2007 FIM Superbike World Championship Vallelunga, Italy September 29, 2007 Superpole Results: 1. Troy BAYLISS (Ducati 999F07), 1:35.890 2. Troy CORSER (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:36.016 3. Ruben XAUS (Ducati 999F06), 1:36.737 4. Max BIAGGI (Suzuki GSX-R1000K7), 1:36.925 5. Noriyuki HAGA (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:36.996 6. Lorenzo LANZI (Ducati 999F07), 1:37.428 7. Michel FABRIZIO (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:37.430 8. James TOSELAND (Honda CBR1000RR), no time 9. Roberto ROLFO (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:37.589 10. Shinichi NAKATOMI (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:37.775 11. Marco BORCIANI (Ducati 999F06), 1:37.902 12. Max NEUKIRCHNER (Suzuki GSX-R1000K6), 1:37.942 13. Regis LACONI (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:38.067 14. Jakub SMRZ (Ducati 999F05), 1:38.110 15. Vittorio IANNUZZO (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:38.153 16. Fonsi NIETO (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:38.619 More, from a press release issued by Xerox Ducati: BAYLISS (DUCATI XEROX) BLASTS TO HIS SIXTH SUPERPOLE OF THE YEAR AND HIS 18TH ALL-TIME AT VALLELUNGA Vallelunga (Italy), Saturday 29 September : Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) became the only rider to set a sub-1m36s lap this weekend at Vallelunga as he powered to a sixth Superpole of the year. The two-times World Superbike champion will start tomorrow’s two races of the penultimate round of the championship ahead of his fellow Aussie Troy Corser (Yamaha), Ruben Xaus (Ducati Sterilgarda) and Max Biaggi (Suzuki). Ducati Xerox team-mate Lorenzo Lanzi also put in a good performance and lines up in sixth place on row 2 behind Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) “It’s been quite an up-and-down weekend for me so far” declared Troy. “To have three crashes is not ideal, but sometimes you learn something from the crashes. One we were playing with the setting of the bike by lowering it and we lost ground clearance; another I bottomed out the forks and the third I was on a hard tyre. I was pretty happy with my Superpole lap, but I was a bit worried when I saw Troy had done a flat 36, he’s taken a lot of Superpoles over the years and to come out on top you have to do a really good job against him. However I’m happy, I’m on the front row and we’ll see how things go tomorrow.” “Considering I’ve hardly ever tested on this track, I can say that my result is not bad” commented Lorenzo. “I’m satisfied, the bike is going really well and I’m pleased with the race set-up, which is the most important thing. I really want to finish off the season in a good way, because it’s been a bit of an uphill struggle. I did a long-run of almost 20 laps, setting some good times. I like the track, the first part is really quick and for the race tomorrow I’m sure I can get a good result, even though 25 laps are really long.” More, from a press release issued by Scuderia SC Caracchi GOOD RESULT FOR SMRZ, BAD DAY FOR NANNELLI AT VALLELUNGA The final practice day at Vallelunga has had two different faces for the Scuderia SC Caracchi people. To a good performance in Superbike by Jakub Smrz, that failed the third row of the starting grid by a whisker, , opposes the bad adventure of Gianluca Nannelli in Supersport which, knocked by another rider during the final qualifying session, crashed with bad injuries that will not allow him to race tomorrow. “Yesterday we had several problems.” commented a satisfied Jakub Smrz at the end of the day. “But I was rather sure to improve today, and that happened. After qualifying I got easily to enter the partecipants to Superpole, wher I made a good race and I failed the third row just for only 2/10 of second. Anyway I feel good, i agree this track and the bike performs well, for tomorrow I’m confident in two good races, fighting to enter the top ten position.” Gianluca Nannelli is on the contrary rather disappointed: after an hard work to find a solution for yesterday’s machine problems, the bike was quite good, but after only four laps, when “Nanna” rejoined the track and was riding slowly close the right side of the circuit, he has been hardly bumped in the back by the Hill’s Yamaha. Gianluca has been throw out of the saddle and crashed, while the bike went on standing through al the escape space out of the Cimini corner. Transported to Medical Center and then to Clinica Mobile the medical staff diagnosis said: fracture to the small finger at the right hand, a bad contusion at right shoulder and at left knee, already injured in Silverstone, and a light trauma at his head with double vision at left eye. For all those injuries Nannelli has been declared unfit to race tomorrow. “It has been actually a black week end.” said Nannelli back from Clinica Mobile “The knock has been very violent and the shoulder, and more the injured knee, give me a lot of pain. We made a good work and the bike finally was performing well. This new accident has been very disappointing and I do not understand what was Hill thinking when he bumped me. I