FIM Supersport World Championship Misano, San Marino June 20, 2009 Qualifying Results (wet/dry track conditions, all on Pirelli tires): 1. Michele PIRRO (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:40.498 2. Cal CRUTCHLOW (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:40.508 3. Massimo ROCCOLI (Honda CBR600RR), 1:40.509 4. Katsuaki FUJIWARA (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:40.994 5. Gianluca NANNELLI (Triumph Daytona 675), 1:41.109 6. Anthony WEST (Honda CBR600RR), 1:41.425, crash 7. Mark AITCHISON (Honda CBR600RR), 1:41.458 8. Eugene LAVERTY (Honda CBR600RR), 1:41.459 9. Andrew PITT (Honda CBR600RR), 1:41.666 10. Joan LASCORZ (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:41.963, crash 11. Kenan SOFUOGLU (Honda CBR600RR), 1:42.012 12. Danilo DELL’OMO (Honda CBR600RR), 1:42.563 13. Garry MCCOY (Triumph Daytona 675), 1:42.903 14. Gianluca VIZZIELLO (Honda CBR600RR), 1:43.240 15. Jesco GÃœNTHER (Honda CBR600RR), 1:43.665 16. Miguel PRAIA (Honda CBR600RR), 1:43.707 17. Robbin HARMS (Honda CBR600RR), 1:44.142 18. Fabien FORET (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:44.256 19. Arie VOS (Honda CBR600RR), 1:44.582 20. Barry VENEMAN (Honda CBR600RR), 1:44.953 23. Michael LAVERTY (Honda CBR600RR), 1:45.279 More, from a press release issued by Team YZF Yamaha: Doni Tata Pradita safe from the water! The only qualifying practice session started on a drying track, but then it rained heavily for a while, and the end of the session was again on a drying surface. It was not easy for the teams to choose the right tyres and the right moment to go out. Some did it well, some had a harder time. Michele Pirro was the fastest in front of his fellow Italians on Lorenzini’s Yamaha R6. The leader of the World Championship Cal Crutchlow was second, also on a Yamaha. Third place went to the local boy Massimo Roccoli. Eugene Laverty was only 8th and Fabien Foret 18th. Doni started the session not very fast, but he was much faster by the end and he qualified in 24th position. This is not brilliant, but the good result from yesterday can give good hope for a fair result to the young Indonesian rider. Doni Tata Pradita: “It was a strange qualifying. The weather was really bad. I started the session on slick tyres, but then it rained and I was scared. I came in; my lap times were not so good. Then it rained and so I used rain tyres, but it was not possible then to make a good lap time. When the track dried, we put a slick on the rear and an intermediate on the front. I went faster. It was not easy to qualify. The conditions were not so good. Finally, I feel lucky to qualify. Tomorrow I shall try hard for a good race. I hope to score some points.” Martial Garcia (team-manager): “We escaped the rain trap! It started to rain early. Doni had a shy start on a drying track, and then it rained. Then he tried harder by the end of the session and he qualified. Unfortunately, the good result from yesterday could not be confirmed.” Qualifying results: 1. Michele Pirro ITA Yamaha Lorenzini by Leoni YZF R6 1min 40.498s 2. Cal Crutchlow GBR Yamaha SSP YZF R6 1min 40.508s 3. Massimo Roccoli ITA Intermoto Czech Honda CBR600RR 1min 40.509s 4. Katsuaki Fujiwara JPN Kawasaki Provec Motocard.com ZX-6R 1min 40.994s 5. Gianluca Nannelli ITA Triumph BE1 Racing 675 1min 41.109s 6. Anthony West AUS Stiggy Motorsport Honda CBR600RR 1min 41.425s 7. Mark Aitchison AUS HANNspree Althea Honda CBR600RR 1min 41.458s 8. Eugene Laverty IRL Parkalgar Honda CBR600RR 1min 41.459s 9. Andrew Pitt AUS HANNspree Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR 1min 41.667s 10. Joan Lascorz ESP Kawasaki Provec Motocard.com ZX-6R 1min 41.963s 11. Kenan Sofuoglu TUR HANNspree Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR 1min 42.012s 12. Danilo Dell’Omo ITA Kuja Racing Honda CBR600RR 1min 41.563s 13. Garry McCoy AUS Triumph BE1 Racing 675 1min 42.903s 14. Gianluca Vizziello ITA Stiggy Motorsport Honda CBR600RR 1min 43.240s 15. Jesco Gunther GER RES Software Veidec Racing 1min 43.665s 16. Miguel Praia POR Parkalgar Honda CBR600RR 1min 43.707s 17. Robbin Harms DEN Veidec Racing RES Honda CBR600RR 1min 44.142s 18. Fabien Foret FRA Yamaha SSP YZF R6 1min 44.256s 19. Arie Vos NED Veidec Racing RES Honda CBR600RR 1min 44.582s 20. Barry Veneman NED Pioneer Racing Honda CBR600RR 1min 44.953s 21. Flavio Gentile ITA HANNspree Althea Honda CBR600RR 1min 45.067s 22. Alessandro Brannetti ITA WCR Byke Service Yamaha YZF R6 1min 45.255s 23. Michael Laverty GBR ECHO CRS Grand Prix Honda CBR600RR 1min 45.279s 24. Doni Tata Pradita INA YZF Yamaha R6 1min 45.963s 25. Patrick Vostarek CZE Intermoto Czech Honda CBR600RR 1min 47.251s 26. Yannick Guerra ESP Holiday Gym Racing Yamaha YZF R6 1min 47.266s 27. Matej Smrz CZE MS Racing Triumph 675 1min 51.235s 28. Robert Muresan ROU MS Racing Triumph 675 1min 53.015s 29. Kev Coghlan GBR Holiday Gym Racing Yamaha YZF R6 1min 55.846s More, from a press release issued by Parkalgar Honda: Difficult weather dictates qualifying WITH rain falling at the start of qualifying and the Misano circuit in San Marino drying throughout the rest of the session, Parkalgar Honda’s Eugene Laverty rode intelligently in the difficult conditions to qualify eighth on the second row of the grid for