FIM Superbike World Championship Losail International Circuit Doha, Qatar March 12, 2009 Provisional Qualifying Results (all on Pirelli tires): 1. Ben SPIES (Yam YZF-R1), 1:58.886 2. Jonathan REA (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:59.177 3. Carlos CHECA (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:59.731 4. Max BIAGGI (Apr RSV4), 1:59.826 5. Ryuichi KIYONARI (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:59.937 6. Shane BYRNE (Duc 1098R), 1:59.980 7. Jakub SMRZ (Duc 1098R), 2:00.024 8. Michel FABRIZIO (Duc 1098 F09), 2:00.101 9. Regis LACONI (Duc 1098R), 2:00.232 10. Shinya NAKANO (Apr RSV4), 2:00.238 11. Noriyuki HAGA (Duc 1098 F09), 2:00.254 12. Tom SYKES (Yam YZF-R1), 2:00.283 13. Max NEUKIRCHNER (Suz GSX-R1000), 2:00.345 14. Roberto ROLFO (Hon CBR1000RR), 2:00.374 15. Yukio KAGAYAMA (Suz GSX-R1000), 2:00.398 16. Troy CORSER (BMW S1000 RR), 2:00.455 17. Ruben XAUS (BMW S1000 RR), 2:00.610 18. Broc PARKES (Kaw ZX-10R), 2:00.769 19. Leon HASLAM (Hon CBR1000RR), 2:00.799 20. Makoto TAMADA (Kaw ZX-10R), 2:01.222 21. Karl MUGGERIDGE (Suz GSX-R1000), 2:01.224 22. Tommy HILL (Hon CBR1000RR), 2:01.336 23. David SALOM (Kaw ZX-10R), 2:01.464 24. Vittorio IANNUZZO (Hon CBR1000RR), 2:01.560 25. Luca SCASSA (Kaw ZX-10R), 2:01.607 26. Brendan ROBERTS (Duc 1098R), 2:01.779 27. Ayrton BADOVINI (Kaw ZX-10R), 2:02.272 28. Matteo BAIOCCO (Kaw ZX-10R), 2:02.917 More, from a press release issued by FGSport Group/InFront Motor Sports: First strike for Spies (Yamaha) in Qatar Ben Spies (Yamaha) set the quickest time on the opening day of qualifying action at the Losail circuit in Qatar. The three-times AMA Superbike champion and race 2 winner at Phillip Island dominated qualifying, ending the one-hour session with a time of 1 minute 58.886 seconds, eight-tenths of a second off the best time set by Troy Corser (Yamaha) last year. “Today went pretty good, the result will be more important Saturday but every time I come to the track with Yamaha the bike is getting better and it’s already such a fun bike to ride” declared Spies. “The team’s working really good, but there are so many people that are fast out there that if you have just an OK session you end up behind. It’s going to be a tough year, but we’re clicking off session by session and we’ll see where we’re going to end up.” Spies, the only rider to lap below the 1’59″ mark, was close to a second quicker than almost all his rivals, with the exception of Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda), three-tenths behind. The young rider from Northern Ireland was the spearhead in the competitive three-rider Ten Kate Honda attack, with Carlos Checa and Ryuichi Kiyonari placing third and fifth respectively. The latter two were separated by Max Biaggi,who took his Aprilia RSV4 to a provisional front-row grid slot thanks to a quick lap at the end of the session. In sixth place was the first Ducati, the Sterilgarda machine of Shane Byrne, while the factory 1098R machines are so far down in eighth (Michel Fabrizio) and eleventh (Noriyuki Haga) respectively. Last year’s winner Suzuki are so far struggling, with Max Neukirchner only down in thirteenth place, and Yukio Kagayama fifteenth, approximately 1.5 seconds off the pace. The two BMWs of Troy Corser and Ruben Xaus were right behind the Japanese rider in sixteenth and seventeenth. Times: 1. Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF R1 1’58.886; 2. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1’59.177; 3. Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 1’59.731; 4. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 1’59.826; 5. Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1’59.937; 6. Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 1’59.980; 7. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 2’00.024; 8. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 2’00.101; 9. Laconi R. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 2’00.232; 10. Nakano S. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 2’00.238; 11. Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 2’00.254; 12. Sykes T. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 2’00.283; 13. Neukirchner M. (GER) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 2’00.345; 14. Rolfo R. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 2’00.374; 15. Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 2’00.398; 16. Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 2’00.455. FIM Supersport World Championship The first day of Supersport action at Losail bore the mark of Yamaha as the two factory riders powered to the top two positions in qualifying. Cal Crutchlow from the UK set the provisional pole in a time of 2 minutes 02.634 seconds, with his French team-mate Fabien Foret just over a tenth behind. Crutchlow’s performance was even more impressive seeing as it was the first time he had raced on this track. The rest of the top 15 runners were all within 1 second, and they were headed by Phillip Island winner Kenan Sofuoglu (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda), in front of Hannspree Honda Althea’s Matthieu Lagrive, three-tenths off the pace. The provisional second row is led by the young Australian Mark Aitchison (Hannspree Honda Althea) ahead of Spain’s Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki Motocard.com), who is proving to be extremely rapid around this track. Triumph also had a positive qualifying hour, with Garry McCoy and Gianluca Nannelli eight and eleventh on the ParkinGo BE1 675 machines. Times: 1. Crutchlow C. