Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By Glenn LeSanto

Hodgson wins the battle of two Superpoles

Neil Hodgson kept his head in difficult conditions after rain stopped the first Superpole session and forced the organisers to restart the session as wet Superpole.

In wet Superpole the riders have 50 minutes to complete 12 laps. Although called wet, by the time the riders got back out on track the circuit was more-or-less dry so all riders were using slicks. But after about 20 minutes the light rain intensified slightly, forcing the riders back into their pit boxes.

When the rain eased off again, with just under 10 minutes remaining, Britain’s James Toseland stormed into provisional pole. This prompted Hodgson and Frankie Chili to get back into the saddle. With just minutes to go Chili took pole, only to return to his pit box just in time to see Hodgson finish a fantastic lap and snatch pole.

Toseland was demoted to third, with Regis Laconi completing a all-Ducati front row. Ruben Xaus, who wasn’t allowed to start the session due to concussion suffered as a result of his earlier crash, went to the back of the third row.

Because of the unique conditions, all riders who had already completed a Superpole laps were allowed an extra tyre, 14 instead of the regulation 13.


World Superbike Superpole Results From Monza:

1. Neil Hodgson, Ducati 999F03, 1:46.981
2. Pierfrancesco Chili, Ducati 998RS, 1:47.096
3. James Toseland, Ducati 998F02, 1:47.502
4. Regis Laconi, Ducati 998RS, 1:47.537
5. Gregorio Lavilla, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:47.964
6. Lucio Pedercini, Ducati 998RS, 1:48.281
7. Chris Walker, Ducati 998F02, 1:49.003
8. Vittorio Iannuzzo, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:49.350
9. Marco Borciani, Ducati 998RS, 1:49.829
10. Alex Gramigni, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:50.172
11. Troy Corser, Foggy Petronas FP1, 1:50.244
12. Steve Martin, Ducati 998RS, 1:50.903
13. Giovanni Bussei, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:51.417
14. Mauro Sanchini, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:51.714
15. Ruben Xaus, Ducati 999F03, no time
16. Paolo Blora, Ducati 996RS, no time

17. Ivan Clementi, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:50.579
18. Serafino Foti, Ducati 998RS, 1:50.990
19. Juan Borja, Ducati 998RS, 1:51.039
20. James Haydon, Foggy Petronas FP1, 1:51.399


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

Third row start for Foggy PETRONAS Racing at Monza
Foggy PETRONAS Racing’s Troy Corser will start from the third row of the grid for tomorrow’s two races in round four of the World Superbike championsip at Monza.

On a challenging day for the team at the fast Italian circuit, a combination of mechanical trouble and misfortune resulted in team-mate James Haydon failing to qualify for the Superpole battle for the top 16 grid positions. That Superpole session was restarted in the Wet format in light rain, with riders allowed 12 laps in which to post their best time, but only after Corser had already posted one lap under Dry Superpole conditions. That lap left him set for a minimum 10th place qualifying position and although he was able to set his best time of the weekend 1:50.320 during the re-start, he slipped to 11th place on the grid.

Team manager Nigel Bosworth said: “We knew that Monza would pose a tough challenge, as we do not yet have the high speeds necessary for this circuit. To be on the third row was probably as much as we could have hoped for here. It has been a frustrating day, especially for James.”

Troy said: “I have improved my set-up today and the bike is handling better, although the gearing still has big jumps. I have done 11 or 12 laps on a race tyre and was doing better times than on a qualifier. So hopefully I will be able to run in the second group in the races and achieve a realistic goal of a top ten finish. I have not however been able to concentrate fully on my laps as I have had a problem with oil leaks and this is the last place where you want that to happen.”

