FIM Superbike World Championship Eurospeedway Lausitz, Germany September 9 Superpole Qualifying: 1. Troy BAYLISS (Duc 999F06), 1:37.923 2. Noriyuki HAGA (Yam YZF-R1), 1:38.075 3. James TOSELAND (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:38.254 4. Andrew PITT (Yam YZF-R1), 1:38.291 5. Lorenzo LANZI (Duc 999F06), 1:38.479 6. Troy CORSER (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:38.507 7. Alex BARROS (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:38.613 8. Yukio KAGAYAMA (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:38.734 9. Karl MUGGERIDGE (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:38.749 10. Steve MARTIN (Foggy Petronas FP1), 1:39.065 11. Fonsi NIETO (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:39.183 12. Regis LACONI (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:39.208 13. Max NEUKIRCHNER (Duc 999RS), 1:39.322 14. Chris WALKER (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:39.342 15. Ruben XAUS (Duc 999F05), 1:39.595 16. Michel FABRIZIO (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:40.460 17. Norick ABE (Yam YZF-R1), 1:40.204 18. Ivan CLEMENTI (Duc 999RS), 1:40.271 19. Marco BORCIANI (Duc 999F05), 1:40.330 20. Didier VAN KEYMEULEN (Yam YZF-R1), 1:40.373 21. Craig JONES (Foggy Petronas FP1), 1:40.433 22. Stefan NEBEL (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:40.521 23. Vittorio IANNUZZO (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:40.600 24. Pierfrancesco CHILI (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:40.728 25. Shinichi NAKATOMI (Yam YZF-R1), 1:40.804 26. Kurtis ROBERTS (Duc 999RS), 1:40.831 27. Roberto ROLFO (Duc 999F05), 1:41.228 28. Josh BROOKES (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:42.167 29. Jiri DRAZDAK (Yam YZF-R1), 1:43.223 More, from a press release issued by Team Yamaha Motor France Ipone: GETTING READY FOR THE RACE Norick Abe and Shinichi Nakatomi developed as well as possible their Yamaha R1s, being faster and faster during the practice sessions. The work that has been done should show during the race for the two Japanese riders, allowing them to obtain better positions than during the qualifying sessions (17th and 25th). First of all, the team is very sorry that Sebastien Gimbert, injured when he crashed in Assen, is not racing with us this weekend. The Team Yamaha Motor France-Ipone wishes him to get well soon and a happy birthday. The Lausitz track is very special, as it is and infield circuit inside a big oval track, like Daytona for instance. It is then very different from the other World Superbike venues, and it takes an adaptation for riding and tuning the bikes. During the practice, Norick Abe and his crew worked very hard. They found modifications that allowed the bike to go quicker. From 1:40.732 on Friday, Norifumi progressed to 1:40.204 on Saturday morning. It was better, but barely not enough to qualify for Superpole as 4 tenths of a second were missing. But for sure this good work will be important for the race and a good result can be expected. Shinichi Nakatomi discovered a type of circuit he is not used to. Learning this track and finding the right set up were complicated, but he progressed again and again. From 1:41.786 on Friday, he went to 1:40.804 on Saturday morning. Like Abe, his positive evolution will show during the race. Norick Abe: “I had a lack of grip when I opened the throttle. We had a long meeting last night to find a solution for this problem. The new setting that we chose gave me a better feeling. My laps were today quicker and quicker, tenth after tenth. I did not qualify for Superpole and this is not so good.” Shinichi Nakatomi: “This is going better and better but we did not have enough time to work. The practices are too short. I missed the private tests because I was then injured. It is very difficult.” Martial Garcia: “Norick Abe tried very hard. He missed the Superpole for 0.4 seconds. He had some grip problem. Shinichi Nakatomi discovers this very special track. He has never been here before. He keeps on learning. We are confident for the race because there are only factory bikes in front of us. Abe will try as usual to have a good start and be with a good group of riders.” Qualifying results: 1-Bayliss (Ducati) 1:37.923 ; 2-Haga (Yamaha) 1:38.079 ; 3-Toseland (Honda) 1:38.254 ; 4-Pitt (Yamaha) 1:38.291 ; 5-Lanzi (Ducati) 1:38.479 ; 17-Abe (Yamaha) 1:40.204 ; 25-Nakatomi (Yamaha) 1:40.804 World Championship standings: 1- Bayliss (Ducati) 332 points, 2-Toseland (Honda) 232, 3-Haga (Yamaha) 230, 4-Pitt (Yamaha) 197, 5-Corser (Suzuki) 193 