From a press release issued by Foggy Petronas Racing:

FPR riders on the pace as WSBK season starts in Spain

Foggy PETRONAS Racing riders Troy Corser and Chris Walker were straight on the pace when the World Superbike championship revved into action at Valencia in Spain today.

New signing Walker was fourth after the morning’s free practice session, with team-mate Corser just 0.3 seconds and one position back in fifth. On a chilly day, with gusting winds increasing and track temperatures dropping in the afternoon, the FPR boys finished the first day of qualifying in ninth and seventh respectively.

Their best times, however, were set on Pirelli race tyres whereas the rest of the field sliced substantial chunks off their fastest laps on qualifying rubber. Troy finished with a best lap of 1:37.254 while Chris, on his number two bike, posted a 1:37.718 in the morning session, just one tenth of a second behind his best lap on the FP1 at this circuit.

Troy said: “We have not really been trying race tyres today as we found the best one straight away for both front and rear. But the rest of the leading times in the afternoon session were set when people were taking about a second off on qualifiers. I wasn’t able to go any quicker on a qualifier as it produced more chatter. And it’s important to qualify well here because, with turn one so tight, if you are not up there with the first three or four by turn two, you are never going to catch them. So that is a worry. But, if you look at the times before the qualifiers were used, I was around third or fourth. I have been changing the pivot position in the rear and trying a different rear shock to try and get more grip from the rear, but that is always a balancing act between creating more
chatter.”

Chris said: “Today went relatively well and I was happy with my times this morning, especially to be within a tenth of my best time from the test so quickly. In the afternoon I had to swap bikes because of a technical problem and the second bike had different forks and a different set-up, which was not ideal. So I didn’t use a
qualifier because I wanted to save my tyre quote until tomorrow when the weather will hopefully be better. Sure, I’m used to being a little bit higher up the board but I hope to be up there tomorrow. My biggest problem has been with ground clearance, which is something we will have to work on for tomorrow.”

Friday qualifying times, round one, World Superbike championship, Valencia, Spain: 1 Laconi (Ducati Fila) 1:36.323; 2 Toseland
(Ducati Fila) 1:36.683; 3 Martin (DFX) 1:36.778; 4 Haga (Renegade) 1:36.901; 5 McCoy (NCR) 1:37.208; 6 Borciani (DFX) 1:37.212; 7
Corser (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:37.254; 8 Vermeulen (Ten Kate) 1:37.713; 9 Walker (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:37.718; 10
Pedercini (Team Pedercini) 1:37.778

Free practice: 1 Toseland (Ducati Fila) 1:36.611; 2 Haga (Renegade) 1:37.233; 3 Laconi (Ducati Fila) 1:37.297; 4 Walker (Foggy
PETRONAS Racing) 1:37.347; 5 Corser (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:37.700; 6 McCoy (NCR) 1:38.005; 7 Martin (DFX) 1:38.015; 8
Haslam (Renegade) 1:38.063; 9 Borciani (DFX) 1:38.331; 10 Vermeulen (Ten Kate) 1:38.468


More, from a press release issued by Ten Kate Honda:

Muggeridge and Parkes Net Provisional Front Row Starts

The first timed qualifying session of the 2004 World Supersport season delivered the Ten Kate pairing of Karl Muggeridge and Broc Parkes provisional front row starts on their CBR600RR machines.

A close contest on a dry track was blighted for all competitors as the winds picked up in intensity, making it difficult to hold a line on the tortuous Valencia track layout. The relatively cool track temperatures also prevented any of the top riders from setting times close to those which saw the Ten Kate pairing dominate in the final official pre-season tests at this very circuit.

Second quickest despite the trying conditions was Karl Muggeridge, the first of Ten Kate’s Aussie riders on the timesheets, although he and Parkes set an identical time of 1:39.128, well down on his personal best from pre-season testing. His team-mate Parkes, classified third quickest after being fastest at one stage, preserved this tyre supply for the second day of qualifying. He was one of the first riders to break out of the 1:40 bracket, in his first full season for the team.

