Laverty on the front row and looking good PARKALGAR HONDA’S Eugene Laverty will start tomorrow’s sixth round of the World Supersport Championship from third on the front row of the grid confident he has the pace to compete with the front runners at the new-for-2009 Kyalami circuit in South Africa. Irishman Laverty is one of only two riders to have broken the 1min41-secs barrier the other being pole-sitter Cal Crutchlow on a Yamaha. Laverty’s time was not allowed despite passing the finish line with the pit-lane clock showing two-seconds remaining. When the organisation checked against official timing it was found to be out of synchronisation with the pit-lane clock and he actually passed 0.0199secs after the session was finished. Parkalgar Honda’s Portuguese racer Miguel Praia slashed 1.3secs from his lap times yesterday and will start from 17th on the grid. The race starts at 1325CET on Sunday, May 17th. Eugene: “I cannot believe that I started the last lap with two-seconds to go on the pit-lane clock and then was told that it isn’t the official clock and the time was not allowed. That is frustrating but ultimately it doesn’t matter, I can do the time and Cal Crutchlow on pole is the only other rider under the 1min 41secs barrier. The set-up on my Parkalgar Honda is nearly there, we made minor changes today and the CBR600RR is working really well. The only thing we need to decide upon is front tyre – but if it stays cool for the race then we’ll stick with what we are using.” Miguel: “That was definitely a big improvement in lap time from yesterday but I think I should have been 13th rather than 17th. On my last tyre I caught many riders and was slowed down and for sure I think I could have improved by 2/10ths to 13th. Anyway, I can do this lap time very consistently while some of the riders in front of me only managed one lap. I am a better racer than qualifier and my target of the top 10 remains the same.” Simon Buckmaster, Parkalgar Honda Team Manager: “Eugene crossed the line with what looked like time to spare and set the second fastest lap at 1min 40.8secs. It was then disallowed by the race direction because on real circuit timing it was 0.0199secs after the end of the session. It would have been nice to have taken second but it doesn’t really matter; he has shown he can do the time and has fantastic race pace so is looking good. Well done to him and the Parkalgar Honda team for a big effort. Miguel is getting quicker and is now dicing in qualifying with proven race winners Barry Veneman and Anthony West, not to mention Eugene’s brother Michael who is guest riding here and is a previous British Supersport Champion. Miguel will be competing for the points in the race.” Qualifying 1 Crutchlow C. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R6 1’40.634 2 Sofuoglu K. (TUR) Honda CBR600RR 1’41.003 3 Laverty E. (IRL) PARKALGAR HONDA CBR600RR 1’41.161 4 Pitt A. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 1’41.396 5 Lascorz J. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1’41.558 6 Pirro M. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 1’41.563 7 Foret F. (FRA) Yamaha YZF R6 1’41.603 8 Aitchison M. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 1’41.699 9 Nannelli G. (ITA) Triumph Daytona 675 1’41.778 10 Fujiwara K. (JPN) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1’42.003 17 Praia M. (POR) PARKALGAR HONDA CBR600RR 1’42.832. More, from a press release issued by Team YZF Yamaha: Best 2009 qualification for Doni Tata Pradita Doni qualifies in 14th position, which is his best ever result since he started the Supersport World Championship. For the first time of his young career, the Indonesian rider will start with his Yamaha from the 4th row of the grid. In the free practice session on Saturday morning, Doni did an incredible performance with the 4th time on a drying track, only 1.4 seconds behind the fastest rider. He displayed his talent to adapt to difficult conditions. More, from a press release issued by HANNspree Ten Kate Honda: Hannspree Ten Kate Honda riders, Kenan Sofuoglu and Andrew Pitt, will both start from the front row for tomorrow’s sixth round World Supersport championship race at Kyalami in South Africa. Sofuoglu set the second fastest time behind pole sitter, Cal Crutchlow, while his team-mate and reigning world champion, Pitt, was fourth fastest in today’s timed qualifying session at the 4.24km circuit just outside Johannesburg. It is the first time since round two in Qatar that both Hannspree Ten Kate Honda riders have put their CBR600RRs on the front row of the grid together, and also the first time with the 2009 version of the bike that has won every World Supersport title since 2002. Kenan Sofuoglu P2, 1’41.003s I am very happy not with being second on the grid, but with the team, the bike and everything. I couldn’t get one really fast lap together and my ideal time puts me a lot closer to Cal. The important thing is that we are definitely fast enough for the race. I did many 1m41s laps and the bike felt