Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By Glenn LeSanto

Toseland on top

Twenty-two-year-old Briton James Toseland beat local hero Frankie Chili to the top of Friday’s timesheet in the fifth round of the WSB at Monza.

It’s the first time Toseland has ever been top of any official classification in WSB but he remained typically levelheaded.

“That’s the first time I’ve topped the timesheet in a WSB qualifying session so I’m obviously pleased,” said the racer from Sheffield. “Being fast on Friday is one thing, but it’s my performance on Sunday that really counts so I’m not getting too excited yet.”

Although Toseland played down his provisional pole it is nonetheless quite an achievement for the youngster, especially as Monza is right in Ducati’s back yard.

“We have a good race set up, the HM Plant Ducati is really fast and the Dunlop tyres are working well. My aim is to be consistent in the races,” commented Toseland.

Chili looked likely to take the provisional pole until he was baulked on a fast lap late in the session going into the chicane. But with his bike going so well and Chili himself being in such great form at the moment things could change on Saturday.

Neil Hodgson, who struggled with stability problems on his Fila Ducati had to settle for third ahead of Regis Laconi, who had lead the session in the early stages. The front row is an all-Ducati affair, with Gregorio Lavilla the first non-Ducati back in sixth on the Suzuki. His team struggled with gearing today, they’ve never been to Monza on the GSX-R1000 and therefore have no data at all to base their settings on. Once they sort out the basics we can expect the Suzuki, which was fastest through the speed trap today, to give the Dukes a lot more trouble.


Friday’s World Superbike Qualifying Results:

1. James Toseland, Ducati 998F02, 1:47.713
2. Pierfrancesco Chili, Ducati 998RS, 1:47.723
3. Neil Hodgson, Ducati 999F03, 1:47.898
4. Regis Laconi, Ducati 998RS, 1:47.903
5. Ruben Xaus, Ducati 999F03, 1:48.101
6. Gregorio Lavilla, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:48.371
7. Chris Walker, Ducati 998F02, 1:48.557
8. Marco Borciani, Ducati 998RS, 1:48.691
9. Lucio Pedercini, Ducati 998RS, 1:48.994
10. Paolo Blora, Ducati 996RS, 1:49.534
11. Steve Martin, Ducati 998RS, 1:49.536
12. Vittorio Iannuzzo, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:49.946
13. Alex Gramigni, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:49.978
14. Troy Corser, Foggy Petronas FP1, 1:50.370
15. Ivan Clementi, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:50.604
16. Mauro Sanchini, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:50.877
17. Giovanni Bussei, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:50.878
18. Juan Borja, Ducati 998RS, 1:51.039
19. Walter Tortoroglio, Honda RC51, 1:52.091
20. James Haydon, Foggy Petronas FP1, 1:52.190


More, from HM Plant Ducati:

Toseland on provisional pole at Monza

James Toseland took his first official provisional pole in the Superbike World Championship today, beating local hero Frankie Chili to the top slot at the historic Monza circuit. His team-mate Chris Walker was seventh fastest as he eased himself back into the swing of things after a torrid time in Sugo.

Toseland recorded a best lap of 1:47.713 at the close of the session, having used most of the time trying to achieve a good race set-up on his HM Plant Ducati.

“That’s the first time I’ve topped the timesheet in a WSB qualifying session so I’m obviously pleased,” said the 22-year-old from Sheffield. “Being fast on Friday is one thing but it’s my performance on Sunday that really counts so I’m not getting too excited yet.”

Although Toseland played down his provisional pole it is nonetheless quite an achievement for the youngster, especially as Monza is right in Ducati’s back yard.

“We have a good race set-up; the HM Plant Ducati is really fast and the Dunlop tyres are working well. My aim is to be consistent in the races,” added Toseland.

Chris Walker took things easy on his first day back on the track after his difficulties at Sugo.

“I’m getting my confidence back gradually after Sugo,” said Walker. “I don’t want to rush things, especially now that I’m almost recovered from my injuries.”

With the HM Plant Ducati running so well it’s very likely that Walker will find more speed as the weekend progresses and as he gets back into the business of competitive riding again.

Toseland and Chili both deposed current factory Ducati pilot Neil Hodgson from the top of the timesheet. The former HM Plant Ducati rider finished third on his factory Ducati in front of Regis Laconi, making it a Ducati-dominated provisional front row.


More, from a press release issued by Foggy Petronas Racing:

Haydon soldiers on at Monza for Foggy PETRONAS Racing

Foggy PETRONAS Racing rider James Haydon went through the pain barrier today following a heavy morning crash on the first day of round four of the World Superbike championship at Monza. The 28-year-old Englishman suffered concussion, ligament damage in an arm and leg and a suspected fractured toe after high-siding his FP1 at the fast Ascari chicane at the Italian circuit. He said: “I took a big bang to the head and felt really detached for a while. I had never been concussed before and didn’t really know what it was like until today. I came across a slower rider and had to put the bike in slightly tighter, reducing the contact patch. When the back end broke I couldn’t save it and the bike landed on top of me. I wasn’t intending to ride this afternoon but the forecast is for rain tomorrow and I didn’t want to be outside of the qualifying time for the grid, so I did a few steady laps although I found it difficult to judge distances.”

