Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By Glenn Le Santo

Lavilla on provisional pole at Silverstone

Gregorio Lavilla’s one-off fast lap set during Friday’s session has put him on provisional pole ahead of Superpole.

Lavilla was unable to repeat the lap and both his team and track officials denied suggestions that he had cut the new chicane on the lap before his fast lap. If a rider did cut the chicane they would enter the main straight at around 25 mph faster, thus giving them a head start for the next lap.

Regis Laconi qualified second but he’s the real fast guy around, being able to put in consistently fast laps in a way that still evades Lavilla. Laconi lapped today at 1:53.353, compared to Lavilla’s best Saturday time of 1:54.518. James Toseland and Frankie Chili complete the provisional front row.

Neil Hodgson, struggling again with set up on his Fila Ducati 999 only just made it onto the second row, improving late in the session to go seventh. He’ll be joined on the second row by Rizla Suzuki teammates Yukio Kagayama in fifth and John Reynolds in sixth. Chris Walker is provisional eighth.

World Superbike Championship
Round Six, Silverstone, Great Britain

Second qualifying, best laps:

1. Gregorio Lavilla, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:53.162
2. Regis Laconi, Ducati 998RS, 1:53.353
3. James Toseland, Ducati 998F02, 1:53.660
4. Pierfrancesco Chili, Ducati 998RS, 1:53.836
5. Yukio Kagayama, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:53.918
6. John Reynolds, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:53.960
7. Neil Hodgson, Ducati 999F03, 1:54.245
8. Chris Walker, Ducati 998F02, 1:54.429
9. Giovanni Bussei, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:54.607
10. Michael Rutter, Ducati 998RS, 1:54.648
11. Vittorio Iannuzzo, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:54.663
12. Ruben Xaus, Ducati 999F03, 1:54.692
13. Sean Emmett, Ducati 998F02, 1:55.043
14. Lucio Pedercini, Ducati 998RS, 1:55.067
15. Marco Borciani, Ducati 998RS, 1:55.103
16. David Garcia, Ducati 998RS, 1:55.406
17. Steve Martin, Ducati 998RS, 1:55.421
18. Troy Corser, Foggy Petronas FP1, 1:55.560
19. Juan Borja, Ducati 998RS, 1:55.630
20. Nello Russo, Ducati 998RS, 1:55.971