really good and I was comfortable doing those consistent fast times. It’s a good sign for the race and, hopefully, a good podium finish. Andrew Pitt P4, 1’41.396s We have to be satisfied having both bikes on the front row and I think we’re in pretty good shape for the race. We’re not quite there yet, but I believe we’ve turned the corner with the new bike, so it’s a big thanks to the crew for all their hard work over the last few weeks. I’ll try to repay the guys with a good result tomorrow. Ronald ten Kate team manager First and foremost, big compliments to all the crew and both riders for working so hard to get us back on track. It’s clear to see that we’re really making some good progress now with the new 2009 CBR and it’s great to have both riders on the front row. It means, of course, they can see the starting lights again, which has not been the case in the last few rounds. We’ll see what happens in the race tomorrow, but we’re in good position to start. 2009 World Supersport championship, round six Kyalami, South Africa Final qualifying results: 1 Cal Crutchlow (GBR) Yamaha 1’40.634s 2 Kenan Sofuoglu (TUR) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 1’41.003s 3 Eugene Laverty (IRL) Honda 1’41.161s 4 Andrew Pitt (AUS) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 1’41.396s 5 Joan Lascorz (ESP) Kawasaki 1’41.558s 6 Michele Pirro (ITA) 1’41.563s More, from a press release issued by Yamaha: Crutchlow takes well deserved fifth pole position start The first day of qualifying for the Supersport team saw Cal Crutchlow go straight to the top of the timings in the mid 1.41s. Halfway through the session Sofuoglu went .1 second faster than the Yamaha rider, and spent almost the entire remainder of the session at the top of the table with Crutchlow tucked in right behind with only the .1 second difference. Then, true to form, as the remaining seconds ticked down to end the session, Crutchlow came back out from his pit-stop and put down the perfect lap. Having familiarized himself with the circuit he chose the last minute to prove a point”¦and prove it he did. As the session came to an end he went back out on a new tyre and got down to business, his pole scoring lap was nearly half a second ahead of second place rider Sofuoglu, and he was the only rider to break into the 1.40’s. In doing so he broke Stephane Chambon’s Supersport lap record for the circuit, held since 2002 by over 4.5 seconds. Team-mate Fabien Foret had a more frustrating session. He was quick and on the pace for most of the lap but unfortunately he had a repeated missed gear in the final split, taking at least two tenths of a second off his times. As a result of this he ended the qualifying session in seventh position, trailing Crutchlow by just under a second. Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha World Supersport Team, (1st, 1’40.634) “Overall it was a good session for us but we’re still struggling a bit in a few areas. The lap times for everyone are pretty similar, I managed one really fast one at the end but it’s going to be really close tomorrow. I’m looking forward to the race, I think Sofuoglu, Pitt and Laverty are going to be the biggest threat, so we’ll see!” Fabien Foret, Yamaha World Supersport Team, (7th, 1’41.603) “It was a tough session for me today. I managed to put yesterday behind me and was focused on moving up the timings but I kept getting a missed gear in the final section of the track. This cost me time every lap which unfortunately kept me off the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s start. Hopefully we will resolve the problem by tomorrow so I can concentrate on the race.” Wilco Zeelenberg, Yamaha World Supersport Team “Cal was out for quite a long time on the same tyres, then near the end he came in for a new rear and went back out and did it again. The pace of both the riders clearly shows there are no big problems tyre wise for us which is good for tomorrow. Fabien unfortunately had some difficulties in the last split with a repeated missed gear, so lost 2 tenths each lap. On the plus side, the race pace tomorrow will be 1.41s and he did a lot of them consistently in the session so we’ll see what happens.” More, from a press release issued by Stiggy Racing Honda: African blues remains for Supersport squad An unexpected South-African shower opened the second day of qualifying for the Supersport riders, as they set out for their third Free Practice session – an extra 45-minute session has been added to the Supersport schedule this weekend – at the 4.246m long track at Kyalami today. Most riders only ventured out for a couple of laps at the slippery African track this morning, with some of them waiting inside the garages for better track conditions the whole 45-minute session. Stiggy Racing Honda’s Anthony West – an expert in the wet – took eight place in the timing sheets in the morning’s Free Practice session, but struggled to keep the competition behind him in the Official Qualifying. West’s bike did not provide him the pace to