2007 FIM Superbike World Championship Valencia, Spain April 13, 2007 Provisional Qualifying Results: 1. Troy BAYLISS (Duc 999F07), 1:34.599 2. Ruben XAUS (Duc 999F06), 1:35.023 3. James TOSELAND (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:35.147 4. Noriyuki HAGA (Yam YZF-R1), 1:35.440 5. Max BIAGGI (Suz GSX-R1000K7), 1:35.453 6. Troy CORSER (Yam YZF-R1), 1:35.483 7. Lorenzo LANZI (Duc 999F07), 1:35.709 8. Max NEUKIRCHNER (Suz GSX-R1000K6), 1:35.767 9. Fonsi NIETO (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:35.804 10. Karl MUGGERIDGE (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:35.814 11. Josh BROOKES (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:35.856 12. Yukio KAGAYAMA (Suz GSX-R1000K7), 1:36.012 13. Giovanni BUSSEI (Duc 999F06), 1:36.016 14. Carmelo MORALES (Yam YZF-R1), 1:36.032 15. Michel FABRIZIO (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:36.094 16. Regis LACONI (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:36.231 17. Roberto ROLFO (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:36.455 18. Shinichi NAKATOMI (Yam YZF-R1), 1:36.755 19. Christian ZAISER (MV Agusta F4-1000R 312), 1:36.757 20. Jakub SMRZ (Duc 999F05), 1:37.344 21. Steve MARTIN (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:37.403 22. Luca MORELLI (Duc 999RS), 1:37.653 23. Dean ELLISON (Duc 999RS), 1:39.434 More, from a press release issued by HANNspree Ten Kate Honda: HANNspree Ten Kate Honda completes first Valencia qualifying The fourth round of the 2007 World Superbike Championship kicked off at a warm and sunny Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia today. The threat of rain did not materialise as the HANNspree Ten Kate Honda riders took to the 4km track for the first qualifying session. James Toseland and Roberto Rolfo secured third and seventeenth places respectively. Toseland bounced back from a head cold to battle it out in the top three with Troy Bayliss and Ruben Xaus. The focus during the 45-minute session was finding a good race set-up for the Honda CBR1000RR. With this in mind, the British rider secured several consistently fast laps before settling into third place with a final best time of 1’35.147. The first day of qualifying proved more difficult for team-mate Rolfo as he fought hard to get to grips with the challenging Valencia track. The team will work on the set-up of the bike overnight in the hope that the Italian rider can turn his fortunes around in tomorrow’s second qualifying session. Ronald ten Kate, Team Manager: “James did really well today. Considering that we didn’t have the test here a couple of weeks ago when we didn’t join because we had a lot of planning to do, it seems it is possible for him to be fast around this track anyway. We concentrated a lot on race tyres today so that we didn’t use the soft tyres in case of rain tomorrow. At the moment the forecast for Sunday is no rain so we wanted to make sure we had a good dry set-up. With Roberto Rolfo we are all a bit unpleasantly surprised because in Donington he really picked up the pace. For some reason it is not working here. We are checking all the data overnight because he must be capable of moving up the grid and I’m sure he and his crew can manage that.” James Toseland: “It’s not been too bad today. We have been trying to find a good set-up on race tyres while it is dry. I’m just starting to feel like myself again and I think we’ve got off to a really good start. In previous years this has not been the best track for Honda, but we’ve really made a lot of progress and I think we can be competitive tomorrow. I’m just hoping for good weather!” Roberto Rolfo: “I am obviously disappointed about today. After Donington I was feeling good about my riding style on the bike, but here it is just not going right for me. It is a very different track so I just have to work hard to adjust my style again. We will do a lot of work this evening and I hope that I can improve for tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Scuderia SC Caracchi: POSITIVE DAY FOR NANNELLI AT VALENCIA An unattended sunshine welcomed the riders at Valencia today, for the first practice session day of World Superbike Series. The weather forecast said rain showers for today, on he contrary we had always dry weather, and a strong thunderstorm did arrive just at the end of practices of world categories. In Supersport Gianluca Nannelli achieved quite satisfied for