Friday’s World Superbike Qualifying Results: 1. Troy CORSER, Suz GSX-R1000, 1:47.878 2. Yukio KAGAYAMA, Suz GSX-R1000, 1:48.113 3. Karl MUGGERIDGE, Hon CBR1000RR, 1:48.203 4. Gianluca NANNELLI, Duc 999RS, 1:48.809 5. James TOSELAND, Duc 999F05, 1:48.846 6. Chris VERMEULEN, Hon CBR1000RR, 1:48.849 7. Regis LACONI, Duc 999F05, 1:49.021 8. Andrew PITT, Yam YZF-R1, 1:49.422 9. Chris WALKER, Kaw ZX-10R, 1:49.423 10. Noriyuki HAGA, Yam YZF-R1, 1:49.520 11. Pierfrancesco CHILI, Hon CBR1000RR, 1:49.595 12. Marco BORCIANI, Yam YZF-R1, 1:49.835 13. Giovanni BUSSEI, Kaw ZX-10R, 1:50.348 14. Jose Luis CARDOSO, Yam YZF-R1, 1:50.598 15. Garry MCCOY, Foggy Petronas FP1, 1:50.635 16. Fonsi NIETO, Ducati 999RS, 1:50.746 17. Ben BOSTROM, Honda CBR1000RR, 1:51.012 18. Mauro SANCHINI, Kaw ZX-10R, 1:51.114 19. Gianluca VIZZIELLO, Yam YZF-R1, 1:51.158 20. Norick ABE, Yam YZF-R1, 1:51.367 21. Lorenzo ALFONSI, Yam YZF-R1, 1:51.470 22. Sebastien GIMBERT, Yam YZF-R1, 1:51.472 23. Steve MARTIN, Foggy Petronas FP1, 1:51.486 24. Lucio PEDERCINI, Duc 999Rs, 1:51.867 25. Luca CONFORTI, Duc 999RS, 1:51.888 More, from a press release issued by Winston Ten Kate Honda: PROVISIONAL FRONT ROW FOR MUGGERIDGE IN MONZA Karl Muggeridge set the third fastest time in today’s opening qualifying session for round four of the 2005 World Superbike championship at Monza in Italy. In warm sunshine, the Australian lapped the 5.8km circuit near Milan in a best time of 1m48.203s, just three tenths off provisional pole man, Troy Corser. Muggeridge’s Winston Ten Kate Honda team-mate Chris Vermeulen was sixth fastest in today’s qualifying session as he bids to improve on the two second place finishes he scored at the last round in Valencia, Spain. Both Australian riders, spent today testing two contrasting set-ups on their CBR1000RRs as the race development of Honda’s flagship sports bike continues. Ronald ten Kate team manager: “That was another good qualifying performance from Karl who seems to improve every time he goes out. If not for his recent bad luck in the races, I’m sure he would be much higher up the points table. His best time today was on a soft race tyre as he couldn’t make full use of a qualifier he put in towards the end of the session. Chris had a small electrical problem on his number one bike, which we managed to fix during the session, but he lost a bit of time. I think we have moved forward from the improved position we found at Valencia so I’m hoping that we can carry this forward for the rest of the weekend.” Karl Muggeridge third fastest, 1m48.203s: “I’m so much happier with the bike here and the latest evolution of the chassis. Monza is always a bit of a compromise between the faster and slower corners because what works well in one part of the track may not be so good in others. But I think we found a direction this morning that will hopefully take us forward. The bike is much more user-friendly and we’re not suffering from the problems that have hindered our progress in the first few rounds. I’m pretty happy and looking forward to moving it forward some more tomorrow.” Chris Vermeulen sixth fastest, 1m48.849s: “We started today with two very different bikes one based heavily on the Valencia set-up and the other with different geometry and chassis settings. It made this afternoon a little difficult because I was doing two or three laps on one and then two or three on the other. But I think we’ve got the information we were looking for so we’ll look at all the data tonight and confirm which direction we go in tomorrow. I also had that little electrical problem which developed this morning but that was sorted pretty quickly. We also tried different brake pads here so we’re learning a lot. I was expecting top five today and we’re not far off, so I’ll sleep tonight and come back stronger tomorrow.” World Superbike, Monza provisional qualifying times: 1 Troy Corser AUS (Suzuki) 1m47.878s, 2 Yukio Kagayama JPN (Suzuki) 1:48.113, 3 Karl Muggeridge AUS (Winston Ten Kate Honda) 1:48.203, 4 Gianluca Nannelli ITA (Ducati) 1:48.809, 5 James Toseland GBR (Ducati) 1:48.846, 6 Chris Vermeulen AUS (Winston Ten Kate Honda) 1:48.849, 7 Regis Laconi FRA (Ducati) 1:49.021, 8 Andrew Pitt AUS (Yamaha) 1:49.422, 9 Chris Walker GBR (Kawasaki) 1:49.423, 10 Noriyuki Haga JPN (Yamaha) 1:49.520. More, from a press release issued by Foggy Petronas Racing: McCoy suffers in Monza mayhem The qualification efforts of Foggy PETRONAS Racing riders Garry McCoy and Steve Martin for fourth round of the Superbike World Championship at Monza were obstructed during an incident-packed afternoon session on the first day. The Australian pair finished the first day in 15th and 23rd positions respectively, with Troy Corser again setting a challenging pace. Garry was unable to complete a clean fast lap on qualifying rubber, being forced to pick his way through the aftermath of a crash at the second chicane. Steve’s day was interrupted by technical problems, including a mechanical failure on his flying lap on a qualifying tyre. However, both riders believe they have a clear direction