FIM Superbike World Championship Phillip Island Victoria, Australia February 29, 2008 Provisional Qualifying Results: 1. Troy CORSER (Yam YZF-R1), 1:32.336 2. Troy BAYLISS (Duc 1098F08), 1:32.374 3. Michel FABRIZIO (Duc 1098F08), 1:32.570 4. Max NEUKIRCHNER (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:32.808 5. Jakub SMRZ (Duc 1098RS), 1:32.827 6. Max BIAGGI (Duc 1098RS), 1:32.827 7. Ruben XAUS (Duc 1098RS), 1:32.827 8. Regis LACONI (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:33.188 9. Fonsi NIETO (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:33.269 10. Carlos CHECA (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:33.283 11. Russell HOLLAND (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:33.340 12. Karl MUGGERIDGE (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:33.489 13. Noriyuki HAGA (Yam YZF-R1), 1:33.588 14. Gregorio LAVILLA (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:33.718 15. Ryuichi KIYONARI (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:33.995 16. David CHECA (Yam YZF-R1), 1:34.050 17. Roberto ROLFO (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:34.082 18. Kenan SOFUOGLU (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:34.171 19. Lorenzo LANZI (Duc 1098RS), 1:34.419 20. Shinichi NAKATOMI (Yam YZF-R1), 1:34.446 21. Makoto TAMADA (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:34.491 22. Sebastien GIMBERT (Yam YZF-R1), 1:34.659 23. Vittorio IANNUZZO (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:34.765 24. Shuhei AOYAMA (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:35.123 25. Luca MORELLI (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:35.498 26. Ayrton BADOVINI (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:35.946 27. Loic NAPOLEONE (Yam YZF-R1), 1:39.400 More, from a press release issued by Team Alstare Suzuki: Provisional front row for Max. Team Alstare Suzuki rider Max Neukirchner started today’s first day of qualifying superbly by posting the fourth quickest time of the day. His lap of 1:32.808 was just over four tenths of a second behind provisional pole-setter Troy Corser (Yamaha). Series leader Troy Bayliss (Ducati) was second quickest today, with his team mate Michel Fabrizio third fastest. Team Suzuki Alstare rider Fonsi Nieto had a steady day, finishing ninth fastest overall, but will be looking for an improvement tomorrow. Max – 4th, 1:32.808 Today was not so bad and I had no big problems at all. We changed the characteristics of the engine-braking for the afternoon session and also the rear shock. We did that to get better grip. When the bike is on fresh tyres, I seem to be able to ride smoothly, without a problem. But when I try and push very hard I get many rear slides. Phillip Island is a great track, but it’s a track where you have to be perfect everywhere if you want to set a really good lap time. Fonsi – 9th, 1:33.269 I am happy because we’ve made a good start today, even though the set-up was not right. Conditions today were very different to when we tested here in January, so we more or less had to start from scratch again. I spent most of the day working at trying to understand the tyres and how they perform. In the afternoon, the bike’s set-up was better then the morning and this is a track where a good bike set-up is vital if you want to make a good lap. More, from a press release issued by Xerox Ducati: SECOND AND THIRD FASTEST TIMES FOR BAYLISS AND FABRIZIO IN FIRST QUALIFYING SESSION AT PHILLIP ISLAND Phillip Island (Australia), Friday 29th February: the Ducati Xerox Team is more than satisfied with the way the weekend has begun at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, with Bayliss and Fabrizio registering the second and third fastest times in this afternoon’s first qualifying session. Rain showers earlier this morning meant that both riders had to cope with less than optimum grip on the track but this did not seem to deter them and an improvement in the weather conditions throughout the day allowed for some improvements regarding the set up of the 1098 F08 machines to take place in both riders’ pit garages. Troy Bayliss 1m32.3s “It’s all gone well today. Grip on the track could be better, it’s not perfect due to the rain earlier, but that will no doubt be better tomorrow. We’ll try a few different things tomorrow to sort that out , working on the tyre set-up, but today we haven’t really made many changes. We tried a long run which was worth doing and gave us useful information on the tyres. We’re confident about the direction in which we’re heading and we’re looking forward to tomorrow.” Michel Fabrizio 1m32.5s “I’m very happy with my performance today. I was already pretty satisfied this morning to be honest and so we changed practically nothing between the practice session and first qualifying this afternoon. We worked on improving the tyre set-up and, although there are a few problems with grip, we can work on that during tomorrow’s sessions. A change in weather conditions between now and Sunday would of course affect how we go but I’m not too worried about that a the moment.” More, from a press release issued by Motorcycling Australia: All Troy on day one of Phillip Island Superbikes The Aussie Troy’s once again showed why they will be a force to be reckoned with throughout this year’s World Superbike Championship, posting the fastest times of the first qualifying session at the Australian round at Phillip Island. Troy Corser clocked the fastest time of the session on his Yamaha, recording a 1’32.336, to finish with a time just under four tenths ahead of Troy Bayliss. Bayliss had his Ducati out on the circuit longer than any other rider completing 31 laps in total, to finish ahead of Italian Michael Fabrizio and German Max Neukirchner. Of the other Aussies out in action, Russell Holland ended the session with the 11th