FIM Superbike World Championship Nurburgring, Germany June 14, 2008 Superpole Qualifying Results (all on Pirelli tires):

1. Max NEUKIRCHNER (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:55.471 2. Troy BAYLISS (Ducati 1098 F08), 1:55.791 3. Carlos CHECA (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:55.888 4. Noriyuki HAGA (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:56.401 5. Michel FABRIZIO (Ducati 1098 F08), 1:56.436 6. Troy CORSER (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:56.522 7. Lorenzo LANZI (Ducati 1098 RS08), 1:56.574 8. Max BIAGGI (Ducati 1098 RS08), 1:56.918 9. Karl MUGGERIDGE (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:56.980 10. Ruben XAUS (Ducati 1098 RS08), 1:57.053 11. Jakub SMRZ (Ducati 1098 RS08), 1:57.112 12. Ryuichi KIYONARI (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:57.143 13. Regis LACONI (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:57.301 14. Fonsi NIETO (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:57.491 15. Sebastien GIMBERT (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:57.514 16. Yukio KAGAYAMA (Suzuki GSX-R1000), no time recorded in Superpole

The Rest of the Grid:

17. David CHECA (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:58.180 18. Gregorio LAVILLA (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:58.322 19. Shinichi NAKATOMI (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:58.512 20. Kenan SOFUOGLU (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:58.542 21. Makoto TAMADA (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:58.568 22. Ayrton BADOVINI (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:58.654 23. Russel HOLLAND (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:59.427 24. Shuehi AOYAMA (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:59.488 25. Robero ROLFO (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:59.690 26. Vittorio IANNUZZO (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:59.789 27. Jason PRIDMORE (Honda CBR1000RR), 2:00.465 28. Loic NAPOLEONE (Yamaha YZF-R1), 2:01.062

More, from a press release issued by HANNspree Ten Kate Honda:

Checa secured front row start after blistering Superpole lap

HANNspree Ten Kate Honda rider Carlos Checa made a fantastic recovery after struggling through the second day of qualifying and secured a third place on the grid after a blistering Superpole lap.

Issues with the electronics on his bike forced him to drop down from his provisional third place secured in QP1 to 12th in the second qualifying practice. Checa overcame the issues with his machine towards the end of the second free practice and superbly powered his Honda CBR1000RR to a front row start in Superpole qualifying.

Team mate Ryuichi Kiyonari pushed hard in his timed second practice and put his machine on 12th place on the grid for tomorrow’s race while HANNspree Ten Kate Honda jr. rider Kenan Sofuoglu will start from 20th.

Carlos Checa:

“We struggled through the qualifying and couldn’t find enough grip. Finally I was able to improve on the qualifier in the second free practice session. When I went out on my Superpole lap my focus was sharp and concentrated hard on improving. When my mechanic told me my lap time I was happy to take more then a second off the fastest time. I am excited about the improvement and feel confident for tomorrow’s race.”

“I thought I would drop down the field with some fast riders still having to ride their lap. Haga was going to take pole but he made some mistakes. Max Neukirchner did a fantastic job on his lap on which I want to congratulate him. It will be good for him to start his home race from pole position. I thought Haga was going to take pole but he made some mistakes.”

Ryuichi Kiyonari:

“The bike felt a lot better than it yesterday and I had a good feeling with the machine today. I also start to understand the circuit better. We tried a different setting this morning as I had to improve on my pace. We managed to improve on some points. We made some small adjustments to the suspension and the balance of the machine, but overall the set up is good.” “I hope I can make a good star tomorrow. I did manage to overtake a lot of riders in the last riders, if I can do the same here I can fight with the top group.”

Kenan Sofuoglu: “I don’t have much to say about my 20th position. I haven’t been able to improve much on the time I set in the first qualifying. I improved just a second and I couldn’t qualify for Superpole.”

“I hope I can improve my pace tomorrow. If I have a good start and follow the fast riders I can hopefully bring some points back home.”

