FIM Supersport World Championship Kyalami, South Africa May 17, 2009 Race Results (all on Pirelli tires): 1. Eugene LAVERTY (Honda CBR600RR), 23 laps, 39:06.061 2. Cal CRUTCHLOW (Yamaha YZF-R6), -2.546 seconds 3. Mark AITCHISON (Honda CBR600RR), -17.358 4. Joan LASCORZ (Kawasaki ZX-6R), -17.454 5. Kenan SOFUOGLU (Honda CBR600RR), -18.221 6. Andrew PITT (Honda CBR600RR), -20.561 7. Garry MCCOY (Triumph Daytona 675), -33.141 8. Anthony WEST (Honda CBR600RR), -37.326 9. Michele PIRRO (Yamaha YZF-R6), -37.728 10. Matthieu LAGRIVE (Honda CBR600RR), -37.939 11. Michael LAVERTY (Honda CBR600RR), -38.782 12. Massimo ROCCOLI (Honda CBR600RR), -39.198 13. Katusaki FUJIWARA (Kawasaki ZX-6R), -40.386 14. Dani Tata PRADITA (Yamaha YZF-R6), -46.386 15. Danilo DELL’OMO (Honda CBR600RR), -46.794 16. Miguel PRAIA (Honda CBR600RR), -53.911 17. Gianluca VIZZIELLO (Honda CBR600RR), -61.698 18. Russell HOLLAND (Honda CBR600RR), -71.042 19. Arie VOS (Honda CBR600RR), -71.420 20. Fabrizio LAI (Honda CBR600RR), -82.793 23. Gianluca NANNELLI (Triumph Daytona 675), -4 laps, DNF, crash 24. Fabien FORET (Yamaha YZF-R6), -5 laps, DNF, crash 25. Alessandro POLITA (Suzuki GSX-R600), -12 laps, DNF, retired 26. J. GÃœNTHER (Honda CBR600RR), 17 laps, DNF, retired 27. Barry VENEMAN (Suzuki GSX-R600), -19 laps, DNF, mechanical World Championship Point Standings (after 6 of 14 races): 1. Crutchlow, 119 2. Laverty, 106 3. Sofuoglu, 83 4. Pitt, 64 5. TIE, Lascorz/West, 60 7. Aitchison, 50 8. Foret, 44 9. Pirro, 40 10. Lagrive, 31 More, from a press release issued by Parkalgar Honda: Impressive win for Laverty and Parkalgar Honda EUGENE LAVERTY led from the second lap to the chequered flag in a controlled display of domination at the sixth round of the World Supersport Championship at Kyalami in South Africa, taking his and Parkalgar Honda’s tally of wins to three half of the races started. Eugene closed five points back on Championship leader Cal Crutchlow and remains in a clear second place in the title race. Parkalgar Honda racer Miguel Praia improved on his qualifying position of 17th finishing 16th and just outside the points. The next round of the Championship takes place on Sunday, May 31st at Salt Lake City in the USA. Eugene: “Thank you to my Parkalgar Honda team for giving me a bike that was simply perfect. After warm-up this morning I knew we had the capability to win and that’s down to the team effort. During the race I was aware of the gap between myself and Cal and it wasn’t as easy to maintain as it may have looked. With someone like Cal behind pushing as hard as he does, on the limit to win, you can never relax. The gap went back and forward and it was a hard race it was difficult to control because Cal had the same pace as me, if he hadn’t been held up at the start then it would have been a fight. It’s nice to keep the 50 per cent win record.” Miguel: “We tried many things in warm-up this morning to find an extra half-second pace to get into the top 10 but nothing worked. We went back to yesterday’s settings and we should have been able to compete for 12th or so but mid-race when normally we get stronger, this time we lost pace for some reason – my Parkalgar Honda was harder to ride and I couldn’t do anymore. It has been a tough weekend and now I want to forget it and move on.” Simon Buckmaster, Parkalgar Honda Team Manager: “What a mega day for Eugene and Parkalgar Honda, congratulations to everyone involved with the team. I think Eugene benefitted a little from Cal being held up in the pack early on. Cal came back at him but Eugene could run the same lap times and that was it those two were clearly quicker than everyone else here. It simply didn’t click for Miguel here in South Africa and he needs to move on; it is a real shame for him to finish just outside of the points. He will still be pushing 100 per cent for the top 10 at the next round and it will come this season I am sure.” More, from a press release issued by HANNspree Ten Kate Honda: Kenan Sofuoglu and Andrew Pitt finished in fifth and sixth places respectively in today’s sixth round World Supersport race at Kyalami. The race was won by fellow Honda-mounted Eugene Laverty in emphatic style. Starting from the front row, Sofuoglu leaped into an early lead but very quickly found himself lacking grip both at the front and rear of his CBR600RR. Pitt, too, made a good start and ran in third place before forcing his way past his Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team-mate on lap three. Sofuoglu slipped down the leading pack to sixth but rallied later in the race and looked like achieving a podium finish after Fabien Foret crashed out of third place. However, the Turkish ace clashed with Joan Lascorz in the last two corners allowing Honda rider Mark Aitchison to snatch third. Pitt meanwhile suffered the same grip problems as his team-mate from early in the race and could only manager sixth place at the flag. Kenan Sofuoglu fifth I had a good start and the first lap or two was not so bad. But I started to lose grip very quickly and, when Andrew came past, I lost some rhythm and went backwards. It wasn’t a very good move from Lascorz at the end and it cost me third place, but we were very slow today and maybe didn’t deserve a podium. It’s just not normal to be slow like this, because nothing changed from yesterday when everything was OK. Andrew Pitt sixth I saw after a couple laps that Laverty was disappearing and had to put a move on Kenan, but even then I nearly crashed I had so little grip. It was like that every lap for the rest of the race like riding on ice. I was losing