Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Ruben’s Wild Ride To His First World Superbike Superpole

Rubén Xaus was the fastest rider in today’s final qualifying session, but his lap of 1:49.022 on his factory Fila Ducati 999F03 was not quite quick enough to better James Toseland’s 1:49.011 set yesterday on his HM Plant 998F02.

After two days of qualifying, Xaus’s teammate, new Superbike World Champion Neil Hodgson, was fourth with Chris Walker, Toseland’s teammate, fourth.

Superpole started in spectacular fashion when Spanish rookie Sergio Fuertes on the MIR GSX-R1000 Suzuki nearly highsided at the start of his lap. “Julian Miralles (former 125cc GP rider and the MIR team owner) told me to be sure and get
out of the final turn as fast as possible to start me lap. I think I overdid it,” Fuertes said.

Fuertes was spat up out of the seat and came down sitting sidesaddle on the tank, having broken the screen with his forearms. He managed to scramble back onto the seat, but was the slowest and luckiest of the 16 Superpole participants.

Though Xaus might argue that.

When Ruben came out, the 15th of the 16 taking part in inverse order, slowest-first/fastest-last, the quickest time had just been set by Regis Laconi at 1:49.042, a time un-bettered by Hodgson (1:49.051) who finished has flying lap just before Xaus started his.

The Spaniard was running 0.7-second under Laconi’s time through the second partial and on a pace to shatter Colin Edwards’ record of 1:48.336, but he was too fast into the left-hander at the first part of the final chicane.

“The rear stepped way out and I couldn’t brake or down-shift till I got it straight again–then I had to brake very hard and hammer down three gears just in time to make the final apex, but I had lost speed and tried to get back on the gas too soon and nearly highsided,” said Xaus. “I didn’t think I had taken the pole after that, but I did, my first, but almost not!”

With the title decided in favor of Hodgson, the battle for second place is still on between Xaus and Toseland, but Xaus, who has been told that he has no World Superbike ride next year and that the Fila Ducati team will enter Laconi and Toseland, says he is just out to enjoy himself and win races.

Former World Champion Troy Corser took the improved Petronas–which has a new cylinder head which relieves but does not cure overheating problems–to sixth in the Superpole while teammate James Haydon, who will not continue with the team in 2004, did not make the Superpole cut.

There seems to be a good chance that Haydon will be replaced on the Petronas team by Chris Walker, who, like Toseland, has been released by the GSE
team.


World Superbike Superpole Results:

1. Ruben Xaus, Ducati 999F03, 1:48.636
2. Regis Laconi, Ducati 998RS, 1:49.042
3. Neil Hodgson, Ducati 999F03, 1:49.051
4. James Toseland, Ducati 998F02, 1:49.228
5. Pierfrancesco Chili, Ducati 998RS, 1:49.245
6. Troy Corser, Foggy Petronas FP1, 1:49.880
7. Steve Martin, Ducati 998RS, 1:49.921
8. Juan Borja, Ducati 998RS, 1:50.188
9. Gregorio Lavilla, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:50.318
10. Chris Walker, Ducati 998F02, 1:50.413
11. Ivan Clementi, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:50.803
12. Lucio Pedercini, Ducati 998RS, 1:50.849
13. Marco Borciani, Ducati 998RS, 1:51.419
14. Mauro Sanchini, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:51.834
15. David Garcia, Ducati 998RS, 1:52.106
16. Sergio Fuertes, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:53.843


From a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

FIRST-EVER SUPERBIKE ‘SUPERPOLE’ FOR XAUS (DUCATI FILA) – HODGSON THIRD – DUCATI AWARDED CONSTRUCTORS’ TROPHY

Imola (Italy), 27 September ’03: Today saw an intense day of activity at the Autodromo Enzo & Dino Ferrari Circuit in Imola, the scene for the penultimate round of the World Superbike Championship. Ruben Xaus (Ducati Fila) clinched the battle for Superpole with a spectacular lap of 1:48.636 and will start from pole for the first time ever in three years of WSBK racing. Newly-crowned champion Neil Hodgson lines up in third, eight-thousandths of a second slower than Regis Laconi (NCR Ducati) and fellow Brit James Toseland (HM Plant Ducati), who completes the front row.

