FIM Superbike World Championship Kyalami, South Africa May 16, 2009 Superpole Results (all on Pirelli tires): From Superpole Three: 1. Ben Spies (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:37.288 2. Michel Fabrizio (Ducati 1098 F09), 1:37.289 3. Max Biaggi (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 1:37.466 4. Noriyuki Haga (Ducati 1098 F09), 1:37.544 5. Joanthan Rea (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:37.634 6. Jakub Smrz (Ducati 1098R), 1:37.677 7. Carlos Checa (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:37.940 8. Tom Sykes (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:38.241 From Superpole Two: 9. Shinya Nakano (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 1:37.935 10. Leon Haslam (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:37.988 11. Sheridan Morais (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:38.013 12. Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:38.081 13. Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:38.130 14. Shane Byrne (Ducati 1098R), 1:38.171 15. Ruben Xaus (BMW S1000 RR), 1:38.194 16. Gregorio Lavilla (Ducati 1098R), 1:38.733 From Superpole One: 17. Broc Parkes (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:38.766 18. Luca Scassa (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:38.779 19. David Salom (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:38.880 20. Tommy Hill (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:39.001 The Rest of the Grid: 21. Fonsi Nieto (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:39.831 22. Karl Muggeridge (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:39.852 23. Steve Martin (BMW S1000 RR), 1:41.227 24. Shaun Whyte (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:41.737 More, from a press release issued by HANNpsree Ten Kate Honda: South African second row for Rea and Checa Jonathan Rea and Carlos Checa have both qualified on the second row for tomorrow’s two sixth round World Superbike championship races at Kyalami in South Africa. Pole position was taken for the sixth time by Ben Spies after today’s three-stage Superpole shoot-out at the 4.24km circuit near Johannesburg. The Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team mates topped the free practice session just before Superpole and both have been among the leading riders all weekend, so Rea and Checa are confident of strong pace for tomorrow’s two 24-lap encounters. Jonathan Rea P5, best lap 1’37.634 (Superpole 3) I was hoping for a front row start based on the pace we were able to show on the race tyres. I put in a good time in the Superpole 1 on a race tyre but I only went two tenths quicker on the qualifier. I was on my spare bike and the extra grip just seemed to upset it a little in Superpole 2 and 3. But, actually, P5 is on the good side of the track for the start, so I’m not too disappointed. We have some race pace and I’m more confident with that than I’ve been all year. We got a couple of options for the race tyre, as well, so we’ll have a talk about that later and we’ll be ready for tomorrow. Carlos Checa P7, best lap 1’37.940 (Superpole 3) I feel we’ve worked really well this weekend probably for the first time this year and we knew that the chatter would be a problem from the test last December. Instead of spending each session trying to eliminate it, we’ve just worked around it the best way we can. Today, in free practice, everything came together and we were able to show some good pace that we should have for the races tomorrow, as long as the tyres are OK. The last Superpole session was not so good as the first two, and the front row would always be better especially here. I hope everyone thinks about the fast S just after the start so we can all get round it safely. Then we will have two good races, I think. Ronald ten Kate team manager Honestly, I think we were expecting a little more from today’s Superpole especially from the speed shown by Carlos and Jonathan in free practice just before, when they were fastest. There were a few little mistakes though, and we didn’t get as much benefit from the softer qualifying tyres as other teams seemed to get. But the difference between the first two rows in marginal so we’re ready to race. More, from a press release issued by Ten Kate Honda: Ten Kate Honda riders, Carlos Checa, Jonathan Rea and Ryuichi Kiyonari, gave young African riders some words of encouragement this weekend as the World Superbike championship returned to Kyalami in South Africa for the first time in seven years. Honda South Africa is currently putting the finishing touches to a rider development programme in partnership with Kyalami’s local Gauteng government, Motorsport South Africa and the South African Motorcycle Racing Development Academy. The programme’s ultimate aim is to discover South Africa’s future motorcycling champions and Honda SA is planning to leave no stone unturned in its quest for potential riders. The programme