forward and are confident of qualifying for tomorrow’s Superpole shoot-out. Garry said: “On my fast lap two people went down at the second chicane. I braked and then one guy ran in front of me on the track. There were dudes in orange suits and bikes everywhere – I was spewing. I tried for another lap on the qualifying tyre and even on that lap there were yellow flags out going into the last turn as someone else had gone down! I felt pretty good on the first fast lap and I am pretty happy with my overall set-up. The tyre that felt good this morning wasn’t so good in the higher temperatures of the afternoon, so we just have to try different tyres tomorrow and see what is going to last race distance.” Steve said: “It’s not really where I wanted to be at the end of the first day but I am pretty confident I can do a time to get into Superpole tomorrow morning. But I only had one-and-a-half laps on new tyres during the afternoon session. After the morning I needed to work on three areas. By the end of the day we seemed to have fixed the problems with the bike braking in a straight line and we also made progress with the gearing. But we still have more work to do on mid-corner grip at the rear.” More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse: TOSELAND AND LACONI (DUCATI XEROX TEAM) BACK UP WITH THE FRONT-RUNNERS PACE IN FIRST QUALIFYING AT MONZA Monza (Italy), Friday 6 May: Both Ducati Xerox Team riders James Toseland and Régis Laconi were up amongst the front-runners in today’s first World Superbike qualifying session in warm and sunny conditions at Monza. This time it was the British rider ahead of his team-mate as Toseland finished fifth quickest behind Gianluca Nannelli (Ducati SC), while Frenchman Laconi was two places further down in seventh position. Toseland was quite pleased with his form today after lapping in similar times to Laconi but was convinced he can improve with a bit more traction. “I obviously feel a bit better, it was a comfortable fifth place really although I feel there’s a lot more to come” declared Toseland. “We’ve still got a few little problems with traction, especially coming off the Parabolica, which is a corner where you can lose or make up two or three tenths easily. We also need to alter the front forks slightly to give the tyre an easier time and gain more grip, but apart from that minor problem everything else is fine. We used a qualifier with 25 minutes left to go and that was my fastest time” he continued, “because I didn’t want to risk running out of time again like in Valencia. Our set-up is better organised this weekend, we put the qualifier on earlier and things seem to be working out really well. Circumstances have made things look bad since the start of the year, but it’s not the case and we’re not far away from the other guys. I know where we are exactly in comparison with the Suzukis and if I raced this afternoon I know we could hang in there”. Régis was not entirely happy with his seventh quickest time, citing a lack of grip for his position in the first session. “I am not that pleased with my position because we are missing grip both at the front and at the rear when the conditions start to heat up. We tried a number of solutions but for the moment we haven’t improved much. Then with my qualifying tyre there were yellow flags at the second chicane and I lost a lot of time. We really must improve in the final split because we are just too slow there. In particular in the Lesmo curve where the bike doesn’t want to go where I want it to go. Together with my engineers we’ll have a good look at the problem and tomorrow I’m sure we’ll improve. I’m also a bit tired because it’s the first time I’m racing since my crash at Valencia. That’s normal and I’m sure we’ll go much better tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by FGSport Group: WORLD SUPERBIKE BASKS IN GLORIOUS MONZA SUNSHINE Monza Provides Perfect Backdrop For Suzukis: After a day of thunderstorms and rainfall in and around the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza before the start of proceedings the opening day of qualifying was hosted in magnificent conditions, allowing Troy Corser (Alstare Corona Extra Suzuki) the chance to set the fastest lap of the day, with a 1’47.878. His team-mate Yukio Kagayama was a close second, only 0.235 seconds shy of the Aussie’s time, leaving Corser as the only rider inside the 1’47s at present. Rookie Third, Wild Card Fourth: The usual flurry of late session activity saw one-time leader Karl Muggeridge in an eventual third spot, a good start for the Superbike class rookie and his Winston Ten Kate Honda. His 1’48.203 left him in the position of stand alone third placed rider, some 0.6 seconds ahead of his closest competitor. Riding in both Superbike and Supersport classes, Gianluca Nannelli (SC Caracchi Ducati) made an impact on both provisional grids, going fourth overall in Superbike the best Ducati rider. Standing in for the injured regular Lorenzo Lanzi, Nannelli was a revelation, and even outpaced both factory Ducati entrants. Works 999 Riders