Muggeridge, the winner of the last three WSS races in the 2003 season for Ten Kate explained, “The wind was ten times worse than in the recent tests here. It’s not so much the intensity but the gusty nature of it. You can be committed to a corner and then the wind gusts and puts you off line. If the front end lifts exiting a corner the wind just whips the wheel out of line so it’s really difficult to put in consistent laps. The wind is also blowing sand across the track and that’s making it slippery as well. The bike feels perfect for perfect conditions but we need the impossible – a bike that also works perfectly in gusty wind conditions! If the wind drops we can go faster tomorrow.”

“I got a good start out there but I did the whole session on only one tyre,” said Parkes, explaining that day two should be more important than the first session. “I kept most of my tyres for the second day of qualifying, when I hope the conditions will be better. If the wind drops a bit we can go faster for sure, and I’m happy with the set-up of the bike.” Parkes, like his peer group, has one more qualifying session in which to improve his time and go for pole position.

“The wind conditions are what is holding us and everyone back, and we will make up the 1.5 or seconds we expected to have once the wind drops,” said Team Manager Ronald Ten Kate. “We are happy with our performance because the bikes are working well and it is still the same name at the top of the timesheets, even in these conditions.”

World Supersport Championship
Round One – Valencia
27 – 29 February
1. S. Charpentier, FRA, Honda CBR600RR 1:39.065
2. K. Muggeridge, AUS, Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR 1:39.128
3. B. Parkes, AUS, Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR 1:39.128
4. F. Foret, FRA, Yamaha YZF R6 1:39.239
5. K. Fujiwara, JPN, Suzuki GSX 600R 1:39.457
6. K. Curtain, AUS, Yamaha YZF R6 1:39.467
7. W. Daemen, BEL, Honda CBR600RR 1:39.657
8. A. Corradi, ITA, Honda CBR600RR 1:39.670
9. C. Kellner, GER, Yamaha YZF R6 1:40.003
10. S. Chambon, FRA, Suzuki GSX 600R 1:40362



More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

LACONI AND TOSELAND (DUCATI FILA) HEAD THE FIELD IN FIRST WORLD SUPERBIKE QUALIFYING AT VALENCIA

Valencia (Spain), 27 February 2004: Regis Laconi and James Toseland (Ducati Fila) powered their 999s to the top of the timesheets in first qualifying for the opening round of the World Superbike Championship at the Valencia circuit in Spain.

In extremely cold but dry conditions, Laconi was quickest straight out of the box and the 28 year-old Frenchman ended up with a time of 1:36.323.

“The feeling with the bike was much better than this morning and we have put the same settings as I had in the tests” declared Laconi. “It was very hard to ride in the wind, but the weather is the same for everyone. I made my quick time with my race tyre after 10 laps and I feel good about that. I didn’t use a qualifying tyre today, we will see tomorrow. I had more problem with rear grip than in the tests because of the cold and the track is a bit dirty, but I’m not finding an excuse, I don’t have to, I just have to be fast!”.

James Toseland crashed early in the afternoon session but then moved comfortably into second place in the timesheets behind Laconi with a time of 1:36.683, which he set on his other machine.

“I crashed but had a bit of fun out there today, there was a hurricane blowing at turn 1 and no other rider had it, just me” joked James about his crash. “You’ve got to be careful out there, it’s very dusty and dirty.

“We tried something in the early part of the session but it didn’t work that well so when I crashed we went back to the settings on my no.1 bike, which was much better. I’m just a bit disappointed about scratching the bike!” Toseland added. “We’re in the ballpark, fastest this morning and second fastest this afternoon, we’re riding well and the bike’s good!”

TIMES: 1. Laconi (Ducati Fila) 1:36.323; 2. Toseland (Ducati Fila) 1:36.383; 3. Martin (Ducati DFX) 1’36.778; 4. Haga (Renegade Ducati) 1:36.901; 5. McCoy (Ducati NCR) 1:37.208; 6. Borciani (Ducati DFX) 1:37.212; 7. Corser (Petronas) 1:37.254; 8. Vermeulen (Honda) 1:37.713; etc.



LANZI (DUCATI BREIL) DEBUTS IN WORLD SUPERSPORT WITH PROVISIONAL TWELFTH PLACE

Valencia (Spain), 27 February 2004: Italian Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati Breil) took the all-new 749R to a provisional twelfth place in today’s opening qualifying session for round 1 of the World Supersport Championship at Valencia.

