World Superbike Superpole Results From Misano: 1. Troy CORSER, Suzuki, 1:35.685 2. Chris VERMEULEN, Honda, 1:35.798 3. Regis LACONI, Ducati, 1:35.866 4. Karl MUGGERIDGE, Honda, 1:35.868 5. Yukio KAGAYAMA, Suzuki, 1:35.961 6. Pierfrancesco CHILI, Honda, 1:35.963 7. James TOSELAND, Ducati, 1:36.147 8. Steve MARTIN, Foggy Petronas, 1:36.167 9. Max NEUKIRCHNER, Honda, 1:36.301 10. Lorenzo LANZI, Ducati, 1:36.584 11. Giovanni BUSSEI, Kawasaki, 1:36.617 12. Ivan CLEMENTI, Ducati, 1:36.619 13. Andrew PITT, Yamaha, 1:36.863 14. Jose Luis CARDOSO, Yamaha, 1:36.234, no superpole time 15. Chris WALKER, Kawasaki, 1:36.764, no superpole time 16. Ben BOSTROM, Honda, 1:36.931, no superpole time More, from a press release issued by Foggy Petronas Racing: Second row start for Martin at Misano Steve Martin will start tomorrow’s races at the sixth round of the Superbike World Championship from the second row of the Misano grid. The Australian made consistent progress throughout a sweltering day and, with an accomplished lap of 1:36.147, leapt five places up the grid into eighth place. That time, 0.8 seconds off Troy Corser’s polesetting pace, was backed up by an afternoon free practice time of 1:37.161 on race tyres to leave Steve feeling cautiously optimistic. Steve, whose previous best qualifying for FPR was second at Phillip Island, said: “I am pretty happy to have made the second row, although I am not going to get ahead of myself because I want to finish both races in the points. But it’s my second best qualifying on the PETRONAS FP1 and I feel much better about tomorrow’s races than I have at the last few meetings. We definitely worked hard to achieve that and we made headway every minute today and we really want to get good results here. The set-up is pretty much there and I was also able to do pretty quick times on race tyres this afternoon.” Team-mate Garry McCoy made a valiant effort to bounce back from yesterday’s set-up struggles but narrowly missed out on a place in Superpole, despite slicing nearly two seconds off his best time of yesterday. His fastest lap, of 1:37.163, was set on the second flying lap on his second qualifying tyre and, even though he almost lost the front end in the penultimate chicane of that lap, he finished just 0.3 seconds outside the top 16. He said: “I think we are getting pretty close to being dialled in with the chassis. I had a problem with the mapping in my engine in the afternoon session but, despite that, I was able to get into the low 38s on race tyres. With the problem solved, I am confident of getting into the 37s in the races. I am starting a long way back on the grid and it’s going to be tough to get into the points, so I will be looking for a good start to move up a few places early on.” More, from a press release issued by Winston Ten Kate Honda: BOTH WINSTON MEN ON MISANO FRONT ROW Winston Ten Kate Honda riders, Chris Vermeulen and Karl Muggeridge, will start from second and fourth places respectively for tomorrow’s two World Superbike championship sixth round races at Misano in Italy. With track temperatures once again approaching 50 degrees, Vermeulen set the second fastest time in this afternoon’s Superpole session, just behind championship leader Troy Corser. Muggeridge’s performance marks his second Superbike front row start since moving up from World Supersport last year. Ronald ten Kate team manager: “I’m really happy with the results of today’s Superpole and it’s very gratifying to have both our riders on the front row. Their performances are a good reflection of all the hard work that the team has put in not just this weekend but since we left Silverstone. We are still making small changes, even right up to the beginning of Superpole, and we’ll make some more small adjustments for tomorrow morning’s warm-up. We’ve been making steady progress all weekend and it’s all been in the right direction. Now we must concentrate on getting the results in tomorrow’s two races.” Chris Vermeulen second fastest, 1m35.685s: “Yeah, everything’s pretty good and I was happy with my Superpole lap. It’s good when Superpole works but not so great when it doesn’t. But we’ve been going the right way all weekend, starting with the changes we made at the rear of the bike after our test at Magny-Cours and the team has been working really hard. Our main concern has been trying to find a combination of tyres that