James said: “I know we will get there but right now I am struggling with my own limit and the bike’s limit. I need to get my rear suspension working for me, so that I can ride on deteriorating tyres and slide on them. Today’s crash, at the last corner, was the first when I was really pushing the front. It’s one thing to crash when you are dicing for a win, but another thing when you feel you are off the pace. I was feeling battered after yesterday’s crash – now I just feel a bit more battered and my confidence is low. This morning’s events did not help, although I had my one moment of luck this weekend when my gearbox jumped and I looked down to see the engine smoking. If I had gone round the next corner I would have been off. I then had to use my second bike, which had a problem with gear selection internally, causing me to run wide. When this happened at the first corner I tried to cut through the bales at the chicane but a marshall grabbed my arm off the clutch, the bike stalled and they refused to give me a push start.”

Team owner Carl Fogarty was disappointed in the decision to switch the rules from a Dry Superpole to Wet session. He said: “If the Superpole session starts under Dry rules, it should stay under those rules. If it had rained harder then the later starters might have suffered, so it looked to me that the organisers were trying to make sure the Ducatis were on the front row.”


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

FRUSTRATION FOR TROY

Small problems made the final day of qualifying at Monza a very frustrating day for Troy. Throughout the two days, Troy had experienced some oil leaks and so never completely managed to push his hardest and set a really quick lap time. The bike was down on acceleration as well and Troy found it very hard top match the lap times of his rivals at the super-fast 5.793 kilometre circuit. A slight sprinkling of rain three quarters the way through the 16-rider Superpole shoot-out, caused all the laps up to then void and the riders were then given a ‘Wet Superpole’ session. All the riders were given fifty minutes in which to complete a maximum of twelve laps and Troy ended up eleventh on the grid. Series leader Neil Hodgson (Ducati) stole pole position from local hero Frankie Chili just two minutes from the end of the session with a lap of 1:46.981 ­ the faster two-wheeled lap of Monza ever recorded.

TROY- ­ 11th, 1:50.244

It has been a very frustrating couple of days and I never had a chance to really go for it. Our bike is losing out on acceleration and taking too long to get to its top speed and that’s hurting us a lot. I’ve been having to try and make up for that by riding flat-out in the corners. We’ve changed the gearbox ratios, but so far I haven’t found exactly what I’m looking for. Also, I’ve had some oil leaks and that caused me to lose my confidence in the bike a little. Monza is not the kind of track I would want to have a crash. The plus side is that I did my best time on a race tyre and that I know what tyres I will use in tomorrow’s races. This bike has never been here before, so we had no information or data from before. We have to just try and catch up as best we can. Tomorrow is going to be a long, hard day.


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

Laconi at Monza set front row once more

998RS Ducati Caracchi NCR Nortel Networks rider Regis Laconi set front row for Sunday’s fourth round of World Superbike championship at Monza with the fourth fastest time in the Superpole. After recording the fourth fastest laptime in the morning’s final qualifying session, Laconi confirmed his position also in a Wet Superpole, a 50 minutes session with a maximum of 12 laps availables. The session to define the starting grid for the tomorrow’s 16 laps two races has been a suffered session for the French rider: Superpole really started as Dry Superpole, but just during Regis’ timed lap started raining and Laconi has been stopped by red flag. After the 15 minutes of interval following the FIM procedure started a new Wet Superpole, but actually the track was dry and only a bit more slippery for a few rain drops, anyway to use soft tyres to grab a fast laptime.

“It has been some chaos moment, because in such conditions it’s always a lottery to adopt the right racing tactics and the right moment to start for a fast lap.” – said at the end of the day Regis Laconi – “When they stopped me in my time lap with the red flag I was very angry thinking that this stop ruined my precious marked soft tyres. At the end of the session I got only four laps available, so I must decide if I could use a soft tyre for a couple of laps or a race tyre to complete the session, but thank to the Dunlop help we could have a new soft tyre to mark, and so I preferred the first tactics. Actually at the end I’ve been able to do only a fast lap because during the second fast lap, when I got in the first split the fastest time, I found at Roggia’s chicane a doubled rider: he let me pass correctly, but anyway I must move a bit from the right line and with the soft tyre at the second lap I hadn’t a complete feeling and I preferred slow down. But I’m satisfied because, despite all the difficulties, we grabbed at the end the front row and on such fast track like Monza that’s very important. The guys have been perfect and never lose the control of the situation, thi bike runs well and for tomorrow I’m confident in a couple of good results.”

