FIM Supersport World Championship Donington Park, England June 27, 2009 Qualifying Results (all on Pirelli tires): 1. Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:31.701 2. Eugene Laverty (Honda CBR600RR), 1:32.222 3. Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:32.481 4. Kenan Sofuoglu (Honda CBR600RR), 1:32.818 5. Mark Aitchison (Honda CBR600RR), 1:32.846 6. Garry McCoy (Triumph Daytona 675), 1:32.879 7. Massimo Roccoli (Honda CBR600RR), 1:33.062 8. Katsuaki Fujiwara (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:33.120 9. Anthony West (Honda CBR600RR), 1:33.143 10. Fabien Foret (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:33.182 11. Michele Pirro (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:33.283 12. Gianluca Nannelli (Triumph Daytona 675), 1:33.365 13. Miguel Praia (Honda CBR600RR), 1:33.455 14. Danilo Dell’Omo (Honda CBR600RR), 1:33.476 15. Andrew Pitt (Honda CBR600RR), 1:33.544 16. Hudson Kennaugh (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:33.590 17. Barry Veneman (Honda CBR600RR), 1:33.833 18. Michael Laverty (Honda CBR600RR), 1:34.009 19. Arie Vos (Honda CBR600RR), 1:34.020 20. James Westmorland (Triumph Daytona 675), 1:34.102 More, from a press release issued by Parkalgar Honda Laverty front row for home race PARKALGAR HONDA’S Eugene Laverty qualified in a superb second place for round nine of the World Supersport Championship at Donington Park in the UK. His team-mate Miguel Praia completed the dry qualifying session in 13th position, his best qualifying this year. Laverty was pleased to get a dry session under his belt as it allowed him to try out the changes his team had made to his Parkalgar Honda. He grabbed pole position towards the end only to have Cal Crutchlow, his main title rival, out pace him on the very final lap. The race takes place at 1325 on Sunday, June 28th at Donington Park in the UK. Eugene: “That was a good session. Second place is ok but there is still more work to be done to my Parkalgar Honda. We are not quite there yet so I hope we get a dry warm-up tomorrow to try out the changes. The lap times are fast and we are on the limit. I thought good race pace would be high 32s but now I’d say we need low 32s. I’m really looking forward to the race tomorrow I hope it stays dry as when it is wet it is a bit of a lottery round here.” Miguel: “At the end of the session I was happy as we have improved a lot on time from last year. I know I can do the same lap time many times so I can be consistent for the race. I need to work on my start as that was my problem at Misano. If I can start well I can fight for the top eight.” Simon Buckmaster, Parkalgar Team Manager: “Cal just got us at the end. It is great to see the top two in the Championship so close. Tomorrow we are going all out for the win at home. Miguel put in his best qualifying this year to take 13th so he is on for another top ten finish. It has been a good day for Parkalgar Honda.” More, from a press release issued by HANNspree Ten Kate Honda: Hannspree Ten Kate Honda’s Kenan Sofuoglu will start from the front row of the grid after setting the fourth fastest time in this afternoon’s qualifying session for Sunday’s ninth round World Supersport championship race at Donington Park, UK. Pole position was taken by Cal Crutchlow for tomorrow’s 22-lap encounter around the 4.023km Leicestershire circuit but Sofuoglu’s team-mate, reigning World Supersport champion, Andrew Pitt, struggled to find rear grip and could qualify no better than fifteenth. Kenan Sofuoglu P4, 1’32.818s Again, it was not easy today and we have been fighting hard to find a good set-up here. With five minutes to go, I think I was nearly down in 20th position but we made quite a big change and it seemed to work. Before then it was like I had a whole new set-up each time I went out on the bike. After all that, I am very happy with a front row start and looking forward to trying one or two new things in warm-up tomorrow morning. If they work, I believe I can fight at the front for a good result. Andrew Pitt P15, 1’33.544s It might not look like it, but we’re getting there. We’re getting quicker, but in small amounts, and everyone else is getting faster, too. I’ve still got this rear grip problem that I had yesterday it’s bad on the brakes and bad under acceleration. With about five minutes to go, I’d done a couple of laps and someone crashed right in front of me. I thought I’d come in for my last tyre and give it a go, but only got one lap in, so it wasn’t quite enough. Kenan seemed to find something at the end there, though, so we’ll look at giving that a go in the morning. Then we’ll have to make some fireworks because, from where I am on the grid, that’s the only thing that’ll work! Ronald ten Kate team manager It’s been pretty difficult to find the right settings here but we made a big change to Kenan’s bike at the end and that propelled him up to the front row, so it looks like we found a direction. For warm-up tomorrow, we really need a dry track to fine tune his set-up. Andrew is further down the grid but he started in exactly the same spot last year and finished second. We’d take that again tomorrow. More, from a press release issued by ParkinGO Triumph BE1 Racing: Team ParkinGO Triumph BE1 Racing did well on their home track at Donington. Garry McCoy set the sixth fastest time in qualifying, while Nannelli was twelfth, two reasonably good starting positions on the grid. However, the weather condition for