Friday’s World Superbike Qualifying Results: 1. Regis LACONI, Ducati, 1:27.578 2. James TOSELAND, Ducati, 1:27.627 3. Troy CORSER, Suzuki, 1:27.696 4. Yukio KAGAYAMA, Suzuki, 1:27.832 5. Pierfrancesco CHILI, Honda, 1:28.145 6. Karl MUGGERIDGE, Honda, 1:28.189 7. Noriyuki HAGA, Yamaha, 1:28.240 8. Chris VERMEULEN, Honda, 1:28.310 9. Ben BOSTROM, Honda, 1:28.366 10. Chris WALKER, Kawasaki, 1:28.373 11. Garry MCCOY, Foggy Petronas, 1:28.449 12. Giovanni BUSSEI, Kawasaki, 1:28.503 13. Massimo ROCCOLI, Yamaha, 1:28.625 14. Jose Luis CARDOSO, Yamaha, 1:28.650 15. Sebastien GIMBERT, Yamaha, 1:28.731 16. Lorenzo ALFONSI, Yamaha, 1:28.965 17. Norick ABE, Yamaha, 1:28.986 18. Lorenzo LANZI, Ducati, 1:28.997 19. Fonsi NIETO, Ducati, 1:29.237 20. Mauro SANCHINI, Kawasaki, 1:29.287 21. Max NEUKIRCHNER, Honda, 1:29.356 22. Ivan CLEMENTI, Ducati, 1:29.597 23. Andrew PITT, Yamaha, 1:29.638 24. Steve MARTIN, Foggy Petronas, 1:29.868 25. Alessio VELINI, Ducati, 1:30.246 More, from a press release issued by Winston Ten Kate Honda: PROVISIONAL SECOND ROW FOR WINSTON MEN AT SILVERSTONE In warm sunshine, Karl Muggeridge set the sixth fastest time in today’s opening qualifying session for Sunday’s two fifth round World Superbike championship races at Silverstone, GB. With Frenchman Regis Laconi setting the provisional pole time, Muggeridge’s Winston Ten Kate Honda team-mate Chris Vermeulen was eighth fastest. Following the Australian duo’s strong performances last time out at Monza in Italy, Muggeridge and Vermeulen spent most of today’s free practice and qualifying time continuing their development work for Silverstone’s 3.56km International circuit, which is being used by the championship for the first time this weekend. Ronald ten Kate team manager: “Everything is looking fairly OK on race tyres here as we continued the progress that earned us those good results in Monza. Chris spent most of the qualifying session on race tyres and was running consistently in third or fourth place; but we weren’t able to match that pace when we put in a qualifier towards the end of the session, which surprised us, I must say. Karl is still making good progress and I’m sure there will be more to come tomorrow I’m happy with our development of the CBR1000RR’s chassis and suspension, which is working well on the short circuit here.” Karl Muggeridge sixth fastest, 1m28.189s: “I definitely prefer the old circuit here but I guess the challenge with this shorter version is the same for everyone. We’re still trying to get the grip down on the tarmac effectively and there’s a bit of work to do in that direction. We tried a heap of different things this morning shocks, linkages and so on and tried to put the best bits on the bike for this afternoon. One thing I have to say is that the brakes are lots better Nissin has brought a selection of pads for us to try here. We’re aiming to just keep improving things tomorrow to give us a good starting position for Sunday’s races.” Chris Vermeulen eighth fastest, 1m28.310s: “I put a qualifier in towards the end of the session but it was just spinning up everywhere and was still pretty fresh after two laps it didn’t feel right at all. Everything was feeling fine on race tyres and I was pretty comfortable with the progress we were making. It’s important to start near the front here and get away well because for sure there’s going to be some action going into that hairpin for the first time there was quite a few out-braking themselves there this morning!” World Superbike, Silverstone provisional qualifying times: 1 Regis Laconi FRA (Ducati) 1m27.578, 2 James Toseland GBR (Ducati) 1:27.627, 3 Troy Corser AUS (Suzuki) 1:27.696, 4 Yukio Kagayama JPN (Suzuki) 1:27.832, 5 Pierfrancesco Chili ITA (Honda) 1:28.145, 6 Karl Muggeridge AUS (Winston Ten Kate Honda) 1:28.189, 7 Noriyuki Haga JPN (Yamaha) 1:28.240, 8 Chris Vermeulen AUS (Winston Ten Kate Honda) 1:28.310, 9 Ben Bostrom USA (Honda) 1:28.366, 10 Chris Walker GBR (Kawasaki) 1:28.373. More, from a press release issued by Xerox Ducati: LACONI AND TOSELAND (DUCATI XEROX TEAM) POWER BACK TO THE FRONT IN FIRST QUALIFYING AT SILVERSTONE Silverstone (UK), Friday 27 May: The Ducati Xerox Team powered back to the front in the first qualifying session for the British Round of the World Superbike Championship