qualify for a good spot in the line-up, and he finished the day in a best time of 1’42.821s, which puts him in 16th place on the grid. Missing out on the first rows means that tomorrow’s 23-lap race will be difficult in the early stages, but West will fight his way forward and battle for a top position at the Kyalami track. Gianluca Vizziello has placed himself on the fifth row on the grid, taking 20th place for tomorrow’s race. Anthony West, P16, 1’42.821: ” I am not really satisfied with my performance today. I need to go a lot faster, and I know I can be a lot faster and beat all these guys in front of me. I don’t know whether it is me or the bike, but I just seem to struggle with my confidence at the moment. I am not even looking forward to racing tomorrow. I hope I will have a good warm up session ahead of the race, and get a better feeling with the bike before going onto the grid “. Gianluca Vizziello, P20, 1’43.150: ” I was working in the right direction, but struggled to improve in qualifying. We have made some changes to the bike, but none of them worked out well. I am confident that I can improve in the warm up session and hopefully in the race tomorrow “. Johan Stigefelt, Teammanager: ” Anthony is slowly getting on form again, he is going faster and faster, but there still remains a gap with the competition. We will analyse the data tonight and hopefully find some ways to improve the bike. Vizziello’s performance looked promising this morning, but he didn’t manage to improve his times in the qualifying practice. We will have to wait what they can do in the race tomorrow “. More, from a press release issued by ParkinGO Triumph BE1 Racing: Team ParkinGO Triumph BE1 Racing partially reached objective as Gianluca Nannelli and Garry McCoy will start ninth and twelfth respectively on the grid. The Italian rider improved his time by a second although he couldn’t practice this morning due to a downpour that made the surface slipperry. On the other hand, McCoy had some problems as he couldn’t find a good feeling with the bike. He did however improve his time but not as much as he would have expected. The team’s goal is to finish with both riders in the top 10 but the small gap from the top riders gives hope of a better result. GARRY McCOY | Triumph Daytona 675 | 12th in 1’42.296 : “I left the machine that I had used in the first practice sessions at the pits and got on the track with my second bike but we kept the same setup. However, I didn’t have a good feeling on this bike. I was able to push harder yesterday but today the machine just didn’t respond as I was hoping. Unfortunately, I found a lot of traffic by the end of the session when I got back on the first bike. Nevertheless, we’ll try to figure out what’s the difference between the two of them, we hope to return to the same level of performance tomorrow and hopefully score a good result”. GIANLUCA NANNELLI | Triumph Daytona 675 | 9th in 1’41.778 : “I think the team has done a great job which enabled me to register a good lap time and find the right setup for the race. I’m confident I can score a good result if I get a good start. I now have a good feeling with the bike and the track. However, I couldn’t qualify in row two, although I had set the seventh fastest partial time, because I later made a mistake and lost two positions”. More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki: Lascorz Second Row At A Bumpy Kyalami WSS, Kyalami, South Africa, 16 May 2009 Provec Motocard.com Kawasaki rider Joan Lascorz was top Ninja ZX-6R qualifier for round six of the WSS championship, with his team-mate Katsuaki Fujiwara still inside the top ten. Lascorz went fifth on the grid, just missing a front row start as he worked hard on overcoming the disruptive effects of Kyalami’s bumpy track surface. Fujiwara was tenth from 28 riders, and starts the 23-lap race on Sunday from row three. The 4.246km Kyalami circuit saw a gentle fall of rain early in the first Supersport session but the clouds soon disappeared and track temperatures rose to 24°C in the African winter sun. As Kyalami is a track which has not been used by WSS since 2002, there was one additional free practice session on Friday, to allow riders and teams to familiarise themselves with the layout. Joan Lascorz: “I have some problems on the bumps because the bike is moving around too much and the bike does not turns as well as I want it to. Because of that it’s hard to keep the speed exiting the corner. We have improved the bike in these areas, but not quite enough yet. Tomorrow in warm-up we will move one stage more in this direction and then we will be ready to race.” Katsuaki Fujiwara: “Our gearbox and engine settings have improved from day one, not so much of a big change, but a small step. The engine did not feel as powerful as we wanted but in terms of the cornering, the bumps were not as bad for me as some other riders. I would like to have a little bit more low gear corner exit acceleration at this track. But I think we are set to race and race well.”