Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By Glenn LeSanto

Drying conditions make Supersport qualifying a lottery

Ten Kate Honda team manager Ronald ten Kate described the first qualifying session at a wet Lausitzring as “a lottery.” The session started on a very wet track but as it drew to a close a few riders gambled on a drier set up, and reaped the benefits.

Chris Vermeulen took provisional pole after selecting a tyre he described as between a full wet and an intermediate. “I guessed that the conditions might improve slightly in the last few minutes,” explained the young Australian who rides for Van Zon HondaTKR. “Pirelli gave me a new tyre that’s designed to cope with conditions that aren’t fully wet but aren’t dry enough for an intermediate. It worked a treat!”

Iain MacPherson, riding for Ten Kate Honda, also guessed right as the session came to an end, “I had less time left than I thought but the tyre I had fitted was working well so I stayed out and got in some quick laps.” MacPherson, who has taken a little longer than he had hoped to settle in with his new bike said he is now very comfortable on the Ten Kate Honda, “things are really gelling for me after a difficult start,” he said.

In provisional third was Kawasaki’s youngster James Ellison. While Ellison is new to Supersport racing he’s no beginner on the European tracks, having raced them all as a European Superstock rider where he enjoyed two back-to-back championships.

Piergiorgio Bontempi took provisional fourth on his Ducati. The session wasn’t a comfortable one for Werner Daemen. He recently had his injured right shoulder pinned but the pin came out under heavy braking. In the ensuing crash Daemen also injured his feet.

Friday World Supersport Qualifying Times:

1. Chris Vermeulen, Honda, 1:55.770
2. Iain MacPherson, Honda, 1:56.037
3. James Ellison, Kawasaki, 1:56.628
4. Piergiorgio Bontempi, Ducati, 1:56.732
5. Jorg Teuchert, Yamaha, 1:56.925
6. Stephane Chambon, Suzuki, 1:56.951
7. James Whitham, Yamaha, 1:56.959
8. Alessio Corradi, Yamaha, 1:56.985
9. Christophe Cogan, Honda, 1:57.087
10. Kevin Curtain, Yamaha, 1:57.127
11. Christian Kellner, Yamaha, 1:57.282
12. Robert Ulm, Honda, 1:57.349
13. Paolo Casoli, Yamaha, 1:57.440
14. Andrew Pitt, Kawasaki, 1:57.581
15. Stefano Cruciani, Yamaha, 1:57.896
16. Karl Muggeridge, Honda, 1:57.995
17. Matthieu Lagrive, Yamaha, 1:58.322
18. Christian Zaiser, Yamaha, 1:58.523
19. Gianluca Nannelli, Ducati, 1:59.372
20. Rico Penzkofer, Ducati, 1:59.599
21. Fabien Foret, Honda, 2:00.015
22. Sebastien Charpentier, Honda, 2:00.044
23. Diego Giugovaz, Yamaha, 2:00.459
24. David De Gea, Honda, 2:00.883
25. Werner Daemen, Honda, 2:01.081
26. Robert Frost, Yamaha, 2:01.418
27. Katsuaki Fujiwara, Suzuki, 2:01.443
28. Ron Van Steenbergen, Honda, 2:02.036
29. Antonio Carlacci, Yamaha, 2:02.061
30. Kyro Verstraeten, Honda, 2:02.306
31. Claudio Cipriani, Yamaha, 2:02.895

More, from a press release issued by Honda:

VERMEULEN HEADS SUPERSPORT TIMES

Honda’s Chris Vermeulen set the pace with the fastest lap time in Friday afternoon’s opening qualifying session for round seven of the World
Supersport championship at Lausitzring, Germany.

Vermeulen moved to the head of the leaderboard in the dying seconds of the 45-minute session, edging out James Ellison to second before Ten Kate Honda team rider Iain MacPherson moved into second place with the chequered flag out to signal the end of qualifying.

Ellison ended the day in third with Italian Piergiorgio Bontempi fourth to complete the provisional front row for Sunday’s race. Former champion Jorg Teuchert made the most of his home circuit knowledge to take fifth place in the wet conditions.

Stephane Chambon, the championship leader, was sixth quickest and the provisional second row is completed by Yamaha pair James Whitham and Alessio Corradi.

Honda’s Christophe Cogan and last year’s Lausitzring race winner Kevin Curtain complete the top 10. Honda UK’s Robert Ulm and Karl Muggeridge were 12th and 16th respectively ­ with Muggeridge suffering a crash, without injuries, in each of the Friday sessions.



More, from Vermeulen’s publicist:

VERMEULEN STARS IN WET

A stunning last minute lap has seen Aussie teenager Chris Vermeulen put his Honda CBR600F onto provisional pole position for the 7th round of the World Supersport Championship in Germany.

The rain that dogged the Lausitzring round of the 2001 championship and last month’s Silverstone event has followed the SBK circus to the Eurospeedway, but that hasn’t stopped the Queensland speedster from impressing.

The 19 year old pulling out 1:55.77 towards the end of the session to grab the number one position by almost .3 of a second.

“It’s tough going out there I watch three guys crash. The cars don’t race here in the wet, so that means the track holds a lot of the water and dirt. As it dries, it gets really slippery,” the teenager said.

“My best lap was just as the track started to dry out a bit, I didn’t realise we had pole until after the session when I rode in.

“I am really hoping for a dry race. The Pirelli guys have got a great race distance tyre. So I hope it fines up,” said the teenager.

He added, “Nobody knows what the weather is doing, I am standing outside now and it is fining up. The forecast says similar weather tomorrow and then fine on Sunday. If it rains, great I’m on pole, if it fines up we’ll have another crack tomorrow.”

At last year’s corresponding race Vermeulen took his machine from 26th on the grid to a top ten finish, however it seems the Australian will be much closer to the pointy end this weekend.

“I went alright at this track last year in the rain, hopefully I can give myself a chance at my first ever world supersport win.”

Vermeulen created history in May by becoming the youngest ever pole sitter in World Supersport racing, when he starred at the famous Monza circuit.

The Van Zon Honda rider is 9th in the World Championship standings. Final qualifying 9:15 Saturday night Australian time.