More, from a press release issued by Team Klaffi Honda: BARROS IN SEVENTH PLACE ON THE GRID Alex Barros (Team Klaffi Honda) showed good speed in the second qualifying session at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz. The Brazilian improved his time from Friday about more than one second. With this improvement Barros went from third places into Superpole, where he settled for seventh position in Sundays grid with a lap time of 1:38,613. Alex Barros: “Tomorrow we will have two tough races. I am still not satisfied with the setting of the bike. We tried many things today. I followed Troy Bayliss in the free practice session and noticed, that he is very, very fast. My personal goal for Superpole was to reach a low 1:38 time.” Klaus Klaffenback, Team Manager: “I am confident for the races tomorrow, as Alex gets along quite well with race tyres. The times are close anyway. We did a race simulation where Alex showed a good performance.” RESULTS SUPERPOLE EUROSPEEDWAY: 1. Troy Bayliss. Ducati. 1:37.923 (=156.797 km/h). 2. Noriyuki Haga. 1:38.079. 3. James Toseland. Honda. 1:38.254. 4. Andrew Pitt. Yamaha. 1:38.291. 5. Lorenzo Lanzi. Ducati. 1:38.479. 6. Troy Corser. Suzuki. 1:38.507. 7. Alex Barros. Klaffi-Honda. 1:38.613. 8. Yukio Kagayama. Suzuki. 1:38.734. 9. Karl Muggeridge. Honda. 1:38.749. 10. Steve Martin. Foggy Petronas. 1:39.065. 11. Fonsi Nieto. Kawasaki. 1:39.183. 12. Regis Laconi. Kawasaki. 1;39.208. 13. Max Neukirchner. Suzuki. 1;39.322. 14. Chris Walker. Kawasaki. 1;39.342. 15. Ruben Xaus. Ducati. 1:39.595. 16. Michel Fabrizio, Honda, 1;40,460. Circuit: EuroSpeedway Lausitz, Country: Germany, Track length: 4265m, Lap record: 1:39.679 (Ruben Xaus, Ducati), winners 2005: Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati) and Chris Vermeulen (Honda) More, from a press release issued by Team Alstare Suzuki: ROW TWO FOR THE ALSTARE DUO Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra riders Troy Corser and Yukio Kagayama both suffered from tyre problems on their Superpole laps and were unable to maintain their top three placings from regular qualifying. Both Troy and Yukio’s qualifying tyres didn’t work as well as expected in the cooler conditions this afternoon, but the duo are confident that their race rubber will be more competitive tomorrow. Once again it was Troy Bayliss (Ducati) who took Superpole, with the only sub 1:38 lap of the 16-rider shoot-out. Second is Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha), with James Toseland (Honda) third and Andrew Pitt (Yamaha) fourth. TROY – 6th, 1:38.507 I knew from turn one that winning Superpole was going to be out of the question because our qualifying tyre just doesn’t seem to work so well when the conditions are cooler. I knew I was down on the first split and although I tried my hardest, I just couldn’t make up the time. We made a little change to the bike just before Superpole, and the grip level was down a little. But sixth place on the grid is not so bad and, as long as I make good starts, podiums are by no means out of the question. I’m pretty happy with the set-up of the bike on race rubber and feel we can still challenge for a podium or two for sure. Lausitz is almost a one-line racetrack, so I need to be in the front pack otherwise it’s easy to lose ground. Hopefully the conditions will be a bit warmer tomorrow and that would make our tyre life a bit better. We’ll have to see. YUKIO – 8th, 1:38.734 I am disappointed today because I really felt that I could do a 1:37 lap. But on my Superpole lap, my front tyre kept tucking in and the grip was not so good. It was not the same feeling as I had with this type of tyre in practice, so maybe the track was much colder. I pushed as hard as I dared, but I did not want to crash. I need two good starts tomorrow, but this is my plan. I want to be on the podium again! More, from a press release issued by Team Alstare Engineering: NEUKIRCHNER IN SUPERPOLE Team Alstare Engineering Corona Extra Max Neukirchner managed to qualify for the 16-rider Superpole shoot-out at the Eurospeedway Lausitz and ended thirteenth fastest. He and the team were happy to have achieved their goal of taking part in Superpole, after qualifying sixteenth, and then delighted when Max managed to beat SBK regulars Chris Walker (Kawasaki), Ruben Xaus (Ducati) and Michel Fabrizio (Honda) in the process. MAX – 13th, 1:39.322 I suppose that our goal before the weekend was to qualify for Superpole, so we certainly did that OK. My Superpole lap was not so bad and I definitely tried my best to make sure I wasn’t the last of the sixteen – so that was good. Now I have two long and difficult races ahead of me tomorrow. Starting so far back on the grid is never easy, but I am not under any big pressure here as I am still learning the bike and team. Every time I go out on the bike, I learn a bit more and then we analyse the information and try and improve the next time out. So far the plan is going OK. More, from a press release issued by FG Sport: BAYLISS IN POLE POSITION AND THE DRIVER’S SEAT BAYLISS LEADS FRONT ROW WITH HIS MAIN CHALLENGERS ALONGSIDE Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) will start the 24-lap Superbike races at Eurospeedway Lausitz from a perfect pole position, thanks to a best time of 1’37.923 in this specialised single lap contest to determine the allocation of the top 16 grid spots. He had earlier set a new track best in qualifying (1’37.623) and as last rider away in Superpole, knew exactly what was required to take his fourth Superpole win of 2006, and his 11th career Superpole. Right behind Bayliss follow the two riders closest to him in the overall championship chase – Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) in second grid slot, and James Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda) third, and recovering well from a disappointing tenth in regulation qualifying. Haga had to ride in Superpole with painful wrists, which he jarred heavily saving an imminent high side in the final session before Superpole. The last man on the front row proved to be Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia), who continues to impress at the front in the second half of the season. LANZI RESURGENT ON THE SCENE OF HIS FIRST TRIUMPH Bayliss’ team-mate, Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) enjoyed the return to the circuit on which he won his first ever World Superbike race, and was fifth after Superpole, giving him a valuable jump on the riders behind. With such a tight first section of corners to deal with in race conditions, Troy Corser (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) had hoped to be on the front row, but a smooth Superpole lap proved to be not as fast as his main rivals’ and he scored sixth grid placing. Alex Barros (Klaffi Honda) was another who seemed to do little wrong in his Superpole lap, but lost ground to finish only seventh. Corser’s team-mate Yukio Kagayama (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) went eighth after being faster than anyone else in the afternoon’s final untimed practice session. MUGGERIDGE HEADS UP ROW THREE AFTER DISAPPOINTING SUPERPOLE Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda) made a small error in the first split of his Superpole lap and thus dropped time compared to qualifying and now starts ninth on the Lausitz grid. A Superhuman effort from Steve Martin (Petronas FP-1) saw him end his day of pre-race competition in tenth place, another positive step forward for the three-cylinder rider as the season draws to a close. PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse riders Fonsi Nieto and Regis Laconi round out the third row. NEUKIRCHNER MAKES SUPERPOLE AND THEN PUTS IN AN IMPRESSIVE LAP Local rider Max Neukirchner (Alstare Engineering Suzuki) scored 16th in regulation qualifying and thus qualified for Superpole, running out 13th fastest, and giving his fellow countrymen something to cheer about from the vast Lausitz grandstands. Chris Walker (Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse) had a hard time adjusting his ZX-10R to the bumps and ripples of the 4.265km Lausitz circuit, and ended up 14th. Ruben Xaus (Sterilgarda Berik Ducati) ended his Superpole 15th, with Michel Fabrizio (DF Treme Honda) an unexpected 16th. His team-mate, Pierfrancesco Chili, had to go to hospital to get a CAT scan on his right pelvic region after a crash in practice today, to check that he did not have any recurrence of his recent pelvic injury. He was cleared but will make a decision on whether to race or not on Sunday morning. SUPERPOLE MISSES FOR TOP SBK MISTERS Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France Ipone) just missed out on Superpole participation by one place, while Ivan Clementi (Team Pedercini) scored 18th place. Marco Borciani (Sterilgarda Berik Ducati) was 19th and reigning Superstock 1000 champion Didier Vankeymeulen (MGM TTSL Racing Yamaha) scored a top 20 finish in his wildcard weekend, in front of nine other riders. Craig Jones (Petronas FP-1) was a more than respectable 21st. A tough day for talented riders such as Kurtis Roberts (Pedercini Ducati), Roberto Rolfo (Ducati SC Caracchi