FIM Superbike World Championship Imola, Italy September 29, 2006 First Qualifying Session Results: 1. James TOSELAND (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:50.039 2. Troy CORSER (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:50.250 3. Troy BAYLISS (Duc 999F06), 1:50.265 4. Yukio KAGAYAMA (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:50.357 5. Alex BARROS (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:50.388 6. Ruben XAUS (Duc 999F05), 1:50.468 7. Andrew PITT (Yam YZF-R1), 1:50.502 8. Michel FABRIZIO (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:50.553 9. Max NEUKIRCHNER (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:50.659 10. Ivan CLEMENTI (Duc 999RS), 1:50.768 11. Noriyuki HAGA (Yam YZF-R1), 1:50.882 12. Karl MUGGERIDGE (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:50.882 13. Lorenzo LANZI (Duc 999F06), 1:51.003 14. Fonsi NIETO (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:51.077 15. Chris WALKER (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:51.227 16. Norick ABE (Yam YZF-R1), 1:51.338 17. Steve MARTIN (Foggy Petronas FP1), 1:51.398 18. Vittorrio IANNUZZO (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:51.483 19. Regis LACONI (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:51.695 20. Norino BRIGNOLA (Duc 999RS), 1:52.001 21. Sebastien GIMBERT (Yam YZF-R1), 1:52.034 22. Kurtis ROBERTS (Duc 999RS), 1:52.064 23. Josh BROOKES (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:52.096 24. Shinichi NAKATOMI (Yam YZF-R1), 1:52.108 25. Marco BORCIANI (Duc 999F05), 1:52.109 26. Roberto ROLFO (Duc 999F05), 1:52.192 27. Pierfrancesco CHILI (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:52.355 28. Ivan GOI (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:52.984 29. Craig JONES (Foggy Petronas FP1), 1:53.102 30. Walter BARTOLINI (Duc 999RS), 1:54.050 More, from a press release issued by Winston Ten Kate Honda: TOSELAND ON PROVISIONAL POLE FOR PENULTIMATE ROUND James Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda) rode to provisional pole at the new-look Imola circuit after a busy day of practice and qualifying, with several riders in the running for the coveted fastest lap after a particularly close qualifying contest. Toseland eventually ran out with a 0.211 second advantage over his closest challenger Troy Corser, with Troy Bayliss third quickest. Toseland’s main championship target, Noriyuki Haga, was 11th quickest, 0.843 down on provisional pole. In 12th place Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda) found Imola more of a challenge, setting an identical time to Haga. The top 13 riders were all within one second of Toseland’s time. Ronald Ten Kate Team Manager “A good start to the race weekend for James, pretty consistently fast on the race tyres. He is already enjoying some benefits with the traction control system from PI Research, which we have added to the machine since the Magny-Cours test session. We are also using it here for the first time in a race weekend. We still have some issues to resolve on the machine in general, especially the rear end, which we have to improve a bit. I’m sure that we will be capable of making the bike even better tomorrow. It’s all looking good but there is still some work to do today and tomorrow. The other side of the garage is a bit more complicated at the moment. Karl is still trying to resolve some issues with his machine set-up but as it is one of his favourite circuits, I’m sure that he will be able to move up the grid tomorrow.” James Toseland Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider (Pole position – 1’50.039 – 20 Laps) “The reactions of the bike were very good and the tyres are working well, so I think set-up and tyre life on a race set-up are already pretty good. We did a consistent and fast run on what we hope will be our race tyre. The engine mapping and electronics changes were really good, even if we used traction control at only a small percentage of its settings. So far so good, and we’re going in a good direction with set-up.” Karl Muggeridge Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider (12th position – 1’50.882 – 20 Laps) “I found it difficult to get into a good rhythm today but it is just a few little things, so it will be all right. We’re not a mile away – only 0.8 from the first guy, who happens to be my team-mate. That’s cool; he’s showing how it can be done. I think that it won’t be a problem to find our feet tomorrow, and we’ve just been a little bit off the boil today.” More, from a press release issued by FG Sport Group: TOSELAND LEADS A CLOSE QUALIFYING SESSION AT IMOLA – TRACTION CONTROL HELPS TOSELAND TO TAKE FASTEST DAY ONE TIME With all 30 entrants in the first qualifying session running on race tyres, as