the result, as well that could be better. At the end of qualifying Gianluca recorded the 8th fastest that, in case of bad weather tomorrow, could be also he final result for the grid, but the gap between the top riders is actually very small. “For sure I could get a better result today, but at the end I see this day as positive.” commented at the end of qualifying Gianluca Nannelli. “As often happened in Supersport we are all very close and in about one second there are nine riders. This track changes quickly his grip following the weather conditions, and today too it confirmed this peculiarity. In the morning, on the cold track and a bit still wet we have been quite fast. During the afternoon the weather conditions were perfect, we started for some comparison test between the two bikes using the same setting on both and at the end I recorded my best lap time with the less performing bike! The other one in the final laps, with a lot of traffic on the track, the bike close the front twice and I did choice to avoid any risk, also because I’ve seen a lot of crashes and the Race Direction must stop the session with red flag. Of course if tomorrow will rain to set the bike will be actually a problem. We have still the satisfaction that our bike is still the fastest in the speed trap.” Jakub Smrz on the contrary had a very bad day. During the morning’s session he recorded a very good lap time, but the he crashed without any damage. In the afternoon, probably because the tyres were still cold, he crashed once more and that time the crash has been serious, with bad damages to the bike that forced him to stop practicing. “Actually it has been a black day!” said Jakub Smrz back in the garage. “During the morning I recorded a good time, then I crashed, but the result that I recorded remained the 12th fastest of the session. In the afternoon on the contrary it has been worst: I started with new tyres and probably they were not jet in temperature when I started pushing. I made a bad crash, the bike jumped several times up and down and I destroyed the frame, the suspensions, the fairing, the saddle, a true disaster. The guys are working hardly to rebuilt the bike, I hope they will be able to finish before tomorrow’s session and at the last moment will not appear some hidden trouble. I’m actually disappointed, also because I was sure in a good result, but I’ve been too anxious to push.” More, from a press release issued by Xerox Ducati: BAYLISS (DUCATI XEROX) PASSES FIRST QUALIFYING TEST WITH FLYING COLOURS Valencia (Spain), Friday 13 April: Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) passed the first test since his Donington crash with flying colours, the Australian bouncing back from injuries received a fortnight ago to set the quickest time in both free practice and qualifying at Valencia. After being given the OK to ride by circuit medics late yesterday afternoon, Bayliss eased himself back into the swing of things in the morning with fastest time and then set a new circuit best lap in the afternoon with a time of 1m34.599s, half-a-second quicker than Neil Hodgson’s 2003 record. Despite some discomfort in both his injured hand and groin area, Troy was relieved to find that his performance out on the track had not been affected. “Everything’s going good” he declared. “I think the track is not in such a good condition for grip so we did OK considering. I’ve done better laps in testing before but on the race tyre it’s as good as we’ve ever done and I’m happy with that, considering that I’m not in the best of shape. Honestly it’s a little bit awkward with my hand but it’s not actually affecting me which I’m happy about. The other bits and pieces are tender and I’m taking the right precautions to try and help everything. I can’t say I’m feeling fit but the last month I’ve been very healthy and this has all helped me to get back into shape and into a good condition. My riding style is exactly the same, nothing’s changed!”. Team-mate Lorenzo Lanzi was seventh quickest today, but not that far off the pace of second and third placed men Ruben Xaus (Ducati) and James Toseland (Honda). “I didn’t go too bad but not as quick as during the winter tests when I was never out of the top 3 or 4”, commented Lorenzo. “We concentrated mainly on getting the right set-up for Sunday, when it will possibly be dry. We tested several tyres for the race distance and the pace wasn’t great but I saw that even the other guys were struggling a bit as well. We always used one bike to try and get the best from the hard tyre at the front and when we put a softer tyre on the other bike, we didn’t use it in the end because we preferred to continue to work on this one, which was giving good results. However I’m up near the front and the starting-grid will be decided tomorrow.” Times: 1. Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) 1m34.599s; 2. Xaus (Ducati) 1m35.147s; 3. Toseland (Honda) 1m35.147s; 4. Haga (Yamaha) 1m35.440s; 5. Biaggi (Suzuki) 1m35.453s; 6. Corser (Yamaha) 1m35.483s; 7. Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) 1m35.709s; 8. Neukirchner (Suzuki) 1m35.767s; 9. Nieto (Kawasaki) 1m35.804s; 10. Muggeridge (Honda) 1m35.814s; etc. More, from a press releass issued by FGSport Group: BAYLISS BOUNCES BACK AT RECORD PACE – DUCATI DUO LEAD THE PACK AFTER ONE DAY AT VALENCIA Despite losing most of his right little finger in a race one crash at Donington Park two weeks ago, Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) proved not only fit to ride at Valencia but capable of the best ever SBK time on day one. His 1’34.599 was only just ahead of the previous best, but was nonetheless set on mass-produced race rubber, as qualifying tyres are not made available to any rider unless and until they qualify for Superpole on Saturday. A good day for Ducati was a great day for the locals, with Sterilgarda Berik’s Spanish star, Ruben Xaus, scoring second quickest time on his year-old factory machine. TOSELAND LEADS THE FOUR-CYLINDER CHARGE Championship leader James Toseland (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) was instantly on the pace at Valencia, despite not testing here in the official sessions in mid-March. The most recent race winner in SBK, Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) was fourth fastest today, only just ahead of Max Biaggi (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) who is currently second overall. The Valencia day one top six is rounded out by Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia) who, like team-mate Haga, has tested at the Spanish circuit on his all-new 2007 machine recently. LANZI SEVENTH WITH NEUKIRCHNER ONCE MORE THE STAR PRIVATEER Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) was seventh in the day one standings, just over a second from his leading team-mate, but arguably the ride of the day once more came from Max Neukirchner (Suzuki Germany) who was eighth quickest. On his home circuit, Fonsi Nieto (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse) was ninth, just ahead of Karl Muggeridge (Alto Evolution Honda) and his team-mate Joshua Brookes. Yukio Kagayama (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) went 12th fastest. WORLD SUPERSPORT – KENAN AGAIN FASTEST MAN Kenan Sofuoglu (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) led the day one charge towards ultimate Valencia Supersport honours, scoring the quickest day one lap of 1’37.521. He was followed, 0.208 seconds behind, by Katsuaki Fujiwara (Althea Honda) and then Kevin Curtain (Yamaha SSP Racing), who is still recovering from recent collarbone surgery, after a crash at Donington. Local rider Pere Riba (Gil Kawasaki) followed up his pole at Donington with a fourth best time at his home track. With double World Champion Sebastien Charpentier missing due to pelvic and coccyx injury, he was replaced by Andrew Pitt at Valencia, and the 2001 champion was immediately effective, going fifth on the day one leader board. Another former World Champion, Fabien Foret (Gil Kawasaki) was sixth fastest. Many riders opted to sit out the first untimed session, held in patchy wet conditions this morning, and only ride in the actually qualifying session itself. Barry Veneman (Pioneer Hoegee Suzuki) added another manufacturer to the front two provisional rows, going seventh fastest. SUPERSTOCK 1000 FIM CUP – BADOVINI AND MV LEAD OFF Ayrton Badovini (Biassono Unionbike MV Agusta) was the early leader in dry conditions in the ‘big’ Superstock class, with a slender 0.177 second advantage over Michel Pirro (Team Lorenzini by Leoni Yamaha), and a 0.332 gap back to Claudio Corti (Team Lorenzini by Leoni Yamaha). Didier Van Keymeulen (TTSL MGM Racing Yamaha) went fourth, with Donington race winner Niccolo Canepa (Ducati Xerox 1098) fifth. SUPERSTOCK 600 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP – COLUCCI