was at the extreme side of the track and he had free way everywhere! I feel unhappy for the Vallelunga public, I would say good bay to the fans from Rome with a superb race and, on the contrary, I will miss the presence too.” More, from a press release issued by HANNspree Ten Kate Honda: Toseland on second row for penultimate round An eventful Superpole session concluded the second day of qualifying for round 12 of the 2007 World Superbike Championship at Vallelunga today. HANNspree Ten Kate Honda’s James Toseland will start tomorrow’s 24-lap race from the second row of the grid, while team-mate Roberto Rolfo qualified in ninth position for a third row start. Toseland has been consistently fast during the free practice and qualifying sessions at the 4.110km circuit and he entered this afternoon’s Superpole as the fourth quickest rider. The current series leader was in the middle of a potential pole-securing lap when he lost the front end of his CBR1000RR and crashed out. According to Superpole rules, Toseland will now start the race from eighth position on the grid. This is a minor set-back in the British rider’s title chase, however with a good race set-up already in place and his sheer determination, Toseland is still aiming for the podium tomorrow. His closest title rival Noriyuki Haga will also begin the race from the second row of the grid. Team-mate Rolfo has put in a consistent performance over the past two days and was hoping for a place in the second row today. He qualified for Superpole as the ninth fastest rider but just missed out on his ambition, securing a lap time of 1’37.589 for a ninth place start. Ronald ten Kate, Team Manager: “It was a very unlucky Superpole for James – he was looking pretty good on his lap and it would have definitely been front row and maybe even a possible pole. Lucky for us, he qualified in fourth position in the practices so he only dropped back a row into eighth position. Looking at the race pace, I think we can definitely fight for the podium tomorrow. “Roby almost made it to the second row. He has a third row start and his race pace also seems to be good and I’m sure he’ll be able to move up some places in the race.” James Toseland: “I’m trying to take this weekend as any normal weekend and in any normal weekend I’ll always try my best to get pole position and that’s exactly what I did today. I just misjudged the entry to the left chicane and it’s a little bit bumpy there – the bike just skipped on the bumps and there was no way I could save it. Obviously, I am really disappointed but I’m on second row, we’ve got a great race set-up and the positive thing is that I’m not injured so I’m still up for it.” Roberto Rolfo: “I am a little disappointed because my aim was to be on the second row and I just missed out on that. I am pleased with the set-up of the bike and the feeling is ok, but we will do some more work in warm-up tomorrow to be able to push forward in the race. I am hoping for a good start so that I can try to get up to the front.” More, from a press release issued by Team YZF Yamaha Brilliant Superpole for Nakatomi Qualified in 13th position, Shinichi Nakatomi did a fantastic job in the Superpole and realized the 10th time. It is his best personal result ever, after been 13th at Misano last year and at Brno this season. The first free practice session on Friday morning went quite well for Nakatomi with the 11th time in 1:39.8 at 1.7 of the quickest time by Troy Corser (Yamaha). Later on, the Japanese rider performed even better in the afternoon during the first qualifying session. He was 9th with a time of 1:38.5 only one full second behind the provisional pole man Troy Corser. He kept on progressing on Saturday, with the excellent time of 1:37.7 in the Superpole session. He will start for the first time since he entered the Superbike Wold Championship from the third row of the grid. Troy Bayliss (Ducati) was the fastest in Superpole, in front of Troy Corser (Yamaha), Ruben Xaus (Ducati), Max Biaggi (Suzuki) and Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha). The championship leader James Toseland crashed without damage during his Superpole lap and he will start tomorrow both races from the 8th position on the grid. Shinichi Nakatomi: “The Friday session went very well. It was more difficult on Saturday morning. We changed the setting and I had a small chattering problem. It was difficult to make a good time. During the free practice session before the Superpole, we tried many different settings. Step by step, the bike was better. During the last five minutes, we tried something new going the opposite direction. It worked well and this is how I could do a quick Superpole lap.” Martial Garcia (team manager): “Shinichi Nakatomi had a great first day, but the next morning he could not go faster because of a chattering problem. He still qualified 13th for Superpole, which is the best result of his career. He was only 1.5 seconds off the best time. He now has his confidence back by the end of the season. He did a superb job in the Superpole, which is a great gift to all the team members for their hard work and dedication.