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R6 2’02.634; 2. Foret F. (FRA) Yamaha YZF R6 2’02.772; 3. Sofuoglu K. (TUR) Honda CBR600RR 2’02.883; 4. Lagrive M. (FRA) Honda CBR600RR 2’02.950; 5. Aitchison M. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 2’03.065; 6. Lascorz J. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-6R 2’03.111; 7. Laverty E. (IRL) Honda CBR600RR 2’03.114; 8. McCoy G. (AUS) Triumph Daytona 675 2’03.177. More, from a press release issued by Xerox Ducati: A LESS THAN EASY FIRST DAY FOR THE DUCATI XEROX TEAM AT LOSAIL Losail (Qatar), Thursday 12th February: the Ducati Xerox Team faced hot and humid conditions today at the International Circuit of Losail with track temperatures in the high thirties during the afternoon’s first qualifying session. This meant that Ducati Xerox man Noriyuki Haga, riding high on the back of his win at Phillip Island two weeks ago, and team-mate Michel Fabrizio both experienced a lack of grip, especially at the rear, which has meant that they have been working with their teams to find the best compromise regarding the set-up. Before the end of today Michel had registered the eighth fastest time and Noriyuki the eleventh fastest lap. With the exception of two very fast times registered this afternoon by Yamaha rider Ben Spies and Honda’s Jonathan Rea, lap times were extremely close with seventeen riders lapping within a second of each other. Temperatures are set to rise even higher during the next two days, making for exciting racing on Saturday. Michel Fabrizio 2m00.1s “It feels like we lost his morning’s session as we completed very few laps so have had to make up for that this afternoon during qualifying, and haven’t had time to make the progress we hoped for. If we had gone straight out this morning without problems we would surely have done better than we did this afternoon. I have had some problems with grip and we need to see which tyres can last race distance but all in all, I’m reasonably confident for now and we know what we need to try tomorrow in second qualifying.” Noriyuki Haga 2m00.2s “Today was a strange day for me. We tried a different rear suspension setting to that used in Australia but the grip did not improve as we expected it to. Anyway the feeling I have with the 1198 is good and tomorrow we really just need to resolve the fact that I’m lacking rear grip. I will speak with my technicians again to decide how we will proceed tomorrow, we need to find a new way forward. There were some fast times recorded today so I need to pick up my pace tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by HANNspree Ten Kate Honda: Ten Kate Honda’s three riders all finished in the top five after today’s opening qualifying session for round two of the World Superbike championship in Qatar. Provisional pole position went to America’s Ben Spies, who was closely followed by Hannspree Ten Kate Honda rider, Jonathan Rea. Rea’s team-mate, Carlos Checa, set the third fastest time in today’s hour-long session after concentrating on race set-up in the morning practice session. Meanwhile, Ryuichi Kiyonari, who was the first rider to break the two-minute barrier today, was fifth fastest to head the provisional second row for Saturday’s two 18-lappers around the 5.38km Losail circuit just outside Qatar’s capital, Doha. Jonathan Rea P2, 1’59.177s That was a good start to the weekend. I’ve been really looking forward to coming here and feel that our package works better here. The CBR1000RR felt really good today and we managed good consistency of lap times when we did a little run. The crew has worked really hard and we’ve got some new parts working really well. It’ll be fun to see how the pace hots up tomorrow, because I think there’s some more to come. Carlos Checa P3, 1’59.731s We worked with a harder tyre this morning and had to test both bikes to compare some new parts that we were trying out. We were expecting about a second out of the softer tyre and that came this afternoon. It gave a good feeling of consistency and the important thing is that we’re on the pace here. Johnny and Ben Spies seem to have a little extra at the moment but we don’t have the chatter here that we had at Phillip Island, so we’ll push harder again tomorrow. The package is good and we have a couple of options for race tyres, which we’ll test tomorrow. Ryuichi Kiyonari P5, 1’59.937s It was not so bad today, and I think I can say I like the track a little better. The track is very tough on the bike and the tyres and the rider, but the bike was perfect today for maintaining good lap