FIM Supersport World Championship Phillip Island, Australia February 28, 2009 Final Qualifying Results (all on Pirelli tires): 1. Kenan Sofuoglu (Hon CBR600RR), 1:34.320 2. Joan Lascorz (Kaw ZX-6R), 1:34.689 3. Andrew Pitt (Hon CBR600RR), 1:34.786 4. Cal Crutchlow (Yam YZF-R6), 1:34.875 5. Eugene Laverty (Yam YZF-R6), 1:34.962 6. Fabien Foret (Yam YZF-R6), 1:35.063 7. Michele Pirro (Yam YZF-R6), 1:35.086 8. Garry McCoy (Tri Daytona 675), 1:35.187 9. Mark Aitchison (Hon CBR600RR), 1:35.263 10. Barry Veneman (Suz GSX-R600), 1:35.401 11. Robbin Harms (Hon CBR600RR), 1:35.466 12. Anthony West (Hon CBR600RR), 1:35.585 13. Gianluca Nannelli (Tri Daytona 675), 1:35.644 14. Miguel Praia (Hon CBR600RR), 1:35.680 15. Matthieu Lagrive (Hon CBR600RR), 1:35.795 16. Katsuaki Fujiwara (Kaw ZX-6R), 1:35.862 17. Gianluca Vizziello (Hon CBR600RR), 1:35.871 18. Massimo Roccoli (Hon CBR600RR), 1:36.028 19. Doni Tata Pradita (Yam YZF-R6), 1:36.341 20. M. Smrz (Tri Daytona 675), 1:36.350 More, from a press release issued by Team YZF Yamaha: Good qualifying for Indonesian Doni Tata Pradita After being 20th in the first practice session, only 2 seconds behind the provisional poleman Andrew Pitt, young Indonesian rider Doni Tata Pradita improved his position to 19th, with a very good time improvement compared to the first day. Considering the very high level of the championship, this is a great start for the season. Doni Tata Pradita: “This is good. I am really happy. The improvement was great today. I am happy with my Yamaha and with my team. This is a good start to make some good results.” Martial Garcia (team-manager): “This is a good result for Indonesia and Doni Tata Pradita. I am satisfied of his first race. He is the fastest of the riders beginning in this championship. He learned well to use his bike. Thank you to Yamaha Indonesia, the team and Steve Martin as a coach. The Yamaha is performing well and I dream of a top 15 finish.” More, from a press release issued by Parkalgar Honda: Strong qualifying from Parkalgar Honda duo PARKALGAR HONDA’S Eugene Laverty will head the second row in fifth place while Miguel Praia starts from 14th on the grid for tomorrow’s opening round of the World Supersport Championship at the picturesque Phillip Island circuit in Australia. Both riders adapted their Parkalgar Honda CBR600RR race bikes from yesterday and reduced their lap times in the cool but dry qualifying session. Honda’s Kenan Sofuoglu will start from pole position. The race starts at 0325 CET on Sunday, March 1st. Eugene: “On my fast lap I was on for third but ran off-line at the hairpin and ended up fifth; I am happy enough with that, heading the second row is a good place to be. Overnight we changed the gearing and that was a big improvement on my Parkalgar Honda. We also tried a new setting on my rear shock that helped. My riding is right on the pace and I am as consistent as anyone for the race posting the same lap times as second place Lascorz on race rubber. My launch control is working well and the plan is to get away with the lead group and see what happens. It would be nice to step onto the podium but the top five or six and I’ll be happy.” Miguel: “My lap time is very good compared to last year and I honestly thought it would have been good enough for the top 10 but I ended up 12th fastest in second qualifying and 14th overall. I am just 2/10ths of a second outside the top 10; that is nothing and I am in a good position to be racing within the top 10 which is my aim. I am happy with the settings on my bike and we made some chassis alterations today to deal with the cooler and windier conditions that worked. I am a better racer than qualifier so I am looking forward to the race.” Simon Buckmaster, Parkalgar Honda Team Manager: “It has been a strong qualifying result from both riders and a good day for the Parkalgar Honda team. Eugene is right in the thick of it and the top three in the race will come from the top five in qualifying so he has a great chance. Miguel is 1.8secs faster than his best lap last year which is incredible and a big improvement; he should be comfortably in the points and targeting the top 10. We are carrying on the positive momentum from the tests; I am pleased with the whole team effort.” More, from a press release issued by HANNspree Ten Kate Honda: Kenan Sofuoglu will start tomorrow’s opening round of the 2009 World Supersport championship from pole position after setting the fastest time in today’s final qualifying session at Phillip Island in Australia. The Turkish rider and 2007 world champion lapped the 4.445km circuit with a new best lap of 1’34.320s, eclipsing the previous best of Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team-mate, Andrew Pitt. In front of his home crowd, Pitt, the current world champion, was fastest yesterday, and will start from third on the grid, alongside Joan Lascorz and ahead of Cal Crutchlow, who rounds out the front row for tomorrow’s 21-lap race. Kenan Sofuoglu P1, 1’34.320s For us, the goal today was to start from the front row of the grid so I am very happy to have pole position. It’s a great bonus not only for me, but also my crew who have worked really hard to give me a great bike here. Really, everything is as we would want it but we are still not too sure how the tyre will last in the race tomorrow. Whatever happens, I will try my best to get a podium and hopefully a win. Andrew Pitt P3, 1’34.786s The front row is certainly good enough and I’m happy with everything, and the front tyre is fine. We’ll have to see how we go for 21 laps here but, looking at the times, I think we’re the only ones to have done longer runs, so it’ll definitely be an interesting race tomorrow. Ronald ten Kate team manager I believe we’ve had an ideal start to the new season, getting both riders on the front row and with Kenan setting a new fastest lap for Phillip Island. Congratulations to him and his crew. More important, however, is the race tomorrow, in which tyre life will play a really important role. We’re as well prepared as we can possibly be so we hope for two good results to back up today’s impressive performance. More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki: Lascorz Second Quickest