In the Hunt: The factory Ducati Xerox squad of James Toseland and Regis Laconi (Ducati Xerox 999F05) had a good first day of work, as each attempted to put the previous rounds behind them. Toseland, having a tough initial period in his title defence, stated in pre-race comments that he just needs his fortune to change to show his real speed, and was fifth quickest today, juts under a second from Corser. Laconi, who missed both previous Valencia races with concussion, was declared fit prior to qualifying, and secured a seventh provisional grid placing. Vermeulen In the Vanguard: Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR rider Chris Vermeulen slotted his Fireblade into sixth spot, easing out Laconi in the later stages. On a day when the four-cylinders had mixed fortunes, Yamaha Motor Italia rider Andrew Pitt promoted himself to the status of top R1 competitor by setting eighth best qualifying time. Top Kawasaki rider was once more Chris Walker (PSG-1 Kawasaki ZX-10), ninth fastest. Noriyuki Haga, Pitt’s team-mate, gave his local team a second rider inside the top ten. With his team-mate Max Neukirchner missing from the line up, due to a recent hand operation, four time Monza race winner Pierfrancesco Chili roared his Klaffi Honda to 11th at his favourite circuit on the calendar. Private Riders Pile In: DFX rider Marco Borciani’s swap from Yamaha to Ducati power placed him 12th on the provisional grid, with Giovanni Bussei (Bertocchi Kawasaki) 13th, well inside the top echelon of 31 qualifying riders. Jose Luis Cardoso (Yamaha Extreme Sterilgarda) and Fonsi Nieto (SC Caracchi 999RS) had a joint fall in qualifying, the two Spaniards walking away from their entanglement. Cardoso nonetheless qualified 14th, Nieto 16th. Ben Bostrom (Renegade Honda Koji) slotted his ever-improving Honda into 17th fastest time, improving his best position late in the session. Yamaha Motor France riders Norick Abe and Sebastien Gimbert found their machines not quite capable of running with the fastest machines on the day, with Abe 20th and Gimbert 22nd. Petronas Riders Move ON: Aussie pairing Garry McCoy and Steve Martin had differing fortunes at Monza on day one, with McCoy 15th (inside Superpole qualification if times stay the same on Saturday) but Martin was a disappointed 23rd. Supersport: Championship leader Sebastien Charpentier (Winston Ten Kate Honda) once more proved the fastest competitor of all in Supersport, taking provisional pole with a 1’51.971, already under the lap record and less than half a second away from the best ever Supersport lap in qualifying. His team-mate Katsuaki Fujiwara ran out second on his CBR600RR Honda, 1.014 seconds from Charpentier’s best time. The first Yamaha rider, Kevin Curtain (Yamaha Motor Germany) was only just behind Fujiwara, 0.107 seconds adrift. Team Italia Megabike Honda runner Michel Fabrizio scored fourth fastest time 1’53.606. The speed of Team SC Caracchi’s Ducati 749R allowed the exceptionally busy Gianluca Nannelli to secure fifth place, 1.636 seconds from overnight pole and only one thousandth of a second from Fabrizio’s Honda. The 45-minute session was split into two parts, after an oil leak at the entrance to the Parabolica delayed proceedings. Championship contender Fabien Foret (Team Italia Megabike Honda) was disqualified from the event for practicing at an Italian Supersport Championship round at Monza less than a week before the start of the Monza WSS race, and without Monza being his team’s designated test track. One more qualifying session, on Saturday 7th, will determine the final grid positions. More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki: Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra riders Troy Corser and Yukio Kagayama grabbed first and second places for Sunday’s fourth-round Monza World Superbike round in Italy after storming to the top two times today in Italy. Corser’s lap of 1:47.878 was the day’s fastest with Kagayama just two tenths of a second behind. Troy Corser – 1st, 1:47.878: “Conditions today were different to when we tested here last week. The track didn’t feel as grippy so that’s why my lap times were slower than last week. The track felt a bit better this afternoon and as long as it stays dry, I think it will get better tomorrow. This morning we ran a full race distance and everything felt pretty good. This afternoon we ran about three quarters of a race distance and also tried a few different types of brake pads. “As usual we started the day with the same set-up we had when we left last week and then tried to improve it little by little. I actually think it’s going to be tough to pull away from the rest of the field because it’s easy to drag your close competitors with you. So the first two laps of the races are going to be very important. For that, I need a front-row grid place and a good start – and that’s what I’ll be aiming for.” Yukio Kagayama – 2nd, 1:48.113: I had a little crash this morning but it was no problem! On the fast, back straight, a rider up ahead suddenly slowed down and I found myself right on