FIM Superbike World Championship Phillip Island, Australia February 26, 2010 Provisional Qualifying Results (all on Pirelli tires): 1. Carlos CHECA (Ducati 1098R), 1:32.155 2. Michel FABRIZIO (Ducati 1098 F10), 1:32.162 3. Leon HASLAM (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:32.373 4. Shane BYRNE (Ducati 1098R), 1:32.635 5. Noriyuki HAGA (Ducati 1098 F10), 1:32.703 6. Max BIAGGI (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 1:32.850 7. Jonathan REA (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:32.884 8. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:32.902 9. Jakub SMRZ (Ducati 1098R), 1:32.905 10. Cal CRUTCHLOW (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:33.038 11. Leon CAMIER (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 1:33.296 12. Chris VERMEULEN (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:33.389 13. James TOSELAND (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:33.422 14. Lorenzo LANZI (Ducati 1098R), 1:33.454 15. Tom SYKES (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:33.492 16. Troy CORSER (BMW S1000 RR), 1:33.512 17. Andrew PITT (BMW BMW S1000 RR), 1:33.940 18. Max NEUKIRCHNER (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:33.960 19. Ruben XAUS (BMW S1000 RR), 1:33.984 20. Roland RESCH (BMW S1000 RR), 1:34.065 21. Vittorio IANNUZZO (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:34.417 22. Josh BROOKES (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:34.663 23. Matteo BAIOCCO (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:35.892 24. Roger HAYDEN (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:36.113 More, from a press release issued by Infront Motor Sports: Checa the early leader at a hot Phillip Island Scorching weather conditions for the first qualifying session at Phillip Island saw Carlos Checa (Ducati Althea) continue his good testing form with a 1’32.155 lap, leading Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) and Leon Haslam (Suzuki Alstare). Checa was only 0.007 seconds ahead of Fabrizio, 0.218 ahead of Englishman Haslam. The air temperature in qualifying was 33°C, the track temperature a very high 51°C, which made the hour-long session hard work for all competitors. Checa’s team-mate Shane Byrne went fourth fastest but suffered a fast highside crash at the final corners of his last lap, while trying to improve his ranking still further. Several riders fell in what was an expectedly close and intense period of qualifying. Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox) was fifth today, Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia Racing) went sixth fastest but was also a faller in the final session of the day. Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) was top Honda rider in the opening qualifying battle, seventh, with Sylvain Guintoli’s Suzuki eighth. Jakub Smrz was ninth fastest on his privateer Pata B&G Racing Ducati, and the top ten was rounded out by Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha World Superbike) the top Yamaha rider. Chris Vermeulen scored 12th on his Kawasaki Racing Team bike, Troy Corser, another late faller, put his BMW Motorrad Motorsport S1000RR 16th, but was on course for a vast improvement in lap time before his fall. James Toseland was a faller in the session, while Ruben Xaus crashed three times today, but recovered each time and went 19th in the ranking. One more session remains for riders to try and qualifying for Superpole on Saturday, with Superpole determining the final top 20 grid places. The top 20 riders were all within 1.910 seconds, the top ten within 0.883 seconds today. Carlos Checa: “I know what I can do. I have to confirm my time tomorrow but I know that I wish we had the same weather as today for the race. The crash in qualifying was not a problem. Ducati’s work very well at Phillip Island and my pace at the moment is very good. I do not know yet if it is good enough for the race.” Michel Fabrizio: “We tried different tyre solutions this morning and various small things that my engineer wanted to test. I had a fall, losing the front, but without causing myself, or my bike, too much damage thankfully. Then in the qualifying session we sorted a lot of things out and with the tyre solution that may well be the one to choose for the race many riders were able to drop their times. During my fast lap I lost a couple of tenths through the last corner but I’m fairly happy anyway; we’ve worked well and I’m satisfied with the results. We have a good race pace but a lot will depend on Sunday’s weather.” World Supersport Championship Lascorz leads on day one of new school The first qualifying session of the year proved to be the property of Kawasaki Provec Motocard.com rider Joan Lascorz, who was also fastest man in the official tests