FIM Supersport World Championship Assen, Netherlands April 24, 2010 Final Combined Qualifying Results (all on Pirelli tires): 1. Kenan SOFUOGLU (Honda CBR600RR), 1:37.908 2. Eugene LAVERTY (Honda CBR600RR), 1:38.421 3. Michele PIRRO (Honda CBR600RR), 1:38.567 4. Joan LASCORZ (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:38.660 5. Fabien FORET (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:38.780 6. Matthieu LAGRIVE (Triumph Daytona 675), 1:38.961 7. Katsuaki FUJIWARA JPN (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:39.087 8. David SALOM (Triumph Daytona 675), 1:39.143 9. Chaz DAVIES (Triumph Daytona 675), 1:39.202 10. Robbin HARMS (Honda CBR600RR), 1:39.327 11. Gino REA (Honda CBR600RR), 1:39.441 12. Jason DISALVO (Triumph Daytona 675), 1:39.570 13. Massimo ROCCOLI (Honda CBR600RR), 1:40.174 14. Alexander LUNDH (Honda CBR600RR), 1:40.235 15. Miguel PRAIA (Honda CBR600RR), 1:40.630 16. Danilo DELL’OMO (Honda CBR600RR), 1:41.123 17. Bastien CHESAUX (Honda CBR600RR), 1:42.345 18. Paola CAZZOLA (Honda CBR600RR), 1:44.401 19. Imre TOTH (Honda CBR600RR), 1:44.564 More, from a press release issued by Hannspree Ten Kate Honda: Kenan Sofuoglu maintained his domination of the fourth round World Supersport championship event at Assen in Holland by taking pole position in this afternoon’s second qualifying session. The Turkish ace, currently lying second in the championship standings, has topped every session of the weekend thus far at the 4.452km Dutch circuit and he underlined his scintillating form by being the only rider to break into a 1’37s lap, leaving a half-second gap between himself and second place rider, Eugene Laverty. After a successful test at Assen last week, Sofuoglu’s Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team-mate, Michele Pirro, has also been among the leaders in each timed session. The Italian rider set the third-fastest time over the two qualifying sessions to secure another front row start for tomorrow’s 21-lap race. Kenan Sofuoglu P1 1’37.908s It was a really fast lap but I cannot ho nestly say it was perfect. I think perhaps I could have found another three or four tenths on a perfect lap. I did try for that, but I pushed a little too hard and crashed at the hairpin. It wasn’t a problem for me but my chief mechanic was a bit scared when he saw me riding back with my hand resting on the tank. It was only because the clip-on was broken! But what is more important to me is that I have been able to do consistently fast lap times especially during the full race distance that we ran this morning. It showed that both me and the bike are ready to win tomorrow’s race. Michele Pirro P3 1’38.567s The front row is not so bad and, for sure, the bike is not so bad! I tried to push even more but I had a bit of a problem with movement at the rear of the bike. I think Kenan had a similar problem but maybe he pushed a little harder during the test we had last week. I’m confident that we can find a solution and we will try for something new during the warm-up. But I am happy to be on the front row here for my team at their home race. With Kenan, who is very fast, in pole position, everyone is smiling and it should be a good race tomorrow when I’ll do my best to go with him. Ronald ten Kate – team manager Kenan has shown some true world class riding during the weekend so far. He has a very good race pace and it was an excellent lap for him to be the only rider breaking into the 1’37s times. With Michele on the front row and displaying great form, it shows how well the entire team is performing and we hope for another good performance from both sides in tomorrow’s race. The weekend has already started well, with pole positions in Supersport, Superbike and the two Superstock classes with the junior members. We’ll be looking to continue that form into Sunday. More, from a press release issued by Parkalgar Honda: Laverty impresses to net second on the grid PARKALGAR HONDA’S Eugene Laverty slashed his lap time from yesterday to take second place on the grid for tomorrow’s fourth round of the World Supersport Championship at Assen in Holland. Miguel Praia on his Parkalgar Honda cut his lap time but as the competition upped their pace he ended up 15th on the fourth row. Pole position went to Honda’s Kenan Sofuoglu at his team’™s home track. The race starts tomorrow, Sunday 25th April at 1330 CET and for a full report and pictures from Parkalgar Honda visit www.parkalgarhonda.com. Eugene: “On my last run I was on my best combination of front and rear tyre and when I did my fastest lap I knew it was good enough for the front row but decided to stay out rather than come in and try a new tyre. I did six laps in the 1m 38s and despite Kenan crashing at the end he is the strongest rider at the moment and I’ll be doing all I can to beat him tomorrow. Last year in qualification Cal was untouchable and we beat him so I am positive about the race. I am actually happier in second than on pole position because after the last two poles I have had two disastrous races. Last year we only had one pole and it