Ducati) and Josh Brookes (Kawasaki Bertocchi) saw them finish 26th to 28th respectively in regulation qualifying. SUPERSPORT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Almost every single rider in the Supersport class improved their Friday times, including championship leader Kevin Curtain, who improved on his already impressive provisional pole time to take pole itself, with a 1’41.006. A cosmopolitan front row, in terms of riders and machines, saw Kenan Sofuoglu (Winston Ten Kate Honda) second quickest, with a 1’41.402, Christian Zaiser (LBR Ducati 748) third and Sebastien Charpentier (Winston Ten Kate Honda) fourth. With Charpentier only seven points down on Curtain in the championship itself, the Lausitz WSS race promises to be a significant fight. Sofuoglu is the most recent winner of a World Supersport race, only last weekend in the wet at Assen, and is another rider in with a more than fair shout of absolute success on Sunday. SUPERSTOCK 1000 FIM CUP Claudio Corti (Yamaha Team Italia) was the man on pole in the big Superstock category, some 0.7 seconds up on second fastest rider Luca Scassa (EVR Corse Ormeni MV Agusta). Ayrton Badovini (Biassono Unionbike MV Agusta) was third quickest in pre-race, and Brendan Roberts (HP Racing Suzuki) fourth. Championship leader, Alessandro Polita (Celani Suzuki) was a lowly ninth. SUPERSTOCK 600 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP Niccolo Canepa (Ducati Xerox) scored his third race win of the 2006 season, this time over Davide Giugliano (Lightspeed Kawasaki) with championship leader Xavier Simeon (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) third. The 12-lap contest was an eventually close affair, with the top three separated by only 0.704 seconds. Simeon now has 176 points to Canepa’s 151, with Guigliano on 120. More, from a press release issued by Winston Ten Kate Honda: TOSELAND NETS A FRONT ROW START AT LAUSITZ Having qualified tenth in the combined sessions, James Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda) showed all his battling qualities in Superpole to earn a hard-won front row start, from third, for Sunday’s 24-lap Superbike races. He improved on his previous best time in a full qualifying session by more than a second and was comfortably faster than his previous best on qualifying rubber this afternoon to boot. James’ team-mate, Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda), who had out qualified Toseland after the two official timed sessions, made a small error in the first split during Superpole and that cost him enough to drop him to ninth position on the grid, offering him a third row start. Troy Bayliss headed the Superpole timesheets, with Noriyuki Haga second, and thus the top three on the grid reflect the top three in the championship chase. Toseland is closest to leader Bayliss on points, and two ahead of Haga, and has to shoot for wins on Sunday to claw back enough points to Bayliss to carry the overall fight beyond Lausitz. Ronald Ten Kate Team Manager “Mixed feelings because on one side of the garage we have improved quite a bit and James took it to third. Fairly close to pole position, even. On Karl’s side we moved a bit backwards. He didn’t go as fast as he has done in previous practices, so that was a bit unlucky for him. It means he’s on the third row. Anyway, on race set-ups we are quite happy here. We want to do a bit of research tonight to see if we can improve it a bit, but for sure the racing will be tough and hard tomorrow. I don’t think anyone can walk away with it, so there should be a big group battling in a long, hot race.” James Toseland Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider (3rd Position Fastest Lap 1’38.254 45 Laps) “Before Superpole, it looked worse than it was. We were doing OK in terms of consistency and then right at the end we put a tyre in and we just didn’t get it together on my final lap. So we made a few changes and I knew that once we had got the qualifier in we would go well in Superpole and I just had to hold it together for one lap and we did. It’s difficult to pass here in traffic, but when you are on your own you can get into a rhythm, and use lines you need to use to go fast, rather than just stop people coming past you. Troy has been fast all weekend, so we just need to get off the line fast and stick in there.” Karl Muggeridge Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider (9th Position Fastest Lap 1’38.749 45 Laps) “I just made a small mistake in my first split and was almost 0.6 seconds down at that point, so it was a lot to come back from. But