FIM Supersport World Championship Vallelunga, Italy September 20, 2008 Final Qualifying Results (all on Pirelli tires): 1. Broc PARKES (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:38.910 2. Barry VENEMAN (Suzuki GSX-R600), 1:39.255 3. Jonathan REA (Honda CBR600RR), 1:39.300 4. Gianluca NANNELLI (Honda CBR600RR), 1:39.687 5. Andrew PITT (Honda CBR600RR), 1:39.713 6. Joan LASCORZ (Honda CBR600RR), 1:39.990 7. Eugene LAVERTY (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:40.234 8. Matthieu LAGRIVE (Honda CBR600RR), 1:40.260 9. Robbin HARMS (Honda CBR600RR), 1:40.290 10. Didier VAN KEYMEULEN (Suzuki GSX-R600), 1:40.401 11. Mark AITCHISON (Triumph Daytona 675), 1:40.459 12. Josh HAYES (Honda CBR600RR), 1:40.540 13. Russel HOLLAND (Honda CBR600RR), 1:40.570 14. Ivan CLEMENTI (Triumph Daytona 675), 1:40.575 15. Terence TOTI (Suzuki GSX-R600), 1:40.714 16. Miguel PRAIA (Honda CBR600RR), 1:40.784 17. Katsuaki FUJIWARA (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:40.855 18. Gianluca VIZZIELLO (Honda CBR600RR), 1:40.933 19. Josh BROOKES (Honda CBR600RR), 1:40.986 20. Massimo ROCCOLI (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:41.104 More, from a press release issued by HANNspree Ten Kate Honda: After yesterday’s wash out, sunshine returned to the Vallelunga circuit in Italy today, where HANNspree Ten Kate Honda rider, Jonathan Rea, put his CBR600RR on the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s 11th round World Supersport race. Rea set the third fastest time in this afternoon’s second, dry qualifying session as Yamaha’s Broc Parkes took pole position for the 22-lap race around the 4.1km Vallelunga circuit. Rea’s team-mate and current series leader, Andrew Pitt, will head the second row of the grid after setting the fifth fastest time today. Jonathan Rea P3, 1m39.300s It’s nice to be on the front row again and I’ll hopefully get away fast when the race starts. The bike’s working well but we lost yesterday to the rain so we’re still a little bit away from the perfect set up. We’re looking for a compromise but we’ll sit down tonight and find out where we can improve things a little. I’m confident for the race though, and I’m sure there’ll be two Ten Kate bikes up at the front. Andrew Pitt P5, 1m39.713s Yeah, I’m happy enough it’s certainly easier starting from the second row than it was from the fourth row at Donington. It would’ve been nice to be on the front row, of course, but the points are tomorrow. We’ve improved in that first sector and the bike’s been getting steadily better everywhere else. Some small changes would make it easier to do the lap times but we’ll be OK for the race. Ronald ten Kate team manager I think we should be happy with that session and we’re looking positive for the race, considering we only had today to prepare. We spent a lot of time on race tyres today, and both riders are very much on the pace with their choice. Third and fifth are good starting positions considering the race-craft that both these guys normally produce. More, from a press release issued by Parkalgar Honda: Third row for Hayes as Praia scores season best PARKALGAR HONDA’S John Hayes will start from 12th in tomorrow’s 11th round of the World Supersport Championship at Vallelunga in Italy while his team mate Miguel Praia took a season’s best qualifying of 16th. Hayes impressed in wet qualifying yesterday on his first visit to the 4.11km track and then in today’s dry sessions the American double Formula Extreme Champion showed real ability to get to grips with the technical turns and much quicker conditions. Portuguese racer Praia found the dry conditions much more to his liking and was able to benefit from settings found at a test at the track earlier in the summer he managed to take his best qualifying position of the season and is confident for scoring good points in the race. Yamaha’s Broc Parkes will start on pole position. The race will take place at 1320 on Sunday, September 21st and can be viewed free on www.worldsbk.com. Josh: “It has been hard work with the changing weather conditions but full credit to my Parkalgar Honda team for adapting so well and helping me to get to grips with the bike. Today is the first time I have ridden it in the dry and to finish 12th on the grid I think is a good result. “Every time I go out on the bike I am learning more and we have a plan on a few more changes to make to the bike better for warm-up. Whether wet or dry I think we can compete for the top 10 tomorrow, that’s our aim.” Miguel: “Things are coming together for me and I felt we made real progress today and it shows in my qualifying position, the best of the season. “I want to get into the points tomorrow and that is very achievable – with a bit of luck I may be able to challenge for the top 10.” Simon Buckmaster, Parkalgar Honda Team Manager: “Josh is doing a fantastic job. To qualify on the third row in only his second dry session while learning a new track, team and bike not to mention his first time on Pirelli dry tyres, is simply astounding. He clearly has talent and with a few more improvements to his bike set-up for tomorrow, I am sure he will continue to improve and impress. “Miguel has lifted his game and is benefitting from a good test here previously. He is riding well and a point scoring finish is on the cards as he is starting in the thick of the action. He is on for his best finish of the year and that