FIM Superbike World Championship Brno, Czech Republic July 8 Qualifying Session One Results (all on Pirelli tires): 1. Carlos CHECA, Spain (Ducati 1098R), 1:59.322 2. Jakub SMRZ, Czech Republic (Ducati 1098R), 1:59.585 3. Marco MELANDRI, Italy (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:59.653 4. Eugene LAVERTY, Ireland (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:59.906 5. Max BIAGGI, Italy (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 1:59.940 6. Tom SYKES, Great Britain (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 2:00.154 7. Leon HASLAM, Great Britain (BMW S1000RR), 2:00.164 8. Michel FABRIZIO, Italy (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 2:00.196 9. Sylvain GUINTOLI, France (Ducati 1098R), 2:00.310 10. Ayrton BADOVINI, Italy (BMW S1000RR), 2:00.348 11. Leon CAMIER, Great Britain (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 2:00.440 12. Maxime BERGER, France (Ducati 1098R), 2:00.463 13. Noriyuki HAGA, Japan (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 2:00.494 14. Lorenzo LANZI, Italy (BMW S1000RR), 2:00.580 15. Mark AITCHISON, Australia (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 2:00.604 16. Ruben XAUS, Spain (Honda CBR1000RR), 2:00.681 17. Roberto ROLFO, Italy (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 2:00.793 18. Matteo BAIOCCO, Italy (Ducati 1098R), 2:00.970 19. Joan LASCORZ, Spain (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 2:00.980 20. Chris VERMEULEN, Australia (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 2:01.503 21. Alex LOWES, Great Britain (Honda CBR1000RR), 2:02.430 22. Viktor KISPATAKI, Hungary (Honda CBR1000RR) 2:02.831 More, from a press release issued by BMW Motorrad Motorsport: Weather conditions: Overcast with some sun in the afternoon. Temperature: Air: 24 25 °C, Track: 36 38 °C Number of riders participating: 21/22 from 14 teams Fastest lap Free Practice: Jakub Smrz (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing) 2:00.200 min Fastest lap Qualifying Practice 1: Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) 1:59.322 min Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport qualified provisionally on the second row for the eighth round of the FIM Superbike World Championship at Brno (CZE). Factory rider Leon Haslam (GBR) finished the first Qualifying Practice seventh after being in the top four for a long time. The team used the day to work on race preparation for Sunday. The two riders from the BMW Motorrad Italia SBK Team, Ayrton Badovini (ITA) and Lorenzo Lanzi (ITA), finished in tenth and 14th respectively. Factory rider Troy Corser (AUS) is not able to compete due to the fractures he suffered at the last round at Aragón (ESP), but is spending the weekend with the team at Brno. He is looking forward to racing again in the next round at Silverstone (GBR). Leon Haslam: Fastest lap Free Practice: 2:01.200 min (P8)/Fastest lap Qualifying Practice 1: 2:00.164 min (P7) “Brno is one of the tracks I really enjoy riding at. The day was pretty good, and the weather was okay. We worked through quite a lot of chassis stuff. We are still struggling a little bit with the engine pushing in some corners, but we are working hard on solving that. At the moment we are seventh, so we have to improve a little bit, but it was a pretty good first day.” Rainer Bäumel (Head of Race Operations): “The work is a bit difficult when you have only one rider, because you are able to collect only half the data. Today we concentrated on finding a good set-up for this circuit. In Brno this is quite tricky on a Friday, as the track has not a lot of grip yet, and this is quite extreme here. The grip just improves over the course of the weekend, so you always have to adjust the bike a little bit, but we are pretty happy. We are in seventh, and between P4 and P8 it is quite close. They are only separated by two tenths of a second. Now we will continue to work hard.” More, from a press release issued by Aprilia: MAX BIAGGI SIZES UP THE CZECH TRACK AT BRNO IN THE FIRST DAY OF PRACTICE. The World Champion concentrates on set-ups for his RSV4 and takes fifth time. Eleventh place for team mate Leon Camier. Brno (Czech Republic), July 8th 2011 – The games are afoot on the Czech circuit of Brno with the first day of practice, used by the riders to find the best solutions in view of Superpole tomorrow and the races on Sunday. A lot of work in the Aprilia Alitalia Racing garage on the RSV4 bikes ridden by world champion Max Biaggi and Leon Camier. As usual Biaggi used both the free practice morning session and the qualifying practice in the afternoon to find the right feeling with the track and bike, returning often to the garage to