I tried and didn’t make it, so I’m not happy. It’s ridiculous being on the third row when things had been going so well all weekend. It’s not what we’ve been working for and not what we deserve. I need to get a good start and then we have got a good race pace. We just have to get away from the line well.” More, from a press release issued by Ducati Xerox: BAYLISS (DUCATI XEROX) GRABS SUPERPOLE FOR WSBK GERMAN ROUND AT LAUSITZRING Lausitz (Germany), Saturday 9th September: Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) continued his impressive weekend form at the Lausitzring when he claimed his fourth Superpole of the year and the eleventh in his World Superbike career. Troy set the quickest time ever recorded around the German track (1m37.623s) in the morning’s qualifying session, and was then the only rider to dip under the 1 minute 38 second mark in the one-lap dash as he edged championship rivals Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) and James Toseland (Honda) into second and third place. Andrew Pitt completed the front row for Yamaha, just ahead of Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) in fifth. “The whole weekend’s been going very well so far and I’m feeling pretty confident on the bike” declared Troy. “I wanted to do a good Superpole lap, safe and in control and it turned out like that, even though I felt it wasn’t a great lap. I really enjoy riding at the Lausitzring, it’s a real physical track, we’ve done the test here a month or so ago and we know what tyre to use with all the track temperatures. It would be nice to get maximum points tomorrow but I’m approaching this weekend just like every other weekend and the plan is to win as always. The most important thing is to get through the first few laps and then we will see”. Team-mate Lorenzo Lanzi, ninth after the regular two qualifying sessions, produced a good performance in Superpole to move up four places and he will start from row 2. “I am very pleased with my Superpole lap” declared Lorenzo. “In the first part I had an excellent pace and I lost very little time from the frontrunners. In the second and third split I felt I could easily maintain the pace but unfortunately I came a little bit too late in a couple of corners and I lost some time. It’s OK though because I didn’t want to make any mistakes. I’m starting from the second row of the grid, immediately behind Troy and my time was just half-a-second away from his so I’m happy. My race pace is excellent, I’ve got a good feeling with the 999 and hopefully I can finally express my true form in both races”. More, from a press release issued by Foggy Petronas Racing: Top ten qualification for Martin and FPR in Germany Steve Martin will start tomorrow’s races at round 10 of the Superbike World Championship from tenth on the grid at Eurospeedway Lausitz, Germany. The Australian pulled a typically impressive lap out of the bag during morning qualifying to set the sixth fastest lap on race tyres, with a time of 1:38.9, an improvement of eight tenths on yesterday. He was unable to improve on that time during his Superpole lap but still made the top ten, with Troy Bayliss claiming another pole position. Team-mate Craig Jones recovered from a disrupted morning session to further improve his best lap to 1:40.4, before a high-side crash in the afternoon prevented further progress. He will start from 21st on the grid. Steve said: “I was a little bit disappointed with my Superpole lap as I had it in me to do at 1:38 but I made a couple of small mistakes. But Bayliss also went quicker on race tyres than he did on a qualifier. And we have still ended up on the third row, which is pretty amazing really. I am in front of a lot of guys who were doing similar times on race tyres so I should be able to challenge for good points if I get off to a good start. We were two seconds off the pace at the test here and now it’s only a second so that shows how we are continuing to improve all the time.” Craig said: “I had a problem with the alternator of my race bike this morning and had to switch to the spare bike. I know I could have gone quicker on my race bike but my aim was to be in the top 20 and I was nearly there. In the afternoon I started on a hard race tyre but, when I switched to a medium rear, I was a bit too keen on the gas going onto the back straight and high-sided. Fortunately I was okay and there was not too much damage to the bike. I went back out and did 10 laps on a soft tyre, which felt good, so I have got to stay positive for tomorrow because I am riding for my career and my future.”