the front everywhere, the back was coming round on me under braking. We tried something different in warm-up this morning, but that didn’t work so we went back to yesterday, which was pretty good. I don’t know what’s happened since then, but it was all I could do to bring it home. Ronald ten Kate team manager We are obviously quite upset by these results, because yesterday both riders managed to do a lot of 1m41s laps. Today, in the race, Kenan and Andrew had to give everything just to stay in the 42s. If you’re off the pace all weekend, you cannot expect podium finishes. But this is quite the opposite and it just doesn’t reflect the pace that we have shown in free practice and qualifying. More, from a press release issued by Stiggy Racing Honda: West battles to Eight in Kyalami Race After a tough two days of qualifying, Stiggy Racing’s Anthony West was finally finding form again, and claimed an eight place in the sixth round of the World Supersport Championship at Kyalami today. The sunny South African track hosted the World Supersport Championship for the first time this year, and proved the perfect scene for another battle of the 600’s. Eugene Laverty took the win today – his third one this season – , after leading most of the 23-lap race. Anthony West faced a tough race from his 16th place on the grid, but securely made his way forward trough the pack, and tussled with Pirro for tenth position on the sixth lap. The gap to the faster group in front proved hard to close, and West seemed set in tenth position for the remainder of the race, but crashes in the ultimate laps of the race took Foret and Nannelli out, and enabled West to bring his bike through in eight place. West is finally regaining confidence aboard his Stiggy Racing Honda CBR600RR after lack of competitiveness troubled him in the Assen and Monza rounds. His performance toady shows the Australian rider is on the up, ahead of the next fly-away round in America in two weeks time. West took eight points home in today’s race, and currently holds a tied fifth place in the Supersport Championship Standings. Team mate Gianluca Vizziello started the race from a disappointing 20th place on the grid, but managed to improve his position by three places, taking 17th at the line. Anthony West, 8th: ” The team seems happy with my results today, but I’m rather disappointed myself. I expected to do a lot better here, and hoped to put the tough times of the last races behind me, but it didn’t really work out. Hopefully, for America we can change everything around, and start from the front again. It is a bit ridiculous finding myself in the position I am in at the moment, I can do a lot better. It’s rather embarrassing. I am happy with the work the team have put in, we are still trying and will try and find the improvement for the next race “. Gianluca Vizziello, 17th: ” I was struggling with my tyres today. I couldn’t really control the bike sliding on the track, and had to close the gas too soon. I was rather angry with myself after the qualifying sessions, and am not very happy with the results of the race. We just couldn’t work out what was wrong and where we had to find the improvement. I hope that I can make a step forward in the next round in America.” Johan Stigefelt, Teammanager: ” I am happy with Anthony’s result here. At least he went out there and had a fight with some riders again, and he didn’t give up despite the tough qualifying sessions. It was another tough weekend for him, but will just keep on working and improving. We need to find the right way to set up his bike for him. His confidence is coming back step by step. Finishing in eight position is obviously not what we came here for, but he is on the right way, and am sure he will improve. Vizziello had a bad weekend and rode a disappointing race. He failed to make up any positions in the race, and we are all disappointed by his performance, and hope he will do better in the next round “. More, from a press release issued by Team YZF Yamaha Best ever result for Doni Tata Pradita The young Indonesian Yamaha rider keeps on progressing with a good regularity. He scores in Kyalami his best ever result in the Supersport World Championship with the 14th position and multiplies by 3 his number of points in the championship standings. Doni didn’t start very well because he had trouble finding the neutral on the starting grid. He was 23rd, and then progressed to the 18th position on lap 9 (out of 23). He was 16th on lap 12, 28 seconds behind the leader, Then 15th on lap 19, and finally 14th from lap 20 to the chequered flag. He did a good race with strong lap times and positioned himself very well in the top 15, the group of riders who earn championship points. After very good practice sessions in South Africa, Doni is now with the top riders. Doni Tata Pradita: “14th is not so bad. My start was not so good; it was difficult to find the neutral on the starting grid. So I lost many positions at the start and was 23rd in the early stage. Then I pushed lap after lap and it was coming better. I had some grip problem with the front tyre. At mid race, the rear tyre was dead, finished. This track is not so good for soft rear tyres. When I was 15th, I tried as much as I could, but it was not possible to go any faster because of the tyres. When I was 14th, I looked behind me and I saw that the next guy was really close! I pushed again but the rear tyre was sliding a lot. Finally, I am not so happy because of the start. A top 10 finish would have been possible. My lap times were the same as the rider who finished 10th.” Team-manager Martial Garcia: “Doni had a bad start in 23rd position, but came back to finish 14th, which is his best ever result. The only thing I am sorry about is that with a better start he could have gained one or two positions. This result is the confirmation of our hope to have Doni finishing in the top 15 by mid season.