FIM Superbike World Championship Phillip Island, Australia March 3, 2007 Superpole Results: 1. Troy BAYLISS (Duc 999F07), 1:32.145 2. James TOSELAND (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:32.198 3. Troy CORSER (Yam YZF-R1), 1:32.605 4. Noriyuki HAGA (Yam YZF-R1), 1:32.879 5. Max BIAGGI (Suz GSX-R1000K7),1:32.928 6. Fonsi NIETO (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:33.132 7. Max NEUKIRCHNER (Suz GSX-R1000K6), 1:33.188 8. Ruben XAUS (Duc 999F06), 1:33.367 9. Regis LACONI (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:33.368 10. Lorenzo LANZI (Duc 999F07), 1:33.969 11. Steve MARTIN (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:33.994 12. Josh BROOKES (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:34.731 13. Michel FABRIZIO (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:35.215 14. Jakub SMRZ (Duc 999F05), 1:35.327 15. Roberto ROLFO (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:36.295 16. Yukio KAGAYAMA (Suz GSX-R1000K7), no time, did not ride in Superpole More, from a press release issued by Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra: 2007 Superbike World Championship Round 2, Phillip Island, Australia Saturday 3rd March YUKIO OUT! Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Yukio Kagayama will miss tomorrow’s races at Phillip Island due to doctor’s orders. Yesterday, Yukio crashed in timed qualifying and was taken to The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne with suspected fractures of his left collarbone and three or four ribs and possible damage to his spleen. But, after further checks at The Alfred, it was found that Yukio had not broken any bones, though there was some damage to one of his lungs. As a precaution the medics there declared Yukio unfit to take part in the races – a decision that was endorsed by the race jury, the FIM and race direction. More, from a press release issued by Team Yamaha YZF: Practice disturbed by the rain After a regular progression, Shinichi Nakatomi could not qualify for Superpole because of a shower that ended the practice session when he was ready to use his best tyres. Both Yamaha R1s of Troy Corser and Noriyuki Haga will start from the front row tomorrow. The Friday practice went average, with the 18th position for Nakatomi, 3.5 seconds behind the provisional pole position. That session was used mostly to set up the bike with the purpose to be if possible in the top 16 for Superpole. In the second and last timed session on Saturday, Shinichi improved his time, despite a very strong wind. With 15 minutes to go, when he was ready to go for his trial to qualify for Superpole, it rained suddenly and there was no way he could qualify. Shinichi Nakatomi: “On Friday, we had a few problems including chattering. It was better and better on Saturday and the modifications that we had made gave me a better feeling. Unfortunately it rained and there was nothing I could do. In the afternoon free practice session, we kept on working on the set up. My goal is to gain positions during the race.” Martial Garcia (team-manager): “We made a mistake because we were ready when the rain came. We could not confirm the previous work that we had done during the first three quarters of the session, even if we had the 8th position in the top speed classification. The lack of testing last winter is our handicap. We are confident for the race.” Qualifying results: 1-Bayliss (Ducati), 2-Toseland (Honda), 3- Corser (Yamaha), 4-Haga (Yamaha), 5-Biaggi (Suzuki)…18-Nakatomi (Yamaha) World Championship standings: 1-Toseland (Honda) et Biaggi (Suzuki) 45 points, 3-Lanzi (Ducati) 25, 4-Corser (Yamaha) et Kagayama (Suzuki) 23… 15-Nakatomi (Yamaha) 4 More, from a press release issued by Scuderia SC Caracchi: SECOND ROW FOR NANNELLI, SMRZ IN SUPERPOLE AT PHILLIP ISLAND (Phillip Island 2007, March 3) At the end of final practice day at Phillip Island circuit, under very changeable weather conditions, the riders of Scuderia SC Caracchi Ducati got good results. Gianluca Nannelli will start tomorrow from the second row, just behind the poleman, after setting the fifth fastest in qualifying. “Has been actually a strange day and the wind made the session’s result distort.” related rejoining the pit Gianluca Nannelli. “We focused most for a good set up, but at the end of the session a strong wind from the sea started to blow; at the Siberia corner, on the Bass Strait sea, a hard and unexpected wind shot was near to throw me out in the gravel. For sure I’ve been rather unlucky