tomorrow is uncertain unlike today when it did not interfere in practice as the riders had enough time to work on the bikes. Moreover, at the end of the qualifying session the time gaps were not substantial at all as McCoy and Nannelli were separated by only half a second. GARRY McCOY | Triumph Daytona 675 | 6th in 1’32.879 : “I’m happy with my starting position, we did a good job. I was very effective in the first two parts of the track when I tried to fight for the pole position. The setup however was not the best one and the bike got wide while exiting the corner in the last part of the circuit and so I couldn’t accelerate properly. We’ll try to look into the matter in the warm up session tomorrow morning. Nevertheless, we’ll do our best to get in the top 5 in Triumph’s home round”. GIANLUCA NANNELLI | Triumph Daytona 675 | 12th in 1’33.365 : “I was hoping for a better starting position. Unfortunately, I had some change-of-direction issues and just couldn’t find a good feeling with the bike. However, I do have a good racing pace. I’m confident I can finish in the top 10 and getting some more points after Misano is very important for me”. More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki: Highly Positive Qualifying Results for Ninja ZX-6R Riders In England WSS, Donington Park, Great Britain, 27 June 2009 Despite encountering a variety of track surface conditions this weekend Joan Lascorz and Katsuaki Fujiwara set strong qualifying times in the single qualifying session today. Even though there is limited practice time in WSS this year in any case, including only one untimed practice session on the opening day, Lascorz was still fast in this afternoon’s qualifying session. The Spanish rider ended up third and took a front row starting position for the sixth time in 2009. For Fujiwara, the previous track best holder at Donington, eighth place came despite not having found a perfect final gearing set-up, which he will be able to try out before tomorrow’s race, in morning warm-up. The 22-lap Supersport race will take place between the two 23 lap World Superbike races, with all riders hoping that the weather remains dry all day. Joan Lascorz: “I got a front row, that was not a big problem, even if we could not get to pole position. The set-up of our bike is quite critical at the moment and if I make a small mistake I lose a lot of time. So we have to improve the set-up to make things a bit easier that way. The track is really in two halves – the part flowing down and up the hill and then the part with heavy braking and acceleration.” Katsuaki Fujiwara: “It is only in sector three that I am losing time, in the small tight corners. Maybe I am losing half a second in that whole area. We maybe need to adjust the gearing of the machine to match the speed of corner entry to the speed of the corner exit. We will try something in warm-up tomorrow. I really like this track and from the second row a podium finish should be possible.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha: Yamaha World Supersport rider Cal Crutchlow set out to repeat his fortunes of Friday’s free practice in qualifying today, losing the front end at Mcleans for a spectacular crash. Undeterred the British rider stopped long enough to change leathers before heading out again and going straight back to the top of the time sheet. Crutchlow’s time was topped briefly by Laverty at the end of the session, however as the flag dropped he crossed the line to take pole back, setting a new Best Lap in the process. Team-mate Fabien Foret had a less successful day. Having finished the morning’s free practice session in third position the French rider struggled to improve his time in qualifying, and was also held up on a couple of hot laps by other riders. As the session ended he had to settle for tenth on the grid and a fight ahead of him in tomorrow’s race. Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha World Superbike Team (1st, 1’31.701) “It was a good enough for me to take pole. I went down in the session which was disappointing but other than that it was a good job. I think I could have gone a bit quicker to be honest but I was unlucky with other riders and the crash obviously held me up a bit! I’m going to relax now for the day and hopefully come out tomorrow fighting. Eugene is going to be a big threat again tomorrow so let’s see what happens.” Fabien Foret, Yamaha World Supersport Team (10th, 1’33.182) “The qualifying went not so well for me, I was in my hot lap and got blocked by another rider which annoyed me and really held me up. I’m starting from tenth tomorrow which is not ideal, but I’ve changed my approach to starting the sessions this weekend a bit so I hope it will help me get a good start tomorrow and make up some places.” Wilco Zeelenberg, Yamaha World Supersport Team Manager “It was a difficult qualifying session for us, Cal was on the pace but he crashed again on a hot lap. Finally he was able to do another 31.7 so he has pole but still he’s injured. The bike is ready to race for sure and he’s showed everyone he’s fast but the race will be tough tomorrow. I expect Eugene will be up there as well. Fabien struggled a little bit, he did the same lap times as the morning practice where he was third but as a lot of riders improved in the afternoon we knew we had to do half a second faster. Unfortunately he was blocked in a hot lap which was a shame so he’s in tenth which is disappointing as we saw what he could do in the morning.”