a few days ago. Second was the perennially powerful Eugene Laverty (Parkalgar Honda), who left it very late to move up. Kenan Sofuoglu (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) posted third while another old stager in this class, Katsuaki Fujiwara (Kawasaki) was fourth. Sofuoglu’s team-mate Michele Pirro secured fifth best lap time, while changes in set-up allowed Chaz Davies to jump up the order to sixth on his Triumph BE1 triple, ahead of another Kawasaki rider, Fabien Foret. The top six riders were within only 0.310 seconds of each other. pirelli Official Tyre Supplier Pirelli’s commitment to the growth of the Superbike World Championship has been unwavering since taking on the sole tyre supplier in 2004. As a way of offering additional support, Pirelli announces several performance awards as additional incentives for a faster and more spectacular environment. These new awards increase the existing prizes for podium finishes and final season standings, while at the same time adding three new types of awards to the total prize pool: Pirelli “Best Lap”, Pirelli “Best Jump Forward”, and “Best Lap Winner 2010: Fastest Rider of the Year”. The “Best Lap” awards are prizes extended after each Superbike and Supersport race to riders who have recorded the fastest lap of the race. For the Superstock classes, the performance awards take on a different approach, as Pirelli will offer instead a “Best Jump Forward” award for each race of the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup and European Superstock 600, in order to promote and develop new talents in the two classes. “Best Jump Forward” refers to the number of recovered positions from a rider’s starting position on the grid to his final race standing. The prize-giving ceremonies will be held during the press conference at the Paddock Show after the podium of each race and attended by a Pirelli representative. In addition, a dedicated classification for the “Fastest Rider of the Year” will be updated and displayed on TV and on the official website of the championship www.worldsbk.com. During the Championship prize-giving ceremony at the end of each season, the “Best Lap Winner: Fastest Rider of the Year” awards will be presented to the Superbike and Supersport riders who have captured the most Best Laps throughout the year. More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service: Team Suzuki Alstare rider Leon Haslam didn’t chase lap times in today’s first qualifying session for the World Superbike Championship at Phillip Island in Australia, but took the third fastest lap of the day. The young Briton worked all day trying to find a good race set-up and did not even use any soft tyres during the timed session this afternoon, when his best lap was set on race rubber. His team mate Sylvain Guintoli continued to improve his understanding of his GSX-R1000 Suzuki and finished qualifying with the eighth quickest time. Spaniard Carlos Checa (Ducati) posted the fastest time in qualifying, with Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) second. Leon Haslam – 3rd, 1:32.373: “I am really happy with today because we are well on the way to finding a good set-up for the race on Sunday. We tried all three different tyres and now we have good ideas about which one we will use depending on the conditions. I didn’t even use a soft tyre this afternoon and my fastest lap was done on ordinary race rubber. “The differing temperatures have given us different challenges, but I’m pretty confident about the bike’s set-up, unless of course it rains and then we’ll all be in trouble. The track felt a bit slippery and greasy today, because of the hotter temperatures, and the wind was a bit of a problem in turns 1 and 2 and sector 4, but it was the same for everybody and we just had to cope with it. No problems really today, except that I heard from home this morning that my 19 year-old dog had died. He’s had a good, long life, but he will be missed.” Sylvain Guintoli – 8th, 1:32.902: “We’ve made a good step forward today – maybe part of it was down to me using my right hand better – and I am really loving riding the bike. We tried many different settings and also did a lot of work on trying to improve the tyre life and, like Leon, I did my best lap on normal race rubber. “At the moment, I am struggling a bit finding problems with the bike and everything is going very well. That’s also down to the hard work put in by the whole team and we are feeling good about our prospects on Sunday. First aim tomorrow morning is getting into Superpole. After that, we’ll see what happens.” Friday WSB qualifying: 1 Checa (ESP-Ducati) 1:32.155, 2 Fabrizio (ITA-Ducati) 1:32.162, 3 Leon Haslam (GBR-Suzuki Alstare) 1:32.373, 4 Byrne (GBR-Ducati) 1:32.635, 5 Haga (JPN-Ducati) 1:32.703, 6 Biaggi (ITA-Aprilia) 1:32.850. 