tomorrow’s eighth round of the World Supersport Championship. Miguel Praia contested the top 10 for much of the session but as the track dried rapidly towards the end he lost out to other riders and ended 16th on the fourth row of the grid. Yamaha’s Michele Pirro took pole position in front of his home crowd. The race takes place at 1325CET on Sunday and can be watched on Eurosport or www.worldsbk.com. Eugene: “The weather played havoc with qualifying and I didn’t do anything silly. I was held up on my last fast lap when I really went for it but with conditions changing all the time it paid to be cautious. I am happy that my Parkalgar Honda is working really well. We tried a different rear setting here after Salt Lake and it worked well this morning in free practice when I was third. It helps me to ride the bike when on worn tyres which is good. Eighth is fine, I am OK with the second row, there aren’t many guys I need to pass in front of me. The first corner is very close so it may be the second corner before I can start making passes. Whatever the weather throws at us for the race I’ll be ready for it.” Miguel: “That was a crazy session. It started well with the team getting me out at the front of the pack and I was able to get two dry laps before the rain really fell, putting me ninth. I thought it would stay wet but with strong winds it dried out in the last 10-minutes and I missed the window of opportunity to set a faster lap time as the rain came back with two or three minutes to go. It is a little disappointing as I thought I would start from ninth but these conditions are the very worst for me so 16th is not so bad. I am really confident for the race and want to get a good start and into the top 10. My Parkalgar Honda is ace and my team has been very helpful this weekend, we deserve a good result.” Simon Buckmaster, Parkalgar Honda Team Manager: “Miguel got out early and set a good time but as the track dried out he missed the window of opportunity to keep the position as other riders went faster. He is still in a good place for the race and certainly has the speed to get into the top 10 if all goes to plan. Eugene got out on track at the right time at the end and got on the second row which will put him right in the fight for the race. It was difficult conditions for qualifying and with one eye on the title race he didn’t want to risk a stupid crash in qualifying, there aren’t any points awarded today. I think Eugene will be fighting with Cal Crutchlow and maybe Juan Lascorz, Andrew Pitt and Kenan Sofuoglu for the race win tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki: Katsuaki Takes Front Row Start WSS, Misano, Republic of San Marino, 20 June 2009 Katsuaki Fujiwara’s ambition to take a top four start came to life after a professional and high paced ride in a wet and dry qualifying session put him on the front row of the grid for Sunday’s race. This is Katsuaki’s second front row of the season, and a positive omen for Katsuaki is that after qualifying fourth in Spain he went on to secure a top five race finish in the Valencia race. Joan Lascorz finished tenth in a qualifying session that had both wet and dry periods, and ended with another very light rain shower with only two and a half minutes to go. After suffering a crash early the session, in wet conditions, Lascorz was unable to push as hard as he wanted in the final laps, and had to settle for tenth, and a third row start. There is only one official qualifying session for each WSS race in 2009, but on a boiling hot first day, with track temperatures over 50°C and air temperatures into the mid 30s, Lascorz was second fastest in practice, on settings based on the previous Miller Motorsports Park race. Fujiwara was tenth at that point before turning it into fourth today. Katsuaki Fujiwara: “Everything went not so bad today, and it came step-by-step. For wet or dry we have some track time already but today it was not really full rain. We rode for most of today with dry settings and just adjusted things a little as the track surface changed. Whatever conditions we have tomorrow we will be starting from a good position on the front row. We worked well today, so I hope we can take a good advantage tomorrow.” Joan Lascorz: “Yesterday we started out with a good base set-up from the race in America, and because of that we knew we could come back to it if we needed to. So we tried a few more radical things with the suspension and set-up but they did not work out the way we hoped. We went back to more normal settings in the afternoon qualifying session but I fell in the rain early on. I think the lack of dry track time, and getting mixed up with other riders when I was trying to go for a faster lap at the end, stopped me from improving my time and starting position. There were some spots of rain on my visor towards the end, so I was not sure how hard I could push again.