fastest time, while Karl Muggeridge could only manage 12th fastest overall. The Superbike qualifying results completed a wonderful day for Australian riders, after Andrew Pitt and Broc Parkes earlier dominated the World Supersport qualifying session. Saturday’s World Superbike action will begin with the second qualifying session at 11am local time. More, from a press release issued by Yamaha: Corser on Provisional pole at home circuit Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) set the fastest lap on the first day at Phillip Island, posting a 1’32.366 lap time on his 17th out of 21 laps. Despite suffering bruising and a pain from two crashes in last week’s opening SBK round, Noriyuki Haga battled to 13th today, finding his current suspension settings less than ideal for the ever-changing Phillip Island track surface. The relatively cool temperatures of final qualifying were nonetheless a great improvement on the first unofficial qualifying conditions, after morning rains had arrived to welcome the first day of action and the track surface took some time to give any great level of grip. Both Corser and Haga had set better times in testing than during the first qualifying hour, but the January tests were held in far warmer conditions than the 21 degree air temperatures of today. Full season SBK rookie Davide Checa (Yamaha GMT94) was an impressive 16th in his first Superbike visit to the challenging 4.445km Phillip Island circuit, particularly as he only attempted to set fast times after evaluating his overall set-up on race tyres. His team-mate Sebastien Gimbert was 20th from 27 riders, some 0.6 seconds from Checa. Shinichi Nakatomi from the Team YZF Yamaha squad learned a lot from his Qatar experiences last weekend, and used them to push into the top 20, going just over two seconds slower than Corser’s best. Troy Corser (1st – 1’32.336 – Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “We have quite a good feeling from the bike, but I feel we can get it even better than it is. The test we had was held in very different conditions and the chassis setting we had for the test doesn’t seem to be working now. The grip just seems to be different on the ground. We tried a few different things this morning and the afternoon, so we’ll overlay data and see where to go with set-up tomorrow. We started today with a combination of settings from Qatar race and the winter tests. We jumped between the two bikes, trying to get the best life and performance out of the tyre. That’s the main thing to do. If the temperature goes up again tomorrow it will get back to what we normally have at Phillip Island at this time of year, so it means we may have to change the bike yet again. The track here just gets bumpier and bumpier ever time we come here, especially in the first and last corners, and up to Hayshed corner.” Noriyuki Haga(13th- 1’33.588- Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “We are still working on our suspension settings, to try and improve bump absorption, front and rear. We may also change our geometry to try and make things better for tomorrow. We still have some chattering on the last corner as well. I have some pain in my shoulder and my right side in general after Qatar, and have a little bit of a problem here when braking for right hand corners. I will go for a massage at the Clinica Mobile later and I think it will be better for tomorrow.” Massimo Meregalli(Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team, Team Manager) “It’s good to start fast for Troy but tomorrow we will do some long runs, to try to find the best race tyre choice that lasts until the end. This is the key point. But the first day was very positive for Troy. Noriyuki was worried about his physical condition, but he just gritted his teeth and got on with. This is already a positive sign and when he is focused on the race, he may feel even less pain. Troy is at home here at Phillip Island and he has done what he can do best, so we have good reason to be confident about Sunday.” David Checa (16th- 1’34.050 – Yamaha GMT94) “It’s our first year in Superbike after last year in Supersport so this morning I did a long run, 22-laps on the tyres, and this afternoon I worked through the available tyres to see how the life is. I put in a softer race tyre near the end and went 16th fastest. The bike doesn’t have the best possible settings in it yet; we know the gearing is not yet quite right and we need to improve the front suspension. After our work today we will focus on qualifying tomorrow, but the most important thing for us is to concentrate on the race, because this winter we did not have the chance to test too much. For me, the first round in Qatar was like winter testing. We learned a lot there about how to approach a race weekend in Superbike, and already we have seen the improvements.” More, from a press release issued by Troy Corser’s publicist: PROVISIONAL POLE FOR TROY! Troy posted a lap of 1:32.336 in today’s qualifying session to take provisional pole at Phillip Island, less then a tenth of a second ahead of his fellow Aussie Troy Bayliss. But despite, setting the quickest lap of the day, Troy was not completely happy with his Yamaha and so will use tomorrow’s practice and qualifying sessions to make the bike more comfortable to ride. Troy – 1st, 1:32.336 I’m happy with the lap time, but not happy with the bike because I can’t use it the way I want to. We made a change to the electronics for the start of today’s practice and it’s helped in one way, but maybe caused a problem somewhere else. For me, the balance of the bike doesn’t feel quite right and so it’s not as comfortable to ride. If the bike had been a bit better, I’m sure I could’ve gone under 1:32. At the moment though, I feel I’m losing half a second just exiting the last turn, so I know if we can sort that out a 1:31 will be no problem.