 behind the provisional pole position. On Saturday, he was quicker with a time of 1’38.133. It was worth the 20th place, 1.721 behind the fastest time. He missed the qualification for the Superpole session for four tenths of a second. Troy Corser on a Yamaha was the quickest of the qualifying practice in front of the Ducatis of Troy Bayliss and Jacob Smrz. In the Superpole, Corser did a great achievement when he finished first in front of the 6 Ducati riders Bayliss, Xaus, Fabrizio, Biaggi, Lanzi et Smrz. More, from a press release issued by Sterilgarda Go Eleven: Sterilgarda Go Eleven powered to a great second qualifying session at Misano and tomorrow both its rider are going to start from the best lines of the grid. Ruben Xaus and Max Biaggi are going to start their race from the first and the second row respectively, both with the same goal: enjoining the crowd of followers expected to come at WSBK 8th round by giving them great performances. Also Alex Polita is going to start from the second row of the FIM Superstock1000 race. He will try to get immediateley into the leading pack in order to finish the race into the first postions. He needs a great result to recover points on the ranking after the poor no-points round at Nurburgring. MAX BIAGGI | Ducati 1098 RS | 5th best time in 1’36.506: “In Superpole I would have had the opportunity to get a light better result but I got cramps in my hand which slowed my movements. However I’m going to start from a good position on a track which I like and which suits the features of our bike fairly. I would like to enjoy our large followers and there are all the makings of a good Sunday”. RUBEN XAUS | Ducati 1098 RS | 3rd best time in 1’36.189: “I ran a good Superpole and the bike worked perfectly. The team did a great job and we fixed the problem with the weight balancing which gave me difficulties during the morning second timed session. I was very quick with the race-tyre and that allows me to feel confident for the race in which I’m sure I’ll be among the stars”. ALEX POLITA | Ducati 1098R | 7th best time in 1’40.615: “I’ll be expected to perform a great race tomorrow. I still have some setting problem but I feel confident I’ll get everything ready after the warm-up. A good start will be crucial in order to capitalize all my will of revenge which might drive me to a gold result”. More, from a press release issued by Team Pedercini: Team Pedercini is satisfied with its qualifying second day at Misano Adriatico for the 8th round of the World Superbike Championship. Ayrton Badovini succeeded to take back his Kawasaki ZX10 to run the Superpole after which the young rider was able to qualify sixteenth on the grid, a good starting position in order to power to a great performance. As well Vittorio Iannuzzo is going to start from the seventh line of the grid. The Italian rider improved his yesterday result although he is not fully satisfied with the set-up; Iannuzzo in going to work to get everything ready when he will test different setting which might suit the motorbike to his riding style. The STK1000 couple Aldrovandi-Tiberio ran into few setting problems and so closes the qualifying in the middle of the grid. Aldovrandi is going to start form the 19th place while Tiberio from the 22nd position. AYRTON BADOVINI | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 16th time in 1’37.962: “I’m really satisfied with the opportunity to run the Superpole, a little less satisfied with the result. Unfortunately we still have to fix a problem caused by the qualifying tyre on the front, while it doesn’t happen with the race-tyre. That influenced my speed in the slow-part of the track where the tyre pushed too much driving the fork into a crisis. During tomorrow’s warm-up I will take my decision on the kind of tyre to use, my goal is to finish both the race into the points”. VITTORIO IANNUZZO | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 25th time in 1’38.873: “I have been not able to find a setting to ride as I wish. We fixed the chattering at the rear but the motorbike pushes to much out of corners. We find a solution on the end of the afternoon free practice and I liked it; I will try to fine-tune it in the warm-up of tomorrow morning”. More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Brilliant 42nd Career Superpole for Corser Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) was the fastest rider going into the Superpole contest at Misano and despite being down in the first two splits he rallied on the final section of the 4.226km circuit to record an outstanding 1’35.993 second lap. That new track best time delivered Corser his 42nd career Superpole win, extending his record to exactly twice as many as the next best riders in the all-time rankings. Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) continued to try and find an ideal set-up for his machine in practice today and qualified 14th in Superpole, making for a fourth row start for Sunday’s 24 lap races. Haga’s team will now make final adjustments to the machine in morning warm-up tomorrow, but all who know Haga understand that he can fight for podiums almost irrespective of his qualifying position. The Misano circuit has proved to be bumpier than last year, but its altered layout proved no challenge to Corser, who was simply peerless in getting the most out of the available grip from the track surface in the two days of qualifying and practice. He is looking for his first win of the 2008 season, despite some tremendous front-running rides and five podium finishes so far. Such was the intensity of the practice sessions that Corser and Haga were the only Yamaha riders inside the top 16 places after regulation qualifying, and thus David Checa (Yamaha GMT94) in 18th place was not in Superpole, despite setting a time only 1.462 seconds from Corser’s pre Superpole best. Shinichi Nakatomi (Team YZF Yamaha) earned a 20th spot on the grid, with Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha GMT94) 21st fastest. Troy Corser (1st – 1’35.993 – Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “Practice has been going well and we’ve found a good setting for the race tomorrow. We made some changes for Superpole, and it helped the bike. I feel I can push the bike as hard as I want to and it feels just like it did in Germany. It’s always good to beat Ducati here in qualifying or Superpole or a race. It is going to be two long races tomorrow in the heat, so we’ll see how we go then.” Noriyuki Haga (14th – 1’37.395 – Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “I am not completely happy with the set up we have right now and we will have to find something more for tomorrow, in the warm-up session. It has not been as simple in practice as we hoped it would be but we know which direction to go in and we still have the chance to check our final set-up before the races. For sure I expect the races to be better than qualifying.” Massimo Meregalli (Team Manager, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “Troy did a great job today and all weekend, and is ready to race on Sunday. We know Nori and for me tomorrow he will find something more. He is not 100% happy with his bike set-up but in my mind I know he can be right there tomorrow. Troy is happy with all things on the bike and is not just fast over one lap. I feel very positive about the chances for good results from both riders. It will be very hot, but it always is here, and we know where we stand with tyres.”