is normal at this stage of proceedings, the fastest rider proved to be overall third placed man in the current championship table, James Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda). His time of 1.50.039 is now the new track best, after modifications at the Variante Alta chicane lengthened the track compared to last season, instantly making the old lap records redundant. Troy Corser (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra), who secured the 2005 championship title at this round last year, was second quickest, with runaway championship leader Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) third. Three-time 2006 race winner, Yukio Kagayama (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) slotted into the final place on the provisional front row, fourth fastest. BARROS IN CONTENTION AT A TRACK HE KNOWS On occasion this year Alex Barros (Klaffi Honda) has encountered all-new tracks during race weekends; despite his vast MotoGP experience, but at Imola he knew most of the circuit layout even before turning a wheel in Friday morning qualifying for the first time. He was fifth fastest, ahead of former Imola race winner Ruben Xaus (Sterilgarda Berik Ducati). Fastest Yamaha rider on show was Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) seventh quickest overall. On home soil Michel Fabrizio (DFX Treme Honda) was the next best rider, completing the provisional second row in eighth. NEUKIRCHNER MAKES GOOD EARLY START Proof that Imola is a rider’s track was underlined by more than one rider who currently does not have access to the highest-level of factory machinery. Max Neukirchner, in only his third ride on the Alstare Engineering machine, was an impressive ninth fastest on day one, while the 999RS Pedercini Ducati of local man Ivan Clementi was a possibly even more admirable tenth. Pitt’s team-mate Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) scored 11th on his first day of action at Imola. He set an identical time to Toseland’s team-mate, Karl Muggeridge, each on 1’50.882, and thus 0.843 seconds down on Toseland. With Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) thirteenth fastest on his factory machine, the top 13 riders finished within a second of provisional pole. Fonsi Nieto and his team-mate Chris Walker (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse) were 14th and 15th respectively, with the Yamaha Motor France Ipone machine of Norick Abe 16th fastest. MARTIN ONCE MORE IMPRESSIVE ON HIS PETRONAS TRIPLE Steve Martin (Petronas FP-1) overcame the disadvantages of his machine having 100cc less displacement than his opponents by taking 17th fastest time, outpacing such luminaries as three-time Imola race winner Regis Laconi (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse), who was only 19th. Kurtis Roberts (Pedercini Ducati) was 22nd out of 30, and Josh Brookes (Bertocchi Kawasaki), 23rd. Local favourites Roberto Rolfo (Ducati SC Caracchi) and Pierfrancesco Chili (DFX Treme Honda) were 26th and 27th respectively, each fighting his own current disadvantages around the 4.959km circuit. SUPERSPORT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP On the 4.959km Imola circuit Sebastien Charpentier (Winston Ten Kate Honda) overcame a slow crash in the middle of the first 45-minute qualifying session to score an eventual provisional pole, edging out his team-mate Kenan Sofuoglu (Winston Ten Kate Honda) by 0.239 seconds. Current championship leader, Kevin Curtain (Yamaha Motor Germany) was the next closest challenger to the Honda duo, as he goes for the outright championship win on Sunday. Fourth fastest was quick local rider, Gianluca Nannelli (Team Manila Grace SC Ducati) and Robbin Harms (Stiggy Motorsports Honda) was a tidy fifth. All thirty-five riders were within the current qualifying time. SUPERSTOCK 1000 FIM CUP Luca Scassa (EVR Corse Ormeni Racing) was the fastest rider after Superstock qualifying, while Brendan Roberts (HP Racing Suzuki) ran out second fastest, ahead of Claudio Corti (Yamaha Team Italia) and Ilario Dionisi (Unionbike GI Motorsports MV Agusta). Scassa was the class of the day, some 0.320 seconds ahead of Roberts. Championship leader Alessandro Polita (Celani Suzuki Racing) was sixth. One more qualifying session remains. SUPERSTOCK 600 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP With Ducati Xerox rider Niccolo Canepa now out of the championship fight after recent injury, it was left to Kawasaki Lightspeed rider Davide Giugliano to successfully challenge top dog Xavier Simeon (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) for supremacy in the 600 class. The ZX-6RR rider stole a march on Simeon on day one, outqualifying him, as the sun-kissed session was stopped a minute or so early. More, from a press release