More, from a press release issued by Team Pedercini:

Team Pedercini’s riders have been not able to improve their results during the second day of qualifying on the German track of Nurburgring. Despite that, the Italian Team aims to get precious points in tomorrow’s race. The second timed session has been run on a dry track and all the riders were able to ride in good weather conditions. Also Iannuzzo and Badovini cut some tenths off their yesterday time but, on the other hand, the session has not been helpful to find the best setting for the race. The Italian duo will try to fill the gap during tomorrow’s warm-up when they will test the ultimate solutions. AYRTON BADOVINI | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 22nd time in 1’58.654: “I felt confident to take a better starting position but, anyway, nothing is compromised. My race pace is close to my best time and that allows me to aim for a final position into the points. I hope in tomorrow morning warm-up in order to make another step forward. If it will rain, everything will be reset and I will have to focus on getting immediately a good feeling with the track which yesterday seemed to me to be really slippery when is wet”. VITTORIO IANNUZZO | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 26th time in 1’59.789: “I still do not have everything ready for the race because today we haven’t found the right settings to decrease the rear chattering. Tomorrow morning we are going to test the ultimate solutions and then we will decide how to face the race. My goal is to improve my performance both on the wet or on the dry. I would like to get my season first points, although my hand is still not at the top due to the injury happened in Australia”.

More, from a press release issued by Yamaha:

Haga starts from the front row

Despite a couple of near highsides during his Superpole lap Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) clung on to both his machine and a front row start for Sunday’s 20-lap Superbike races at the Nurburgring. The Japanese rider had been fourth fastest going into Superpole and replicated that performance in Superpole, with a lap time of 1’56.401.

Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) just missed out on a front row start, setting a best lap of 1’56.522 to go sixth on the grid, and take a second row start. Local rider Max Neukirchner scored the Superpole win, with a 1’55.471, the absolute SBK track record at this new 5.137km Nurburgring layout. Race pace for each official Yamaha rider is already strong and they have both completed a race simulation at a high pace. Shortly after the Superpole contest was finished the skies opened and the threat of rain at this hillside circuit became a reality. There is still a chance of rain on raceday, and there has already been a wet session of sorts, on the very first day of practice. Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha GMT94) was a superb sixth before the Superpole contest kicked off, but after experiencing some difficulties in getting his rear tyre up to working temperature in his Superpole lap he slid down the order, ending up 15th fastest. 14th David Checa (Yamaha GMT94) missed out on Superpole qualification by a single place, while Shinichi Nakatomi (Team YZF Yamaha) improved on his day one ranking to start the races 19th.

Noriyuki Haga (4th – 1’56.401 – Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “I almost highsided twice during my Superpole lap and that pulled my shoulder a bit, so I went to the Clinica Mobile to check it out. Everything is fine, just painful. We changed the bike setting from yesterday in regular qualifying and that went quite well, so we should be OK for tomorrow – if we have a dry race! Superpole was OK but we had a bit of a problem with the suspension settings. We realised problem was, so it’s not a worry for tomorrow.”

Troy Corser (6th – 1’56.522 – Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “I made a mistake in Superpole and that stopped me challenging for a front row start. We’re all set for the races tomorrow, just a couple of things to try in warm-up to see if they are even better. Our race pace is better in comparison with our single lap times anyway. I was using the camber on the kerbs in a couple of places, quite deliberately, which is something I remembered I could do from last time we raced here in 1999.”

Massimo Meregalli (Team Manager, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “It would have been ideal to have both riders on the front row but the Superpole result was OK and we are quite confident. Our race simulations have been good with both riders so let’s see for tomorrow. Nori is OK, no problem for the races.”

Sebastien Gimbert (15th – 1’57.516 seconds – GMT94 Yamaha) “I am very happy to have got into Superpole and to have qualified sixth overall. My Superpole lap was difficult, with lots of slides. Nothing we could do about it, the tyre just wasn’t working at its best after such a short time on the track.”

More, from a press release issued by FGSport Group:

Neukirchner powers to Superpole in home round at the Nurburgring

Max Neukirchner (Alstare Suzuki) powered to a second Superpole win of the season in his home round of the HANNspree FIM Superbike World Championship at the Nurburgring. The 25-year-old from Stollberg in the former East Germany, set an incredible time of 1 minute 55.471 seconds around the 5.137 km circuit on his Suzuki GSX-R1000. The remainder of the front row was made up of riders from three different manufacturers; Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) was three-tenths of a second down in second place, followed by Carlos Checa (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) and Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB), who ten days ago was undergoing surgery on a broken collarbone.

Max Neukirchner: “It was an unbelievable lap, I was really fast. I’m so happy for my team, they did a great job this weekend for my home race and to help me get my second pole position of the season. I hope the weather will be fine tomorrow and a lot of fans come here with the German flag and say ‘go go go, Max!”

Troy Bayliss: “All the practices have been going quite well for us, when I saw Carlos’s time I was pretty surprised and I thought that’s around where my limit is going to be. I didn’t expect Max to do such a good job, that was incredible the lap he pulled out. We’re hoping that it’s going to be a nice day tomorrow because the conditions have been quite mixed already. Although we’re looking good in those situations, we’d love it to be a dry track because I think there’s going to be a really good turn-out here. The Nurburgring is a lovely place with a great atmosphere so I’m looking forward to it.”