would give him and the team a real boost.” More, from a press release issued by Scuderia Triumph-SC: BLACK DAY AT VALLELUNGA FOR TRIUMPH-SC GARRY McCOY VISITS THE TEAM (Vallelunga Italia September 20, 2008) The return of sunshine at Vallelunga did not bring any luck to the rookies pair of the Team Triumph-SC. With the track dry all the difficulties to ride at the limit a not well known bike emerged and bot Zappa as Cudlin lost a few positions on the grid. Andrea Zappa commented: “In practice I must do everything in only one practice session: yesterday the wet day didn’t give any utility and this morning a technical trouble forced my in the pit after a very few laps. In the afternoon I increased lap by lap, but a single useful session for me, accustomed to national events, isn’t enough. I could only hope to improve during the race.” Rather disappointed also Alex Cudlin, after the positive debut yesterday under the rain: “I don’t know what to say. Under the rain the gap is reduced, but today in dry condition all the work done was to throw away. I am accustomed to Endurance events and that allows me to have a constant pace, but here all the group is very close and it’s necessary to ride for a couple of laps like crazy to earn some advantage before to manage the race, and maybe that’s just what I miss.” Garry McCoy arrived today at Vallelunga to support the team in such difficult moment. The Australian rider is waiting to return to race ant supposes to be fit to be back at Magny Cours: “We had quite difficult time and my accident happened just in the less opportune moment. I believe that the bike has done a fair progress and I hope to be quickly able to give my contribute to the team.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Parkes rockets to sixth pole of the year Broc Parkes (Yamaha World Supersport Team) bounced back to top form on a dry track surface at Vallelunga and secured pole for Sunday’s race, thanks to a new track best of 1’38.910. His time took him 0.345 seconds ahead of his nearest challenger and placed him in the perfect starting position to negotiate the fast opening corners at Vallelunga come raceday. Eugene Laverty (Yamaha World Supersport Team) starts the race from the second row of the grid after a strong qualifying performance on his first dry weather outing at Vallelunga. Laverty started out his qualifying session with one machine based on the team’s settings from the official tests in July, and one with alternative suspension settings, which worked well on the relatively cool track temperatures experienced today. Parkes, who is going for his second race win of the 2008 season, has now scored three times as many poles as his nearest challengers, proving the pace of his Yamaha YZF-R6 at wide variety of circuits. Massimo Roccoli (Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) was prevented from setting a personal best time by another rider who collided with him, and bent his machine’s exhaust so badly he could not negotiate right hand corners properly. David Salom (Yamaha Spain World Supersport) made improvements in the dry that took him to 21st place on the grid, while his team-mate Jason Crowe (Yamaha Spain World Supersport) was 24th fastest. Broc Parkes (1st – 1’38.910 – Yamaha World Supersport Team) “That was much better. We tried a few different things compared to the test we did here in the summer. As soon as I went out the bike felt really good and we worked from a good base. Towards the end of the session we threw a couple of tyres at it. And both times we were up there. I think it is looking good for tomorrow.” Eugene Laverty (7th – 1’40.234 – Yamaha World Supersport Team) “Second row so I am happy with that because that was were I was aiming to be. The way things were yesterday, with no dry track time at all, to get in the second row today was near perfect. We tried a few different things from Ãhlins today and they worked well for me. I was having some problems when trying to enter some corners aggressively, but those changes made things better. There are three corners I still need to work on before the race, just to be more flowing on the bike.” Wilco Zeelenberg (Team Manager, Yamaha World Supersport Team) “We tried a few different things compared to the test because the circumstances have changed. The track temperatures were 62°C at the test, now they are much lower. The best thing is that the adjustments we have made since the test have seemed to work out quite well. It rained yesterday so the track took some time to clean up, and then the wind direction was very different, so we had to make changes to adjust for that. Broc set a great time and I am very happy for him. He performed well. Eugene went well and earned a start from row two, which is good considering how little time he had in the dry.” Massimo Roccoli (20th – 1’41.104 – Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) “Today the set-up was better than yesterday because in the dry my feeling with the bike was very good. I had a little problem with the suspension settings that held me back early on, but in the end of the practice at the Campagnano corner, during my best lap to that point, another rider hit me. That impact bent the exhaust outwards and then it was impossible for me to make right hand corners. It was important for us to start near the front at this circuit, for me and the team, but tomorrow is another day and another race.”