issued by Xerox Ducati: BAYLISS (DUCATI XEROX) GETS CRUCIAL WEEKEND UNDERWAY WITH PROVISIONAL THIRD PLACE IN IMOLA FIRST QUALIFYING Imola (Italy), Friday 29th September: Troy Bayliss got the crucial Imola weekend underway with third place in Friday first qualifying for the Ducati Xerox Team. The championship leader was just two-tenths of a second off the pace of provisional poleman James Toseland (Honda) as the Superbike riders lapped the slightly modified circuit for the first time. “It hasn’t been a bad day” declared Troy. “I haven’t been here for a while, since 2002 and it’s nice to get back into the swing of things. The only thing I noticed is that the track seems to be getting rougher and rougher, also we have the new chicane which is definitely a downer, it’s far too tight and dangerous. Someone could easily go through and T-bone somebody else. But overall I’m feeling good on the bike, we’ve got a couple more things to try tomorrow and I’m sure we’ll improve a bit”. Team-mate Lorenzo Lanzi was thirteenth quickest, but not that far behind the leaders as the top thirteen all posted times within one second of the pole in the opening qualifying session. “That was a tough qualifying session, we’re all there together” commented Lorenzo. “As has happened on other occasions, almost everyone set their time by following the others, we’ll see what the real position is tomorrow when we do the one lap in Superpole. I am quite happy, I was beginning to enjoy myself out there but in the last ten minutes I went out to set a quick time and my bike had a mechanical problem. I came in as quick as possible to change bikes but it didn’t feel quite as right as the other one so I had to settle for that time. Despite everything I felt I was lapping well and this makes me hopeful for tomorrow”. More, from a press release issued on behalf of Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra: Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra news 2006 Superbike World Championship Round 11, Imola, Italy Circuit: 4.959 kms. Weather: Dry, sunny/cloudy 22-26C Friday qualifying, 29th September PROVISIONAL FRONT ROW FOR TROY AND YUKIO. Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra riders Troy Corser and Yukio Kagayama made a steady start on the first day of qualifying at Imola and posted the second and fourth fastest times respectively. Both riders had tyre grip problems in the afternoon when the temperature rose – a situation that has been with the team all season. James Toseland (Honda) set the day’s fastest lap, with a time of 1:50.039. In third place today, between Troy and Yukio is series leader Troy Bayliss (Ducati) TROY – 2nd, 1:50.250 I had a little crash at the start of the afternoon session, but don’t really know why. According to the telemetry my throttle position was the same as the lap before, so maybe I was on an old tyre, I don’t know. I banged myself a little , but no real damage, and I rode the bike back to the pits OK. I jumped on my spare bike and carried on working on a good set-up for the race. I’m reasonably happy with the bike’s set-up and our main concern is the tyres. When the temperature rises, we lose grip. When it’s hot, we can find a tyre that will last a race distance OK, but it’ll mean much slower lap times. I had quite a lot of wheelspin here today, but I guess that’s because of the nature of the layout. There are lot of camber changes and fast elevated turns and the bike seems to spin slide quite a bit. It’s an area we’ll work on in tomorrow morning’s warm-up YUKIO – 4th, 1:50.357 In the morning, I believed that I’d finish with a lap in the 1:49s this afternoon, but when the temperature rose, it was not possible to do this time. As we’ve seen before, our tyres do not seem to like the heat so much and the lap times come down. My feeling was quite good in the morning and the only real problem was braking in to the corners. I pushed hard in the afternoon, but it made no big difference to my lap times. Tomorrow morning we’ll change the rear spring to start off and see if we can go faster. More, from a press release issued on behalf of Team Alstare Engineering Corona Extra: Team Alstare Engineering Corona Extra news 2006 Superbike World Championship Round 11, Imola, Italy Circuit: 4.959 kms. Weather: Dry, sunny/cloudy 22-26C Friday qualifying, 29th September SUPER NINTH FOR MAX ON DAY ONE. Team Alstare Engineering Corona Extra rider Max Neukirchner finished the first day of qualifying at Imola with the ninth fastest time, in a session that saw the top thirteen riders separated by less than a second! Max, like his fellow Alstare riders Troy Corser and Yukio Kagayama , suffered rear grip problems in the afternoon when the track temperature rose. Max’s ninth position today was ahead of factory riders from