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha: Crutchlow takes a front row start in difficult Misano conditions Day two at Misano and the World Supersport qualifying was a wet affair, difficult conditions saw a half wet half dry track with fine drizzle for most of the session. Yamaha World Supersport rider Cal Crutchlow spent nearly half of the session in the pit waiting for a break in the weather having started in the wet with a few laps to set 10th on the standings. With ten minutes to go and a drying track the British rider was the first to come out with dry tyres on and immediately went to the top of the chart where he stayed until the last seconds where Pirro edged a one tenth advantage. Crutchlow started a last hot lap and was on track to take pole back but was hampered when rain started to fall again, leaving him with a front row start in second position for tomorrow’s race. Crutchlow’s team-mate Fabien Foret had a less than satisfactory session, the difficult weather made it hard to confirm his set up on the bike to validate changes made from yesterday. The French rider never enjoys racing in the rain and ended his qualifying session in 18th place with some work ahead of him in tomorrow’s race. Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha World Supersport Team (2nd, 1’40.508) “It was a good enough session considering we were tenth at one point. I knew that when the track dried up it was possible to go faster so I made the gamble and went out managed to do some decent laps, I was the first out on dry tyres and did 20 laps on one set. I was doing decent laps at the end, so let’s see what tomorrow brings.” Fabien Foret, Yamaha World Supersport Team (18th, 1’44.256) “it was definitely not my favourite conditions today so I’m 18th and I think it’s going to be a hard race tomorrow. I’m hoping I can do a good start and make up some places. It’s a shame because we had some settings to confirm on the bike but we haven’t had the time on track to do it because of the weather. Let’s hope tomorrow is dry for the race and also for the warm up so we can check the set up and be ready for the start.” Wilco Zeelenberg, Yamaha World Supersport Team Manager “Very difficult circumstances here in Misano today. When it’s wet we know the track is very slippery. Finally at the end of the session we had Cal second and Fabien 18th, so not the best start for him. We know he doesn’t like the half and half weather so he has to prepare himself for a difficult race tomorrow. With Cal being second his main rivals are behind him which is very important. Congratulations to Pirro for pole in difficult conditions. Cal tried to come back in the last lap but it started to rain again. Today we didn’t get a lot of new data as the difficult weather was very restricting. Let’s wait and see what the weather does tomorrow as that’s going to be the most important factor.” More, from a press release issued by HANNspree Ten Kate Honda: Andrew Pitt and Kenan Sofuoglu will start from the third row of the grid for tomorrow’s eighth round World Supersport championship race at Misano in Italy after a frustrating qualifying session this afternoon. The 4.2km circuit was wet in parts as the 45-minute session began, with none of the riders able to improve on yesterday’s free practice times. However, with just 10 minutes remaining, the track had dried sufficiently for lap times to start tumbling. With five minutes left on the clock and Pitt running in third place, rain began to appear once more, the session finishing with Italy’s Michele Pirro on top of the timing sheets and Pitt and Sofuoglu down in ninth and eleventh places respectively. Andrew Pitt P9, 1’41.666s I thought we were there at the end of the session and, when the rain came back, I slowed. It was a mistake on my part because I probably rolled off a lap or two early and went from third to ninth. I’m happy enough with what we’ve done with the bike, although there were one or two things we wanted to try this afternoon but didn’t get the chance. But I’ll try and get another good start tomorrow and I think we should be pretty near the mark. Kenan Sofuoglu P11, 1’42.012s I am very disappointed with the weather today and with my qualifying position. The track was not wet and not dry and you were the lucky rider if you had the right tyres in your bike at the right time. For sure, if the weather was dry today, I think we would have a better position. I need to make a quick start, but the distance from the line to the first corner is not very far, so it will be difficult. But I’ll try to get to the front and then fight for another win. Ronald ten Kate team manager That was a very difficult time for all the riders out there and we clearly did not get the best result from the session. There’s really not much more that we can say about the situation, other than that we will see what the weather will bring tomorrow. As long as it is either wet or dry, I believe we will be competitive. Anything in between just makes the race a bit of a lottery. More, from a press release issued by Stiggy Racing Honda: Wet Misano qualifying brings out the best in West After struggling through qualifying in the last races, the wet weather conditions at Misano brought out the fighting spirit for Anthony West, and saw the Australian rider taking a perfect sixth place in Supersport qualifying today. As the first drops of rain moved in, Anthony West took to the track and posted the fastest time on his third flying lap. As more rain looked likely, only a couple of riders were left at the track trying to improve their times. But as conditions changed for the better, the