2007 FIM Supersport World Championship Valencia, Spain April 14, 2007 Combined Qualifying Results: 1. Kenan SOFUOGLU (Hon CBR600RR), 1:37.521 2. Katsuaki FUJIWARA (Hon CBR600RR), 1:37.729 3. Kevin CURTAIN (Yam YZF-R6), 1:37.885 4. Pere RIBA (Kaw ZX-6R), 1:38.095 5. Andrew PITT (Hon CBR600RR), 1:38.478 6. Fabien FORET (Kaw ZX-6R), 1:38.524 7. Barry VENEMAN (Suz GSX-R600), 1:38.532 8. Gianluca NANNELLI (Duc 749R), 1:38.564 9. Robbin HARMS (Hon CBR600RR), 1:38.568 10. Joan LASCORZ (Hon CBR600RR), 1:38.649 11. Broc PARKES (Yam YZF-R6), 1:38.681 12. Javier FORES (Hon CBR600RR), 1:38.734 13. Lorenzo ALFONSI (Hon CBR600RR), 1:38.753 14. Davide GIUGLIANO (Kaw ZX-6R), 1:38.915 15. David SALOM (Yam YZF-R6), 1:39.008 16. Massimo ROCCOLI (Yam YZF-R6), 1:39.016 17. Simone SANNA (Hon CBR600RR), 1:39.086 18. Craig JONES (Hon CBR600RR), 1:39.160 19. Gianluca VIZZIELLO (Yam YZF-R6), 1:39.243 20. Vesa KALLIO (Suz GSX-R600), 1:39.245 27. Chris PERIS (Yam YZF-R6), 1:39.915 More, from a press release issued by HANNspree Ten Kate Honda: Sofuoglu secures pole position for HANNspree Ten Kate Honda World Supersport Championship leader Kenan Sofuoglu secured his first ever pole position at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia today. The young Turkish rider will start tomorrow’s 23-lap race from the top spot for HANNspree Ten Kate Honda. His temporary team-mate Andrew Pitt qualified in fifth position to reserve his place on the second row. Rain fell on the 4km Spanish track for much of last night and today making riding conditions slippery and dangerous. Both the morning free practice and the afternoon qualifying were declared wet and the slower lap times resulted in yesterday’s first official session determining the grid line-up. Sofuoglu’s fastest lap time was 1’37.521, while Pitt’s best stands at 1’38.478. With more rain forecast for tomorrow, the focus for both HANNspree Ten Kate Honda riders was on finding the best set-up for the wet weather. The team is confident that Sofuoglu and Pitt are ready for whatever the Spanish climate will throw at them as they aim for podium finishes in tomorrow’s race. Pitt is riding for HANNspree Ten Kate Honda in place of injured rider Sébastien Charpentier. The Frenchman is well on the road to recovery and still plans to rejoin the team in Assen in two weeks time. Ronald ten Kate, Team Manager: “The work for starting grid positions was done yesterday but the job of preparing for the race has been done today. The forecast for tomorrow is more rain so we have been concentrating on finding a good set-up for those circumstances. Andrew has adapted quickly to the wet conditions and performed well today. Kenan is of course under more pressure in these conditions – on one hand he doesn’t want to push too hard and crash out but on the other hand we have to work to find the right set-up. He has raced in the rain before – in fact his first World Supersport race was in the rain at Assen. We know that Kenan is capable of getting a podium finish in wet or dry conditions so we are hopeful for tomorrow.” Kenan Sofuoglu: “I am happy with the pole position for the race, but for me the most important thing is to race well. I really hope that it is dry tomorrow, but either way I just want to be consistent and pick up the points for the team. As always, I will do my best.” Andrew Pitt: “This morning the track surface was wet but it wasn’t actually raining. I did pretty well and was quickest for most of the session. I had a good feeling with the bike in the wet. We had a few issues that we wanted to try and resolve so this afternoon we have been concentrating on that. There was a lot more surface water but I think we have managed to sort the issues out. Whether it is wet or dry tomorrow we hopefully have it covered both ways.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Curtain confirms his third place in qualifying Kevin Curtain and Broc Parkes played it sensible today as wet weather made the track slippery and riding conditions difficult. As a result of the rain, today’s lap times were slower than during the first qualifying session yesterday and therefore there were no changes from yesterday’s provisional qualifying positions. Kevin will start tomorrow in third place on the grid, while Broc will start from 11th. Data gathered during testing last month allowed both riders to be cautious and not push too much today. Not wanting to risk a crash on top of his collar bone injury, Curtain sat out this morning’s free practice session. With conditions no better in the afternoon, he didn’t take part in the weekend’s second qualifying session either. Under championship regulations he is entitled to do this as he had already qualified within 107% of the fastest time set this weekend. And, with lap times almost 30 seconds slower than Friday, there was little risk of him being knocked off third spot. With high chances of rain tomorrow, Parkes was keen to get a wet set-up though, so he participated in both practice and qualifying today. Athough knowing he would not be able to improve his best time from yesterday due to the weather conditions, he was keen to try and find a good set-up and get some confidence in the bike and track conditions. Massimo Roccoli was unable to improve his qualifying position of 16th today, due to the worsening weather conditions. The Yamaha Italia rider made the most of the two sessions, though, to concentrate on improving his mental state and finding the best wet set-up. With no change to the gird from yesterday’s qualifying positions, Sofuoglu (Honda) will start in pole position and Japanese rider Fujiwara (Honda) will start in second. Curtain maintains his third start position for the race. Kevin Curtain (3rd – 1’37.885 – Yamaha World Supersport Team) “Sitting out of today’s sessions was hard but it was the right thing for me to do. It has given me an extra day’s recovery – and on such a short term every day counts. A broken collar bone isn’t a simple injury – any kind of crash at this stage could cause a lot of problems and it just wasn’t worth the risk today, especially as I got such a good qualifying position yesterday. If it rains tomorrow I will have to go out in the morning though, as I need to check my rain set-up. Tomorrow is when we will take more risks than so far this weekend – race day is what counts.” Broc Parkes (11th – 1’38.681 – Yamaha World Supersport Team) “It was like riding on ice out there and far too tough for us to find a good wet set-up. It was really difficult and risky with lots of people crashing – I’m just glad I wasn’t one of them. I still haven’t found the right race set-up though – what with the rain and my collar bone – so I will just have to go out tomorrow morning to find it out before the race.” Massimo Roccoli (16th – 1’39.016 – Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) “The fourth row is not a good position to start in – we tried to improve on this today but it was not possible with the weather conditions. I was very fast here at the Pirelli tyre test in March so I am hoping to be able to regain some of the mental and technical condition I had then for tomorrow’s race. I just hope it is dry tomorrow!”