as Régis Laconi and James Toseland headed the timesheets today on the shorter International circuit at Silverstone. Régis and James were already at the front in the morning’s free practice session and then continued their good form in the afternoon with first and second quickest times ahead of the Suzuki duo of Corser and Kagayama. “I’m very happy because we have done a good job to be fastest today” declared Régis. “This morning I did the best lap time and this afternoon also, so that’s good for me and good for Ducati to have both riders at the front for the first time this year. On this track we have to say that we are in a better position than we have been so far. I feel very good on the bike, and all the changes we made, made it go faster. The circuit is very hard because there is no time to recover. You are pushing hard all the time but it’s very enjoyable. Some of the corners you have to arrive very quick and brake very hard but that’s the sort of track that I like”. “We’re back and it’s nice to be back for my home race” said James. “It was nice for Monza and I knew it would continue here after the Mugello test, where I managed to find that little something extra. The front tyre is working well, the rear we’re just struggling with a little bit but we have been right on the pace since this morning. We needed to get it together after the first three rounds, Davide has done a fantastic job of getting the team to rally around me and getting the morale back. The circuit’s actually not too bad, it’s interesting and still enjoyable to ride round, but it’s going to be difficult to pass in the races. I think I can make up a bit more time in the first part because we’re struggling with the bumps in the first corner, just ‘pogoing’ and taking the weight off the front a bit, but on the rest of the circuit we’re fine”. TIMES: 1. Laconi (Ducati Xerox) 1m27.578s; 2. Toseland (Ducati Xerox) 1m27.627s; 3. Corser (Suzuki) 1m27.696s; 4. Kagayama (Suzuki) 1m27.832s; 5. Chili (Honda) 1m28.145s; 6. Muggeridge (Honda) 1m28.189s; 7. Haga (Yamaha) 1m28.240s; 8. Vermeulen (Honda) 1m28.310s; 9. Bostrom (Honda) 1m28.366s; 10. Walker (Kawasaki) 1m28.373s; etc. More, from a press release issued by Foggy Petronas Racing: FPR show promise at Silverstone Garry McCoy led the Foggy PETRONAS Racing challenge on the first day of the fifth round of the Superbike World Championship at Silverstone, Great Britain, today. The Australian finished the afternoon qualifying session in 11th place, but within 0.8 seconds of the fastest time around the shorter International circuit, set by Regis Laconi. Team-mate Steve Martin struggled with set-up throughout the day and finished day in 24th position, although both riders were pleased with ignition system developments. Garry had improved his race pace by more than three quarters of a second before challenging the leading pack with a qualifying lap of 1:28.449. Garry said: “We are close to the top of the page and have had no problems today. Hopefully it will keep going that way and the things that we think we can improve for tomorrow will improve our position. The team are working as hard as they can and I am doing the best I can, as we all have all season, although we haven’t always had the best of luck. We have to work on pumping at the rear, as the shock seems to be putting a lot of work through the rear tyre. That made it petty hard to choose a rear tyre and they all seemed to slide after a couple of laps. I was losing a bit of grip towards the end of the qualifying lap too. The new ignition system has worked well, although we still need to fine-tune that for this circuit.” Steve said: “I am struggling to come to terms with the set-up. I had a few chatter problems and finally put in a front tyre which cured that a bit. But at that stage the set-up was too hard at the front and I was having to brake too hard into the fast corners. If I can get that sorted out tomorrow I can pick up a fair bit of time. I have to hope that the weather gives me a chance to make Superpole.” Friday qualifying times, Superbike World Championship round 5, Silverstone, Great Britain: 1 Laconi 1:27.578; 2 Toseland 1:27.627; 3 Corser 1:27.696; 4 Kagayama 1:27.832; 5 Chili 1:28.145; 6 Muggeridge 1:28.189; 7 Haga 1:28.240; 8 Vermeulen 1:28.310; 9 Bostrom 1:28.366; 