8 Sylvain Guintoli (FRA-Suzuki Alstare) 1:32.902. More, from a press release issued by Team Reitwagen BMW: SOLID START FOR PITT AND RESCH Finally, the waiting is over and today saw the first practice and qualifying for this year’s Superbike World Championship. In what is, without a doubt, the most hotly-contested year in the championship’s history, team Reitwagen BMW riders Andrew Pitt and Roland Resch acquitted themselves very well, with Andrew finishing 17th. Considering the stock nature of his bike, today’s result was nothing short of a surprise to many in the paddock and it gives the whole team great optimism about the season ahead. Spaniard Carlos Checa (Ducati) topped the standings in this afternoon’s first qualifying, with Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) second and Leon Haslam (Suzuki) third. Andrew – 17th, 1:33.940 “žObviously there’s a lot of work to do, but we are a new team, with a new bike and we are working from scratch, unlike any other team in the paddock I think. We are all on a very steep learning curve and when you get problems, like we did today, it holds up progress. We had shifter and other electronics problems and we had to work our way through different ideas and solutions, but it has all been very positive. I was on a hot lap when Troy (Corser) crashed right in front of me. Without that distraction, I think I definitely would have sneaked into the top fifteen and that would have been pretty amazing for our very first qualifying.” Roland – 20th, 1:34.065 “I feel very positive about today because we are very close to the BMW factory boys and considering our bike is so standard, that is pretty surprising. I lost a lot of track time today because of problems with the quickshifter and the rear brake and that was valuable time lost. We need as much track time as possible to learn about our bike and then put ideas into action. The track felt more slippery today, because of the heat, and that’s probably what helped cause many of the crashes. Also, the wind was from the back this afternoon and I had to be more careful going into the turns, as it would’ve been very easy to go in too hot. In fact, I did overshoot turn two this afternoon and went into the gravel trap fairly fast, but fortunately I managed to keep the bike upright and stop before hitting the tyre walls. It was a tricky moment, but at least the bike didn’t fall and I was able to get back on the track and ride back OK.” More, from a press release issued by Althea Racing Ducati: Provisional pole position for Carlos Checa and fourth place for Shakey. After two intense winter test sessions in Portimao and Valencia, the Althea racing team faces one last two-day test session in Phillip Island before the season starts. Carlos Checa and Shakey Byrne declared themselves ready to take their Ducati 1098R into competitive action this weekend. A dry track and good weather conditions for the first day of official testing in Phillip Island. During morning free practice both Althea team riders made the best use of their recent testing experiences on this track. Byrne reached third place (1’33″121) while Checa obtained the fifth position (1’33″218). In afternoon qualifying session, both riders remained always in the first positions of the time chart. Near the end of the session with a fantastic lap Carlos Checa scored the provisional pole position (1’32″155). Unfortunately, he crashed a few minutes later, but he was able to restart with his second bike and end the qualifications. Shakey also crashed at the end of the session during his last fast lap. It was a vicious crash and he was immediately transferred to the circuit’s medical center. Fortunately, the doctors did not find any injuries or damage. The English rider reached fourth place (1’32″635) and the first provisional front row. Final qualifying and then Superpole qualifying takes place tomorrow, Saturday 26th, before Sunday’s two 22-lap Superbike races. Free practice : 1) Haslam (Suzuki) 2) Biaggi (Aprilia) 3) Byrne (Ducati) 4) Rea (Honda) 5) Checa (Ducati) 6) Crutchlow (Yamaha) 7) Haga (Ducati) Qualifying session : 1) Checa (Ducati) 2) Fabrizio (Ducati) 3) Haslam (Suzuki) 4) Byrne (Ducati) 5) Haga (Ducati) 6) Biaggi (Aprilia) 7) Rea (Honda) 8) Guintoli (Suzuki) Carlos Checa :”I’m really satisfied with today’s test. I worked very well with my technicians and we tested some different tires and settings. It’s always a good result for our team to reach the provisional pole position. Nevertheless, we have to remember that the race will be on Sunday and that probably we’ll have different weather conditions with colder temperature, but this a very good starting point. I would like to thank all the people in my team, and particularly the general manager Genesio Bevilacqua who was able to create such a