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Superpole Showdown Sees Corser Start from Second Corser will start from second on the grid in tomorrow’s races, having been beaten by Bayliss at the last minute to the top slot by 0.126 seconds. His team mate Haga took fifth position in a day of set-up challenges and Superpole drama. This morning’s qualifying session was an unremarkable affair with both riders focusing on finding the best set-up for the race. Corser started top of the leader board and remained there until towards the end of the session. Despite improving his own time by 0.009 seconds he was marginally beaten to the top slot by Bayliss and Xaus. Haga went eighth fastest in qualifying, concerning himself with his settings rather than grid position. It was in Superpole that events got exciting. Haga was first of the Yamaha Motor Italia riders out of the box and he was the first rider in the session to set a 1’36 time, despite suffering with vision problems caused by his visor. He was later knocked off the top spot by Biaggi, who was then ousted himself by Haga’s team mate. With only three riders left to go out Corser set a blistering 1’36.016 to take pole, only to be beaten by the slimmest of margins by Bayliss. Team Yamaha YZF rider Shinichi Nakatomi suffered some bike chattering problems during this morning’s qualifying session, which prevented him from improving on his time from yesterday. He still managed to qualify in 13th, allowing him into the afternoon’s Superpole session. In one of his best Superpole sessions of the season, Nakatomi went out and did his best lap time of the weekend to claim tenth starting place. Bayliss and Corser are joined on the front row tomorrow by Xaus and Biaggi. Haga will be looking to reduce his 41-point gap up to Toseland, who starts in eighth following a crash in Superpole. With 73 WSB podium finishes in his career so far, Haga will show his usual determination to climb those podium steps in this penultimate round and join Edwards in fourth place of all-time podium finishes. Troy Corser (2nd – 1’36.016 – Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “That Superpole lap was the best I could do – it was 100% maximum! There was no risk of crashing; it was just a very smooth consistent lap. I thought it would be good for the front row but I was very pleased with the result. The first section was fast and good but I just lost a little bit of drive at the bottom of the hill in the second section. We’ve got a good race set-up for tomorrow. We’ll just try and few small adjustments in the morning to make sure. The two bikes are set up a bit differently at the moment – one is better for the front, one is better for the rear – and I think we’ll try and make them a bit closer together. But overall I’ve felt good on the bike in every session so far this weekend. I’m very happy with how this weekend has gone so far!” Noriyuki Haga (5th – 1’37.825 – Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “As I exited the pit box I noticed that everything looked a bit strange through my visor, as if I was wearing prescription glasses. I removed a rip-off, then another but it didn’t make any difference – I just couldn’t see very clearly. This made me nervous for the whole of my Superpole lap and put me off. Other than that I was feeling good on the Superpole lap; it was just my visor causing me problems. But the bike’s feeling better and better with every session. I have chosen a tyre for tomorrow and feel all set for the race now. We’ll just make a final check tonight and then we’re ready.” Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “Today went well for both riders. We have the race tyre chosen for both of them and we are confident of the distance the tyre can do. Troy’s Superpole lap was incredible. It was unbelievable that it wasn’t enough to get pole position! Unfortunately, an unusual problem put Nori on the second row but it isn’t a problem for him as we know he’s good at starting well. Tomorrow I think we will see some really good racing in front of a lot people. Let’s wait for tomorrow.” Shinichi Nakatomi (10th – 1’37.775 – Team Yamaha YZF) “We changed some of the settings for this morning but I had a small problem with chattering. This made it difficult for me to be quicker than yesterday. During the afternoon practice session we tried a lot of different settings to try and stop the chattering. Bit by bit the bike was getting better. But then in the last five minutes I decided to take the opposite direction with the settings and the bike felt great! That’s why I was able t do such a good Superpole lap. I’m very pleased with tenth place and I hope I can have a good race tomorrow.” Martial Garcia (Team Manager, Team Yamaha YZF) “Nakatomi couldn’t improve on yesterday’s time because of the chattering problem but he still qualified for Superpole. This is also perhaps his best qualifying result in his career. The weekend’s progress so far has shown me that he has his confidence back for the end of the season and I’m very pleased for him.” More, from a press release issued by Troy Corser’s publicist: TROY MISSES SUPERPOLE BY THE