10 Walker 1:28.373; 11 McCoy (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:28.449; 24 Martin (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:29.868 Friday morning free practice: 1 Laconi (Ducati Xerox) 1:28.422; 2 Toseland (Ducati Xerox) 1:28.688; 3 Corser (Alstare Suzuki Corona) 1:28.690; 4 Vermeulen (Winston Ten Kate Honda) 1:29.086; 5 Kagayama (Alstare Suzuki Corona) 1:29.131; 6 Chili (Klaffi Honda) 1:29.261; 7 Walker (PSG-1 Kawasaki) 1:29.333; 8 Cardoso (DFX Treme) 1:29.504; 9 McCoy (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:29.741; 10 Haga (Yamaha Italia) 1:29.744; 20 Martin (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:30.863 More, from a press release issued by FGSport Group: LACONI AND TOSELAND GIVE REBIRTH TO TWINS: With the first day of qualifying on the International circuit layout of Silverstone completed it proved to be the twin-cylinder riders who were wearing the widest smiles. The 2004 season runner-up Regis Laconi and 2004 Champion James Toseland ended up sitting in first and second places respectively, with Laconi sweeping the best time of all with a 1’27.578. An exciting one hour period of first qualifying saw many of the championship’s leading lights take their turn to earn a provisional front row starting position, with the more condensed track layout seeming to contribute to the closesness of the top riders’ times. The entire top 12 were covered by one second after their first SBK experience of the 3.561km International circuit. SUZUKI PAIRING SO CLOSE: 1996 World Champion Tory Corser (Alstare Corona Extra Suzuki) has been the leading runner in this year’s championship, with six wins to his credit. He was only third today, albeit closely following the leading pair. His team-mate, Yukio Kagayama, has experience of the British racing from his two-year tenure as a factory Suzuki runner, and made good use of his memory banks, taking fourth on day one. The top quartet of riders were covered by a mere 0.254 seconds. CHILI TOP FIVE: The Klaffi Honda team riders had differing day one experiences, with Pierfrancesco Chili fifth fastest, just over half a second from provisional pole, and Max Neukirchner down in 21st. Neukirchner is still recovering from an operation to pin his broken right thumb, and spent most of day one in considerable discomfort. MUGGERIDGE AND VERMEULEN SHOW EARLY PACE: Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR riders Karl Muggeridge and Chris Vermeulen had relatively successful first day experiences, with Muggas sixth and Vermeulen eighth. Yet more technical improvements to the machine of Ben Bostrom (Renegade Honda Koji CBR1000RR) allowed the American idol to secure ninth best time, adding another pinch of spice to the Silverstone mix. HAGA TOP YAMAHA RIDER: Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) was fastest R1 rider on show at Silverstone, his 1’28.240 time good enough for seventh. A tough day, on a track layout he has struggled with from the first lap, saw Andrew Pitt down in an unaccustomed 23rd fastest position. WALKER IN THE ELITE: Chris Walker (PSG-1 Kawasaki ZX-10R) was in the top ten club after a day of track action, proving to be fastest ZX-10R rider on show. A shake up in the Bertocchi Kawasaki squad saw Giovanni Bussei 12th fastest, the last rider within one second of provisional pole. McCOY PROMOTES PETRONAS: Garry McCoy (Petronas FP-1) ran strongly in the first qualifying hour, and ended it in 11th place, relying on his 900cc machine’s fine chassis package around the tighter Silverstone layout. His team-mate Steve Martin was not able to hold the same pace, and had to settle for 24th. ROCCOLI ROCKS IN: Twenty-year-old stand-in Yamaha DFX Extreme rider Massimo Roccoli struck a superb early blow in 13th place, in his first outing on a Superbike. He was the fastest of the DFX Extreme Yamaha riders. Lorenzo Lanzi (SC Ducati 999RS) was 18th, Fonsi Nieto (SC Ducati 999RS) 19th, out of 27 entrants. SUPERSPORT: Winston Ten Kate Honda riders Sebastien Charpentier and Katsuaki Fujiwara carried on their season dominance in the first session at Silverstone, taking first and second best times respectively. Charpentier’s 1’29.558 was 0.383 seconds better than his team-mate, with top Yamaha Motor Germany pilot Kevin Curtain just behind. The