competitive team. I hope Shakey will be all right tomorrow to fight for a good result during tomorrow’s qualifications and Superpole”. Shane Byrne :”I had a big high side during my last fast lap while trying to improve my best lap time. I landed straight on my back and at the moment I’m experiencing a lot of pain. Hopefully tonight I’ll be able to rest and feel better tomorrow. I’m disappointed because the feeling with the bike was very good and without crashing I probably could have bettered my position. Now it’s important that I rest in order to be ready for tomorrow qualifying session and Superpole”. Genesio Bevilacqua General manager :” We are extremely pleased with Checa’s provisional pole position. He found a good setting that we hope to use also for the race. Tomorrow we’ll probably have different temperatures, but during our winter test sessions we worked with a lot of different temperatures, so I’m confident that also tomorrow we’ll be ready to compete for top positions. Shakey had a bad high side today but I know he’s a fighter, and tomorrow for sure he’ll try his best to contend for first places”. More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki Alstare: 2010 Superbike World Championship Round 1, Phillip Island, Australia Friday qualifying, 26th February Circuit: 4.445 kms Weather conditions: Dry, sunny, 29 – 33 C. Track temperature : 43 – 54 C. SUPERB THIRD FOR LEON ON DAY ONE. Team Suzuki Alstare rider Leon Haslam didn’t chase lap times in today’s first qualifying session but still ended with the third fastest lap of the day. The young Briton worked all day trying to find a good race set-up and did not even use any soft tyres during the timed session this afternoon, when his best lap was set on race rubber. His team mate Sylvain continued to improve his understanding of his GSX-R 1000 Suzuki and finished qualifying with the eighth quickest time. Spaniard Carlos Checa (Ducati) posted the fastest time in qualifying, with Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) second. Leon – 3rd, 1:32.373 I am really happy with today because we are well on the way to finding a good set-up for the race on Sunday. We tried all three different tyres and now we have good ideas about which one we will use -depending on the conditions. I didn’t even use a soft tyre this afternoon and my fastest lap was done on ordinary race rubber. The differing temperatures have given us different challenges, but I’m pretty confident about the bike’s set-up, unless of course it rains and then we’ll all be in trouble. The track felt a bit slippery and greasy today, because of the hotter temperatures, and the wind was a bit of a problem in turns 1 and 2 and sector 4, but it was the same for everybody and we just had to cope with it. No problems really today, except that I heard from home this morning that my 19 year-old dog had died. He’s had a good, long life, but he will be missed. Sylvain – 8th, 1:32.902 We’ve made a good step forward today – maybe part of it was down to me using my right hand better – and I am really loving riding the bike. We tried many different settings and also did a lot of work on trying to improve the tyre life and, like Leon, I did my best lap on normal race rubber. At the moment, I am struggling a bit finding problems with the bike and everything is going very well. That’s also down to the hard work put in by the whole team and we are feeling good about our prospects on Sunday. First aim tomorrow morning is getting into Superpole. After that, we’ll see what happens. Friday qualifying 1 Checa (ESP-Ducati) 1:32.155, 2 Fabrizio (ITA-Ducati) 1:32.162, 3 Leon Haslam (GBR-Suzuki Alstare) 1:32.373, 4 Byrne (GBR-Ducati) 1:32.635, 5 Haga (JPN-Ducati) 1:32.703, 6 Biaggi (ITA-Aprilia) 1:32.850, 8 Sylvain Guintoli (FRA-Suzuki Alstare) 1:32.902, More, from a press release issued by Aprilia: SBK: THE 2010 SUPERBIKE SEASON BEGINS The 2010 Superbike season begins with the first group of official trials at the Australian round. A torrid, sun-filled day at Phillip Island allowed the drivers and their teams to work in conditions that were similar to those they experienced during the tests that were held last Sunday and Monday. Max Biaggi opens the season with the sixth fastest time (1:32:850) 0:695 behind the best time achieved by the Spaniard Carlos Checa (1:32:155). A fall halfway through the trial, without any physical consequences for the driver, contributed to complicating the Roman’s quest for the best configuration for his Aprilia RSV4 in preparation for Sunday’s races. During the trial run session, Max recorded a maximum speed of 319.8 km/h, a new absolute record at the Philip Island track and testimony to the Aprilia 4-cylinder bike’s ability to reach extremely high speeds. Rookie Leon Camier managed to finish in eleventh place with a