times. So a lot depends on rider performance tomorrow! I have already gone a lot better than after the first day last year, but everyone else is faster, too! Ronald ten Kate team manager That was a good start to our weekend here in Qatar, with all three riders in the top five. It’s especially satisfying after our frustrating race day at Phillip Island, but we didn’t panic; we kept out heads together and came here with some small modifications, which seem to be working OK. But it’s still just the first day we know how much work there is still to do in order to be ready for Saturday’s races. More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service: The first day of practice and qualifying ended in a disappointment for Team Suzuki Alstare Brux riders Max Neukirchner and Yukio Kagayama, but both are confident of significant improvement in tomorrow’s final qualifying. Both riders suffered rear grip problems in the afternoon qualifying session but both know which direction to take in the morning session tomorrow and believe that Superpole will hold no threats to their advancement up the grid. American Ben Spies (Yamaha) set the day’s fastest lap with Jonathan Rea (Honda) second and Carlos Checa (Honda) third. Max Neukirchner – 13th, 2:00.345: “This afternoon I had a big problem with lack of rear grip. The front felt stable but the back was not and I just couldn’t push any harder. We had made some changes in the bike’s balance from the morning and the track temperature was up a bit, but the way the bike worked was very different. I think we went in the wrong direction in the afternoon, but the good news is that we know what we did and we can go back to the set-up that worked in the morning without a problem. It’s disappointing to be 13th but at least we know how to fix the problem and that’s what we’ll do tomorrow.” Yukio Kagayama – 15th, 2:00.398: “The morning was not so bad and although we didn’t change much on the bike – just the ride height – the bike didn’t work so well in the afternoon. I don’t think the change in track temperature was a problem, but whatever the reason, I had much less rear grip in the afternoon. So we will look at the telemetry, analyse the data and see what we must do to make the bike better tomorrow morning. My general feeling is that we will improve quite a bit, but tomorrow we’ll know for sure.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha: Yamaha set the pace on day one at Qatar The Yamaha World Superbike Team riders answered any questions raised about their ability to learn new tracks quickly on their first day of qualifying at the Qatar circuit. Three-time AMA champion Ben Spies finished the day fastest of all Superbike riders, with an impressive time of 1″58.886. Spies’ team-mate, Young British star Tom Sykes also found his way around the dusty, sand-swept track quickly, spending most of the session lapping in the top three. His decision to hold back on fresh tires at the end of the session dropped him to 12th on the grid with a time of 2″00.283. Both Spies and Sykes are new to the Qatar circuit in Losail, but have proved with their first day’s qualifying, and supported by their results at Phillip Island that they are not daunted by the challenge of new circuits and can be quick straight out of the box. The all-new 2009 Yamaha YZF-R1 is also proving to be an extremely competitive bike, taking the young riders to the front of the pack at the beginning of the season. In contrast to other race rounds, the qualifying will take place tomorrow and the races on Saturday, the WSB lights going off at 10.00 and 13.30 CET and the WSS race at 11.25 CET. Ben Spies, Yamaha World Superbike Team “The track has been great for my first day here and the team have been working great as always, we’re continuing to make the bike better and better, hopefully we can get even faster for the race! We can’t forget there are many fast guys out here and I’m sure they’re doing their homework too.” Tom Sykes, Yamaha World Superbike Team “I took it a little bit steady today, we’ve been working hard and trying race tires in preparation for Saturday. All in all were reasonably happy and it’s left us a lot of tires to play with. Straight away I was in the top three in the session, I know I can run fairly consistently with the top guys, so tomorrow we’re going to make some small changes to the bike and improve the set up. Australia didn’t really happen in qualifying for me which made it harder in the race so I’m looking for a better grid position for Saturday.” Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager “The first practice and qualifying session went very well for the team today. Both Ben and Tom were very fast and I was pleased with how quickly they learnt the circuit. Tom decided to only use one set of tires this afternoon and was in the top five until fifteen minutes to the end when most of the riders changed tires. Ben was again very quick, adapting well to the new circuit and putting in an impressive qualifying time. We have more work to do tomorrow, but are pleased with the day.”