also includes a new series for 8-13-year-olds the NSF100 Trophy, running HRC-produced single-cylinder four-stroke machines producing around 9bhp and capable of speeds up to 80-90kph. Vaughan Swanepoel is responsible for the development programme, as well as product planning, public relations, events and motorsport in Honda SA’s motorcycle division. He visited Honda Italy last year where a similar race series is run with NSF100 machines. “I went to see the last race of the season there,” he says, “and I was very impressed with the concept and its potential for South Africa. Fortunately, we have a new managing director here – Yoshiaki Nakamura who used to work at Honda Italy and who also has a strong racing background. His support for the project has been invaluable.” Honda SA ordered 34 machines from HRC in Japan although it’s small, the NSF100 is a purpose-built racing motorcycle, with sticky tyres and adjustable suspension. Japan runs adults’, as well as children’s race series, and similar championships are run in Brazil and the US. “The academy programme is being developed with four to five stages,” explains Swanepoel. “We’re going to go to schools to gauge levels of interest and run co-ordination tests, throwing balls around and riding bicycles through cones. “But we need additional corporate sponsorship to help it happen,” he adds, “which is why the opportunity to have some kids running some demonstration laps at Kyalami this weekend is so important.” After the bicycle tests, a group of potential academy students will be taken forward to ride CRF100 dirt bikes “hopefully to get most of the crashing out of them!”, explains Swanepoel followed by training on the NSF machines before a final selection of 34 children is made. “Honda has a responsibility to motorsport in South Africa,” says Swanepoel, “because of its racing heritage. We’re celebrating 50 years of racing this year, and we have a 54% market share in South Africa. Without motorsport, there really is no Honda and that applies as much here as in the rest of the world.” Pictured (left to right): Ten Kate Honda riders, Ryuichi Kiyonari, Jonathan Rea, Carlos Checa, Barrie Barnard (General Manager, Motorcycle Division, Honda SA), Yoshiaki Nakamura (Managing Director, Honda SA), Vaughan Swanepoel (Product Planning, Public Relations, Events and Motorsport Motorcycle Division, Honda SA) and a crop of current young South African racers. More, form a press release issued by Ten Kate Honda: Ten Kate Honda Racing’s Ryuichi Kiyonari will start tomorrow’s two sixth round World Superbike championship races at Kyalami in South Africa from the third row after setting the 12th fastest time in today’s Superpole shoot-out. The Japanese ace, who scored his first two podiums of the season last week at Monza in Italy, has been seeking a better balance on his CBR1000RR Fireblade for the 4.24km Kyalami circuit quite different in character to Monza, with more high-speed direction changes. Kiyonari qualified for Superpole without drama and cruised through to Superpole 2 with the fastest 16 riders, just missing out on a place in the final eight by one tenth of a second. Ryuichi Kiyonari P12, best lap 1’38.081s (Superpole 2) This morning, the balance of the bike was much better than yesterday and I had a better feeling with the engine. In free practice, I was changing from one bike to the other to make comparisons, but the feeling went from the rider, more than the bike, I think, because the settings were the same. Tomorrow, I need to be more smooth on the throttle, I think, to get the best from the tyre. But, with a good start I can try. If I have a start like race one at Monza, I will have to push very hard, but I will never give up. Ronald ten Kate team manager The whole crew has worked hard to give Kiyo-san a good balance for Kyalami, which is very different from Monza. We still have to find a little more and we will look for that in warm-up in the morning but, as usual, he will give everything in the races tomorrow. More, from a press release issued by BMW Motorrad Motorsport: Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport rider Ruben Xaus was baulked by two other riders in Superpole 2 and missed getting into Superpole 1 by a whisker. In the end Ruben lost out on the chance of getting into Superpole 1 by just one tenth of a second. It was disappointing for Ruben and the team because that one tenth of a second was enough to deprive Ruben of at least a place on the front two rows of the grid. Steve Martin (Troy Corser’s replacement) continued his Kyalami learning curve whilst providing the team with lots of information and feedback. American Ben Spies (Yamaha) won his sixth Superpole of the season, with Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) second, Max Biaggi (Aprilia) third and Noriyuki Haga (Ducati) fourth. Ruben – 15th, 1:38.194 I am really disappointed because only one tenth of a second or so was the margin between getting into Superpole 1 or not. I