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha: Crutchlow maintains championship lead in South Africa Yamaha World Supersport rider Cal Crutchlow had a tough race in Kyalami today missing out on the race win after being held up by the pack at the start of the race. The British rider initially dropped to sixth position from the start, behind team-mate Fabien Foret. The pair stayed together, following Sofuoglu until a mistake by the Honda rider on the 3rd lap allowed Crutchlow past. He then passed his team-mate on the fifth lap, before swiftly taking Lascorz and Pitt to move into second behind race leader Laverty. By this point Laverty had extended a considerable lead, and although Crutchlow worked hard to close the gap he had to settle for a second place finish and another podium. Team-mate Fabien Foret had a better start and lead Crutchlow for a while before following him through to take up third place. He gradually built up a good lead over fourth placed rider Lascorz but a momentary lapse of concentration going into a corner too hot four laps from the end saw the French rider lose the front end and crash out. Crutchlow leaves South Africa still leading the championship on 119 points, 13 ahead of second placed Laverty. Foret is in eighth on 44 points. Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha World Supersport Team (2nd) “It was a really tough race, the beginning was a proper dog fight. It took me a long time to get through the pack and start working on breaking down Laverty’s lead. By the time I got clear in second he had a big gap and I just couldn’t keep it consistently quick enough to catch him. I made a couple of small mistakes which cost me some time so had to settle for the second spot on the podium. A big thank you to the Yamaha team again for working so hard this weekend.” Fabien Foret, Yamaha World Supersport Team, (DNF) “I’m really disappointed with myself. It was a big fight at the beginning of the race and I did well to get through. I had a really good race pace and was feeling confident to keep pushing on. I had built up a good lead in third but just lost a moment’s concentration going into the corner and went down on the front.” Wilco Zeelenberg, Yamaha World Supersport Team “We lost the fight for the race win two seconds into the first lap when both riders got held up by the main pack, by the second lap Eugene was too far away to challenge. Cal was looking like he was able to catch him but he had to push hard and made one or too small mistakes. At the moment the championship lead is very close and podiums are very important. It was very disappointing not to have two podiums, Fabien had a good pace and was as fast as Cal but was a bit too hot into the corner and crashed. It was a shame as he had a good lead and didn’t need to push so hard.” More, from a press release issued by ParkinGO Triumph BE1 Racing: Team ParkinGo Triumph Be1 Racing did well at Kyalami as Garry McCoy took seventh place but Gianluca Nannelli could not finish the race as he crashed with four laps left while he was battling for the podium. The Italian rider got a good start but could not close the gap from the front runners. He was however very fast for the first half of the race. Later on, while the others were lowering their pace, he took it up a notch. He got closer to Pitt and managed to overtake him taking sixth place. He then caught up with Aitchinson, who was only one second behind Lascorz and Sofuoglu. Unfortunately, he slipped as he was trying to pass Aitchinson and got out of the track. Garry McCoy had a good race as usual. He first maintained his twelfth spot after the first lap and later got ninth place after a few corners as he first overtook Fujiwara, then Pirro and finally Roccoli. He kept his position as he opened a gap between himself and the riders behind him and he set great times as well. In the last few corners, both Foret and his teammate crashed enabling McCoy to finish seventh. GARRY McCOY | Triumph Daytona 675 | 7th: “I’m happy with the result especially after what happened in Saturday’s practice. I won a few points and now I’m eleventh in the standings, just one point behind tenth place. I got a good start and got rid of the opponents that I was battling with. I was fast for almost two thirds of the race but later the tyres started to wear out and I had to settle for seventh place”. GIANLUCA NANNELLI | Triumph Daytona 675 | retired: “I’m sorry I couldn’t finish the race. I was faster than Aitchinson but I made a small mistake and I lost about ten metres. As i was trying to recover, I unfortunately went off track and crashed. It’s a shame because I could’ve fought for the podium. Nevertheless, I had a good race and got a good feeling with the bike. All this gives me confidence for the next round in 15 days time in the USA”. GIULIANO ROVELLI – TEAM MANAGER: “I have to congratulate both the crew and the riders for a great job done in South Africa. Garry finished in the top 10 yet again and this enables us to overtake Suzuki in the manufacturers’ standings. “Nanna” gave it his all as always but he unfortunately crashed. The team has done a great job with both cycle part and engine with help from the riders and as a result we have made an important step forward in the last three rounds”.