“It’s important to work well all weekend and I succeeded in getting a great set-up with my race tyre, so I’m really happy” declared Ruben. “In my head I have all the information I need for a good race; the braking points, changes in direction, passing places and in addition my 999 is perfect. It’s not true that I really like this track but probably my riding style suits it a lot because you are really loose over all the bumps. Tomorrow I want to win both races because Neil beat me at Assen, but above all I want to win for Ducati”.

“The Imola circuit is really tough, and at almost two minutes it’s quite a long lap so it’s easy to rush into a corner, hit the bumps a bit wrong and miss the apex. This place can really bite you” declared Neil. “You know you’re not going to get the perfect setting round here, you’ve just got to go out and ride round the problems. My Superpole performance was really average, I was mainly concentrating on getting the right race set-up in the qualifying sessions, but there’s always tomorrow and I’m going to attack in both races. I’m really motivated and want to come away with a couple more wins on Sunday”.

An extraordinary welcome from the thousands of fans in the SBK Ring in the Imola paddock was given to Claudio Domenicali, managing director of Ducati Corse. Domenicali, who received the constructors’ trophy, the twelfth won by the Bologna manufacturer in 16 years of World Superbike, from Paolo Flammini of championship organisers FGSport, declared: “Today Ducati is a reality throughout the world thanks to Superbike because Superbike has given a lot to the company. Ducati has believed in this championship right from the start, and it has become our ‘warhorse’ from 1988/89 and the first world title won in 1990 onwards. The World Superbike championship is important because it allows us to experiment with a massive amount of technical solutions which we then apply to our road-going motorcycle range. This year has been fundamental for us both thanks to the victories of Neil and Ruben and to the success of the 999 Factory bike”.

STARTING-GRID: 1. Xaus (Ducati Fila) 1:48.636; 2. Laconi (NCR Ducati) 1:49.042; 3. Hodgson (Ducati Fila) 1:49.051; 4. Toseland (HM Plant Ducati) 1:49.228; 5. Chili (PSG-1 Ducati) 1:49.245; 6. Corser (Petronas) 1:49.880; 7. Martin (DFX Ducati) 1:49.921; 8. Borja (DFX Ducati) 1:50.188; 9. Lavilla (Suzuki) 1:50.318; 10. Walker (HM Plant Ducati) 1:50.413.


More, from a press release issued by HM Plant Ducati:

Front row for Toseland at Imola

Today’s penultimate Superbike World Championship Superpole qualifying session took place at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari circuit at Imola this afternoon. In near perfect conditions, HM Plant Ducati riders James Toseland and Chris Walker qualified in fourth and tenth respectively at the 4.93km Italian circuit.

Twenty-two-year-old Toseland has been the fastest rider throughout practice and official qualifying, posting a best lap of 1:49.011 yesterday afternoon. The final rider to go out during Superpole, a slight mistake on the final corner of his warm-up lap put too much pressure on the Yorkshire rider to match factory rider Ruben Xaus’s excellent lap time of 1:48.636 but Toseland’s time of 1:49.228 still put him on the front row for tomorrow’s race.

“It would have been nice to have been fastest but the most important thing is to be on the front row,” said Toseland. “I made a slight mistake coming on to the start finish straight but I’m not too concerned because I’ve been putting in the fast times since arriving here and have got a great set-up for tomorrow’s races, so as long as I get a good start I should be in with a shout of a decent result.”

Toseland’s team mate, Chris Walker has worked hard throughout qualifying and was fourth quickest after both official qualifying sessions, even though it is only his second visit to this circuit. Currently sixth in the championship, the Nottingham rider made a mistake during the mid-section of his Superpole lap and his time of 1:50.413 puts him tenth on the grid for tomorrow’s race.