really believe I could’ve got into Superpole 1 had it not been for getting held up by Biaggi and Nakano. The time lost there was enough for me to lose one tenth of a second and a place on the second row of the grid. Instead, it’s another start from row four and a lot of work to do at the beginning of the race. But, I am happy because today my lap time is three seconds faster than when we tested here in December. Today the bike was awesome and I am sure I could go faster with harder tyres. But that’s not possible at the moment, so I just have to get on with whatever I get. Steve – 23rd. 1:41.227 I’m really quite happy even though it would’ve been nice to be a bit further up the grid. Each time out, I am getting closer to the race pace, but this is never going to be easy because the field is so high class. There are no slow riders out there and don’t forget that I have not raced at this level since 2007. I am enjoying myself though, and happy because when I talk things over with Ruben we both feel more or less the same about what’s happening on the bike. Berti Hauser (BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director) Of course it is disappointing to get so close to qualifying for Superpole 1 and then lose it because of something that happened due to other riders. But this is how it is and we have to learn from it and progress. It would’ve been interesting to see what might happened if Ruben had got into Superpole 1, but I am confident that this will happen before too long. Steve did his job well, rode safely and gave the team lots of feedback so I am happy about that. Now let’s see what happens tomorrow. More, from a press release issued by Team Sterilgarda: Shane Byrne will start tomorrow’s race from fourteenth spot on the grid. The English rider replicated yesterday’s result but slightly improved his time thus reducing the gap from the pole position. Byrne had a good pace today and will try to get in the top 10 in both races. Several riders will fight for the top spots tomorrow, especially in the first half of the race, due to the small gap between the front runners. However, Byrne has proven to be efficient in this type of situation in the past and is capable of pulling off a good recovery. SHANE BYRNE | Ducati 1098R | 14th in 1’38.171 : “It seems like I’m not lucky at all in the Superpole, although I was having a pretty good lap and I think I could’ve finished in the top 8 but I couldn’t make it do the third session. Unfortunately, we had problems with the electronic gearbox which caused me to lose a couple of tenths and qualify fourteenth. I’ll start from row 4 although I had a good pace and even set the ninth fastest time with race tyres in practice this afternoon. However, I’ll give 100 percent tomorrow and hopefully score a good result”. More, from a press release issued by Stiggy Racing Honda: Haslam strong in second Kyalami qualfiying After a strong opening in the first Qualifying Practice, Stiggy Racing’s Leon Haslam was on the pace once again, and secured the second fastest time of 1’38.505s, behind provisional pole sitter Fabrizio, in the second series of qualifying at Kyalami today. Haslam pushed hard throughout the afternoon’s sessions in a bid to put the Monza Superpole qualifying behind him – when he was unexpectedly pushed out of the first Superpole – and secure a front row start for tomorrow’s race. Out on a soft race tyre in a bid to save his qualifiers, Haslam finished the first shoot out in a fastest time of 1’38.098s, and found himself safely in fifth place for the second session. Haslam is one of the first riders to leave the garage for the second shoot out, and sets the target time for the competition at 1’37.988s. He returned to the garage for his second qualifier to secure his place within the fastest eight, but unfortunately runs off-track and sees his plan for a front row place on the Kyalami grid put to a sudden halt. Haslam will now start the 24-lap Kyalami race in 10th place, from a third row on the grid. Leon Haslam, P10, 1’37.988s: ” We’ve tried a few different things on tyres in the Free Practice this afternoon. The time I did on the race tyre was pretty good, a .38 flat, so I opted to use it in the Superpole. I went out in the second Superpole on my first qualifier, but I didn’t get the best of laps with it, and it put me in fourth position. I came in for another qualifier, but then made a little bit of a mistake on my first lap and ran off, and I never got the chance to use the qualifier. Another 10th of a second would have gotten me through to the final shoot out. It was a luck of the draw, but I am pretty happy with the progress we have made today, and am looking forward to racing tomorrow “. Johan Stigefelt, Teammanager: ” We are very pleased with the pace Leon has shown here today. We are pretty sure for tomorrow’s race and know what we have to do. There are still some small things we have to work on tonight, and change for tomorrow, but overall it looks very