local wild card contingent was headed by Cal Crutchlow’s Northpoint Ekerold Honda, securing fourth place. Broc Parkes, Curtain’s team-mate, was fifth fastest, with the second Northpoint Ekerold Honda of Chris Jones taking sixth quickest time. Team Italia Megabike Honda duo of Michel Fabrizio and Fabien Foret were seventh and tenth respectively, with the Ducatis of Alessio Corradi and Gianluca Nannelli sandwiched in eighth and ninth. More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki: Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra riders Troy Corser and Yukio Kagayama finished third and fourth fastest on the first day of qualifying for the fifth round of the World Superbike Championship at Silverstone. But for a small mistake on his fast lap at the British circuit in Northamptonshire, Corser would have topped the standings, but the slip-up lost him the best part of three-tenths-of-a-second and that was enough to relegate him to third. Corser and Kagayama complete the provisional front row with Frankie Chili (Honda) fifth and Karl Muggeridge (Honda) sixth. Regis Laconi (Ducati) posted the day’s quickest time with a lap of 1:27.578 with team-mate James Toseland second. Troy Corser – 3rd, 1:27.696: “I put on my qualifying tyre and was on course for a really good lap until I made a mistake in the chicane. I got in a bit too deep, overshot and lost the drive on the exit and the start-finish straight and that lost me provisional pole. But I’m not worried because tomorrow and Sunday are far more important. “I’m really happy with all the work we’ve done today and we’ve almost got the set-up we want. This new Silverstone layout is very physical and there are no places at all to have a rest. We did a half-race distance today and the tyre was pretty consistent so I think we are well set for tomorrow’s improvements.” Yukio Kagayama – 4th, 1:27.832: “Today was a normal Friday for me – checking, testing and checking and I wasn’t pushing very hard. This track is very physical and 28 laps are going to be very tiring for sure. Because the way the track is laid out, it means that I have no chances to rest! Also, we have not raced this track before so we have no previous data – and that is why today we are doing lots of work towards a good set-up.” Friday Qualifying: 1 Laconi (F-Ducati) 1:27.578, 2 Toseland (GB-Ducati) 1:27.627, 3 Corser (Aus-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1:27.696, 4 Kagayama (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1:27.832, 5 Chili (I-Honda) 1:28.145, 6 Muggeridge (Aus-Honda) 1:28.189, 7 Haga (J-Yamaha) 1:28.240, 8 Vermeulen (Aus-Honda) 1:28.310, 9 Bostrom (USA-Honda) 1:28.366, 10 Walker (GB-Kawasaki) 1:28.373, More, from a press release issued by Scuderia SC Carrachi: Difficulties in the debut day at Silverstone for Scuderia SC Caracchi riders in the European round of 2005 Superbike World Championship. Lorenzo Lanzi rejoined the Superbike arena, after the surgery operation for reducing the fracture at left collarbone suffered in Valencia, but he found some understanding difficult to ride on a very twisting and physically demanding track. Also Fonsi Nieto, that visit today for his first time the Northamptonshire circuit, hasn’t been able to digest quick the track for him absolutely unknown. Both the riders are at the moment out of the Superpole allowed riders and will be determinating the qualifying session of tomorrow morning. “Silverstone too is an absolutely new track for me, it’s a quite difficult track with a lot of corners which you have to manage one behind the other in a very fast way, more is full of holes, so you need to learn the most quick line that could be not the ideal one.” said Fonsi at the end of practices. “This morning we had also a trouble with the pit stewards that stopped me because they say that we have to pay a fee suffered in Valencia, and before that everything could be clear I’ve lost about half hour, while I need to practice for learning the circuit. When at the end of the session I set the soft tyres I’ve dome a small riding mistake and I’ve lost time. However the bike performs well, the top speed is at the leader’s level and if tomorrow e’ll be able to work properly things we’ll be better for sure.” Also Lorenzo Lanzi has something to complain in this debut