“Superpole is all about taking chances and not making mistakes and unfortunately for me, I made a small mistake and paid the price. Having been one of the fastest riders so far this weekend it is disappointing to be on the third row, so I’ll be doing my best to make one of my demon starts tomorrow. If I can be up with the leading riders by the first corner I know I can run at the front.”


More, from a press release issued by Foggy Petronas Racing:

Corser sixth on Imola grid for Foggy PETRONAS Racing

Troy Corser equalled his second best grid position of Foggy PETRONAS Racing’s debut season by qualifying in sixth place for tomorrow’s two World Superbike races at Imola, Italy.

The Australian had finished seventh fastest as the highest-placed non-Ducati rider in the final morning qualifying session. But he went one better in the one-lap Superpole shoot-out for grid positions in setting his best lap time of the weekend, with 1:49.880. Troy, who qualified on the front row at the first round in Valencia and was sixth in the following round in Australia, was pleasantly surprised with the performance of the FP1, the Malaysian superbike, at the testing and bumpy Enzo and Dino Ferrari Circuit.

He said: “Sixth is better than I expected as I thought the bike would struggle through the uphill sections, but the engine is pulling fairly well. We altered the cam timing overnight to produce a bit more torque and acceleration. We have also been playing with the rear shock and have a pretty good set-up, especially over the bumpy sections.

Unfortunately we were unable to try another qualifying tyre before Superpole because of the restrictions on the number of rears. So that lap was my first lap on a new tyre and every time I came out of the corner I felt that I might have been able to turn the throttle harder. I could perhaps have done a 49.5 but we would still have been on the second row. I want to work a bit more on the throttle connection off the bottom, which would help in the three chicanes.”

Team-mate James Haydon, missed out on Superpole by two places, despite improving his best first day time by nearly a second in morning qualifying. A stop-start afternoon session, hampered by mechanical problems, prevented further progress. He said: “It’s frustrating not to be using engines with the cylinder head modifications. I wanted to try Troy’s set-up this afternoon but did not really get a chance. Troy’s doing a fantastic job but I still can’t slide the bike or push the front like I want to and I’m disappointed I haven’t been able to made progress.”


More, from a press release issued by Scuderia Caracchi NCR Nortel Networks:

Laconi will start once more from the front row in Imola, Garcia from the fourth

Regis Laconi on his 998RS Ducati Caracchi NCR Nortel Networks will start tomorrow in Imola from the front row for the two races of the penultimate round of 2004 Superbike World Championship. Regis rode an exceptional Superpole session, flying like a rope-dancer in the chicanes of the track beside the Santerno river, and only a fantastic Xaus on the factory Ducati has been able to be faster as the French rider.

“The bike is a bit heavy in the quick flip-flop.” – said Regis at the end – “During the free practice session before Superpole I asked to move to a softer set up, but the handling was worst, so we move back to the previous set up. For the Superpole everything run OK, as well in the Variante Alta chicane I landed between the two corners with the rear wheel up just in the changing of direction point. We worked a lot for the best set up in race configuration and the team has done a very good job, but from a group of old fox expert of Imola like the Caracchi NCR crew we couldn’t obtain less. Now we’ll concentrate totally on the race, I’m confident that we’ll be in the leading group.”

David Garcia, got a very good 13th fastest in qualifying, but he lost two positions in Superpole; the young Spanish rider is however satisfied of his result; his biggest problem remains the pain in the left arm, still heavy after a few lap in a engaging track like Imola.

“I’ve been quite fast in qualifying. ” – commented Garcia after Superpole – “In the Superpole lap I started a bit slow, but I got the fastest second split time, then in the last corner I found a track’s falling-in and the shot in my arm forced me to slacken my pace, so I lost some position in the grid. For the race I’ll made some medical control with Clinica Mobile staff to be able to finish the race.”