THE RAIN MASTER Domenico Colucci (Ducati Xerox 749) got the jump on his peers after a sudden deluge of rain and thunder in the Superstock 600 session at Valencia, and on a wet rack none came close to his best time of 2’11.412. French teenager Sylvain Barrier (Yamaha Coutelle Junior Team) scored second best, with Andrea Antonelli (Team Italia Megabike AX) third, ensuring there would be three different machines in the top three places. More, from a press release issued by Troy Corser’s publicist: TROY SIXTH ON DAY ONE. Troy finished the first day of qualifying at Valencia with the sixth fastest time, but knows a lot more work has to be done before the races on Sunday if he is to have good results. He had problems with his engine’s characteristics throughout the day and he and the team will have to make some changes before Troy can really push hard. Reigning champion Troy Bayliss (Ducati) topped the standings after qualifying today, over half a second inside the current lap record. Second quickest is Spaniard Ruben Xaus (Ducati), with series leader James Toseland (Honda) third and Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) fourth. TROY – 6th, 1:35.483 Well the day didn’t go as planned and we’ve got some work to do. The team have done a lot of work recently and here I’ve had two engines with different characteristics to what I had in the last round and the bike is not so easy to ride. At the moment, the whole bike feels very different and I don’t like this new feeling as much as what I had before. Funnily enough, even the engines on my number one bike and my number two bike feel different. We’ll sit down and look at all the data and then decide what direction to take tomorrow and hopefully we’ll be able to improve quite a bit. See ya, Troy More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Fourth and sixth provisional qualifying for Yamaha WSB Team Valencia’s notoriously changeable track conditions provided an interesting day at the fourth round of the World Superbike Championship at Valencia. The damp track this morning dried out with slightly warmer and drier conditions this afternoon for the first qualifying session of the weekend. Haga had the most success of the day in the Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team, being third fastest in this morning’s free practice. He then went on to finish in fourth in qualifying having spent the session focusing on testing various tyre and suspension options. Having finished the morning practice session second fastest, Corser then fought throughout the afternoon session to find the right set-up. He ended the day in sixth position. Shinichi Nakatomi, riding for the French Team Yamaha YZF squad, finished the day in 18th position. Nakatomi was keen to try and find a good set up, so spent the day focusing on small suspension and tyre settings. The day’s result is headed by Bayliss (Ducati), who surprised everyone with such a good result in light of the injuries he sustained at Donington. Spaniard Ruben Xaus (Ducati) finished in second today at his home circuit. James Toseland (Honda) finished in third and Haga completes the line up in fourth. The Ricardo Tormo circuit is renowned for being very changeable in its grips conditions due to the variety of vehicles that use the circuit. Any damp brings out the rubber and oil that has been laid down previously, making it very slippery. The rapidly changing conditions were nowhere more evident than towards the end of the day’s on-track sessions, when thunder and lightning accompanied a sudden downpour, leaving the track under a couple of inches on rainwater. Noriyuki Haga (4th – 1’35.440 – Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “I managed some improvement in my lap times during today but I struggled with finding the right tyre. We tried three different tyres this afternoon but I didn’t find the right one for the race. Although it was still damp on the track this morning, the lower track temperatures actually suited the tyre. I’m not feeling too bad, tomorrow I hope to find the right tyre and I am hoping it is not raining, as this track gets very slippery when it is wet.” Troy Corser (6th – 1’35.483 – Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “Today has been tough – all day I have struggled with the engine character. Following the test session here last month and after Donington, we made some engine changes which have completely altered the