Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Fujiwara ends Foret’s pole run

By Glenn LeSanto

Prior to coming to Oschersleben it looked like Frenchman Fabien Foret was going to make pole position his permanent address. He’s qualified pole five times this year, and four of them came in a row. But Fujiwara put in a stunning lap to claim the Breil pole-winner’s watch this weekend. Foret ended qualifying second on the grid riding his Ten Kate Honda.

“The most important thing is the race,” Foret said. “OK, I always like to make it into pole position but I am on the front row and that¹s important here. I made some mistakes on my two fastest laps, which cost me time, I think I would have claimed pole without them. My race set up is very good, as always my Ten Kate Honda CBR600FS is very fast but the race will be close again. I will try to conserve my tyres and my energy for a strong finish in the race.”

Fujiwara’s teammate Stephane Chambon put another Suzuki on the grid qualifying third just in front of Christian Kellner on a Yamaha R6. Chris Vermeulen was fifth, Iain MacPherson and Karl Muggeridge eighth. All three ride bikes with Ten Kate power, making it four Ten Kate bikes in the top eight. Christian Cogan put his BMK Honda between them in seventh.

Final World Supersport qualifying times:
1. Katsuaki Fujiwara, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:29.920
2. Fabien Foret, Honda CBR600, 1:29.963
3. Stéphane Chambon, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:30.037
4. Christian Kellner, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:30.164
5. Chris Vermeulen, Honda CBR600, 1:30.280
6. Iain MacPherson, Honda CBR600, 1:30.334
7. Christophe Cogan, Honda CBR600, 1:30.346
8. Karl Muggeridge, Honda CBR600, 1:30.464
9. Andrew Pitt, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 1:30.522
10. Robert Ulm, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:30.541
11. Jörg Teuchert, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:30.655
12. Paolo Casoli, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:30.685
13. Jan Hanson, Honda CBR600, 1:30.697
14. Michael Schulten, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:30.874
15. Kevin Curtain, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:30.878
16. Werner Daemen, Honda CBR600, 1:30.905
17. Sebastien Charpentier, Honda CBR600, 1:30.926
18. Alessio Corradi, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:31.043
19. Antonio Carlacci, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:31.145
20. Piergiorgio Bontempi, Ducati 748R, 1:31.313
21. Stefano Cruciani, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:31.355
22. James Ellison, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 1:31.650
23. Jürgen Oelschläger, Honda CBR600, 1:31.823
24. Matthieu Lagrive, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:31.854
25. Robert Frost, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:31.954
26. Gianluca Nannelli, Ducati 748R, 1:32.116
27. Gianluigi Scalvini, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:32.119
28. Rico Penzkofer, Ducati 748R, 1:32.124
29. John McGuinness, Honda CBR600, 1:32.195
30. Laurent Brian, Honda CBR600, 1:32.707
31. Claudio Cipriani, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:32.981