James had been making good progress in the morning practice session, his first visit to the historic parkland circuit outside Milan since his privateer days in the championship in 1997. He posted the 18th fastest time, four tenths of a second behind team-mate Troy Corser.

The Australian, who was also experiencing the new track lay-out with a modified first corner for the first time, finished the morning session in 15th and the afternoon qualifying one place better in a time of 1:50.320, with James Toseland claiming provisional pole with a time of 1:47.713. Troy said: “This circuit takes some time to get used to again, especially not having raced here for two years. It’s not the kind of place where you can make a change, do a couple of laps and then come in. You need a few laps to get up to speed again after set-up changes. I changed the gearing between sessions and will probably go longer again tomorrow. But I am slowly picking up time on the brakes and know I can find time through the chicanes and with tyre choice.”


More, from a press release issued by Troy Corser’s publicist:

Two Ten Kate Honda Heroes at Monza

Both Ten Kate Honda riders were heroes in the first qualifying session at Monza but for completely different reasons. Karl Muggeridge shaved almost a second off the best lap time while Chris Vermeulen qualified second despite injuring his thumb in a fall during the morning’s free practice.

Karl Muggeridge blitzed the opposition in the session, his best lap of 1m 52.432 really sets the pace for the weekend and is almost a second quicker than the rest of the pack.

“I’m really stoked about the time,” said Muggeridge, “everything is going so well. The bike is really fast and the tyres and suspension are working great.”

It wasn’t all plain sailing for Muggeridge, “There was a lot of crashes in the session and it made it really hard to do a flying lap because you kept coming up against traffic and yellow flags.”

Although he’s almost a second down on his team mate, Chris Vermeulen’s time is no less remarkable. Riding with a torn ligament in his right thumb as a result of the morning’s crash, Vermeulen is suffering intense pain under braking.

“This circuit is all braking and my hand hurts when I put pressure on it. I have to be cautious everywhere because of my thumb, I am riding with a little margin for error.”

Team Manager Ronald ten Kate had nothing but admiration for his riders, “I didn’t expect that after Chris’ crash this morning,” admitted ten Kate. “He almost ran into the back of another rider while braking for the Ascari chicane and crashed trying to avoid him. He’s damaged ligaments in his thumb and is obviously riding in pain. To see him go second just a few hours later shows he’s definitely grown up from a boy to a man.

“As for Karl, it’s obvious that he’s right back in peak form after suffering from some minor health problems in the run up to the season. Now he’s just gone 0.7 seconds under the best lap record here and I think he would have been even faster had he not been held up during another very fast lap late in the session.

“The results show what everybody already knows, Ten Kate Hondas are very fast at Monza!”


More, from a press release issued by Scuderia Caracchi NCR Nortel Networks:

Laconi in the speed cathedral of Monza

The historical circuit of Monza is the stage of the fourth round of World Superbike Championship that finally is back to Europe after Australian and Japan; a very fast track where the top speed of factory machine and 1000 four cylinder are a big obstacle to the road of victory for everybody.

Regis Laconi recorded the fourth fastest earning a provisional front row in the starting grid; in the free practice session of the morning Regis was the fastest, about half second faster as Chili, second, and recording also a good top speed, slower only of factory bikes of Hodgson and Lavilla.

“Monza is a particular track. Straight line very fast and there’s a limited number of left corners.” – said at the end of the day Regis Laconi – “In such conditions our tyres perform very well and are very close to the concurrence, we suffer only the high temperature. More here the engine performance is very important and I must really thank my team, first of all my chief engineer Marco Mozzone, who prepare the engines for my bike, because they have done an excellent job. In the afternoon session the track was slower due to the oil let by sidecars as the track temperature which increased from 30°C of the morning up to 44°C, but the bike was excellent in that occasion too. Despite that I’ve not been able to be fast, and while in the morning I set my laptime easily with race tyres, in the afternoon I got my laptime working hardly and with soft tyres. Tomorrow we’ll have to work for a better grip on the rear. So, it has been a good day, but we have still some problem and we must work to be really competitive.”

Quite satisfied Marco Masetti too at his debut; the Scuderia Caracchi NCR Nortel Networks entrusted him a 996RS model 2002 for his Superbike absolute debut; the young rider, who lives not far from Monza’s circuit, must of course suffer his inexperience, but his results did improve lap by lap.

“I’m paying my lack of experience on that bikes.” – said Masetti – “I’m doing a lot of riding mistakes and in practice I do not record a couple of lap in the same way, but my feeling is upgrading. In the last two years I spent not much time on a racing bike and if I suffer pains in my arms after a few laps, but I must be satisfied of this first result, looking at the results I’m just a second behind riders with a lot of experience. That’s has been a big occasion for me to ride this bike on my home track and I thank everybody helped my in this circumstance.”