Satisfaction for Marco Masetti too and tomorrow he’ll start from the sixth row after upgrading his laptime today too.

“Very slowly I’m getting a better feeling and today I made less mistakes.” – commented Masetti – “When I’ve been able to stay behind some one of the good I could learn a lot of things and at the end I’ve seen the result. For tomorrow I’m confident to get something good.”


More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki:

SECOND ROW FOR GREGORIO

2003 Superbike World Championship – Round 4, Monza, Italy. Friday qualifying, 16th May.
Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Gregorio Lavilla ended the first day of qualifying at Monza in sixth place, but knows that a front row grid position is still a possibility. Gregorio is the first non-Ducati rider in the top six and will have to find a bit more pace, if he’s to challenge the front-runners here at the ultra-fast Monza track.

Briton James Toseland set the day’s fastest time, with a lap of 1:47.713 – just three tenths of a second outside the official lap record set by Troy Bayliss last year.

Former European Superstock Champion Vittorio Iannuzzo joined Gregorio at Monza for this event. Iannuzzo was riding a very standard bike, with a Yoshimura kit and qualified a very creditable twelfth place.

LAVILLA – 6th, 1:48.371: Everything went pretty much OK today. We had one bike with some good things and some bad things and the other bike had different good things and bad things. So we’ll try and put the best things on both bikes into one bike for tomorrow and hopefully we’ll improve. Hodgson’s Ducati is very fast through the first split and that’s where we’re all losing time to him. We’re going to try and get closer to him there or it’s going to be two very long, hard races for sure. They’re going to be hard races anyway because Monza is like that. We’ve still some work to do and we’ll have to see how tomorrow pans out and then go hard on race day.

IANNUZZO – 12th, 1 min 49.946: I’ve had very limited time on a GSXR1000 this year – just one test session and one race in the Italian Championship. We’ve lots of work to do and many changes to make here, but I’m enjoying riding against the best Superbike riders in the world.


More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

Neil Hodgson took his third pole position of the year in the final minute of the Superpole session this afternoon ahead of tomorrow’s Italian World Superbike Round at Monza. In a session declared wet but mainly run in the dry, the 29-year-old Ducati Fila rider just edged out Pierfrancesco Chili (PSG-1 Ducati) with a record lap of 1’46.981, setting up a classic showdown between the championship leader and the local crowd favourite.

“It’s not going to be easy tomorrow,” declared Neil, “because the unexpected can always happen on this track. I don’t think anyone will be able to pull away at the front, but hopefully I can get Ducati’s 200th win. I’ve not got a strategy for tomorrow and I won’t have until the race starts. What will be important are the last few laps and I know for sure we’re looking good on our race tyre.”

Ruben Xaus was forced to miss Superpole after an incident just a couple of minutes into the morning’s final qualifying session. Xaus slammed into Clementi’s Kawasaki on the track after the Italian had crashed seconds before. Ruben remained unconscious on the track for about one minute before being taken to the circuit medical centre with concussion and chest trauma, as well as a cut on his inner thigh which required a few stitches. He returned to the Ducati garage to watch the end of Superpole and a decision will be taken tomorrow morning on whether Ruben can race. He will eventually line up on row 4.

“Unfortunately I found a Kawasaki on the track in front of me at the Ascari chicane and I just couldn’t see a thing through all the dust that had been thrown up,” declared Ruben , “so I ended up hitting him. For some time I couldn’t remember much about the incident but I’ve had a rest and feel OK now and I’ll be on the grid tomorrow for the two races.”