time of 1:33:296. The young English driver is continuing to improve his feeling with the difficult Australian track, even if he is still having some suspension problems. “This track is giving us trouble,” declared Biaggi. “In the long curves, the bike suffers on the disconnections, not smooth them and you can feel the skips, so we aren’t able to maintain the ideal lines and that’s a real problem for us. The fall was also a consequence of this problem, and because of the vibrations in the curve at the first bend, I lost control of the front wheel, but luckily I wasn’t hurt.” “We know what we need to do,” said Camier, “but we’re still struggling to achieve exactly what it is we want. We have problems coming out of the turns and in changing directions which doesn’t allow me to drive the way I’d like to. Now the season has begun and it’s time to get down to business and I’m not satisfied because I realize there’s still a lot to be done.” More, from a press release issued by Xerox Ducati: SOLID TOP 5 FINISHES FOR FABRIZIO AND HAGA (DUCATI XEROX) IN FIRST QUALIFYING AT PHILLIP ISLAND Phillip Island (Australia), Friday 26th February : The World Superbike Championship officially got underway at Phillip Island today and, for the Ducati Xerox team and riders Noriyuki Haga and Michel Fabrizio, results of the first qualifying session were very positive, Fabrizio propelling himself to second place on the timesheets and Haga concluding in fifth. After the very encouraging results of the recent tests held here last weekend, Michel closing fastest and Noriyuki in sixth, the team returned to work today in a motivated and enthusiastic frame of mind. In the early afternoon the Superbike riders took to the tracks for the first free practice session. Faced with hotter track temperatures (circa 45°C) compared to those of last week’s test, both Noriyuki and Michel continued to work on the set-up of their Ducati 1198 machines. Both riders concentrated on tyre durability, trying to find the best set-up on used tyres. Michel was victim of a crash mid-session caused by an unexpected lack of grip at the front on entry into a corner, the asphalt was extremely slippery due to the heat. Having lost valuable time, the Italian rider exited on his second bike but was unfortunately unable to record a very fast lap, closing the session in 11th. Noriyuki made his fastest lap near the start of the session, closing in seventh place, but confident. Later on, in the first qualifying session, the two factory riders significantly improved on their times , lapping consistently fast and towards the end of the session, on soft compounds, they both registered times that left them both happy and in the top five. Noteworthy performances also came from Carlos Checa and Shane “Shakey” Byrne (Althea Racing), they too riding the 1198, who finished the session in first and fourth placed respectively. Michel Fabrizio 1m32.1s “We tried different tyre solutions this morning and various setting solutions in agreement with my engineer. I had a fall, losing the front, but without causing myself, or my bike, too much damage fortunately. Then in the qualifying session we found a good direction with the tyre solution that may well be the one to choose for the race; the results were quite encouraging. During my fast lap I lost a couple of tenths through the last corner but I’m happy; we’ve worked well and I’m satisfied with the results. We have a good race pace but a lot will depend on Sunday’s weather.” Noriyuki Haga 1m32.7s “We’ve tested the different rear tyres that Pirelli make available to us this weekend but we are still undecided as to which will have the best durability in these hot conditions. Tomorrow we’ll try a different solution for the setting but overall I’m happy. The lap times have been consistent but today was very hot and although I felt I could have pushed a little more, I didn’t want to risk it, also because I saw that several riders crashed.” TIMES: 1. Checa (Ducati) 1.32.1; 2. Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) 1’32.1, 3. Haslam (Suzuki) 1’32.3; 4. Byrne (Ducati) 1’32.6; 5. Haga (Ducati Xerox) 1’32.7; 6. Biaggi (Aprilia) 1’32.8; 7. Rea (Honda) 1’32.8; 8. Guintoli (Suzuki) 1’32.9″¦ More, from a press release issued by Yamaha: Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike riders Cal Crutchlow and James Toseland made a purposeful start to the first race weekend of the season today at the Phillip Island circuit. The riders faced a day of serious heat with track temperatures hitting 45°C. Having now solved the chatter issues that dominated the test last week, both Crutchlow and Toseland spent both the practice and qualifying sessions exploring the limits of the 2010 bike. With significant power increases across the rev range through off-season engine development, this was the first real opportunity for the riders to experience the changes and work on the set up of their bikes in advance of race day. The high track temperatures drastically reduced grip on the track surface, causing Toseland to lose the back end of his R1 in turn 11, becoming one of seven riders to fall in the session. He was unhurt and came back out on his second bike. One of the developments of the bike for 2010 include a lighter carbon fuel tank, this was changed to the heavier 2009 tank for today’s sessions, seeming to help eliminate the chatter issue. Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team (10th 1’33.038) “I think we’ve worked hard and got rid of the chatter problem. The 2009 parts that we’ve used seem to have helped us in that way. The tank and the seat unit seemed to have stopped the chatter now. If you look at our times, although we’re not initially fastest straight away we’ve got consistency across the sessions. We’ve got some more areas to work on and I’m looking forward to making the bike even better tomorrow. We’ve got a good direction to work in, it was just a little unfortunate that the track temperature was so hot today. Even so we were still doing the same times as Ben’s race pace from last year. Hopefully it will cool off over the next couple of days and work better for us.” James Toseland, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team (13th 1’33.422) “Unfortunately had a big crash today coming out of the penultimate corner which didn’t help things. I did go back out on the other bike but had a pain in my hand so came in as I wanted to make sure it was ok. We’re definitely making improvements, we’ve just had a lot to do in one day to work through the package. We’re only a bit over a second off pole now so we’ll focus down and keep moving forward tomorrow.” Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team Manager “Today we rode two practice sessions without chattering which is a very good improvement, so now the riders have to find the limits of the 2010 bike. Last weekend they couldn’t as the chatter held them back. Looking at this as the first day I think we’ve improved quite a lot. Unfortunately James crashed but he is fine, so we will see what they can both do tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Troy Corser’s publicist: WORK IN PROGRESS FOR TROY. Troy continued working on developing the bike and finding a good race set-up in today’s free practice and qualifying sessions, instead of going for lap times and ended the day 16th quickest overall. Spaniard Carlos Checa (Ducati) topped the standings in this afternoon’s first qualifying, with Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) second and Leon Haslam (Suzuki) third. Troy – 16th, 1:33.512 At the moment, there is a lot of work to do and we are trying our best to get the bike working the way we want and get the most out of it at the same time. We are sorting out what we need to do to improve grip and this morning we decided to use a different clutch and I preferred the change, though we then had some new problems to solve because the bike turned quicker and so I had to adjust the bike to suit. Obviously a different clutch affects how the bike feels and I was only really happy with the bike in the afternoon qualifying when there was fifteen or so minutes left. Then I felt more confident in pushing, but before that I didn’t. I am definitely feeling more confident with our new brake system, though once again, it is a matter of learning and understanding how it works and this is not a quick process. I feel that the new system is better, but we just need more time with it. I had a little get-off this afternoon, when I lost the rear at the bottom of Lukey Heights. It was on a new tyre and I guess that was part of the reason why I fell. No big drama, though I did bang two of the knuckles of my right hand. I’ll get some ice on it, but I don’t see it being a problem tomorrow, where the first goal will be to make sure we get into Superpole. The track felt more slippery and greasy today, but that’s quite normal when the temperature goes up a lot. I think a lot of people got caught out when they pushed a bit too hard and I just happened to be one of them. More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki: New Era Promises Much for Kawasaki Racing Team WSBK, Phillip Island, Australia, 27 February 2010 With an all-new line-up of riders and a great increase in the scale of its overall effort, the Kawasaki Racing Team now starts the 2010 season with well-founded optimism and determination. Former GP star Chris Vermeulen and the increasingly experienced Tom Sykes make-up a strong riding combination for the official Kawasaki squad in 2010, having built up a good working relationship already with the support staff from the