In Qualifying WSS, Phillip Island, Australia, 28 February 2009 Joan Lascorz took second place in the qualifying order at Phillip Island, making it a very positive introduction to World Supersport for the all-new Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R. His Provec Motocard.com Kawasaki team-mate Katsuaki Fujiwara was not on quite the same pace, finishing the qualifying sector of his weekend in 16th place, 1.5 seconds from pole. The fastest rider overall was Kenan Sofuoglu, who set a new track best of 1’34.320, 0.369 seconds ahead of Lascorz. The team did not test at Phillip Island before race weekend and therefore had to play catch-up on day one, when Lascorz was 13th and Fujiwara 16th. On day one they found their suspension set-up did not match well with the fast and flowing Phillip Island circuit. After good work today they made strong progress in that and other areas. Rear tyre endurance appears to be the main issue left to resolve before the 21-lap race starts at the 4.445km circuit in the state of Victoria, as the team has had to spend most time working towards a competitive qualifying position. Joan Lascorz: “We didn’t test here, so it is normal that the riders who did were faster than us yesterday. We had some problems to get the bike the way we wanted it with so little time to set-up. We made some changes from the morning session today to the afternoon, but I am not convinced that we will continue this way for the race. Maybe in warm-up we will make another change but most importantly we need to find the best set-up for the tyres. But we had to get our base settings sorted out first. The bike is good and we hope in the race that we will make the right choice of tyres. If we do slide around I have lots of Supermoto experience, but it is much better for me is we can keep the bike in line all the way through the race.” Katsuaki Fujiwara: “This afternoon I wanted to improve my place on the grid but although we improved the lap times we found a lot of rear wheel spin with a soft rear tyre fitted. Even when we fitted a new tyre, it started to spin very quickly. So we have to make some more checks. If it is still like that after we do more checks in warm-up then maybe we will use the harder rear tyre for the race. It should give more endurance. The bike is much better this year and the team members are all good guys. We just have to take things step-by-step.” More, from a press release issued by ParkinGO Triumph BE1 Racing: The second qualifying session at Phillip Island has been employed by team ParkinGO Triumph BE1 Racing on race setup. Garry McCoy worked almost the entire time on different setup solutions than those of last week’s testing. Only by the end of the second practice session, did he try to set the fastest time. He will start from row 2 hoping to improve last season’s sixth place while the Italian Gianluca Nannelli has to start from the fourth row of the grid as he finished thirteenth. Moreover, he will be racing on the Daytona 675 for the first time. GARRY McCOY | Triumph Daytona 675 | 8th in 1’35.187: “We have made some changes on the bike setup, mainly on direction, in order to perform at our best for the entire race. The 21 laps will strain both machines and tyres to the limit. Nevertheless, the data we collected today and during last week’s tests give us confidence for tomorrow’s race when I’m looking for a top 5 finish”. GIANLUCA NANNELLI | Triumph Daytona 675 | 13th in 1’35.644: “I couldn’t improve yesterday’s time and so I lost a few positions on the starting grid. I feel more and more comfortable on the bike but I need to do better as my ideal time is 7 tenths of a second faster than today’s time. I still have to learn how the bike reacts at times and I have no particular goals for tomorrow other than perform at my best”. More, from a press release issued by Yamaha: Crutchlow on the front row for World Supersport debut Young British rider and World Supersport rookie Cal Crutchlow put in an impressive performance in his first ever qualifying session for the Yamaha World Supersport team and will start the opening race of the season from the front row of the grid in 4th position. Crutchlow proved his worth as a contender, taking on the experienced Honda team for his front row start. French team-mate Fabien Foret had an unfortunate fall early in the qualifying session, however a strong ride in the first qualifying session means he still holds 6th position on the grid for tomorrow. Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha World Supersport Team “I’m looking forward to the races tomorrow, it’s going to be a hard battle and it’s going to be close. I’m looking forward to see how we fair up, and I’m going to be fighting for position from the off. Qualifying was good, I got 4th, think I should have been further up the grid but am happy with the front row and looking forward to having a close race. Qualifying is nothing, it’s all about the race so we’ll see what happens tomorrow!” Fabien Foret, Yamaha World Supersport Team “It’s been a very disappointing for me today. We’ve been making excellent progress in qualifying and I’ve been very happy with my speed and consistency after my crash last year. I was having a really good lap but unfortunately when I got on the power the rear stepped away quite violently and I was unable to catch it. I’m very sore right now but hoping to race tomorrow.” Wilco Zeelenberg, Yamaha World Supersport Team manager “Cal did really well, the feeling is good and we know we can improve with Cal quite a bit, he’s feeling confident and putting in consistent lap times, and is very eager to race tomorrow. Fabien crashed on his first flying lap, he had a big high-side and so didn’t the finish first lap, which was very hard for everybody to see. He’s hurt his shoulder and briefly dislocated it but it’s ok. As a result of the crash he couldn’t ride anymore in the session but has qualified to start from sixth on the grid from the first session. We don’t know if he can ride tomorrow or not yet, the shoulder is on ice. He’ll see overnight how the shoulder is holding so we should know in the morning. Luckily nothing is broken so hopefully he can race tomorrow and take some points away!”