promising. It was a shame his qualifying didn’t work out as well as we would have like to. We could have done better, but the race is tomorrow, and I know Leon can definitely be strong in the race “. More, from a press release issued by InFront Motorsports: Super Six for Spies in Superpole Ben Spies (Yamaha World Superbike) powered to his sixth successive Superpole triumph at the Kyalami circuit in South Africa, equaling the long-standing record set by his fellow Texan Doug Polen (Ducati) in 1991. The session at Kyalami was one of the most exciting seen so far this season, with a two-way battle between the two Monza winners, Spies and Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox). The outcome was decided in the final seconds, when the Texan responded to his Italian rival, setting quickest time by just one-thousandth of a second, the smallest margin ever recorded in Superpole history. Third and fourth places on the front row for tomorrow’s two races went to Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing) and Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox). The Italian, who again recorded the top speed of the day at 251.8 km/h on his RSV4, capitalized on his final run to jump up from seventh to third. For points leader Haga, fourth place can be considered an excellent result because the Japanese rider was almost eliminated in the second knock-out phase, but just managed to make the cut by a whisker from Shinya Nakano (Aprilia Racing). Ben Spies: “It was a good Superpole session for us, although it hasn’t all gone well. After qualifying we had to look in the mirror and get our stuff together but we’ve been improving the bike all weekend and I got down to some very fast times on race tyres. I had both qualifiers for the last Superpole but they had so much grip that they were definitely changing the bike and I never could nail one lap but luckily we were able to get it today. It wasn’t perfect, but it was good to get the six in a row. I think we have a very good package but it’ll be a very tough race and for sure there’ll be a lot of sliding around tomorrow.” Michel Fabrizio: “I really thought I’d taken the pole but unfortunately Ben beat me by a thousandth of a second. In any case I’m really happy with the way things are going this weekend. I’ve got a good race pace, let’s see if we can do a couple of good races tomorrow, for sure they’ll be other guys up there with us, including Nori, as there are a lot of riders who are quick out there. At Monza I really enjoyed myself with the win, for sure here it’ll be even more fun because there are a lot more curves than Monza for overtaking.” Max Biaggi: “It’s good to be back on the front row again and I’m very excited for that. In the qualifying we’ve been running comfortably at a good pace. When we put soft rubber on, things were coming better but we had to solve some real problems and that made the chattering high. For the race we will do some little modifications, but the bike is working well compared to the winter tests so hopefully for tomorrow we can continue this way.” The second row line-up sees an impressive Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) in fifth place, and he will be flanked by the best of the privateers, Jakub Smrz (Guandalini Ducati), his Hannspree Ten Kate team-mate Carlos Checa and Tom Sykes (Yamaha World Superbike). South African rider Sheridan Morais put in a good performance for eleventh place on the Kawasaki ZX-10R machine vacated temporarily by Makoto Tamada, while Suzuki and BMW struggled, with Yukio Kagayama and Ruben Xaus down on the fourth row of the grid. Times: 1. Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF R1 1’37.288; 2. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1’37.289; 3. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’37.466; 4. Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 1’37.544; 5. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1’37.634; 6. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 1’37.677; 7. Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 1’37.940; 8. Sykes T. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 1’38.241; 9. Nakano S. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’37.935; 10. Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1’37.988; 11. Morais S. (RSA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1’38.013; 12. Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1’38.081; 13. Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1’38.130; 14. Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 1’38.171; 15. Xaus R. (ESP) BMW S1000 RR 1’38.194; 16. Lavilla G. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 1’38.733 World Supersport Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha World Supersport) powered to his fifth successive Supersport pole with another spectacular last-minute effort around the Kyalami circuit. The points leader, running third until the final moments of the session, ended up top of the pack with a time of 1 minute 40.634 seconds, the revised circuit’s new benchmark. This season the only rider to get the better of Crutchlow in qualifying has been Kenan Sofuoglu (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) in Australia, and the Turkish rider once again gave Crutchlow a run for his money at Kyalami. The gap between the two however was over three-tenths but Crutchlow was the only rider to get under 1’41. Two more Honda CBR machines made up the front row of the grid, the Parkalgar version of Eugene Laverty in third, and Andrew Pitt (Hannspree Ten Kate) in fourth. Spain’s Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki Motocard.com) looks to be a competitive interloper on his ZX-6R machine, confirming his and his bike’s early season form, while alongside in sixth can be found the best of the Italians, Michele Pirro (Yamaha Lorenzini), also a possible candidate for a podium finish tomorrow. Times: 1. Crutchlow C. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R6 1’40.634 ; 2. Sofuoglu K. (TUR) Honda CBR600RR 1’41.003; 3. Laverty E. (IRL) Honda CBR600RR 1’41.161; 4. Pitt A. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 1’41.396; 5. Lascorz J. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1’41.558; 6. Pirro M. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 1’41.563; 7. Foret F. (FRA) Yamaha YZF R6 1’41.603; 8. Aitchison M. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 1’41.699 More, from a press release issued by Ben Spies’ publicist: SPIES WINS SPECTACULAR SUPERPOLE Nips Fabrizio by one-thousandth of a second in South Africa MIDRAND, South Africa (May 16, 2009) Today will go down as a red-letter day for Ben Spies and Yamaha. In one of the most spectacular Superpole sessions ever Spies nipped Ducati’s Michel Fabrizio to win the pole for Sunday’s South African round of the World Superbike Championships. Spies crossed the line on the final lap of qualifying, turning a one minute, 37.288-second laps on the factory Yamaha R1. That time established a Superbike track record at Kyalami and was just 1/1000th of a second faster than second-place qualifier Fabrizio. The Kyalami pole gives Spies a perfect six consecutive World Superbike poles in his rookie season. He’s now tied fellow Texan Doug Polen for the World Superbike record of six consecutive poles a record established 18 years ago. After a quiet Friday, where he was third in provisional qualifying, Spies seemed in no mood to play it coy during Superpole at Kyalami. “We made some changes to the bike after yesterday to make it work better,” Spies said of improvements today. “I just tried to put in some solid laps in Superpole and really never got a really clean lap in the first two sessions.” Despite not having what he considered a well-constructed lap, Spies still went out and laid down the top times in both the first and second Superpole sessions. In session one it was Spies clocking a 1:37.809 to top the charts by just 5/100ths of a second over Jonathan Rea. Spies made it to the final session by turning the fastest time in session two with a 1:37.423, two-tenths over a surging Fabrizio. That set up a riveting final Superpole session. Spies immediately went to work, setting a best of 1:37.366 in the final session of Superpole. “Even though that was the top time at that point, I knew it wasn’t a great lap,” Spies admitted. “I’d turned a 37.4 on race tires, so I knew we could shave off a little more and figured I’d probably need to.” As the clock wound down Spies’ time looked like it might be good enough to hold the top spot, but Fabrizio responded with a stunning 1:37.289 on his final lap. Spies returned the favor and did the same improving his best on his final lap with a 1:37.288 to earn his sixth pole in six events so far in 2009, this time by the slimmest margin possible. In spite of his record-setting pole run at Kyalami, Spies thinks there is still plenty of work ahead for the team in preparation for Sunday’s races. “We’re still struggling some with race set up,” Spies explained. “Hopefully we’ll chip away and get things worked out in practice tomorrow morning. Regardless, I know it’s going to be a tough race. I think we’ll be right there near the front and I’m looking forward to the challenge.” The Kyalami pole sets up the possibility that Spies could establish a new World Superbike record for consecutive poles when the championship moves to the United States and Miller Motorsports Park, near Salt Lake City, in two weeks time. In the U.S., both World Superbike rounds from Kyalami can be watched back to back on Speed TV tomorrow (Sunday, May 17) starting at 2:00 pm Eastern. More, from a press release issued by Xerox Ducati: FABRIZIO (DUCATI XEROX) MISSES OUT ON POLE POSITION BY ONE THOUSANDTH OF A SECOND AT KYALAMI Kyalami (South Africa) Saturday 16th May: Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox), fastest again on board his Ducati 1198 in second qualifying this morning, was