team and Kawasaki. The magnificent 4.445km long Phillip Island circuit in Australia hosts the first of 13 scheduled rounds and 26 individual points scoring races in 2010. It is a popular starting off point for what is expected to be a classic season of racing. Superpole on Saturday 27th February will determined the shape of the final starting grid, with a pair of 22-lap races taking place on Sunday 28th. Chris Vermeulen: “We are improving our bike a lot even now, and I feel comfortable on it. We still have work to do but I am more than happy with the progress we are making. The lap times are so close so it should make for great racing all year. It is good to be starting the season at my home circuit, and I would love to get a strong result on Sunday to start off the year with.” Tom Sykes: “The team is working together very well and I am happy for that. We spent most time recently working on suspension improvements and we will continue that and will we have to see how the weather will be for the races. The times are tight in this class this year, but I am confident we can do well. The secret will be consistency through the whole season.” More, from a press release issued by Team Reitwagen BMW: 2010 Superbike World Championship Round 1, Phillip Island, Australia Friday 26th February Circuit: 4.445 kms Weather conditions: Dry, sunny, 29 – 33 C. Track temperature: 43 – 54 C. SOLID START FOR PITT AND RESCH Finally, the waiting is over and today saw the first practice and qualifying for this year’s Superbike World Championship. In what is, without a doubt, the most hotly-contested year in the championship’s history, team Reitwagen BMW riders Andrew Pitt and Roland Resch acquitted themselves very well, with Andrew finishing 17th. Considering the stock nature of his bike, today’s result was nothing short of a surprise to many in the paddock and it gives the whole team great optimism about the season ahead. Spaniard Carlos Checa (Ducati) topped the standings in this afternoon’s first qualifying, with Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) second and Leon Haslam (Suzuki) third. Andrew – 17th, 1:33.940 “žObviously there’s a lot of work to do, but we are a new team, with a new bike and we are working from scratch, unlike any other team in the paddock I think. We are all on a very steep learning curve and when you get problems, like we did today, it holds up progress. We had shifter and other electronics problems and we had to work our way through different ideas and solutions, but it has all been very positive. I was on a hot lap when Troy (Corser) crashed right in front of me. Without that distraction, I think I definitely would have sneaked into the top fifteen and that would have been pretty amazing for our very first qualifying.” Roland – 20th, 1:34.065 “I feel very positive about today because we are very close to the BMW factory boys and considering our bike is so standard, that is pretty surprising. I lost a lot of track time today because of problems with the quickshifter and the rear brake and that was valuable time lost. We need as much track time as possible to learn about our bike and then put ideas into action. The track felt more slippery today, because of the heat, and that’s probably what helped cause many of the crashes. Also, the wind was from the back this afternoon and I had to be more careful going into the turns, as it would’ve been very easy to go in too hot. In fact, I did overshoot turn two this afternoon and went into the gravel trap fairly fast, but fortunately I managed to keep the bike upright and stop before hitting the tyre walls. It was a tricky moment, but at least the bike didn’t fall and I was able to get back on the track and ride back OK.” More, from a press release issued by Team PATA B&G Racing: Ninth provisional time for team PATA B&G Racing in the first day of practice as Jakub Smrz had some small technical issues but was nonetheless only eight tenths of a second behind the pole position. The Czech rider is however confident for tomorrow when he hopes to finish in the first two rows. The only risk for day 2 is the rain being forecast for tomorrow’s qualifying. However, Jakub Smrz would already be qualified for Superpole thanks to today’s result. JAKUB SMRZ | Ducati 1098R | 9th in 1’32.905: “I had to ride the second bike due to a slip. I had some small issues in the opening section as well but the crew did a good job at solving them. When I took to the track, I had very little time and a lot of fellow riders on the circuit. I was improving my time by two tenths of a second in the full-speed lap but I then ran into Neukirchner who slowed me down. However, I have nothing to worry about. It’s only Friday and I know I can do better. I just hope the track will be dry tomorrow so I can better prepare for race 2”.