Ducati, Yamaha, Honda and Kawasaki and was a good start to the weekend. MAX – 9th, 1:50.659 I’m very happy today because I feel that the whole package is improving. The morning session was good, but when we made a change to the chassis for the afternoon session it was not so good. So we went back to the morning setting and worked from that. In the afternoon, when it was hotter, the grip was definitely down and that is a problem that we’ve had before and that is our biggest problem at the moment. We’ll try some front and rear suspension changes tomorrow morning and see we can improve the bike. More, from a press release issued by Scuderia SC Caracchi: A splendid sunny day welcomed at Imola the Superbike arena for the first qualifying practice looking at the penultimate round of WSBK next October 1st . Once more the best satisfaction for Scuderia SC Caracchi went thanks 749R Ducati Supersport by Gianluca Nannelli, which secured fourth position in the first qualifying session. Nannelli rode a bike painted in the red and silver colours of Scuderia NCR by Nepoti and Caracchi during the ’70-’80s years, renewing in this way the consuetude to race at Imola with a bike’s historical look already used last season when Nannelli grabbed a fantastic victory. Of course Gianluca Nannelli looks to be quite satisfied about his performance. “The bike performs very well and I’m satisfied for the work we made today.” commented Gianluca Nannelli at the end of practices. “During the free session this morning I had some problem, for afternoon session, together with the team and the suspension engineer, we made a new set up for the package and the final gearbox rate, and our decisions gave a very good result. The bike was OK, with a very good top speed, and I recorded my fastest lap with the tyre we selected for the Sunday’s race. During my fast lap I made a couple of small riding mistakes, at Rivazza and at Variante Alta chicane, so I could also record a better time. If during tomorrow’s qualifying I’ll find the right conditions I’m sure to get a better lap time.” Still difficulties for Roberto Rolfo in Superbike. Roby does not find the way to use at the best his 999F05 Ducati after the fantastic early part of the season, always finding difficulties to out the slow corners, as Roby says. “The bike’s front is good.” said Roberto Rolfo at the end of the pratices. “But is the rear outing the slow corners that give us problems, I’m not able to slide as I’m used to help the bike in the corner. In the afternoon we got also some problem with a tyre, but that wasn’t determinant. The guys made a lot of work and we made several modifications, but the main trouble is still alive.” More, from a press release issued by Team Klaffi Honda: Promising start for Alex Barros Team Klaffi Honda rider Alex Barros secured fifth position in the first qualifying session at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola. The Brazilian secured a personal best of 1:50,388, which left him only three tenth behind James Toseland. Barros was already amongst the fastest riders in the morning when he snatched fourth place in the first free practice. Alex Barros: “The qualifying session in the afternoon went quite well. I put in a fast lap in the early stages. In the second half of the session I tried to improve my time, but I failed, because we tried several things on the bike during the session. Anyway I am happy to be back here in Imola. The track and the atmosphere both are very nice.” Ramon Forcada: “In the morning session we tried a new Showa fork which worked really well from the beginning. Later in the afternoon the ground temperature went up quite a bit and the fork did not respond as well. We worked on that and will continue tomorrow, as it will be again a game with the raising temperatures. The bike in general works well.” More, from a press release issued by Troy Corser’s publicist: TROY HAPPY WITH SECOND ON FIRST DAY Troy was happy with the second quickest time on the first day of qualifying for the eleventh round of this year’s WSBK championship at Imola today. James Toseland (Honda) set the pace in this afternoon’s timed qualifying, with a lap of 1:50.039, with Troy just two tenths of a second adrift. Today’s timed qualifying was a close thing, with the top thirteen riders all finishing within a second of each other. Third, on the provisional front row is series leader Bayliss (Ducati), with Troy’s team mate Yukio Kagayama alongside in fourth. TROY – 2nd, 1:50.250 I’m reasonably happy with how things went today – apart from my little tip-off at the start of the afternoon session. I’m really not sure what happened, because I hadn’t done anything different at that place than the lap before. I picked up the bike, rode it back to the pits and jumped on my number two bike