didn’t hurt us so I am very happy in second and know what I’ve got to do.” Miguel: “That could have been better…we definitely struggled and didn’t expect to be 15th. All session we couldn’t find grip so at the end we reverted to the morning’s settings and immediately I was quicker; but it was late and we couldn’t make any big strides forward. We need to have a deep look at our settings and try to improve – we need to go faster and understand why we didn’t do so in qualification.” Simon Buckmaster, Parkalgar Honda Team Manager: “Eugene was impressive with six fast laps in succession at the end on his race set-up and tyres. Kenan crashing shows just how hard he was pushing as well and that means Parkalgar Honda has a chance at the top honours in the race. Miguel should be better than his qualification position and we will be looking at how we can help him as a rider improve. Well done to the team for their hard work on the dyno and preparation for this event, our Parkalgar Honda is one of the quickest out there after we found more horsepower last week and I am proud of the effort everyone is putting in to keep us at the front.” More, from a press release issued by ParkinGO Triumph BE1 Racing: Team ParkinGO Triumph BE1 Racing is aiming the top 5 after Lagrive and Salom qualified in the second row, while Davies and Di Salvo in the third. However, these starting positions do not reflect the work done by all riders, who mainly focused on preparing for the race. The only unfortunate event was David Salom’s crash in free practice this morning, a high side which caused him several bruises on the entire body which prevented him from improving his time in qualifying in the afternoon session. MATTHIEU LAGRIVE | Triumph Daytona 675 | 6th in 1’38.961 : “Despite the sixth place I’m not entirely satisfied. I still have some trouble in the slow corners, where I seem to lose most of the time to the pole positon. Hopefully this issue will not present itself in race, I’m confident I can battle for the top 5″. DAVID SALOM | Triumph Daytona 675 | 8th in 1’39.143 : “The crash was awful, I hurt my back very badly and I had some problems in under braking because of the pain . I did a few laps just to see how I was feeling. If the mobile clinic will attenuate the pain, I’ll do my best to gather as many points as possible”. CHAZ DAVIES | Triumph Daytona 675 | 9th in 1’39.202 : “I’m not worried because the starting position was never really a problem for me. The most important thing is for me to get a good start, gain a few positions and not lose contact with the leading pack”. JASON DI SALVO | Triumph Daytona 675 | 12th in 1’39.570 : “I’m happy with the time, not so much with the starting position. I’ll give it my all, hopefully will have a good racing pace and finish in the top 10”. More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki: Joan On The Assen Front Row Joan Lascorz and Katsuaki Fujiwara each made great strides in qualifying at Assen as Joan ended up fourth and on the front row; Katsuaki seventh and on row two. Lascorz, the championship leader, could not find an early solution to allow him to set fast laps, and it took some work from Joan and his team to turn a winning set-up from Valencia last time out into a competitive setting for the very different Assen layout. The work was successful and Joan is now happy with his prospects for the race on Sunday, as he was also fourth on the grid at Portimao and finished second in the Portuguese race, only 0.031 seconds from the win. Fujiwara also had some issues to overcome in practice but concentration and commitment from team and rider saw Katsuaki make some key changes to suit the faster parts of the recently modified Assen circuit. The Japanese star ended up in a respectable starting position of seventh, just over a second from Kenan Sofuoglu on pole. The conditions at Assen have proved to be nearly perfect, with a dry raceday expected and more spring sunshine hoped for at the 4.542km Assen circuit. Joan Lascorz: “Front row for us which is always a good result after qualifying. This has been a sometimes difficult weekend and we have made a lot of changes to the bike. This morning I was a little off the pace but we have made good improvements and now have the right settings. The new corner on the back section of the track is fast! Sofuoglu has been quick here but we will see in the race. In Portugal we thought it was not possible to go up front but it may be the same here. We need to check the tyres in warm-up to see which one works best, but starting from the front row is very good.” Katsuaki Fujiwara: “We made improvements on the bike and we are on the second row. We are much better than we were yesterday but we still have some difficulty at the exit of the small hairpin, when it is not so easy to turn. In every other place we have improved greatly. And of course here at Assen it is more important to target the high-speed corners than the low speed ones. We need to make a final tyre choice in warm-up, as there is no obvious one right now. We will make a long run and see how it is.”