robbed of his first pole position by an incredible thousandth of a second this afternoon at Kyalami. In a thrilling edition of Superpole, Michel looked like he would reign supreme, ahead of the pack in the final minute, but then in the final seconds Yamaha man Spies lapped a fraction of a second faster than the Italian to take his sixth consecutive pole of the season. Noriyuki Haga, having qualified for today’s Superpole in eleventh place, picked up the pace on qualifying tires to snatch fourth and a precious front row place alongside Michel, in second, and Biaggi, in third, for tomorrow’s races. In the morning’s qualifying session, despite not improving on his fastest time of yesterday, Italian rider Michel Fabrizio was once again the fastest rider on track and was also the most consistent, putting together a string of laps in under 1m39 to qualify for Superpole in first position. Hot on his heels this morning was the British Superbike contingent with Haslam, Rea and Sykes qualifying in second, third and fourth for the afternoon’s Superpole. Noriyuki Haga qualified safely for Superpole but in eleventh place, having spent time making further modifications to identify a more advantageous setting to try during tomorrow’s warm-up. Michel Fabrizio 1m37.2s “I thought I’d done it today, I really thought I’d got my first Superbike pole, but it wasn’t to be and Ben beat me by just a thousandth of a second. I am very happy with my performance today but of course it’s a pity I missed out on the pole by such a fraction. We have a good race pace and I’ve been really consistent with my lap times up until now, so I hope that me, and Nori too, can be up there fighting at the front for the wins here tomorrow. I really enjoyed the racing at Monza last week and I know that this great track will be the setting for two similarly exciting races tomorrow.” Noriyuki Haga 1m37.5s “We’ve spent the day trying to solve the same issues that we suffered from yesterday, as the bike is still causing me problems on the uneven track surface. We still have more work to do in order to be competitive for the races. I managed to do some good laps in Superpole but these were on a qualifier of course which is totally different. Anyway overall I am happy to be on the front row and I hope my arm doesn’t hinder my performance too much over race distance.” More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki Press Office: Team Suzuki Alstare Brux rider Yukio Kagayama finished Superpole qualifying for the Kyalami World Superbike sixth round in South Africa with the 13th quickest lap time and will start tomorrow’s pair of 24-lap races from the fourth row of the grid – but he’s confident of putting up a good performance tomorrow. Fonsi Nieto – injured Max Neukirchner’s stand-in this weekend – continued his steep learning process with the 2009 GSX-R1000 K9 and the Kyalami race track and finished the day 21st. American Ben Spies (Yamaha) won his sixth Superpole of the season with Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) second, Max Biaggi (Aprilia) third and Noriyuki Haga (Ducati) fourth. Yukio Kagayama – 13th, 1:38.130: “In both Superpole one and two, I did not get a good feeling with either of my two Q tyres and so my lap times were not so good. But I am happy with my bike set-up for the race and confident that I can fight with the top guys if I can make two good starts. I have only tested at this track once before and have never raced here, so the first start tomorrow will be a new experience for me and very interesting. I hope for two good starts and two good results and that is what I will fight for. Fonsi Nieto – 21st, 1:39.831: “Each time I go out on the bike, the feeling is better but I have a lot to learn in not much time. We have improved a lot since yesterday and I think it was bad luck to miss getting into Superpole by just one place. This track is new to me and I do not like it because it is so bumpy. That makes it harder work finding a good bike set-up. I am not happy with my grid position, but I am happy because I am getting more and more used to the bike.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha: Spies on fire as he equals the Superpole record Yamaha World Superbike rider Ben Spies erased any doubts anyone had of his abilities today as he equaled the all time consecutive Superpole record set in 1991 by fellow Texan Doug Polen. Spies had spent the earlier qualifying session and subsequent free practice sessions perfecting the set-up of the 2009 R1 in time for the Superpole heats. He came out strongly from the start and was looking fast from the word go. Saving his qualifiers for the last session, he put in an incredible 1.37.423 to go onto provisional pole with his first of the two super sticky tyres. As the session drew to a close it looked like Fabrizio was going to snatch the pole from him, putting in a super quick 1.37.289, only for the American rocket to cross the line a few seconds later 0.001 seconds faster, taking