will last for 25 laps in this heat it’s going to be hard on the tyres and hard on us. The only down-side with today is that I got beaten by Troy (Corser) again but we’ll be aiming to return the compliment twice tomorrow!” Karl Muggeridge fourth fastest, 1m35.866s: “I just tried to be really smooth on my Superpole lap and not make any mistakes, and in the end it was pretty good. We made that small change to the rear shock overnight and as soon as we tried it this morning, we knew it was right. From then on, we’ve just been making constant little changes and doing a little more work on the front of the bike. We even made a small adjustment just before the Superpole lap and then I put in my quickest time of the weekend. I think we’ve pretty much decided on tyres and the race set-up is good, so I’m looking forward to putting it all together in the races tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse: LACONI THIRD AND TOSELAND SEVENTH ON GRID FOR DUCATI XEROX TEAM AT MISANO ADRIATICO Misano Adriatico (Italy), Saturday 25 June: Tomorrow’s two races in round six of the World Superbike Championship at a sweltering Misano Adriatico (air 33°/track 52°) promise sparks all the way as the Ducati Xerox Team’s Régis Laconi starts from the front row of the grid after an exciting Superpole session. The Frenchman will be surrounded by three Australians at the start, with Troy Corser (Suzuki) and Chris Vermeulen (Honda) just a couple of tenths quicker and Karl Muggeridge one place behind. The other Ducati Xerox Team rider James Toseland set seventh quickest time in Superpole and will start from row two, behind Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki) and Pierfrancesco Chili (Honda), who celebrates his 250th World Superbike race tomorrow. “I knew that Corser would be the man to beat in Superpole so I just tried to be as quick as I could” declared Laconi. “Maybe I was a bit too aggressive on my lap because I made a few small mistakes and lost a bit of time, but anyway starting from the front row is good enough for me here at Misano. We worked really well on the race set-up all weekend and everything looks good for tomorrow. The choice of tyre is fine and the feeling with the bike is good, so I am sure I can get a couple of good results tomorrow”. “I thought my Superpole lap was pretty good” commented Toseland, “it’s just a pity it wasn’t good enough for the front row of the grid. Yesterday things went well but during this morning’s second and final qualifying session, we had a few problems that prevented me from improving my position. I did low 37s all morning but I need to get a bit more comfortable as I felt I was riding like I’m a bit on the edge at that and shouldn’t be. We tried a few things but they didn’t really work and we lost a bit of time, but things improved in the afternoon when I managed to lap in the low 37s, just like all the other guys”. STARTING-GRID: 1. Corser (Suzuki) 1’35.330; 2. Vermeulen (Honda) 1’35.685; 3. Laconi (Ducati Xerox) 1’35.798; 4. Muggeridge (Honda) 1’35.866; 5. Kagayama (Suzuki) 1’35.868; 6. Chili (Honda) 1’35.961; 7. Toseland (Ducati Xerox) 1’35.963; 8. Martin (Petronas) 1’36.147; etc. More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Australian rider Andrew Pitt will start tomorrow’s two-race round six of the Superbike World Championship from 13th position as he and his fellow Yamaha R1 riders found life tough during qualifying at the hot Misano Adriatico circuit in Italy. The 29-year-old Yamaha Motor Italia rider improved his time and position from Friday’s qualifying to end the one-lap session with a weekend’s best lap time of 1’36.619 and a position at the head of row four on the starting grid. Yamaha’s Japanese riders Noriyuki Haga and Norick Abe had were unable to find a good set-up during the morning qualifying session and failed to make the cut for the 16-rider superpole. Both riders struggled for rear end grip and will start the race from 21st and 25th positions respectively. However each is confident of improving his positions in tomorrow’s two 25-lap races after finding improved settings in the afternoon’s free practice session. Pole position for tomorrow’s races goes to championship leader Troy Corser (Suzuki) with a 1’35.330 lap in superpole. Chris Vermeulen (Honda), Regis Laconi (Ducati) and Karl Muggeridge (Honda) complete the front row. Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) “My superpole lap was my best of the weekend and at the end of the day I think I did the best that I could today. We can’t seem to find a set up that works well round here. Either we can get something that turns well but is struggling for grip, or we can get good grip but the steering is not good enough. There are a few things that we can try for the warm-up but it’s going to be tough tomorrow, that’s for sure.” Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) “It’s going to be a hard race from the sixth row but I don’t think that this is our real performance. Grip is not so good but on race tyres our times are ok. When I tried the qualifiers this morning I could not go as fast as I expected and missed superpole. In free practice we changed many things and it was a little better but as the conditions become hotter the grip is getting less. We will try to make some more improvements to the bike tonight and for the race we will have to see.” Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) “We have not been able to find a good set-up so far. Yesterday we had a big traction problem so today we changed many things. Unfortunately we still do not have a good set-up so we must now sit down and see how we can improve things for the first race.” Round: 6 – San Marino Circuit: Misano Circuit Length: 4060 Lap Record: 1′ 34.913 (Troy Bayliss, 2002) Fastest Lap Ever: 1′ 33.525 (Troy Bayliss, 2002) Date: 25 June 2005 Temp: 52ºC Session 2 : Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying 2nd Qualifying Superpole 1 T. Corser Suzuki AUS 1′ 35.717 1′ 35.417 1′ 35.330 2 C. Vermeulen Honda AUS 1′ 37.223 1′ 36.034 1′ 35.685 3 R. Laconi Ducati FRA 1′ 36.012 1′ 36.056 1′ 35.798 4 K. Muggeridge Honda AUS 1′ 36.170 1′ 36.292 1′ 35.866 5 Y. Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1′ 36.652 1′ 35.944 1′ 35.868 6 P. Chili Honda ITA 1′ 36.492 1′ 36.370 1′ 35.961 7 J. Toseland Ducati GBR 1′ 36.384 1′ 36.565 1′ 35.963 8 S. Martin Petronas AUS 1′ 37.106 1′ 36.700 1′ 36.147 9 M. Neukirchner Honda GER 1′ 35.835 1′ 35.697 1′ 36.167 10 L. Lanzi Ducati ITA 1′ 38.486 1′ 36.106 1′ 36.301 11 G. Bussei Kawasaki ITA 1′ 37.950 1′ 36.336 1′ 36.584 12 I. Clementi Ducati ITA 1′ 36.990 1′ 36.052 1′ 36.617 13 A. Pitt Yamaha AUS 1′ 37.121 1′ 36.798 1′ 36.619 14 J. Cardoso Yamaha ESP 1′ 37.329 1′ 36.794 1′ 36.863 15 C. Walker Kawasaki GBR 1′ 37.487 1′ 36.234 16 B. Bostrom Honda USA 1′ 37.589 1′ 36.764 17 L. Alfonsi Yamaha ITA 1′ 36.957 1′ 36.931 18 G. Vizziello Yamaha ITA 1′ 37.361 1′ 36.958 21 N. Haga Yamaha JPN 1′ 37.203 1′ 37.138 25 N. Abe Yamaha JPN 1′ 38.235 1′ 37.534 Front row for Curtain 25/6/2005 Kevin Curtain will start tomorrow’s sixth round of the Supersport World Championship from the front row of the grid following an impressive showing in today’s second qualifying session. The 39-year-old Yamaha Motor Germany rider improved his time from yesterday by one third of a second, setting the fourth best time of the weekend with a lap of 1’38.118 – moving him up from the second row. Team-mate Broc Parkes was another improver and will start on the second row after setting the seventh fastest time (1’38.470) on his YZF-R6. Both riders go into tomorrow’s race in a positive mood after being consistently among the fastest riders over the weekend. With Misano usually proving to be one of the toughest races on tyres and machine, the team’s engineers and suspension technician have worked hard to find settings that will work well over race distance. Both riders reported good longevity from their Pirelli tyres, even when using the softest available option, and have benefited from a recent test at Brno which allowed them to improve the settings of their machines. Misano specialist Fabien Foret (Honda) grabbed pole position with a best time of 1’37.620 with Katsuaki Fujiwara and Sebastien Charpentier (both Honda) completing the front row with Curtain. Kevin Curtain “I think we’re in pretty good shape tomorrow. The times are all really close and we’ve been able to do a lot of 1’38 laps in race set-up. In this heat it will be a tough race for everyone but I think that we can be up there.” Broc Parkes “I’m looking forward to the race. It’s the first time this year that I’ve gone into the race feeling really comfortable with the bike and that’s down to the guys finding a set-up that suits me as well as me changing my riding to suit