2007 FIM Supersport World Championship Brands Hatch, England August 3, 2007 Provisional Qualifying Results: 1. Sebastien CHARPENTIER (Honda CBR600RR), 1:28.381 2. Kenan SOFUOGLU (Honda CBR600RR), 1:28.793 3. Broc PARKES (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:28.970 4. Katsuaki FUJIWARA (Honda CBR600RR), 1:29.019 5. Craig JONES (Honda CBR600RR), 1:29.174 6. Robbin HARMS (Honda CBR600RR), 1:29.228 7. Fabien FORET (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:29.369 8. Barry VENEMAN (Suzuki GSX-R600), 1:29.523 9. Josh BROOKES (Honda CBR600RR), 1:29.547 10. Massimo ROCCOLI (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:29.651 More, from a press release issued by HANNspree Ten Kate Honda: HANNspree Ten Kate Honda dominates first day qualifying The British sun made a rare appearance for round ten of the 2007 World Supersport Championship at Brands Hatch today. The first day of qualifying ended successfully for HANNspree Ten Kate Honda, with Sébastien Charpentier and Kenan Sofuoglu claiming the top two spots on the timesheet. Both Charpentier and Sofuoglu got to grips with the 3.703km circuit almost immediately, setting six fastest laps between them in this morning’s free practice. They followed this up in the 45-minute official qualifying session with two fast laps apiece. The final result saw Charpentier secure the final best time with a 1’28.381 lap – just 0.005 seconds off the current Brands Hatch best Supersport lap, set by the Frenchman in 2005. Team-mate Sofuoglu completed the session as the second fastest rider with a lap time of 1’28.793. The result sees the HANNspree Ten Kate duo well on the way to the front row of the grid for Sunday’s 23-lap World Supersport race. Ronald ten Kate, Team Manager: “It’s been a very good start to the weekend on the Supersport side of things, although there is still room for improvement on both sides of the garage. The pace we have had today will definitely allow us to concentrate on race set-up tomorrow. We can work to get ourselves prepared for the long race around here. I’m really happy for Sébastien – things seem to have gelled together for him today. We have made some drastic changes to the set-up of his bike and it seems to be working well. For Kenan, it is of course a special weekend but we will treat it as a normal weekend and see how far it goes.” Sébastien Charpentier: “I am happy to be back at Brands Hatch and the weather is great today. The team have worked really hard since Brno and, although I still have more improvements to make, I think tomorrow I will be able to go faster. The changes have made riding this bike much more enjoyable because it has not been easy for me recently. Today has been good for everybody and tomorrow I hope to beat my 2005 lap record – I think this is possible.” Kenan Sofuoglu: “The circuit lay-out here is quite different from Brno so I have had to change my riding style a little bit. In the morning I was a little bit disappointed but this afternoon was better. I am really working hard again to be consistently fast. By tomorrow morning I want to do race distance and get a good race set-up so that I can concentrate on doing one fast lap in the afternoon. I am really happy to see Sébastien at the top of the timesheet. If your team-mate is fast, it motivates you to push hard. Hopefully we will be together for the whole weekend and get a double podium on Sunday.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Parkes Takes Provisional Third in Qualifying One The Yamaha World Supersport Team ended their first day at Brands Hatch with Parkes provisionally on the front row in third. Team mate Tommy Hill finished the day in 11th after two unfortunate crashes, both of which he walked away from. Things started off well for both riders in this morning’s free practice session with Parkes going fastest at the start and then Hill taking the lead halfway through until a high-side at Clearways bend. As the session heated up Charpentier and Sofuoglu joined the fight and Parkes ended up third with Hill right behind in fourth. Focusing on finding the right set-up, Parkes spent the afternoon session trying both bikes and was in second place when a small technical issue forced him to retire in the woodland section of the circuit. He finished the session on the front row of the grid in third. Undeterred by his morning crash and with only one bike available, Hill proceeded to go fifth fastest at the start of this afternoon’s qualifying session and then worked his way to second. He was focusing on a long run when he suffered a low-slide and returned to the pits. The team repaired the bike quickly in order for him to re-join the last ten minutes of the session. Yamaha Team Italia rider Massimo Roccoli had a suitable start to this weekend’s round with him running in the top ten in this morning’s practice session before finally finishing in tenth place, ahead of Tommy Hill. Broc Parkes (3rd – 1’28.970 – Yamaha World Supersport Team) “Today hasn’t gone quite as planned; things just didn’t gel properly. This morning was okay but then this afternoon I only got one flying lap before we put on another soft tyre to go out again. I didn’t get a chance though as I had a technical problem and got stuck out the back part of the circuit for the remainder of the session. This all means I’ve lost some valuable track time today but I’m happy to be on the front row considering this. I know I’ve got a good bike and know I can go faster tomorrow.” Tommy Hill (11th – 1’29.682 – Yamaha World Supersport Team) “What can I say? I was going quicker and making some good progress today but the problem is that it feels like I’ve got different grip levels between the front and rear. We need to look at what the actual problem is because I wasn’t getting much feedback and then I just got thrown off, both times. It just feels off or on at the moment – and more off than on! But I do feel we are close to getting it right and I’m not hurt at all which is a good thing.” Massimo Roccoli (10th – 1’29.651 – Yamaha Team Italia) “Today we had some electronic problems and also the set-up isn’t quite where I’d like it. We’ve got a lot of room for improvement, though and I’m confident that we can do better tomorrow.” Qualifying 1 Pos., Rider, Manu., Nat., Total Time 1, Sebastien Charpentier, Honda, FRA, 1’28.381 2, Kenan Sofuoglu, Honda, TUR, 1’28.793 3, Broc Parkes, Yamaha, AUS, 1’28.970 4, Katsuaki Fujiwara, Honda, JPN, 1’29.019 5, Craig Jones, Honda, GBR, 1’29.174 6, Robbin Harms, Honda, DNK, 1’29.228 7, Fabien Foret, Kawasaki, FRA, 1’29.369 8, Barry Veneman, Suzuki, NED, 1’29.523 9, Joshua Brookes, Honda, AUS, 1’29.547 10, Massimo Roccoli, Yamaha, ITA, 1’29.651 11, Tommy Hill, Yamaha, GBR, 1’29.682 12, Pere Riba, Kawasaki, ESP, 1’29.787 13, Matthieu Lagrive, Honda, FRA, 1’29.789 14, Simone Sanna, Honda, ITA, 1’29.805 15, Lorenzo Alfonsi, Honda, ITA, 1’29.863 16, Gianluca Vizziello, Yamaha, ITA, 1’29.864 17, Gianluca Nannelli, Ducati, ITA, 1’29.897 18, Vesa Kallio, Suzuki, FIN, 1’30.029 19, Sebastien Gimbert, Yamaha, FRA, 1’30.084 20, Joan Lascorz, Honda, ESP, 1’30.223 21, David Checa, Yamaha, ESP, 1’30.238 22, Javier Fores, Honda, ESP, 1’30.245 23, Graeme Gowland, Honda, GBR, 1’30.338 24, Christian Zaiser, MV Agusta, AUT, 1’30.350 25, Gregory Leblanc, Honda, FRA, 1’30.398 26, David Salom, Yamaha, ESP, 1’30.646 27, Julien Enjolras, Yamaha, FRA, 1’30.680 28, Mauro Sanchini, Kawasaki, ITA, 1’30.821 29, Vladimir Ivanov, Yamaha, RUS, 1’30.882 30, Miguel Praia, Honda, POR, 1’30.960