track quickly dried and it was Cal Crutchlow who reclaimed his pole position from West. Qualifying then hotted up as the regular pacesetters set out to improve their times, and West found himself pushed further down the time sheets. West set out once again and hammered out the sixth fastest time, which places him on the second row for tomorrow’s race. Gianluca Vizziello improved his qualifying results as well, he will start from the third row tomorrowhis best results so far this season. Anthony West, P6, 1’41.425s: ” I am definitely happier than I have been in the last couple of races. I am happy with the set-up and the chassis of my bike is working well. I wish I could have used the same bike, but after the crash I had to switch to my number two bike. It is completely different set up and not as good as the number one bike so I really struggled the last time out. It was difficult, but I managed to stay in a good position. We will now put my preferred bike back together so it is good to go for tomorrow. I will try to win the race. I feel I can fight at the front as long as the bike runs well. I am definitely more confident after today’s results than I have been in the last couple of qualifications. ” Gianluca Vizziello, P14, 1’43.240s: ” It has been a good session for me, but I am a bit disappointed as there was a lot more to gain. I could have done better, but the strategy we set out to work with, did not bring the results I had been pushing for. Even though it is my best qualification so far, I am still convinced I could have improved more in the session. Hopefully I can have a good start tomorrow and can make up some positions in the race. ” Johan Stigefelt, Team Manager: ” I am happy to see that Anthony is pushing a lot again. When he went out in the rain and was leading the field again, that is what I like to see and that is how he should be riding. I am really happy for his crew and the whole team that he finished sixth today and is on the second row for the race. He has worked very hard for it and deserves the improvement. Vizziello went out on the dry tyres as well, but unfortunately it did not work out that well for him. Still he managed to qualify in fourteenth place, which is his best qualifying position so far this season. I am confident both riders can ride a good race tomorrow. ” More, from a press release issued by Team ParkinGO Triumph BE1 Racing: Wet Misano qualifying brings out the best in West After struggling through qualifying in the last races, the wet weather conditions at Misano brought out the fighting spirit for Anthony West, and saw the Australian rider taking a perfect sixth place in Supersport qualifying today. As the first drops of rain moved in, Anthony West took to the track and posted the fastest time on his third flying lap. As more rain looked likely, only a couple of riders were left at the track trying to improve their times. But as conditions changed for the better, the track quickly dried and it was Cal Crutchlow who reclaimed his pole position from West. Qualifying then hotted up as the regular pacesetters set out to improve their times, and West found himself pushed further down the time sheets. West set out once again and hammered out the sixth fastest time, which places him on the second row for tomorrow’s race. Gianluca Vizziello improved his qualifying results as well, he will start from the third row tomorrowhis best results so far this season. Anthony West, P6, 1’41.425s: ” I am definitely happier than I have been in the last couple of races. I am happy with the set-up and the chassis of my bike is working well. I wish I could have used the same bike, but after the crash I had to switch to my number two bike. It is completely different set up and not as good as the number one bike so I really struggled the last time out. It was difficult, but I managed to stay in a good position. We will now put my preferred bike back together so it is good to go for tomorrow. I will try to win the race. I feel I can fight at the front as long as the bike runs well. I am definitely more confident after today’s results than I have been in the last couple of qualifications. ” Gianluca Vizziello, P14, 1’43.240s: ” It has been a good session for me, but I am a bit disappointed as there was a lot more to gain. I could have done better, but the strategy we set out to work with, did not bring the results I had been pushing for. Even though it is my best qualification so far, I am still convinced I could have improved more in the session. Hopefully I can have a good start tomorrow and can make up some positions in the race. ” Johan Stigefelt, Team Manager: ” I am happy to see that Anthony is pushing a lot again. When he went out in the rain and was leading the field again, that is what I like to see and that is how he should be riding. I am really happy for his crew and the whole team that he finished sixth today and is on the second row for the race. He has worked very hard for it and deserves the improvement. Vizziello went out on the dry tyres as well, but unfortunately it did not work out that well for him. Still he managed to qualify in fourteenth place, which is his best qualifying position so far this season. I am confident both riders can ride a good race tomorrow. “