the R6 better. We’ve been pretty much up there in every session and I reckon we’re going to have a close race tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki: Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Troy Corser fully lived up to his ‘Mr Superpole’ nickname by storming to the yet another Superpole victory at Misano today. The conditions were sweltering at the Italian circuit, but Corser rode smoothly and fast to post a lap of 1:35.330, more than three-tenths-of-a-second ahead of his nearest rival Chris Vermeulen (Honda). It was the Australian’s 32nd pole position in World Superbikes – 11 more than his nearest challenger, former team boss Carl Fogarty. Third quickest was Regis Laconi (Ducati) with Karl Muggeridge (Honda) fourth. Corser’s team mate Yukio Kagayama made the smallest of mistakes in his Superpole lap and just missed out on a front-row grid position. He finished fifth fastest overall and will start tomorrow’s pair of 25-lap races from the second row of the grid. Considering that this is his Misano debut fifth was a superb effort and, if he gets a good start tomorrow, could be a podium contender. Troy Corser – 1st: “I knew I probably would be down on time in the first sector of my Superpole lap because that part has been a bit of a concern so far. For these two days, I’ve taken turn one a bit cautiously and that’s what I did on my Superpole lap. But I knew I could make up time on the second and third sectors, so I pushed harder there and managed to make up the time without too much of a problem. I’m pretty happy because I wasn’t pushing very hard at all so there’s a bit more to come if needs be. “The heat is going to be a problem if tomorrow is the same as today. I don’t think anybody is going to be able to make a break so it’s going to be all down to the last few laps. Everybody’s tyres will be gone by then so it may depend on who has been able to conserve their tyres the best. I am not thinking about the championship because I want to win races. However, I am not going to risk anything stupid and put myself in a difficult position. I will try for the win for sure but will be happy to take a couple of podiums and maybe keep or extend my championship lead.” Yukio Kagayama – 5th: “I made a couple of little mistakes on my Superpole lap and lost some time. Otherwise I am sure I could have been on the front row of the grid. But fifth place is good because this is my first visit here and I am still learning the track. We have not spent so much time trying different tyres because it is more important for me to have a good feeling with the track first. I think that it is possible for me to get one or two podiums tomorrow and I will be fighting for that. Of course, if it is very hot, I will experience tyre problems, but this will be the same for everybody so I just have to ride hard and not crash.” More, from a press release issued by a Scuderia SC Caracchi: SECOND ROW FOR GIANLUCA NANNELLI AT MISANO, THIRD ROW FOR LORENZO LANZI Gianluca Nannelli will tomorrow start on its 749R Ducati Scuderia SC Caracchi from the second row of the grid after recording the sixth fastest in the final qualifying of Supersport. The Florentine rider has not been able to improve its lap time of yesterday and his rivals have been useful in order to earn some position, even if the gap is remained very contained to guarantee that the contest in Supersport, 23 turns for 93,380 kilometers, will be a battle without quarter. “The terrible warmth of today, on asphalt was 52°C, has transformed completely the machine”. a nervous Gianluca Nannelli has said at the end of tests. “With the yesterday set up, that it was optimal, today the bike slipped from all the parts. We have tried different geometries, but we have been not able to find any satisfactory solution between grip and handling. The only thing that is remained to the top level is the motor that also today has recorded the top speed. Moreover when I was in order to try my fastest lap just in front of me happened the collison between Bontempi and Goi and to that point not was time for a new attempt. It’s a pity because ones tenth of second would have been enough in order to get calmly the front row. In these conditions of warmth the rubbers start to slip after a few turns, if tomorrow it will be warm as today we hope to be able to finish the race “. In Superbike Lorenzo Lanzi has