FIM Supersport World Championship Brno, Czech Republic July 24, 2009 Free Practice One Results (all on Pirelli tires): 1. Cal CRUTCHLOW (Yamaha YZF-R6), 2:02.334 2. Fabien FORET (Yamaha YZF-R6), 2:03.777 3. Kenan SOFUOGLU (Honda CBR600RR), 2:03.997 4. Eugene LAVERTY (Honda CBR600RR), 2:04.089 5. Katsuaki FUJIWARA (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 2:04.256 6. Anthony WEST (Honda CBR600RR), 2:04.332 7. Joan LASCORZ (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 2:04.359 8. Garry McCOY (Triumph Daytona 675), 2:04.394 9. Gianluca VIZZIELLO (Honda CBR600RR), 2:04.646 10. Miguel PRAIA (Honda CBR600RR), 2:04.785 11. Mark AITCHISON (Honda CBR600RR), 2:05.159 12. Sheridan MORAIS (Yamaha YZF-R6), 2:05.188 13. Barry VENEMAN (Honda CBR600RR), 2:05.234 14. Gianluca NANNELLI (Triumph Daytona 675), 2:05.324 15. Michele PIRRO (Yamaha YZF-R6), 2:05.407 16. Massimo ROCCOLI (Honda CBR600RR), 2:05.496 17. Andrew PITT (Honda CBR600RR), 2:05.634, crash 18. Jesco GÃœNTHER (Honda CBR600RR), 2:05.655 19. Arie VOS (Honda CBR600RR), 2:05.717 20. Patrik VOSTÁREK (Honda CBR600RR), 2:06.053 21. Robbin HARMS (Honda CBR600RR), 2:06.415, crash 22. Jason O’HALLORAN (Honda CBR600RR), 2:06.416 23. Michael LAVERTY (Honda CBR600RR), 2:06.472 24. Danilo DELL’OMO (Honda CBR600RR), 2:07.252 25. Matej SMRZ (Triumph Daytona 675), 2:07.532 More, from a press release issued by Parkalgar Honda: Laverty determined to win at Brno PARKALGAR HONDA’S Eugene Laverty was fourth quickest in opening practice for Sunday’s 10th round of the World Supersport Championship at Brno in the Czech Republic and remains upbeat that he can win the race on Sunday. Miguel Praia set a time 1.1secs faster than his best in 2008 to finish 10th and in buoyant mood for the rest of the weekend. The 5.403km Brno circuit is both picturesque and demanding of all riders because of its changes in elevation. Qualifying comes after another practice session tomorrow before the race takes place at 1325CET on Sunday, July 26th. Eugene: “Brno is a different track to Imola and our starting position with the bike following the Imola test has proved not to suit. I really didn’t expect it to be so far away. It means we are a session down on the riders that tested here but I worked and pushed hard and we now know exactly the direction we want to go in. I had a similar crash to what happened at Donington on my third lap out. The rear slid out on me basically the shock is not using its entire stroke and is quite rigid, so we have fixed that. I am fine; I picked my Parkalgar Honda up and only lost about 20-seconds of track time. My target remains the win and if we have two dry sessions tomorrow then we will catch Cal up.” Miguel: “We are pretty happy; already I am faster than last year. It is a strong start to the weekend. My preparation for this round has gone well and the team has done a fantastic job of preparing my Parkalgar Honda, I feel much more comfortable than last year. The engine on my bike is strong which makes the job easier on the long straight, but we need to improve the chassis and concentrate on producing more consistent lap times.” Simon Buckmaster, Parkalgar Honda Team Manager: “The team has worked very well. Miguel followed Eugene and set a quick time that shows him the way forward for the rest of the weekend. Eugene’s side have worked hard and they know what they need to do to lift the pace. It hasn’t been a bad session but we have work to do. Cal has banged in a very quick time but it wasn’t long ago he dominated at Assen and we still beat him and we will be doing all we can to beat him here as well, for us there is nothing to lose by going for the victory.” More, from a press release issued by HANNspree Ten Kate Honda: Hannspree Ten Kate Honda’s Kenan Sofuoglu set the third fastest time in this afternoon’s opening free practice session for Sunday’s tenth round World Supersport race at Brno in the Czech Republic. The Turkish rider was the fastest Honda rider today as Britain’s Cal Crutchlow set the fastest time around the undulating 5.4km circuit. Sofuoglu’s team-mate, Andrew Pitt, crashed early in the scheduled 45-minute session, sustaining a deep cut in his arm which affected the rest of his session, the Australian using his spare Honda CBR600RR to set the 17th fastest time. Kenan Sofuoglu P3, 2’03.997s It’s much smoother here than at Imola last week, so that makes its own issues! But Brno is one of my favourite tracks so I was enjoying myself out there. We had a problem with the rear tyre near the end it was causing quite bad chatter, but there are a lot of other things we can improve tomorrow as well. I’m sure we can be faster so we’ll check the data tonight and see where we can make some positive changes. Andrew Pitt – P17, 2’05.634s I was pushing right from the start and ended up in a big highside on the exit from turn one. I probably held on to the bike a bit too long and it’s left me with a big hole on the inside of my elbow maybe from a footpeg or something. For the rest of the session I just tried to do some laps to get back into it, but the balance of the bike is still not quite there. It’s trying to push wide as I accelerate out of the turns. Hopefully the guys can come up with a solution tonight and we’ll give it another go tomorrow. Ronald ten Kate team manager Obviously Andrew’s highside crash disrupted his whole session this afternoon, but hopefully he found a bit of a direction to follow in his set-up tomorrow. Kenan was making strong progress throughout the session, but came across a problem with the new tyre which we put in the rear towards the