Carlos Checa: “Here we didn’t find the grip we had in America but we’ve been working on the bike to find more mechanical feeling with these tyres and finally it worked a bit better. I was confident with that feeling even with the qualifying tyres and on my Superpole lap the time came very good, then of course Troy and especially Max did a great lap time. We are on the first row and it’s very positive, I think we’ll catch up the pace and we’ll be looking good for tomorrow.”

Fifth place went to Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox), just a fraction away from another front row start. The young Italian was ahead of Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB), Lorenzo Lanzi (RG Ducati) and Max Biaggi (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati) whose second row start still gives him a chance of fighting for the win.

Ninth quickest time was clocked by Karl Muggeridge (DF Racing Honda), while Japan’s Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki Alstare) had to miss the Superpole session after crashing out in the afternoon’s free practice session and being taken to hospital with concussion.

Superpole: 1. Neukirchner M. (GER) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’55.471; 2. Bayliss T. (AUS) Ducati 1098 F08 1’55.791; 3. Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 1’55.888; 4. Haga N. (JPN) Yamaha YZF-R1 1’56.401; 5. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098 F08 1’56.436; 6. Corser T. (AUS) Yamaha YZF-R1 1’56.522; 7. Lanzi L. (ITA) Ducati 1098 RS 08 1’56.574; 8. Biaggi M. (ITA) Ducati 1098 RS 08 1’56.918; 9. Muggeridge K. (AUS) Honda CBR1000RR 1’56.980; 10. Xaus R. (ESP) Ducati 1098 RS 08 1’57.053; 11. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098 RS 08 1’57.112; 12. Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1’57.143; 13. Laconi R. (FRA) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’57.301; 14. Nieto F. (ESP) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’57.491; 15. Gimbert S. (FRA) Yamaha YZF-R1 1’57.514; 16. Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R1000.

FIM Supersport World Championship

Broc Parkes (Yamaha World Supersport) clinched his third pole position of the season for the Supersport race at the Nurburgring with a lap time of 2 minutes 00.015 seconds . The 26-year-old Australian, after clocking quickest time on the opening day, repeated the performance today to see off Britain’s Craig Jones (Parkalgar Honda) by almost half-a-second. Australian riders also made up the rest of the front row, with Joshua Brookes (Hannspree Stiggy Motorsport Honda) and Andrew Pitt (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) in third and fourth. On the second row can be found the surprise of the weekend, Mark Aitchison (Triumph Italia BE1) with Matthieu Lagrive (Intermoto Czech Honda) and German wild-card Arne Tode (G-Lab Racing Triumph), while Tommy Hill (Hannspree Honda Althea), who returned to racing this weekend after recovering from injuries suffered six months ago, set a superb eighth quickest time. The top two riders in the standings Joan Lascorz (Glaner Motocard.com Honda) and Fabien Foret (Yamaha World Supersport) could only manage eleventh and tenth quickest times respectively, the Frenchman ruining his day with a crash.

Times : 1. Parkes B. (AUS) Yamaha YZF-R6 2’00.015; 2. Jones C. (GBR) Honda CBR600RR 2’00.473; 3. Brookes J. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 2’00.669; 4. Pitt A. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 2’00.727; 5. Aitchison M. (AUS) Triumph 675 2’00.965; 6. Lagrive M. (FRA) Honda CBR600RR 2’00.967; 7. Tode A. (GER) Triumph 675 2’01.051; 8. Hill T. (GBR) Honda CBR600RR 2’01.115.

Superstock 1000 FIM Cup

Rain prevented the Superstock 1000 field from improving on Friday’s times, so pole position went to Brendan Roberts (Ducati Xerox Junior Team), who will be flanked on the front row by Maxime Berger (Hannspree IDS Ten Kate Honda), Davide Giugliano (Cruciani Moto Suzuki) and by wild-card Dominic Lammert (Suzuki International Europe). Fifth place went to championship leader, the Belgian Xavier Simeon (Alstare Suzuki), followed by Michele Pirro (Yamaha Lorenzini by Leoni), Matej Smrz (MS Honda) and Fabrizio Perotti (Cruciani Moto Suzuki), with Claudio Corti (Yamaha Motor Italia Junior Team) next up.

European 600 Superstock Championship Race

Patrick Vostarek (Intermoto Czech Honda) scored his first win of the year after a sprint finish with the championship leader Loris Baz (YZF Yamaha Junior Team) of France. The final podium slot went to Gino Rea (StoneBaker Yamaha) from Britain, who got the edge over Giuliano Gregorini (Lorini Honda), Marco Bussolotti (Yamaha Motor Italia Junior Team) and Dan Linfoot (StoneBaker Yamaha).