decide, together with his crew, what should be done to his Aprilia RSV4. Max Biaggi, who has already won on this track ten times (this is an absolute record and not only for this track), closed out the sessions putting the fifth time on the boards with 1’59.940 at 618 thousandths behind leader Checa and 355 thousandths behind Smrz. At the end of the day, with two spots occupied by two cylinders, the results on the temporary clock are not at all comforting to Max Biaggi: “This is the situation that we have to face. There are still a couple of two cylinder bikes up front with no small advantage, and all we can do is work with what we have. Obviously we can only work on the controllable variables: suspension, general set-up, trying to find a general balance with the usual commitment and skill that we always apply. But this is a situation that does not leave me satisfied at all. Let’s hope I can close the gap a little tomorrow”. Leon Camier, after a very positive morning session, had some difficulties in the second session, ending up eleventh with a time of 2’00.440. Leon and his team are focused above all on the front end which gave the English rider quite a few problems last year. The right path seems to have been identified even if a few minutes were lost due to the risk of rain which slowed work down a bit: “After the trouble last year we are concentrating on the front end and I think we’re going well. We found some good solutions on the second bike that we now have to transfer to the other RSV4. We’ve made good progress, certainly more than last year, but we can still do better”. More, from a press release issued by Infront Motor Sports: Checa holds off local man Smrz on first day at Brno Brno (Czech Republic), Friday 8 July 2011 Two Ducatis led the way in this afternoon’s first qualifying session for the Czech Republic Round at Brno, the quickest being the Althea Racing machine of points leader Carlos Checa. The Spaniard’s time of 1 minute 59.322 seconds was a couple of tenths quicker than the one recorded by the next man, home favourite Jakub Smrz on the all-Czech Effenbert-Liberty Racing 1098R. Another manufacturer pairing, this time from the Yamaha World Superbike Team, made up the provisional front row of the grid, Italian Marco Melandri just a fraction ahead of his team-mate Eugene Laverty. Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team) was next up in fifth place, the Italian as always opting to dedicate Friday to obtaining the best set-up for his bike. More is expected of Biaggi at his all-time favourite circuit for tomorrow and Sunday. Tom Sykes had a good run near the end of qualifying to post sixth place on his Kawasaki Racing Team Superbike machine, with Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) right behind. Michel Fabrizio (Suzuki Alstare) completed the overnight second row, while the top 10 was completed by Sylvain Guintoli (Effenbert-Liberty Ducati) and Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia SBK Team). Leon Camier (Aprilia Alitalia) was 11th, just over a second from Checa, with Ducati privateer Maxime Berger (Supersonic Ducati) 12th. After participating in the morning’s free practice session, Badovini’s regular team-mate James Toseland preferred to sit things out for the rest of the weekend due to his still recovering wrist, and his place was again taken by Lorenzo Lanzi. Lorenzo went 14th in his first session on the machine, just one place behind Noriyuki Haga (Pata Aprilia). Mark Aitchison had a good first day on his Pedercini Kawasaki, as he was the last rider in the top 15, from a field of 22. Falls in the unofficial opening session from Kawasaki Racing Team riders Joan Lascorz and Chris Vermeulen held back their efforts in first qualifying, with Lascorz 19th and Vermeulen 20th. Alex Lowes, riding as a replacement for the injured Jonathan Rea in the Castrol Honda team, was 21st today, his first day in the WSBK class. Times: 1. Checa C. (ESP) Ducati 1098R; 1’59.322; 2. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 1’59.585; 3. Melandri M. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R1 1’59.653; 4.Laverty E. (IRL) Yamaha YZF R1 1’59.906; 5. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’59.940; 6. Sykes T. (GBR) Kawasaki ZX-10R 2’00.154; 7. Haslam L. (GBR) BMW S1000 RR 2’00.164; 8. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Suzuki GSX-R1000 2’00.196; 9. Guintoli S. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 2’00.310; 10. Badovini A. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 2’00.348; 11. Camier L. (GBR) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 2’00.440; 12. Berger M. (FRA); Ducati 1098R 2’00.463; 13. Haga N. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 2’00.494; 14. Lanzi L. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 2’00.580; 15. Aitchison M. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX-10R 2’00.604; 16. Xaus R. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 2’00.681; etc. World Supersport Aussie Broc Parkes (Kawasaki Motocard.com) set the quickest time of 2 minutes 03.611 seconds in Supersport qualifying this afternoon at Brno, confirming the positive trend for the Spanish-run team. Second place behind Parkes went to Britain’s Gino Rea after a great performance on his Step Racing Honda CBR600RR, with another Honda, that of Fabien Foret (Hannspree Ten Kate) was in third. Spain’s David Salom (Kawasaki Motocard.com), quickest in the morning’s free practice, had to settle for fourth place in the afternoon run. Sam Lowes (Parkalgar Honda) was next up ahead of one of the early pacesetters Massimo Roccoli (Lorenzini by Leoni Kawasaki) in sixth, Robbin Harms (Harms Benjan Racing Team) in seventh and Roberto Tamburini (Bike Service R.T. Yamaha) in eighth. Some problems were encountered by the two ParkinGO Yamaha riders, Luca Scassa and Chaz Davies, who are currently languishing down in ninth and tenth places respectively. Times: 1. Parkes B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX-6R 2’03.611; 2. Rea G. (GBR) Honda CBR600RR 2’03.909; 3. Foret F. (FRA) Honda CBR600RR 2’03.941; 4. Salom D. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-6R 2’04.013; 5. Lowes S. (GBR) Honda CBR600RR 2’04.123; 6. Roccoli M. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX-6R 2’04.279; 7. Harms R. (DEN) Honda CBR600RR 2’04.639; 8. Tamburini R. (ITA); Yamaha YZF R6 2’05.047; etc. Superstock 1000 Danilo Petrucci (Barni Racing Team Ducati) went four-tenths of a second quicker than the next man, Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad Italia Superstock) to take the provisional pole in Superstock 1000. The Frenchman came very close to taking the mark from his Italian rival, who was the only one under 2 minutes 04 seconds, but he eventually had to settle for second place. There was just a whisker between him and the next man, the promising German Markus Reiterberger (Garnier Alpha Racing Team BMW) and the current FIM Cup points leader Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Ducati). Lorenzo Zanetti put the second Italian BMW into sixth place, but then crashed out in the final stages. Niccolò Canepa (Lazio Motorsport Ducati) continued to re-familiarize himself with his new Ducati mount in ninth place, just ahead of South African Sheridan Morais (Lorenzini by Leoni Kawasaki) who completed the top 10. Times: 1. Petrucci D. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 2’03.625; 2. Barrier S. (FRA) BMW S1000 RR 2’04.079; 3. Reiterberger M. (GER) BMW S1000 RR 2’04.086; 4. Giugliano D. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 2’04.091; 5. Baroni L. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 2’04.355; 6. Zanetti L. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 2’04.702; 7.Antonelli A. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 2’04.830; 8. Massei F. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 2’04.874; etc. Superstock 600 The first European Superstock 600 Championship qualifying session at Brno concluded with an American rider in provisional pole position. Joshua Day (Revolution Racedays Kawasaki) went quickest with a time of 2 minutes 08.432 seconds, one-tenth ahead of Italian Christian Gamarino on another Kawasaki, this time from the Goeleven team. Third place went to Spain’s Nacho Calero Perez (Orelac Racing Yamaha), with Slovakian Tomas Krajci (TK Racing Slovakia Yamaha) fourth. Points leader Romain Lanusse (MRS Yamaha Racing France) had another quiet first run down in eleventh place, but his closest championship rival Jed Metcher (MTM-RT Motorsports Yamaha) was much better placed in fifth. Times: 1. Day J. (USA) Kawasaki ZX-6R 2’08.432; 2. Gamarino C. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX-6R 2’08.553; 3. Calero Perez N. (ESP) Yamaha YZF R6 2’08.578; 4. Krajci T. (SVK) Yamaha YZF R6 2’08.768; 5. Metcher J. (AUS) Yamaha YZF R6 2’08.874; 6. Lombardi D. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 2’09.052; 7. Egea S. (FRA) Yamaha YZF R6 2’09.150; 8. Duwelz G. (BEL) Yamaha YZF R6 2’09.153; etc. More, from a press release issued by Althea Racing: FIRST POSITION FOR CHECA AND THE ALTHEA RACING TEAM IN FIRST QUALIFYING AT BRNO Brno (Czech Republic), Friday 8th July 2011: the eighth round of World SBK Championship got underway this morning at the Automotodrom Brno in the Czech Republic and team Althea Racing and rider Carlos Checa immediately threw down the guantlet, registering the overall fastest time of the day and concluding first qualifying in first position. Despite cloudy skies, rain held off this morning and Carlos Checa was straight out for the first free practice session, projecting himself to the top of the timesheets within the first ten minutes. He continued to improve on his times throughout the hour-long session, registering a best of 2m00.9 in the final stages, to close this initial practice in seventh position overall. In the afternoon’s first qualifying session, the Althea flagbearer was immediately lapping quickly. A few drops of rain fell during the first phase but didn’t affect lap times, with many riders putting in times that auger well for two hard-fought races on Sunday. Over the course of the session Checa continued to improve, lapping over a second and a half faster than he did in morning practice. He was one of only five riders to lap in under 2m00 on the rather hot track (36ËšC), recording several laps in the 1m59 range. His fastest overall time, 1m59.322, came in the final minutes and positioned him in first place at the session’s end. Carlos Checa: “Today went well but is only the first day. We were able to make good use of the tyre and made a lot of laps with one that probably won’t be the race tyre, and this is why we look to be a little ahead. We’re not in a bad position but at the same time we’re not at a big advantage either. I’m satisfied with the work done today and we’re first, but I’m not looking at that; I’m concentrating instead on the work we have to do tomorrow to have more of a guarantee for the races. Maybe it will rain on Sunday but I’m not particularly worried. I’m confident and think we’ll be ready for battle whatever the weather conditions may be.” More, from a press release issued by Team Alstare Suzuki: MICHEL 8TH ON DAY ONE Team Alstare Suzuki rider Michel Fabrizio ended the first day of practice and qualifying with the eighth quickest time of the day, but felt that he could’ve gone faster were it not for a braking problem. Despite that problem, only eight tenths of a separate Michel from provisional pole setter Carlos Checa (Ducati), so the Italian is not too unhappy with today’s performance. Checa’s lap of 1:59.322 was a tenth of a second inside the lap record and just two tenths ahead of local favourite Jakub Smrz (Ducati). Third quickest today is Marco Melandri, with his Yamaha team mate Eugene Laverty fourth. Michel – 8th, 2:00.196 I am a bit disappointed to finish eighth today because I know it could’ve been better. The rear end of the bike was moving a round a bit on the brakes and that stopped me from going quicker. Without this problem, I’m sure I would’ve been in the top four. I was fastest for quite some time in this morning’s session and was looking forward to improving quite a bit this afternoon, but now we’ll have to look at all the data and make some plans what to do about the problem tomorrow morning. As long as the problem can be solved, I think I’ll be able to challenge for a place on the front two rows of the grid. That’s something that hasn’t happened for me yet this season and tomorrow would be a good time to change that. I hope that we can manage our tyres well in Superpole and be in a good grid position n Sunday. More, from a press release issued by Castrol Honda: Steady progress for Castrol Honda at Brno The Castrol Honda pairing of Ruben Xaus and Alex Lowes have both made advances on their Honda CBR1000RR Fireblades on the opening day of round eight of the 2011 World Superbike championship at Brno in the Czech Republic. Xaus shaved almost a second off his opening free practice time in this afternoon’s qualifying session, which was headed by series leader and Xaus’s fellow Spaniard, Carlos Checa. On the other side of the Castrol Honda garage, Alex Lowes is replacing injured rider Jonathan Rea and the 20-year-old from Lincoln in the UK made forward strides in each of today’s two sessions as he gets to grip with a new bike on an unfamiliar circuit. Ruben Xaus P16 2m00.681s We are struggling a little with speed up the big hill here and we have some chatter at the front of the bike. Most of the corners here are higher speed and we don’t use first gear anywhere, so th e higher rpm does not help the chatter. We are also a long time on the brakes which transfers the weight to the front, so we need to look at this problem tonight to see where we can improve things. It’s holding me back a bit and we need to find the half second that will put me with the top group of riders. Alex Lowes P21 2m02.430s It’s been a fantastic day, but there’s a lot to take in and to learn. The first session was great and I really enjoyed myself it was great to get out on the bike and find out