day, first for the promoter’s decision to use the 3561 meters track instead the classic 5036 International circuit adopted in the past editions. “Actually in Valencia things were going better!” has been the first sentence of Lorenzo at the end of qualifying session. “I have still pains in my injured shoulder, it’s more as a month that I don’t ride a motorcycle so, also if I made a good physical training I miss the specific exercise and after a few laps I have a job doing to ride. More they selected to race in a track which is like a kart circuit and not in the fantastic and very fast Silverstone International course, which is more and more demanding. It’s not a disaster, but we are at the moment out of Superpole allowed riders and we need to practice, if tomorrow could rain that would be a trouble.” Better have been Supersport practices, where Nannelli is 9th fastest, but the rider isn’t moreover satisfied for this firrst practice day. “Yes, I’n not very satisfied for today afternoon’s qualifying practice.” commented at the end Gianluca Nannelli. “We collect right information for tomorrow’s set up, but unfortunately all that test have been scheduled for this morning, during free practice session with two different bike’s set up, and they have not been completed because one of the bike had unattended troubles. Actually we lost a part of the free practice session, so we must test some new setting during qualifying practice, but they didn’t give us the attended result. Looking for the race I’m satisfied because with race old tyres I recorded several fast laps at the same leader’s level, on the contrary we miss the qualifying fast lap because with soft tyres I recorded a laptime just 2/10 of second quicker. We have to look for a good grid tposition tomorros, hoping that the weather will go on like today.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Yamaha Motor Italia’s Noriyuki Haga put in one of his best qualifying performances as an R1 rider to take seventh place on the provisional grid for Sunday’s fifth round of the Superbike World Championship at Silverstone. The Japanese ace was consistently in the top 10 during both the day’s practice sessions in his first outing around the short International configuration circuit at Silverstone, a layout Haga described as “good, quite funny.” In his fifth race with the YZF-R1, Haga admitted he is starting to get the machine set up more to his liking and with a good base setting already found in today’s two one-hour session, the Yamaha Motor Italia team will try a few small suspension modifications tomorrow in a bid to further improve the package. Haga’s team-mate Andrew Pitt meanwhile had a day of woe in Silverstone, ending the first qualifying session in an uncharacteristically low 23rd place after failing to find a good set-up on his R1. The Australian lacked confidence in his machine and was unable to push hard into the many slow and bumpy corners at the British circuit, ending the day two seconds off pole position with a best of 1:29.638. Superbike rookie Massimo Roccoli headed the gaggle of Yamaha riders occupying places 13 to 17. The Rimini youngster, standing in for the injured Gianluca Vizziello, was one of the revelations of the day as he held of a number of experienced R1 riders, including Yamaha Motor France’s Sebastien Gimbert and Norick Abe – 15th and 17th respectively on their Silverstone debuts. Ducati’s Regis Laconi was the fastest man in today’s first session with a lap time of 1:27.578, just marginally quicker than his team-mate James Toseland. Suzuki riders Troy Corser and Yukio Kagayama round out the provisional front row. Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) “Not so bad, probably the best all year actually. The feeling with the bike is quite good and I still have some more settings to test tomorrow which we hope will make the bike more easy to ride. Today I was able to get into the 1:28s but I felt that I was pushing it quite hard. If the changes we make work then we should have a good set-up for the race.” Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) “It’s been really tough today as I’ve just not been able to get the bike set up how I want it. The problem is that I cannot get the bike stable under braking and around this short track here there are so many corners where this is crucial. I have to admit that I’m not a big fan of the short circuit – I much preferred to ride the Grand Prix circuit – but we just have to get on with it. We’ve been in this position before. I was 24th on the first day in Valencia and improved to the second row after superpole, so we’ve got to keep focused to work on a solution for tomorrow.” Massimo Meregalli (Yamaha Motor Italia Team Coordinator) “I’m happy with Nori’s performances today, especially on race tyres where the gap very close. He is also happy and I think that we can make some more improvements tomorrow. For Andrew it is a tough day and it looks like a lot of the changes we made were perhaps not the right ones. But we have had a meeting to discuss the best way forward and now we must sleep on things and hope that we are going in the correct direction. Andrew has proved before how mentally strong he is and I am sure he will have a positive attitude tomorrow.” Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France) “It’s my first visit to Silverstone so I am learning the track and find a good set-up. We can make more progress and push a little harder tomorrow. The first target is to qualify for superpole so tomorrow we will see what happens.” Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) “Again this is a new circuit for me to learn and my position for today is similar to the first day in Monza. For sure we can make progress and we must make sure that we move in the right directions with the changes. If we do then I am confident we can improve and make the superpole.” Round: 5 – United Kingdom Circuit: Silverstone Circuit Length: 3619 Lap Record: 1′ 53.629 (Gregorio Lavilla, 2003) Fastest Lap Ever: 1′ 52.875 (Neil Hodgson, 2003) Date: 27 May 2005 Temp: 39ºC Session 1 : Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying 1 R. Laconi Ducati FRA 1′ 27.578 2 J. Toseland Ducati GBR 1′ 27.627 3 T. Corser Suzuki AUS 1′ 27.696 4 Y. Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1′ 27.832 5 P. Chili Honda ITA 1′ 28.145 6 K. Muggeridge Honda AUS 1′ 28.189 7 N. Haga Yamaha JPN 1′ 28.240 8 C. Vermeulen Honda AUS 1′ 28.310 9 B. Bostrom Honda USA 1′ 28.366 10 C. Walker Kawasaki GBR 1′ 28.373 11 G. McCoy Petronas AUS 1′ 28.449 12 G. Bussei Kawasaki ITA 1′ 28.503 13 M. Roccoli Yamaha ITA 1′ 28.625 14 J. Cardoso Yamaha ESP 1′ 28.650 15 S. Gimbert Yamaha FRA 1′ 28.731 16 L. Alfonsi Yamaha ITA 1′ 28.965 17 N. Abe Yamaha JPN 1′ 28.986 23 A. Pitt Yamaha AUS 1′ 29.638 26 M. Praia Yamaha POR 1′ 30.315 Kevin and Broc pleased with Silverstone performances 27/5/2005 Kevin Curtain set the third fastest time in today’s opening qualifying session for Sunday’s Supersport World Championship round at the Silverstone circuit in the United Kingdom. The Yamaha Motor Germany rider had been the early pacesetter and looked likely to hold the provisional pole position when a heavy shower less than half way through the session saw the riders retreat to the garages. But the returning sunshine soon after ensured the surface dried quickly and allowed most riders to set quicker times than before the rain, including championship leader Sebastien Charpentier (Honda) and his team-mate Katsuaki Fujiwara, who pipped Curtain to the top slot in the dying moments of the session. Curtain’s team-mate Broc Parkes ended the day just off the front row, in fifth place, after setting his best time on his 12th and final lap despite heavy traffic. Both riders declared themselves happy with their YZF-R6s, having made great strides with suspension settings in the last two rounds. Final qualifying takes place tomorrow afternoon. Kevin Curtain “The short circuit is really suiting us. Without the long straights we’re able to run short gearing and this is really helping us get out of the slow corners. Charpentier and Fujiwara obviously really went for it at the end and looking at the timesheets I’m encouraged to see that I can do consistent laps in the 1:30 second bracket, and this is what counts for the race.” Broc Parkes “I’m really pleased with how it went today. We’ve found some good settings and the bike is working well around here. I’m confident that I can go quite a bit faster as the track was still quite damp when I set my best lap and the traffic around this short track was unreal.”