More, from a press release issued by Sterilgarda Go Eleven:

At the end of the second timed session of the WSBK seventh round, Team Sterilgarda Go Eleven feel confident with tomorrow’s race from which it will start from the second and third line on the grid thanks respectively to the performances of Max Biaggi (8th) and Ruben Xaus (10th). Despite a leaden sky, the rain didn’t fall during the qualifying second session although the weather was more wintry than summery. Hence, both the SBK riders of the team leaded by Marco Borciani were able to test and complete their fine-tune work. The ultimate settings will be decided tomorrow after the morning warm-up in which both the riders hope to bring the bike in dry trim. Unfortunately, on the other hand, the rain affected the second timed session of the FIM Superstock 1000 World Cup. As consequence, Alex Polita, who bettered his performance markedly this morning, will start from the 35th position on the grid. He will be forced to play a very attacking game in order to recover many positions. Although the points seem to be a mission impossible, “the Pirate” declared to be ready for the hard fought challenge. 

 MAX BIAGGI | Ducati 1098 RS | 8th time in 1’56.918: “I still have some problem, especially in the first part of the track where there is plenty of bumps caused by the F1. Even in the Superpole I got the most of the gap in that stretch of track, but I feel confident to find a good solution tomorrow during the warm-up when I will test a different setting. I cannot set any goal now because the rain might shift our ground”. 

RUBEN XAUS | Ducati 1098 RS | 10th time in 1’57.053: “I was forced to ride the spare machine during the Superpole due to my crash at the end of the free practice. I didn’t find immediately the feeling with the bike and so I was not able to do better than this, but I’m pretty satisfied with my result. Tomorrow I feel confident to be among the bests especially in the second part of the race. I hope to do a good start in order to break the trackers early on”. 

ALEX POLITA | Ducati 1098R | 35th time in 2’05.426: “I come from another unlucky day. Unfortunately I didn’t have the opportunity to recover from the back-lines due to the rain. What a bad luck! The sky has been leaden for all the day without rain except for our timed session. I will start from the far back of the grid and so recovering positions during the race will be really hard. Anyhow I will do my best as ever in order to take some points for the ranking. A good start will be vital”.

More, from a press release issued by PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse:

Qualifying Complete for Laconi and Tamada

Nurburgring, Germany, 14 June 2008 PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse competitor Régis Laconi took his Ninja ZX-10R to a 13th place in Superpole and now starts Sunday’s races from the fourth row of the grid.

Laconi was tenth going into Superpole, despite falling in the final untimed session and losing a couple of places on the timesheets, but in Superpole he never found the confidence and pace needed to get onto the front two rows.

Tamada, in his first ever visit to the Nürburgring, found it difficult to set-up his machine and he was 21st in qualifying, missing out on Superpole.

Weather conditions at the Nürburgring have been changeable throughout the weekend so far and more of the same is expected come raceday, Sunday 15th. Superpole was, however, held in dry conditions, with Laconi setting his best lap of 1’57.301 in the single lap competition for the top 16 grid places.

Régis Laconi: “It was hard to get back a good feeling after a crash in the timed session this morning, mainly because I am not sure why I crashed. The rear just slid out and I was off. I lost some time in the first section of the circuit all afternoon from then on. I am not happy with my starting position but I know I could have been faster had my mind not been disturbed a bit by the fall. After I sleep on it I know things will be much better tomorrow. The bike is quite good, we only had a little problem with the clutch in free practice, and that was fixed for Superpole. The bike should be good for the race itself.”

Makoto Tamada: “I cannot be satisfied about this morning’s result and we still are working to find the ideal set up on this particular track. We partly solved the problem before the final free practice session, by changing some aspects of the machine and I found a good feeling with the bike. That meant I was able to achieve a good race pace and maintain it. I’m quite optimistic for tomorrow, even if I know it will be difficult to make a good result starting from 21st place. But we have achieved a margin of improvement and we can close the gap. Tomorrow morning we will use the warm-up session to focus on the tyre choice. That is quite important considering the strange weather conditions we have had here.”

More, from a press release issued by Alstare Suzuki:

MAX DELIGHTS THE HOME FANS BY STORMING TO SUPERPOLE!

Team Alstare Suzuki rider Max Neukirchner delighted the home fans by taking Superpole at the Nürburgring today. The young German had to dig deep to beat Troy Bayliss (Ducati) and Carlos Checa (Honda), but he lapped the 5.137 kilometre circuit without mistake to end with a time of 1:55.471 – three tenths of a second quicker then his nearest rival.