his tail so fast I had to swerve round him so that I didn’t hit him and, by doing that, I went into the gravel. After that the bike just fell over at slow speed, but there was no damage to my body and hardly any marks on the bike. Otherwise today went ok. “I am still learning the track, but I like it very much because it has many fast corners and many hard braking points and for me, this is fun. I am happy to be second fastest today and also close to Troy. Tomorrow I want a good Superpole and a front row position on the grid – maybe first! More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Yamaha Motor Italia rider Andrew Pitt was the fastest of the Yamaha riders during today’s first qualifying for round four of the Superbike World Championship at Monza. The Australian set the eighth fastest time at his team’s home circuit with a best time of 1:49.422, despite spending the day evaluating many new parts for his YZF-R1, including a Yamaha YEC kit swingarm, Termignoni exhaust system and alternative brake calipers, but was still able to record a quick time around the fast Italian circuit. Noriyuki Haga finished the day less than one tenth of a second and just two places behind his team-mate. A lack of circuit knowledge meant that Yamaha Motor France teamsters Norick Abe and Sèbastien Gimbert ended the day down in 20th and 22nd places respectively. Both riders are making their first appearances at Monza this weekend and spent the two one hour sessions learning the high-speed circuit. Championship leader Troy Corser (Suzuki) was the fastest rider of the day with a 1:47.878, to place him ahead of team-mate Yukio Kagayama. Karl Muggeridge (Honda) and replacement rider Gianluca Nannelli (Ducati) round off the provisional front row. Final qualifying takes place tomorrow (Saturday) morning, with the top 16 riders qualifying for the afternoon’s grid deciding superpole session. Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) “We came here with two different swingarms: one is the Yamaha kit version and the other is the modified standard one have been using up to now. The kit one has its good points, but it does change the character of the bike which has made it difficult to fully evaluate changes to the suspension. For tomorrow we’re going to change back to what we used in the previous races, simply I need to test the kit swingarm more. I’m quite happy with how it went today. We spent a lot of time working on the brake set-up. My biggest problem has been that the rear is coming lifting up under heavy braking, so tomorrow we’ll be working to find a way of extending the rear travel under braking.” Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) “We already have some good settings as we tested here a few weeks ago and overall I am happy with the way the bike is feeling. But in the qualifying session we had a small problem and that made it more difficult to concentrate and go for a fast lap time. We will fix this for tomorrow and if it is dry I can definitely improve my time.” Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator, Yamaha Motor Italia) “Tomorrow I think we can see an improvement in both riders’ times. Both of the guys have spent today working towards finding a good race set-up rather than going for one fast lap and it was only at the end of the session that we made the decision to go for a fast lap on a qualifying tyre. Although we tested here recently we still found things which we can improve.” Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) “It has been a tough day for me. I have never ridden at Monza before and it was very unfortunate that we had lots of set-up problems this morning, which cost me a lot of tracktime. It meant that the afternoon qualifying session was my first real time on the track. Tomorrow I need to get lots of testing in so that I can improve my position.” Sèbastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France) “This is a new circuit for me, so today it was important to learn about the track and find a good set-up. Tonight we will study all the information from today and tomorrow I am sure we can make some big improvements.” More, from a press release issued by Troy Corser’s publicist: TROY IN CONTROL AGAIN Once again, at Monza today, Troy showed that he is the rider to beat. He finished the first day of qualifying for the fourth round of this year’s Superbike World Championship top of the pile and ready to go even faster if required. Troy posted a time of 1:47.878, with his team mate Yukio Kagayama two tenths of a second behind. Third quickest this afternoon was Karl Muggeridge (Honda), with Gianluca Nannelli (Ducati) a surprising fourth. TROY – 1st, 1:47.878 Well, I ended the day exactly where I wanted to be and that’s good for me and all the whole team. We started the session today with the same set-up we used when we tested here ten days or so ago and then just kept trying to improve it little by little. There were no dramas for me at all today and the times I did were pretty comfortable. If I have to go faster, I can – no problem. Exiting the first