and just carried on. I was lucky that I didn’t hurt myself, but I did whack my fingers, toes and nuts a bit! We had the same problems in the afternoon when the temperature rose – a lack of grip. It’s been happening all season and doesn’t seem to be improving. Whenever the track temperature rise, the level of grip goes down. We could use a tyre that grips, but it wouldn’t last the race distance, or we could use a tyre that would last OK, but the grip would be well down and the lap times would be much slower. This track has lots of changes of camber, bumps and many downhill turns, and I’ve been getting quite a bit of wheelspin as a result. It’s something for us to work at tomorrow and hopefully improve if I’m going to have any chance of a good podium finish. More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Pitt leads the Yamaha charge in Imola Yamaha Motor Italia’s Andrew Pitt was the top R1 rider in today’s first qualifying session for Sunday’s penultimate round of the 2006 Superbike World Championship in Imola, ending the day seventh fastest in a close session that sees the top 14 riders covered by just over a second. The Australian gunned his Yamaha around the long and demanding circuit in best time of 1:50.502, just 0.463 behind the day’s fastest rider James Toseland (Honda). Pitt, who lifted the 2001 world supersport crown at the Italian venue, went through the usual Friday programme of testing tyres and settings ahead of Sunday’s two races, working mostly with his crew chief Dave Marton and datalogging expert Carlo Luzzi to find the optimal gearbox settings for the complex Formula One circuit. Pitt’s team-mate Noriyuki Haga struggled with a wrist injury sustained in Germany three weekends ago, ending the day in 11th. The Japanese star damaged some ligaments in both his wrists and found the going tough around the bumpy circuit after failing to get the R1 set up exactly to his liking. Despite his handicap, Haga is confident that he can make some improvements to the set-up of his machine ahead of tomorrow’s final qualifying sessions. Fastest rider today was 2004 world champion Toseland, ahead of outgoing champion Troy Corser (Suzuki). Current series leader Troy Bayliss ended the day fourth, with Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki) rounding out the top four. The superbike riders will have a final one hour qualifying session tomorrow morning, with the top 16 riders going through to the one-lap superpole session, which will decide the first four rows of the grid for Sunday’s two 21-lap races. Norick Abe led Yamaha Motor France’s trio of riders in Imola. The Japanese former Grand Prix rider ended the day in 16th position, provisionally occupying the final slot for tomorrow’s grid-deciding superpole session. Sebastien Gimbert ended the day 21st, just two seconds from pole sitter Toseland, with Shinichi Nakatomi less than a tenth of a second behind his French team-mate on his Imola debut, in 24th. Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) “The main thing we’ve been working on is finding a good gearbox setting. This place is such a compromise that when you get the gearing right for one corner it’s out at the next. We had a couple of little niggling problems with the electronics but overall it’s been a good day. We were able to try out a lot of different tyres and we’re pretty sure what we’ll be running on Sunday. Our race pace seems good and the guys ahead of us are only doing one faster lap before dropping back to the same pace, so I think we’ll be right up there.” Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) “We’re still trying to find the right balance of the bike and tonight we’ll make some changes to improve the feeling. Imola is a very physical circuit and my wrist is still quite painful, but I do not think this will be a problem because when the lights go out you forget about any problems you have.” Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) “Not such a bad day! The bike is working ok and close to the top riders, so this is an alright result for us. I hope that tomorrow we can stay in the top 16 and qualify for the superpole. That would prepare us for a good race.” Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France) “This is my first time at Imola so today my priority is to learn the course and improve the set-up. Tonight we will try some things and I am quite confident that I can get faster as the weekend goes on.” Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator – Yamaha Motor Italia) “The times are very close today and we can still make some improvements. Andrew had a few small problems with the electronics today, while Noriyuki is still trying to find a different balance on his bike. We will make some changes tonight and see what tomorrow brings.”