when I decided to use the soft tyres: yesterday the Salom’s crash forced me to destroy a set of tyres, as well today too, with soft tyres I was following Curtain, surely one of the fastest, and he felt at the hairpin, so I destroyed my last soft tyre’s set too. For tomorrow the weather forecast speaks of rain possibility, it woulb be a difficult more, as well is the same for everyone. What’s sure is that in fresh condition our engine runs better, today with 39°C air temperature we suffered a bit. Now the team is making the final check for tomorrow’s race, I’m confident in a good result.” On the Superbike Jakub Smrz recorded easily the Superpole’s access and tomorrow he’ll start from the 4th row, in 14th position. “After setting the Superpole access I had a bad moment during the second free practice session.” said Jakub Smrz at the end of Superpole. “The bike had a small technical problem, but the team’s guys have been fantastic finding it and recovering it in a very shot time, allowing me to contest the Superpole session, otherwise I must start from the last position in the grid, following the FIM Sporting Rules. At the end I got the 14th fastest and I’m quite satisfied. I hope in a dry race, I’m not afraid for wet conditions, but my experience for Ducati is still too small and I would like more a dry track.” More, from a press release issued by Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra: 2007 Superbike World Championship Round 2, Phillip Island, Australia Saturday 3rd March Circuit: 4.445 kms. Conditions; Dry, sunny/cloudy. SECOND ROW FOR MAX. YUKIO A NON-STARTER. Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Max Biaggi will the team’s sole representative in tomorrow’s races at Phillip Island. Max’s bike was sliding around during his Superpole lap and the time lost was enough to relegate him to the second row of the grid. His team mate Yukio Kagayama is a non-starter tomorrow as he will still be in hospital in Melbourne after his crash yesterday afternoon. Although Yukio suffered no broken bones in the fall, the doctors there declared him not fit enough to take part in the races tomorrow. Superpole was won by Troy Bayliss (Ducati), with James Toseland (Honda) second, Troy Corser (Yamaha) third and Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) fourth. MAX – 5th, 1:33.828 I experienced quite a few slides on my Superpole lap and that prevented me from going any faster. If it hadn’t been for the slides, I would’ve been on the front row for sure. It’s a shame, but it’s still possible to win from the second row of the grid here as the first turn is a long way off. My bike is more or less set-up OK for the race, but we’ll make a few small adjustments in the warm-up tomorrow morning and see if we can improve it. The bike has been suffering a little from vibration, front and rear, and that hasn’t helped going fast in the turns. Also, the traction could be a bit better, but it’s another area we’ll look at in the warm-up. It would’ve been good to have a bit more track time today, but it’s the same for everybody and now it’s time to think about the race. I’m still hopeful of a couple of podiums. More, from a press release issued by FGSport Group: SUPERPOLE GOES TO REIGNING CHAMPION – BAYLISS BOUNCES BACK INTO CONTENTION After a somewhat subdued first round at Losail last weekend the 2001 and 2006 champion Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) smashed his way back into the public consciousness at his home circuit by setting a new qualifying best of 1’31.887, and then winning a delayed Superpole contest, with a 1’32.145. Just behind Bayliss in both qualifying and Superpole came James Toseland (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) who also prevented third place Superpole rider Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia) from turning 40 in terms of Superpole wins. In a good period of final grid allocations for the Yamaha Motor Italia team, Noriyuki Haga overcame an eighth place in regular qualifying place to go fourth, and now start from the front row. BIAGGI LEADS THE SECOND RUNG Max Biaggi (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) scored a second row start at Phillip Island and a cosmopolitan first few Superpole places included sixth placed Fonsi Nieto (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse), sixth. Once again the talent and cool-headedness of German rider Max Neukirchner (Suzuki Germany) took him to a top starting position, with his seventh place ride displacing the 2006 factory spec