finally found the good way and after a promising seventh fastest in qualifying in Superpole he has been grabbed by the emotion and made some mistake recording the tenth fastest for a place in the third row for the 25 laps of the two races tomorrow. “During the Superpole maybe I started a bit nervous I made a few small mistakes”. told Lorenzo Lanzi at the end of practices. “At the first slip I already had a delay of 3/10 of second, then I recovered something, but it was not successful to do better as the third row. However that’s not a big problem, the bike goes very well, we have the highest best qualifying speed and we have defined a good set up for the race. Tomorrow morning we will make the definitive selection of racing tyres, first in order to finish the race and I’m looking with optimism to the races tomorrow: the feeling with the bike is good, therefore I’m sure I can get a couple of positive results tomorrow”. The good technical performance of Fonsi Nieto has been instead overshadowed from an disagreeable episode happened at the end of the morning qualifying session, and the Spanish rider is remained excluded from the possibility to contest the Superpole session. We hear what happened directly by Fonsi Nieto: “I was in order to run my fastest lap and at the first slip I was already in clearly advantage on my laptime when I have found Alfonsi on my line; he has closed my bike, it has seemed voluntarily, forcing me to slow down. To that point I became very nervous and I have stopped Alfonsi, we have begun to discuss and, betrayed from the nervousness, I hit its helmet. I recognize to have made an bad mistake, but I believe that my nervousness is comprehensible because in several occasions this year I have found moments of difficulty with this rider. Looking just to the race I’m satisfied, the bike is very very fast and we found a good set up. I will start from the fifth row, but I’m confident I can get a good result in tomorrow’s races”. More, from a press release issued by Troy Corser’s publicist: SUPERTROY! ‘Mr Superpole’, Troy, has struck again! At Misano today, in scorchingly hot conditions, Troy notched up his 32nd pole position in World Superbikes – eleven more then his former team boss Carl Fogarty. His nearest current rival is Frankie Chili, but the Italian has only taken ten poles in his long career, so Troy is head and shoulders above everybody else in the Superpole stakes. Second quickest today is Chris Vermeulen (Honda), with Regis Laconi (Ducati) third and Karl Muggeridge (Honda) fourth. TROY – 1st, 1:35.330 My Suzuki has been working pretty well so far and we really have not had much work to do with it. We pretty much had a good set-up right from the day one and all we have done is some little adjustments here and there and that has made all our lives very straightforward. The first sector of my Superpole was not so good, but the second and third were pretty good and I don’t think I could’ve done the third any better or faster. Before Superpole, I knew that the first part might be a problem, but I didn’t want to panic and rush it and then mess up parts two and three. All weekend, I’ve been a bit cautious going into turn one because I haven’t had a really good feeling with my front tyre in there. It was a bit the same on my Superpole lap, but I knew I could pick up time on the rest of the lap and that’s what I did. Apparently I was down three-tenths of a second after the first sector, but made that up before the flag without too much of a problem. If it is as hot tomorrow, it’s going to cause problems with the tyres – but it’s going to be the same for all of us. Two races of 25 laps is really going to take its toll and it wouldn’t be such a crazy idea if they were to shorten the races – but I don’t suppose they will do that! I don’t have too much of a choice regarding tyres – and I guess that’s the same for everybody – but it’s going to get pretty interesting towards the end of the race! The rider who has made the best use of his tyres is going to have a bit of an advantage, but who knows how it will all pan out. At this stage, I am not thinking of the title because I still want to win races. Obviously, I’m not going to do anything stupid, but you can be sure that I will win if I can. At the end of tomorrow, I would like to have consolidated my lead or maybe even extend it a little. That’d be favourite. C ya, Troy