NARROWEST OF MARGINS! Troy put in an absolute blinder of a Superpole lap at Vallelunga today, but then had to sit and watch his fellow countryman Troy Bayliss go faster, by less than two tenths of a second! Troy’s lap had been about as perfect as it could’ve been, but Bayliss somehow found something special and managed a lap under 1:36 – the first rider to do so this weekend. Third quickest, behind the two Troys, is Spaniard Ruben Xaus (Ducati), with local hero Max Biaggi (Suzuki) fourth. Series leader James Toseland was on course for Superpole himself, but crashed out instead. He now faces a difficult start from the second row of the grid in tomorrow’s 24-lap races. Troy, 2nd – 1:36.016 My Superpole lap was as good as I could’ve done and although I thought it might have been good enough, you can never rule out Troy (Bayliss). I sort of thought that I might get into the 1:35s myself, so hats off to him for putting in such a lap and taking Superpole. I’m pretty pleased with the way my Yamaha is working around here and feel that I can really get some good results tomorrow. I hope that there’s not a huge variation in temperature tomorrow because the tyres have been working pretty consistently OK today and I’m happy with our set-up – even though it has to be a bit of a compromise at a circuit like this. More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service: Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Max Biaggi set the fourth quickest time in Superpole at Vallelunga and will start tomorrow’s pair of 24-lap races from the front row of the grid. His team mate Yukio Kagayama failed to make the 16-rider Superpole shoot-out, due to pain in his right hand and knee – a legacy of his crash just two weeks ago at the Eurospeedway Lausitz. But tomorrow morning he will try and ride in the warm-up and see if it is possible to race. Superpole was full of drama, with series leader James Toseland (Honda) crashing out when he was on course for the fastest lap. In the end, reigning champion Troy Bayliss (Ducati) just managed to beat his fellow countryman Troy Corser (Yamaha) to take Superpole. Third fastest was Spaniard Ruben Xaus (Ducati), with Biaggi fourth. Max Biaggi – 4th, 1:36.925: “Being on the front row is always important at any racetrack and I’m happy that I will be starting in a good position tomorrow. For me, it’s a great pleasure to race here so close to Rome – the headquarters of FG Sport and also my home town. Today I wore some special leathers, with the design of the Italian flag and the logo of Roma football club – my favourite team. I hope that I can make two good results tomorrow and give a lot of pleasure to all the fans who will be here.” Yukio Kagayama – 20th, 1:39.190: “My problem today is my right hand and right knee. Yesterday my knee did not feel so bad, but today it was much worse. I went to the Clinica Mobile and had a pain-killing injection in my knee and that was OK for a while. But then I lost feeling in my knee and I couldn’t move around on the bike properly. My hand was also very sore and I wasn’t able to do many laps or get into Superpole. At the moment, it would be very difficult to race tomorrow, but I will see how I feel in the morning warm-up, before I make any decision.” Final WSB Qualifying: 1 Bayliss (Aus-Ducati) 1:35.890, 2 Corser (Aus-Yamaha) 1:36.016, 3 Xaus (E-Ducati) 1:36.737, 4 Max Biaggi (I-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1:36.925, 5 Haga (J-Yamaha) 1:36.996, 6 Lanzi (I-Ducati) 1:367.428, 7 Fabrizio (I-Honda) 1:37.430, 8 Toseland (GB-Honda) 1:37.371, 9 Rolfo (I-Honda) 1:37.589, 10 Nakatomi (J-Yamaha) 1:37.775. 20 Yukio Kagayama (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1:39.190. SUPERSTOCK 1000: Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Xavier Simeon kept up the pressure on his Italian rivals at Vallelunga today and finished with the third fastest lap in final qualifying. He suffered a small gearing problem in the morning session but the team made some changes to the bike for the afternoon session and he was able to lap faster and more smoothly. Ducati rider Niccolo Canepa took pole position with a lap of 1:40.806 with Claudio Corti (Yamaha) second ahead of Simeon. Xavier Simeon – 3rd, 1:41.056: “I’m very happy to be the third quickest today and start the race from the front row of the grid. I’m particularly happy to do so well at my first time at this track, especially when you consider that my main rivals have all got a lot more experience of this circuit than me. In the morning practice, the gearing was too long and I couldn’t do the fast laps I wanted. So we made some changes for the afternoon and I was much happier. There is not much difference in the top lap times, so I think it’ll be a close race tomorrow. My aim is to make a good start, see what happens and play it from there, but I’ll be chasing a podium for sure.” Final Superstock 1000 Qualifying: 1 Canepa (I-Ducati) 1:40.806, 2 Corti (I-Yamaha) 1:41.016, 3 Xavi Simeon (B-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1:41.056, 4 Dionisi (I-Suzuki) 1:41.117, 5 Aitchison (Aus-Suzuki) 1:41.351, 6 Roberts (Aus-Ducati) 1:41.412.