Ducati of Ruben Xaus (Sterilgarda Ducati). LACONI IMPROVES ON DAY TWO Regis Laconi (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse) made an upward movement after a disappointing first day, despite the high winds that plagued the second day of track action. Losail podium finisher Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) was only tenth after a disappointing Superpole run. Second fastest Honda rider was Steve Martin (DFX Corse Honda) in 11th place, with Josh Brookes clinging onto the last place on row three on his Alto Evolution Honda. Czech rider Jakub Smrz (Caracchi Ducati SC) was 14th out of 15 in his first Superpole outing. A costly period of qualifying for some top riders saw Yukio Kagayama (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) ruled out of qualifying and the rest of race weekend after his first day crash, while Karl Muggeridge fell on the oil deposited on the track by his team-mate’s blown engine today, and was sent to hospital for checks after suffering a light concussion and an injured ankle. He is unsure of starting on Sunday, and currently awaits medical clearance. PIRELLI BEAT THE CLOCK On Friday the records starting falling for Pirelli, with Foret beating Vermeulen’s 2003-season best Lap. Vermeulen was on Pirellis when he set his long-standing best, and was champion at the end of that season, in the “Open Era”, fought out with prototype tyres. Today Bayliss also set the new best lap for the SBK class. The track itself changed a lot during the Phillip Island weekend, due to the different weather and temperature experienced over the practice period. Temperature and humidity has altered the tarmac grip, so different tyres were needed in different sessions to allow full potential to be reached in each session. Pirelli has fitments ready to meet any conditions, and tomorrow the last record remaining to be beaten is for race time over the full 22-lap distance. SUPERSPORT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Fabien Foret (Gil Motorsports Kawasaki) was a popular pole position winner, taking his 11th career pole, the first for Kawasaki since Andrew Pitt at Phillip Island in 2002 and the first for Foret himself since the 2005 season. It was a new WSS record lap in qualifying; 1’35.166, set on day one. A second day blighted by very high winds down the main straight made the second timed session hard work for all, but shortly before crashing in the final ten minutes of qualifying Kevin Curtain (Yamaha SSP Racing) scored a fantastic lap of the 4.445km circuit, only 0.033 seconds from equalling Foret’s best. The front row for the 21-lap race on Sunday will be completed by the Hannspree Ten Kate Honda riders, Sebastien Charpentier and Kenan Sofuoglu, with fifth fastest lap of the weekend coming from the Caracchi Ducati SC rider, Gianluca Nannelli. More, from a press release issued by HANNspree Ten Kate Honda: Front row start for HANNspree Ten Kate Honda’s Toseland The second round of the 2007 World Superbike Championship continued today as all four seasons seemed to pass over Phillip Island in one day. The HANNspree Ten Kate Honda riders saw rain, wind and sunshine before completing the Superpole session this afternoon. Following an eventful day, James Toseland will start tomorrow’s race from second position on the grid, while his team-mate Roberto Rolfo will begin from fifteenth. Toseland spent much of the day in battle with current World Champion Troy Bayliss. The pair swapped places at the top of the timesheets throughout the weekend, with the British rider reigning yesterday and the Australian just ahead in today’s rankings. The combined qualifying result saw Toseland enter Superpole as the second fastest rider – just one tenth of a second behind his rival. The tense Superpole session took place in humid conditions with a strong wind that changed direction frequently. Toseland took to the track in the penultimate timed lap and stormed to the top of the rankings with a time of 1’32.198. Bayliss followed and finished the lap of his home track in an incredibly close time of 1’32.145 – just 0.053 seconds faster than Toseland. As a result, James will start from second on the grid. Superpole was more difficult for Roberto Rolfo as a mechanical fault on his Honda CBR1000RR robbed him of a position in the top eight. From a best lap of 1’33.683 in the qualifying practices, Rolfo’s Superpole time came in at 1’36.295 to place him fifteenth on the grid. Sixteenth position is reserved for Karl Muggeridge who crashed out in qualifying