chicane, it seems that I was the ‘wrong’ side of the ripple strip, but I was just using as much of the track as possible! By doing that I was getting good drive out of that chicane and then good speed going into Lesmo one and two. The Alstare Suzuki is working really well here – you can see that because Yukio is second quickest! This morning, I completed a race distance without any problems and this afternoon about three quarters or thereabouts, so I have a pretty good idea about tyres for the race already – as long as conditions are the same or similar of course. In the past this track used to be all about slipstreaming – especially at the end of the race – but since they moved the finish line to the beginning of the start-finish straight it’s not so crucial now. However, if there are a few riders all close together exiting the Ascari chicane, it is still possible that the last of the group can win. But I do not want to be in that position. For me, I’d like to exit the Ascari with about a three-second or more lead. If I can do that, nobody is going to catch and slipstream me. More, from a press release issued by Scuderia SC Caracchi: LANZI FORCED TO GIVE UP RACING, TOUR DE FORCE FOR NANNELLI AT MONZA WITH THREE STARTS Finally some smiling face at Scuderia SC Caracchi after a definitely unlucky long period. Lorenzo Lanzi, despite the surgery operation to reduce the left collarbone fracture suffered at Valencia, has been declared unfit to race on the very fast, hystorical, Monza circuit and his Ducatis 999RS have been assigned to Gianluca Nannelli, which will be forced at an heavy job on Sunday, with three racing starts during a three hours and half time. To respect the time limit allowed in a practice day for every rider the Race Direction reduced to the Tuscan rider the time available for free practice sessions, shorting it at a two sessions of 30 minutes each. In such conditions very precious have been the test days made at the beginning of the week by Gianluca for Ducati Corse, because Nannelli held soon a fast pace and give to his engineers correct information to find soon a good set up, cancelling so the shorter practice time handicap. The fourth fastest recorded today, fastest between twin bikes group, it’s the logical consequence of a good group job, held also sparing the best of the time tyres looking at tomorrow’s afternoon Superpole session. Nannelli scored a good result in Supersport too, recording the fifth fastest just 0,001 seconds behind the fourth position; a crucial moment has been when, at the end of the session, the presence of oil on the track at the Parabolica corner dampened the enthusiasm of all which, like Gianluca, was waiting the final minutes to wear soft tyres and try to improve their fastest laptime. “It has been a strange day, but at the end I’m quite satisfied.” commented at the end of the practice day Gianluca Nannelli. “When the Supersport free practice session started this morning I had subit the same trouble like in Australia: the engine stopped suddenly, so i ended the first free session quite nervous.. Then in Superbike everything was running well, and I recovered my calme. In the same time Farnéand the guys looked to find the problem on the 749R and during afternoon session I had any problem. On the 749R we return to previous set up solutions, giving up the new setting we tested in Valencia, and I get soon a good feeling. The bike it’s not very very fast, that’s strange because the top speed has been always his best quality, but I’m confident too; to go to the bottom of today’s result I failed a provisional front row just for 0,001 seconds, but when I get softer tyres the track was dirty and I managed to avoid any risk. On the 999RS everything has been fantastic. Looking at the end of the practice all team guys, as well Ducati Corse’s people, happy around me for my result it has been unbelievable. I’m really unhappy that Lorenzo couldn’t be fit to race today, I’m sure that he could got a very good result too. Today the weather has been warm and fine, forecast for tomorrow say unsteady weather; I hope that the rain will not spoil the racing day.” Satisfied Fonsi Nieto too. The Spanish rider focused himself today to learn a track which is all unknown for him, scoring ath the end the 16th fastest. At the end of qualifying session Fonsi collided with his friend Cardoso at the first chicane braking, but any serius damage for both riders in the accident. “This track is all new for me and the Superbikes are very fast bikes; the corners are coming in front of you very quick and to find the correct bracking point is very important. Three times today, once in the morning and twice this afternoon, I took the decision to cut the chicane at the end of the finish line because I failed the braking and I was too quick. The bike looks to perform well, it’s always one of the fastest, as the use of the trails distort any correct evaluation”. said at the end of the practices Fonsi. “Anyway I feel quite well and I’m confident to find tomorrow more feeling and finally to challenge the leaders.”