Team Suzuki Alstare rider Fonsi Nieto had a Superpole to forget and finished 14th quickest, but team mate Yukio Kagayama missed Superpole completely! He crashed at the end of the free practice just before Superpole and hit his head and hand hard. Although the Clinica Mobile failed to find any broken bones, Yukio was taken to a local hospital for a check-up. Depending on the results, Yukio may be forced to sit out tomorrow’s pair of 20 lap races.

Max – 1st, 1:55.471 I saw that Carlos had done a very fast lap and I knew my lap would have to be perfect to beat him, but my lap was very good and without mistake. I am so happy to win Superpole, especially in front of my home fans and it is a very special feeling. I want to thank my whole team for the good job they have done this weekend. I am happy with my bike set-up for the race, but I hope that it doesn’t rain because that would be a shame for all the spectators – and all the riders of course!

Fonsi – 14th, 1:57.491 My Superpole was not good – as usual. I am not sure why it’s always this way. The fourth row of the grid gives me a lot of work to do in the races tomorrow. I tried my best in Superpole and pushed as hard as I could, but I made a couple of small errors and that was enough to push me down the grid. It’s a pity because I found a good set-up in practice and qualifying and know that I can do well in the races.

Yukio – 16th, (DNS Superpole) No comment because of awaiting results of tests.

More, from a press release issued by Xerox Ducati:

BAYLISS SECOND AND FABRIZIO FIFTH ON TOMORROW’S START LINE AT NUERBURGRING

Nuerburgring (Germany) Saturday 14 June: Troy Bayliss and Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) both had a very positive day today at the Nuerburgring despite very changeable weather conditions. After having qualified fastest for Superpole, Bayliss hoped to be able to take the pole position but in the end an extremely fast lap from Neukirchner – in front of his home crowd – meant that the Australian had to be satisfied with a second place start for tomorrow’s races. Meanwhile Fabrizio improved on his best lap time during Superpole and will line up in fifth place on the grid, having lost out on a front row start by just a fraction of a second. Only the fastest three riders – Neukirchner, Bayliss and Checa – managed to lap today in under 1m56.

Troy Bayliss 1m55.7s “The practices have all been going well. In Superpole I thought I could beat Carlos’, albeit very fast, time but I didn’t realise during my lap that Max had already gone faster than Carlos – I forgot to look at my lap board when I went out so when I came down the straight I thought I’d got it but then I saw that Max had already gone faster and so I was second… Not that I could have gone any faster even if I’d known, so well done to Max – taking the pole in front of your home crowd is a very special thing. But tomorrow will be difficult and we’ll see how it turns out tomorrow.”

Michel Fabrizio 1m56.4s “I’m very satisfied with the lap I made during Superpole, even though I am a little disappointed by the fact that I missed out on fourth place by just three-hundredths of a second but anyway, we are happy with the result. We worked hard today and I was able to improve on the eighth position that I held before the start of Superpole so much as to be able to start from fifth place on the grid tomorrow. I hope to get two better starts than I did in the last round at Miller and I also hope that the weather is fine tomorrow as we have done very little preparation if it were to be wet.”

More, from a press release issued by Troy Corser’s publicist:

SMALL MISTAKE COSTS TROY THE FRONT ROW.

The smallest of errors on his Superpole lap cost Troy a place on the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s seventh round of this year’s Superbike World Championship at the Nürburgring. He had a problem with his rear qualifying tyre in turn one and then had an out-of-seat experience in the next corner before carrying on to complete his Superpole lap with the sixth fastest time. Local hero Max Neukirchner (Suzuki) took Superpole, with series leader Troy Bayliss (Ducati) second, Carlos Checa (Honda) and Troy’s Yamaha team mate Noriyuki Haga fourth.

Troy – 6th, 1:56.522 In Superpole, the smallest of mistakes or problems can cost you dearly and that’s what happened this afternoon. I had a ‘moment’ in turn one and was out of the saddle in turn two and that combination was enough to put me on the second row of the grid. But, I am reasonably happy because I think we’ve got a pretty decent bike set-up for the race. I know which front tyre we will use and the rear tyre choice will depend on the weather tomorrow.

I intentionally used the kerbs a lot today because I found that they had a bit more grip then the asphalt at the side of the track. If I didn’t use the kerbs, I found that the tyres span more! Turn one is very tight, so I have to make sure I get good starts in both races and keep out of trouble as I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of bumping and barging going on.