and was unable to take part in the session. Ronald ten Kate, Team Manager: “Even though we are not at the top of the timesheets today I have to say that I am very happy because we have found a very good race setting for the bikes, especially with James. I’m also happy with Roby’s race set-up and race pace so we are ready to go tomorrow. Missing out on Superpole might look like a downer but it isn’t really – it just would have been a nice bonus – and anyway we know that Troy Bayliss is very fast around Phillip Island. I am sorry for Roby as he was really ready for Superpole and we were aiming for a second row start for him. Unfortunately he had a technical problem with his bike so it wasn’t to be. We are now just hoping that the weather is ok tomorrow and that we don’t have to make any big changes.”&nb sp; James Toseland: “Qualifying has been great for me. My bike is working well and is ready to go, the team are working hard and everything is looking good for tomorrow. I wanted to take the success we had in Qatar and bring it here and I feel like so far we have achieved that. Obviously I would have liked Superpole, but I am happy with the front row and I’m looking forward to the race.” Roberto Rolfo: “I am really disappointed. Through no fault of anyone a technical diffculty with my bike caused me problems on the Superpole lap and I dropped down in the rankings. On the positive side though, it’s been a satisfying weekend overall and I have a good package for the race that will hopefully establish us in the top ten of the Championship standings after tomorrow’s race.” More, from a press release issued by Xerox Ducati: BAYLISS POWERS BACK INTO CONTENTION AT PHILLIP ISLAND WITH HIS 13TH CAREER SUPERPOLE Phillip Island (Australia), Saturday 3 March: Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox Team) powered back to the front positions at Phillip Island with his 13th career Superpole win. The two-times world champion, out of contention last Saturday in Qatar, showed that he really means business this weekend by first breaking the circuit’s best lap in the morning’s final qualifying session, leaving the new record at 1m31.887s, and then outpacing James Toseland (Honda) and Troy Corser (Yamaha) in the one-lap battle for pole. Team-mate Lorenzo Lanzi was not so fortunate today, the Italian qualifying in fifth place but he then had a problem with the electronic quick-shifter in Superpole, which dropped him down to tenth. “We’ve come quite good in the last couple of days, trying long-runs and working hard to try and find the race tyre, but everyone knows how Phillip Island is” declared Troy. “Conditions can be very different during the day, hot and cold, wet and dry and it was very gusty this afternoon for Superpole. I thought the wind had died down but it was still blowing hard on the inside of turn 1 as I set off. My lap was actually quite messy and I was surprised to take Superpole, my last split can’t have been that bad because I was down at the first one. I also ran very wide on Lukey Heights but really I can’t complain and I’m very happy to be on pole in front of my friends and family. Both the races are going to be long and difficult tomorrow and we hope for cooler conditions which will help with the duration of the tyres.” “I wanted to do a good Superpole lap because starting up front is always important but unfortunately we had a problem with the electronic shifter so I will be starting from tenth on the grid on the third row” commented Lorenzo. “What can I say? Better today than tomorrow in the race. I was a bit angry with this bad luck because the weekend has already been quite difficult for us, with two crashes and twice I’ve damaged the bike and made the guys work really hard to repair it. However I feel quite confident about the race tomorrow, the settings are good, we did some good times in practice, now all I have to do is get a good start. Ahead of me there are a few riders who seem to have tyre problems, we are not that badly off so I think I can do a couple of good races tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Troy Corser’s publicist: FRONT ROW FOR TROY DESPITE STRONG WINDS Troy suffered buffeting winds during his Superpole lap, but clung on to this Yamaha YZF-R1 to post the third quickest lap in the 16-rider shoot-out. He was chasing his 40th Superpole win in his career, but in the end he was happy enough to be on the front row. His fellow countryman Troy Bayliss (Ducati) put in a lap of 1:32.145 and took the Superpole victory, with Briton James