his sixth consecutive pole position start and his rightful place at the front of the grid. Team-mate Tom Sykes had what could be his best Superpole session yet of the season, having performed well in the second qualifying session the British rider had finished in fourth, only 0.4 off leader Fabrizio. Some further fine tuning in the afternoon’s free practice session saw Sykes ready and eager to perform in the Superpole heats. He came out strongly in the first session, scoring an initial provisional third. Session two proved even quicker, ducking under the 1.38 mark and keeping him in for the third session for the first time this year. By the end of the heats he had secured 8th position and a second row start on the grid for tomorrow’s races. Ben Spies, Yamaha World Superbike Team, (1st, 1’37.288) “It was a good Superpole session, we got down to some fast times on race tyres in the first two heats which was great. It wasn’t perfect at the end, I didn’t feel I used the qualifiers as well as I could have, they were so grippy I didn’t take full advantage of them. The bike is working really well but we need to find a bit more for the race so we’re now going to concentrate on tomorrow. Michel Fabrizio has been riding well all weekend, I think the Ducatis will be up front and it’s going to be a tough race. It’s a long one and everyone will be sliding around at the end so it should be a great one to watch.” tom Sykes, Yamaha World Superbike Team, (8th, 1’38.241) “I struggled a bit yesterday but we made some big changes overnight and got a lot quicker today. I was really happy towards the end of qualifying, we found a few more tenths which made a difference. Superpole was good and I’m happy to have made it through to the third heat. There have been a couple of riders who have been up there all weekend and they’re now on the third row so second is good for me to start from. I should get a good start and am looking to be consistent. There’ll be a big drop off in race tyres so it’ll be a case of seeing who can hold on till the end. Overall it is blue skies here so let’s have some fun in south Africa!” Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha World Superbike Team “Six pole positions in a row is not so bad! Both riders did a great job in Superpole to be able to start on the first two rows. I think we solved most of our problems from yesterday through today’s sessions so we’re ready for race day. Our performance so far makes me think we can get good results in the races. The team has worked really hard to develop the set-up of both bikes from yesterday so we’re looking forward to challenging for the podium.” More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki: Morais 11th In Superpole As Parkes Battles On WSBK, Kyalami, South Africa, 16 May 2009 Local track knowledge and a determined attitude took stand-in Kawasaki World Superbike Team rider Sheridan Morais to an outstanding 11th place on the Kyalami grid. Regular rider Broc Parkes made it into Superpole despite still carrying painful injuries, but could not progress beyond the first stage. He will start the two 24-lap races on Sunday from the fifth row of the grid. Morais was on the pace throughout practice in his first ever WSB weekend racing for the UK-based Kawasaki World Superbike Racing team. He muscled his Ninja ZX-10R around his home track bumps and frequent changes of direction to a highly creditable 11th out of 24 riders. The intensely physical nature of the Kyalami track was bad news for Parkes, who found the South African circuit a more difficult place to ride around than the previous venue of Monza. Despite lingering injuries Parkes made the top 20 of Superpole, and was only one place away from moving into the second Superpole qualifying session, ending up 17th. Times in qualifying were particularly close at some stages of the weekend, with Morais sixth in the second regular pre-Superpole session, only 0.405 seconds from Michel Fabrizio, who was in the vanguard of every session except Superpole itself, which was won again by Ben Spies. Broc Parkes: “It’s been a little bit tough this weekend, physically, a lot harder here than Monza. It’s held me back a little bit and we have had a few dramas getting my chassis set-up right. We can’t quite get it working the way we want. I have been struggling quite a bit, basically because my body is holding me back. It’s a problem made worse by the whole nature of the track and you don’t even get a rest on the main straight. Tomorrow will be really tough but we will try to do the best job we can.” Sheridan Morais: “It has been good, and I have never ridden on slicks before. Trying to get used to that took me some time and the qualifying tyre is something else. Unfortunately I only got two laps on the qualifiers but the team seems pretty happy and hopefully we can do the business tomorrow. There are a lot of fast changes of direction here so it’s very physical track, but I have been training really hard.”