what it’s like. This afternoon I had a small crash, which was unfortunate, but I know how it happened and I think that’s the main thing I’ve learned from today. I need to change my riding style and stop riding the bike like a 600. It’s the first time I’ve really seen some proper data and the guys have shown me that I’m carrying too much brake into the corners. My corner entry speeds are faster than Jonathan’s from last year, so that’s where I need to focus tomorrow, to brake harder and then get off them earlier. I’m looking forward to trying it tomorrow. Ronald ten Kate team manager It’s been a solid, if not spectacular day and, in spite of a small crash in qualifying, Alex has adapted to the bike very well. We have some areas to concentrate on that will allow him to improve his lap time and his position for tomorrow. With Ruben, too, we know what is needed for him to get closer to the front and we will be working on that together for tomorrow’s second qualifying session. More, from a press release issued by Yamaha: Successful First Qualifying for Yamaha in Brno Yamaha World Superbike riders Marco Melandri and Eugene Laverty successfully completed the first qualifying session in Brno today, finishing up in third and fourth place respectively. While weather conditions were unpredictable with spatters of rain present in the early parts of the afternoon’s first qualifying, both riders recorded fast and consistent times as the session progressed. Both Yamaha riders got straight down to business this morning working on Chassis set up ahead of Sunday’s race day. Laverty struggled with an issue on turning his machine and completed the morning’s free practice session in tenth place. Team-mate Melandri, satisfied with the direction he was going in search of a suitable race set up, took third place in the morning’s session. Both riders head into tomorrow’s second qualifying session intent on fine tuning the race set up on their machines and working on tyre choice for Sunday’s races, taking into consideration the high possibility of rain and thunderstorms threatened for the remainder of the weekend. Marco Melandri Yamaha World Superbike Team – 3rd, 1’59.653 “Today was a pretty good day for us despite the difficult conditions. The track was very bumpy and the weather was not favorable, it was very windy. The bike was working well and this is clearly a good track for my R1. Overall I’m very happy but I need to improve in some sectors and work on tyre choice to ensure durability. At the moment they seem to work well for few laps and then deteriorate rapidly. I’m confident ahead of Sunday’s races.” Eugene Laverty Yamaha World Superbike Team – 4th, 1’59.906 “I’m pretty content with the day. This afternoon went much better than this morning’s free practice. I was off the pace this morning but improved in the first qualifying and the bike was turning really well on the side which was an issue earlier in the day. We still need to improve the front end of the bike but I’m confident we can do that. Tomorrow we’ll also work on tyre duration and race pace. At the moment I am where I want to be for a Friday so I’m satisfied.” Andrea Dosoli – Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager “Today was definitely a good start to the weekend for both riders. Marco and Eugene proved to be consistent and have a good rhythm. After working on and improving the bike’s chassis set up and change of direction earlier in the morning, the riders proceeded to work on tyre choice which will be vital especially seen as the temperature of the asphalt is quite low and they suffer more than we expected. We still need to see where we can fine tune to recuperate the three and five tenths of a second off the lead time. Both riders need to work on the front end of the bike to ensure better feeling on entering the flowing chicanes, especially in areas where the asphalt is not as smooth as it used to be with bumps clearly present.” More, from a press release issued by Pata Racing Team: Noriyuki Haga ends this first day of practice of the eighth round of Superbike World Championship with a thirteenth place. The PATA Racing Team rider disfruted today’s work looking for the right setting to use during the races. He tried out different solutions and got to know datas useful to modify his way of ride. Haga will try tomorrow to improve himself hitting the time for the Superpole and continuing his work during the afternoon. Noriyuki Haga – Aprilia RSV4R #41 – ” Today we tried different solutions of various settings, mainly on the back where we put up two types of shocks. We suffer some traction problems but tomorrow thanks to the datas we registered today I’m confident about getting to improve ourselves.”