Toseland (Honda) second. Joining Troy on the front row of the grid is his team mate Noriyuki Haga. TROY – 3rd, 1:32.605 Well, Superpole was a bit hairy! I almost got blown off the bike when I left pit-lane, that’s how bad it was! It had been windy earlier in the day, but then it had been pretty consistent. When I went out on my Superpole lap, the wind kept changing directions and that made life difficult. We haven’t got anything new here, after Qatar last week, and there are still a few little areas to work on. I know the boys back at the workshop are working their butts off on the engine, to give me and Nori what we want. Phillip Island is a great track and I think all riders really enjoy racing here. I’ve got a lot of fans here this weekend and I really want to give them something to cheer about tomorrow. See ya, Troy More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Yamaha men take front row in Australia Yamaha Motor Italy WSB Team riders Troy Corser and Noriyuki Haga will start tomorrow’s second round of the Superbike World Championship from the front row of the grid after impressive superpole performances at Phillip Island today. High winds made life difficult for the riders at the coastal circuit today. Haga was the first of the R1 riders to head out on his grid-deciding qualifying lap after finishing regular qualifying in eighth place. The Japanese star put together a smooth lap of 1:32.879 to head the time sheets with seven riders remaining. Four men came and went without besting the Yamaha rider until Corser, third in regular practice blasted to a 1:32.605 lap. World champion Troy Bayliss (Ducati) was the last man to go out on his superpole lap and grabbed the pole position with James Toseland (Honda) second. With no new parts available since last weekend’s race in Qatar, today’s testing programme focused mainly on fine tuning the R1’s chassis and suspension to make maximum use of the front tyre in tomorrow’s 22-lap races. Both Corser and Haga were able to make considerable headway in their preparations, completing race simulations in both the morning and afternoon practice sessions. Shinichi Nakatomi of Team YZF Yamaha will start from 17th on the grid after improving his Friday time by half-a-second. The Japanese rider was denied an opportunity to make the afternoon superpole when rain started to fall 15 minutes from the end of the morning’s second qualifying session. Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italy WSB Team) “I almost got blown off the bike as I rolled out on my warm-up lap and that prepared me for the big gust of wind that hit me as I went into turn one on my superpole lap. That caused me to lose the front end and I ended up running wide through the Southern Loop as I tried to make up time. That’s not normally the way I would attack superpole but it worked out fine in the end. I hope it (the weather) is a bit more calm because it can get a bit hectic when you go into a corner three abreast and get hit by a gust of wind. The bike’s going real well here and I’m pleased to be on the front row. We just need to see how it goes tomorrow.” Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italy WSB Team) “The wind made the superpole lap very difficult and I am very surprised, but of course happy, with the result. Because of the wind it was easy to make a mistake, especially coming into the corners. I took some tight lines and did not really make mistakes. It’s my best lap time of the weekend so I am pleased. I expect a difficult race tomorrow. We know that the tyre can work very well for around 10 laps but we still need to try and make it work longer. We have already decided which tyre we will use but I still have to think about the suspension settings, so maybe I will not sleep so well tonight!” Shinichi Nakatomi (Team YZF Yamaha) “Yesterday we had many problems with chatter but today we were able to get a better feeling with the bike. Unfortunately it started to rain 15 minutes before the end of the morning qualifying session and I was unable to make a time to qualifying for superpole. We are still working to improve the set-up but I am hopeful we can make up some positions in the races tomorrow.” Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator – Yamaha Motor Italy WSB Team) “It’s always good to have both riders on the front row so of course it has been a good day today. We have been lacking a little bit in the final section of the track but our lap times are good and I think that we can challenge for the podium tomorrow.”