FIM Supersport World Championship Assen, Netherlands April 15 Qualifying Session One Results (all on Pirelli tires): 1. Florian MARINO, France (Honda CBR600RR), 1:38.945 2. Luca SCASSA, Italy (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:39.121 3. David SALOM, Spain (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:39.191 4. Sam LOWES, Great Britain (Honda CBR600RR), 1:39.291 5. Chaz DAVIES, Great Britain (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:39.519 6. Broc PARKES, Australia (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:39.569 7. Robbin HARMS, Denmark (Honda CBR600RR), 1:39.766 8. Fabien FORET, France (Honda CBR600RR), 1:40.247 9. Gino REA, Great Britain (Honda CBR600RR), 1:40.273 10. Massimo ROCCOLI, Italy (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:40.344 11. Roberto TAMBURINI, Italy (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:40.471 12. Vittorio IANNUZZO, Italy (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:40.691 13. James ELLISON, Great Britain (Honda CBR600RR), 1:40.697 14. Miguel PRAIA, Portugal (Honda CBR600RR), 1:40.848 15. Alexander LUNDH, Sweden (Honda CBR600RR), 1:40.885 16. Vladimir IVANOV, Ukraine (Honda CBR600RR), 1:40.991 17. Ondrej JEZEK, Czech Republic (Honda CBR600RR), 1:41.252 18. Jos VAN DER AA, Netherlands (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:41.434 19. Ronan QUARMBY, South Africa (Triumph Daytona 675), 1:41.461 20. Kervin BOS, Netherlands (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:41.531 More, from a press release issued by PTR Bogdanka Honda: JAMES Ellison finished the opening day at Assen in thirteenth position, just four tenths of a second off the provisional second row, and is confident of making further strides forward tomorrow ahead of the third race of the World Supersport Championship on Sunday. His Polish Bogdanka PTR Honda teammate, Pawel Szkopek was 23rd in the first qualifying session following a crash that cut his session short. The team’s up-and-coming FIM Superstock 1000 Cup rider, Marcin Walkowiak, was 24th today. James Ellison: “I’m losing a bit of time in the fast sections but we know what do to for tomorrow to improve that. Assen is a flowing track and it’s very easy to make up time here so we’re closer than the times might suggest. I’m still understanding the bike and there is more to come.” Pawel Szkopek: “I’m still learning my way around Assen. It’s a very difficult track to master and you need perfect lines in the fast sections to get a good lap, but we’re getting there.I should’ve been faster in the end but had a low-side on my fastest lap. I am OK but missed one third of the session.” Marcin Walkowiak: “I’m already faster than last year by half a second so I’m positive. We’ll make some adjustments to the bike for tomorrow and I know where I can improve my riding too.” Simon Buckmaster: “James has disappointed with 13th but we know what to improve and I am sure he will be challenging much higher up the grid tomorrow. “Unfortunately Pawel crashed in qualifying and missed a large part of the session. We’ll be studying the data and looking for big improvement tomorrow. “It is Marcin’s first day with the team and he is starting to gel well. He will be pushing harder tomorrow as we want a points scoring finish in our first outing.” More, from a press release issued by Ten Kate Honda: Florian Marino set the fastest time in this afternoon’s opening qualifying practice for Sunday’s third round World Supersport championship race at Assen in the Netherlands to secure his first provisional pole position. It’s the 17-year-old’s debut season with the Hannspree Ten Kate Honda squad which is based just 50km from the 4.452km Assen circuit in the north of Holland. Marino’s team-mate, fellow Frenchman Fabien Foret, was eighth fastest this afternoon as he continues his recovery from debilitating injuries to his back and right hand which he sustained in crashes at Phillip Island in Australia and last time out at Donington in the UK. However, Foret was quick to point out that it’s not his injuries that are currently holding him back at Assen and that he and his crew need to work further on the setting of his Honda CBR600RR. Florian Marino P1 I rode alone this afternoon to try to find my lines and my rhythm again because I felt that they were not there during free practice this morning. The feeling was quite good with the bike and when we put in some new tyres I made three fast laps immediately. We know that the soft tyre lets us go faster, so we worked a lot on the race tyre, but I didn’t expect to be fastest today. We made a few changes to the bike this afternoon and used a different front fork. This makes me happy because it gives me a much better feeling compared to Donington, and we have improved the bike in other areas too. Now we will continue to work this way and try to keep this position. Fabien Foret P8 I don’t have a good feeling on the bike at the moment, and that is not really to do with my physical condition. For sure that’s not perfect, but neither are the settings with the bike right now. I guess we’ll make some change s and try to make things better for tomorrow. Ronald ten Kate team manager The beauty of working with a very young rider like Florian is that you’re there when those