Lanzi, who was European Superstock runner-up in 2003, had a difficult start to his Supersport career as icy temperatures and blustery winds prevented any record times being set, but the 22-year-old from Cesena, Italy said he was reasonably happy with twelfth quickest position.

“I am quite pleased with the way things went today on my debut” declared Lanzi. “Overall we had a better session than in testing here a couple of weeks ago even though our time was not as quick.

“We made a few changes but with the wind it was difficult to get a good idea. Tomorrow we’ll test them again and then hopefully we’ll be on the right path because in my opinion we can improve.

Lanzi added: “I had a bit of a problem with the clutch on my final lap and without that I’m sure I could have got my time down even further”.

TIMES: 1. Charpentier (Honda) 1:39.065; 2. Muggeridge (Honda) 1:39.128; 3. Parkes (Honda) 1:39.128; 4. Foret (Yamaha) 1:39.239; 5. Fujiwara (Suzuki) 1:39.457; 6. Curtain (Yamaha) 1:39.457; 7. Daemen (Honda) 1:39.657; 8. Corradi (Honda) 1:39.670 …… 12. Lanzi (Ducati Breil) 1:40.576.


More, from a press release issued by Xerox Ducati Nortel Networks – Scuderia Caracchi:

McCOY FIFTH FASTEST IN THE DEBUT DAY AT VALENCIA

Garry McCoy recorded the fifth fastest in the qualifying session today on the 4005 meters of R.Tormo Circuit in Valencia, where next Sunday will start the 2004 Superbike World Championship.

The Australian rider of Team Xerox Ducati Nortel Networks, after a morning session focused in the setting of the bike, in the afternoon stopped the stopwatches on a laptime of 1’37.208, time recorded with race tyres and repeated a few laps later. His Ducati 999RS has been recorded as the fastest bike of the group, thanks the very good job made by the engineers of the team based in Bologna.

“We went on to set the bike,” – said McCoy at the end of practice – “but I’m getting experience on the twin cylinder, so I’m pretty satisfied. I reached easily my fastest lap, without pushing and while I was testing a race tyre. Later with qualifying tyres I wasn’t able to go any quicker because I preferred not to push. With soft tyres I don’t still have a good feeling. The bike is very fast, that means a good team’s job, so I’m satisfied because we are making a good job together. Tomorrow we’ll see if I’ll be able to improve my laptime, but the weather conditions will be very important.”

Black day for Miguel Praia: a couple of crashes ruined the debut day of the Portuguese rider, unable to get a good result like that got two weeks ago during the test session on this track.

“Those two crashes forced the team to work hardly on the bike,” – said Miguel after his second crash – “just while I need to practice for a better feeling on the bike. In the afternoon’s crash I had also a small fracture of the fifth finger of the left food, so tomorrow I’ll have to pass the medical control to be fit to race.”


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

TROY SEVENTH ON OPENING DAY AT VALENCIA

Troy didn’t push hard on the first day of qualifying, but still managed to end the day with a provisional second row grid position – and the first non-Ducati rider. Despite the sunshine in the morning session, the temperature only hovered round the two degree centigrade mark, but in the afternoon, the wind blew strongly and hindered any substantial improvement in the lap times. Factory Ducati rider Regis Laconi ended the day on provisional pole, with a time of 1:36.323, followed by his team mate James Toseland. Third was Steve Martin, with Noriyuki Haga fourth – both Ducati-mounted.

TROY 7th, 1:37.254

Today we didn’t actually spend too much time trying different tyres because we found what we thought were the best ones almost straightaway. So we then worked a lot with the rear pivot point and also on a variety of rear shocks. Basically we are trying ti improve rear grip at the moment, but at the moment we are having to make a compromise on the set up, so we can have good grip, but with less chatter. This afternoon everybody was on qualifiers and went more quickly, but I couldn’t get my qualifiers to work and go any quicker then on standard race rubber. When I tried the qualifiers, the bike suffered from more chatter then the race rubber! The wind was a bit of a problem in the afternoon and it was very, very cold. Hopefully, conditions will be better tomorrow and I’m sure we’ll go a lot quicker.