end. It caused quite a bit of chatter so we’ll have to look at that. For sure there’ll be more to come tomorrow from both riders. More, from a press release issued by ParkinGo Triumph BE1 Racing: Garry McCoy and Gianluca Nannelli set the eighth and fourteenth time respectively as they got to grips with the track and worked on bike setup after last week’s successful test at Imola. Garry McCoy returns to Brno after last year’s second practice session crash when he suffered a rib fracture. The injury cost him the rest of the season as he returned for his debut with ParkinGo Triumph BE1 Racing in the last round at Portimao. Moreover, Gianluca Nannelli had a good performance at Brno too as he set the fourteenth fastest time. GARRY McCOY | Triumph Daytona 675 | 8th in 2’04.394 : “We tried out different suspension solutions and then carried on with the setup. I think we’re on the right path because I set a faster time now compared to last year. However, we still have some more work to do because the bike goes a bit wide in mid corner”. GIANLUCA NANNELLI | Triumph Daytona 675 | 14th in 2’05.324: “It was an useful first session but the bike tends to go wide when I push the gas. I think we’ve already figured out what the problem is though and we’ll finish setting up the bike during the morning session tomorrow. I’m confident we can do well in qualifying, I’m just a bit worried about the weather as it might rain and things could change significantly”. More, from a press release issued by Stiggy Racing Honda: The Stiggy Racing Honda Supersport riders Anthony West and Gianluca Vizziello finished the free practice session for the tenth round of the World Supersport Championship at Brno today in 6th and 9th place respectively. After a successful two-day test at the Czech track two weeks ago, both Anthony West and Gianluca Vizziello put the performance of their updated engine parts into practice in the 60-minute free session on Friday afternoon. The first free practice was led by Cal Crutchlow, who snuffed the fastest time of 2’02.334s and build up a lead of nearly 1.4s on his nearest rival. Anthony West finished the first day in the sixth best time of 2’04.332s, closely followed by Gianluca Vizziello, who set the ninth fastest time at 2’04.646s. Anthony West – 2’04.332s: 1C;I feel a lot better now than I did when we were testing here two weeks ago. We got some new parts for the bike and they seem to work well. I am happy with the results of the first session. I could have gone faster, but I got held up by some slower guys that were in my way. I am confident we can lower the lap times tomorrow.” Gianluca Vizziello – 2’04.646s: 1C;I am very pleased with the new engine we have used here today. I have concentrated on getting to grips with the machine as it is a lot stronger. There is a lot of potential in this machine. I had some issues with the grip here and my bike kept on sliding, but I am sure we can make another step forward with the set-up in tomorrow’s second practice. I managed to take a second off the fastest time I set here during our two-day test. It will be interesting to see how much more we can take off.” Johan Stigefelt – Team Manager: “It looks good for us here at Brno. It has been one of the best Supersport practice sessions we have done so far this season. We have used the information gathered in the recent test at this track and have made some important progress already. We need to make some further steps in the next session’s, but today results are very promising. Both riders are satisfied with their machines and confident they can further improve tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha: Yamaha World Supersport Team riders Cal Crutchlow and Fabien Foret made it very clear in today’s free practice session that they are here to win this weekend. The riders spent the entire session in first and second spot respectively with Crutchlow leading the pack with nearly a 1.5 second advantage by the end of the session. The session was red flagged briefly at the halfway point after a collision between Harms and Lowes. Both riders ended the free practice session confident of more to come over the weekend as they continue to fine tune their set ups in advance of Sunday’s World supersport race. Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha World Supersport Team (1st, 2’02.334) “it was a good day, we didn’t really want to show our pace until the race but we had a few things we wanted to test so we needed do decent lap times. The lap times were done on old tyres as usual which is good as well. I think the pace is going to be fast so we have to make sure we make it work and keep on it for the rest of the weekend.” Fabien Foret, Yamaha World Supersport Team (2nd, 2’03.777) “today is the happiest I’ve been on the bike for a while. We made some changes and it was a big step for the front of the bike. I also had a different tyre which suits me much better, I was really surprised at how good it felt. I was able to put in some reasonable lap times which was great. This track has some bad memories for me from last year but I’m really happy with the first day and I hope I continue to ride like this for the rest of the year.” Wilco Zeelenberg, Yamaha World Supersport Team Manager “this is our first one-two this year which is great. I’m pleased for Fabien, he feels a lot better than he has done all year. He’s found a good front end feeling which has helped. Cal is unbelievably fast, nearly eight tenths faster than the lap record. Hopefully the weather conditions stay stable and we’ll continue to perform like this tomorrow.”