special moments happen, like his first provisional pole position today. For him to do it at the team’s home race makes it even more special. There is still quite a bit of work to do, however, because we’re still not satisfied with the set up we have on the other side of the garage with Fabien. We’re struggling a bit there, but it’s been a while since he was riding without pain since before his Phillip Island crash. We will keep our heads cool and together throughout the weekend because I’m sure that with his raw speed and talent he can be fully up at the front on Sunday. More, from a press release issued by Yamaha ParkinGO Team: A positive start heading to the Assen’s round for the Yamaha Parkingo Team, yet big protagonist of this weekend opening show with the Supersport World Championship leader Luca Scassa riding beautiful dutch horses. On TT Circuit, “The Rocker” and Chaz Davies ended the first day of practice respectively with a second and fifth position, confirming themselves among the favourites for the sunday’s race. One that could number among the biggest a new rival. Florian Marino, on Honda Ten Kate gained the temporary pole position, a placing tha Scassa and Davies will try to reach tomorrow when the starting grid will be set. The work done by both the team and the riders was about getting ready for the race and within sight of which the Yamaha ParkinGO Team riders have done most of the setting-work previously planned. Luca Scassa – Yamaha YZF R6 # 9 – “We’ve been really fast since the beginning. Our setting only need a few adjustments that change from track to track. So we could have tried different tyre’s solutions getting informations that let us make some choices. We still have to try a few things concerning the bike tradeoff and we’ve to modify the gear so that we have the engine ready at every single turn. Then we will have all that we need to try to start from the pole position”. Chaz Davies – Yamaha YZF R6 # 7 – “The road we took is the right one. I have to find a solution to remedy a problem I got during the back-turns, where I’m still not at the top. The solution we tried today didn’t work but we think we got the reason why and we’ll solve the issue tomorrow”. More, from a press release issued by PTR Romania Honda: PTR ROMANIA HONDA’S Robert Muresan is 27th on the provisional grid for Sunday’s third round of the World Supersport Championship at Assen in Holland but utterly determined to improve tomorrow after trying too hard today. The Romanian 20-year-old is super keen to show his talent but was frustrated by trying too hard during the first day and losing time as a result. His team has identified areas where he can relax and allow the bike to work for him and he is hoping for big improvements in final qualification and the race. There are more practice and qualification sessions tomorrow before the race at 1330 CET on Sunday 17th April. Robert: “I am disappointed in my position but the team has identified where I can go faster and make up time and I am listening to them. I have been trying too hard and now I will be thinking on how and where I can improve and I want to qualify as high as possible; my target is to score points and keep improving.” Simon Buckmaster, PTR Romania Honda Team Manager: “Robert struggled a bit today and is trying too hard. We have discussed this with him and he needs to be calmer and more focussed to go faster. We gained a lot of data and are confident that we can make a big improvement tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Parkalgar Honda: PARKALGAR HONDA’S Sam Lowes was an impressive fourth fastest in opening qualification for the third round of the World Supersport Championship at Assen despite being held up on his last laps by traffic. Miguel Praia on the second Parkalgar Honda worked well with his crew on the set up of his bike during both sessions and ended up 14th. There is another practice and qualifying session tomorrow before the race takes place at 1330CET on Sunday, April 17th. Sam: “I ended up fourth but we were first for most of the session. I have not ridden the track in this format and it is taking a bit of getting used to. I am getting things dialled in though and my consistency is good, I am just 0.3s off pole and you have got to be happy with that. In the morning I will go out and do laps and then I’ll be on it in the afternoon, there is a lot of time left in me. Towards the end of qualification on my last two laps I was held up but it is only Friday and there is more to come.” Miguel: “Today we were trying a couple of different things to build on my confidence after a decent result at Donington. It took some time to test everything and we continued through qualifying as well. We were not bothered by the lap time but more in improving my confidence and it worked, I feel we have made a step forward. Tomorrow we will build more and try to attack the second row.” Simon Buckmaster, Parkalgar Honda Team Manager said: “Sam finished the day on the provisional front row. He is consistently in the mid-low 39s and that is competitive. There are improvements as a team and from him so we expect to be challenging for pole tomorrow. “Miguel is carrying confidence from 11th place at Donington Park and has the potential to challenge for the second row.”