feel of the bike somehow. The engine character is different between my main and my spare bike, even. I’m glad we found this out today as it gives us tomorrow to sort out the problem so we are ready for race day. We think we have already worked out the problem and are working on a solution, which we will test out in the morning.” Shinichi Nakatomi (18th – 1’36.757 – Team Yamaha YZF) “Today we have made many small changes and improvements throughout both sessions. Now we just need to combine the changes for tomorrow’s qualifying session. I am hopeful of a higher qualifying position tomorrow – I just hope it is not raining.” More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki Press Office: Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra riders Max Biaggi and Yukio Kagayama finished the first day of qualifying at Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo circuit with the fifth and 12th fastest times, giving Biaggi a provisional second-row start. Throughout the day Biaggi struggled a little with finding a good set-up for his GSX-R1000 K7 but is hopeful of significant progress tomorrow. His team mate Kagayama is still suffering the effects of his heavy fall at Donington two weeks ago, so took things very steadily today. Reigning champion Troy Bayliss (Ducati) topped the standings after qualifying, over half a second inside the current lap record. Second quickest today is Spaniard Ruben Xaus (Ducati) with series leader James Toseland (Honda) third and Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) fourth. Max Biaggi – 5th, 1: 35.453: “We’re struggling a bit today and I’m not as close to the leaders as I would have liked. But we’ve had some problems at Valencia when we tested here and we know it’s a bit of a problem track for us. We have some ideas to try tomorrow but a lot will depend on what the weather does because if it rains, everything changes. At the moment, we are a bit of a way off what we want and until we get closer, it’ll be difficult for me to push as hard as I’d like.” Yukio Kagayama – 12th, 1:36.012: “Today I tried to use my head and ride very steady. I didn’t want to have another crash so soon after my fall at Donington in the last round. At the moment, my ribs and shoulder are still sore, so it’s making changing direction on the bike very hard. There are lots of changes in direction at this track so it’s a bit of a problem. But each day I’m getting stronger and tomorrow I will push harder for sure. Valencia circuit seems particularly sensitive to temperature changes and that affects how the tyres perform a lot. If it rains, it may be an easier race for me physically, but the track is very slippery when it’s wet and I think there could be many crashes!” Friday WSB Qualifying: 1 Bayliss (Aus-Ducati) 1:34.599, 2 Xaus (E-Ducati) 1:35.023, 3 Toseland (GB-Honda) 1:35.147, 4 Haga (J-Yamaha) 1:35.440, 5 Max Biaggi (I-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1:35.453, 6 Corser (Aus-Yamaha) 1:35.483, 7 Lanzi (I-Ducati) 1:35.709, 8 Neukirchner (D-Suzuki) 1:35.767, 9 Nieto (E-Kawasaki) 1:35.804, 10 Muggeridge (Aus-Honda) 1:35.814. 12 Yukio Kagayama (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1:36.012. SUPERSTOCK 1000: Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Xavier Simeon finished a very creditable sixth on the first day of qualifying at Valencia today. Despite having grip problems the youngster battled away to a provisional second row grid place – a far better result than at Donington two weeks ago. Italian Ayrton Badavoni (MV) finished the day with the quickest lap time with Michele Pirro (Yamaha) second and Claudio Corti ((Yamaha) third. Xavi Simeon – 6th, 1:39.212: “Today I am quite happy because the result is much better than at Donington but I am a little unhappy because I know it could’ve been better. We had big problems with grip and I didn’t find it so easy to control the bike. Having said that, my lap times are not so bad and I’m not far away from the leaders, so that is good news. Tomorrow we’ll try a harder rear shock and see if that helps. I know this track very well and I would prefer a dry race because it’s very slippery here when it’s wet.” Friday Superstock Qualifying: 1 Badovini (I-MV) 1:38.369, 2 Pirro (I-Yamaha) 1:38.546, 3 Corti (I-Yamaha) 1:38.701, 4 Van Keymeulen (NL-Yamaha) 1:38.974, 5 Canepa (I-Ducati) 1:39.071, 6 Xavier Simeon (B-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1:39.212.