World Superbike Superpole Results: 1. Chris Vermeulen, Honda, 1:48.075 2. Regis Laconi, Ducati, 1:48.506 3. Troy Corser, Suzuki, 1:48.649 4. James Toseland, Ducati, 1:48.867 5. Lorenzo Lanzi, Ducati, 1:48.923 6. Noriyuki Haga, Yamaha, 1:49.094 7. Yukio Kagayama, Suzuki, 1:49.274 8. Ben Bostrom, Honda, 1:49.300 9. Andrew Pitt, Yamaha, 1:49.601 10. Karl Muggeridge, Honda, 1:49.845 11. Steve Martin, Foggy Petronas, 1:49.977 12. Max Neukirchner, Honda, 1:49.994 13. Norick Abe, Yamaha, 1:50.247 14. Pierfrancesco Chili, Honda, 1:50.588 15. Sebastian Gimbert, Yamaha, 1:50.649 16. Chris Walker, Kawasaki, 1:50.749 More On The Grid: 17. Giovanni Bussei, Kawasaki, 1:50.554 18. Gianluca Vizziello, Yamaha, 1:50.636 19. Fonsi Nieto, Kawasaki, 1:50.666 20. Marco Borciani, Ducati, 1:51.097 21. Ivan Silva, Yamaha, 1:51.348 22. Mauro Sanchini, Kawasaki, 1:51.395 23. Garry McCoy, Foggy Petronas, 1:51.417 24. Ivan Clementi, Ducati, 1:51.599 25. Mauro Lucchiari, Yamaha, 1:52.238 More, from a press release issued by Winston Ten Kate Honda: WINSTON’S VERMEULEN SCORCHES TO IMOLA POLE Chris Vermeulen will start tomorrow’s two eleventh round World Superbike championship races at Imola, Italy from pole position after setting the fastest qualifying time in today’s one-lap Superpole shoot-out. The Australian lapped the 4.9km Enzo e Dino Ferrari circuit in a time of 1m48.075s, beating the 2002 best lap time of Colin Edwards by three tenths of second. Vermeulen’s Winston Ten Kate Honda team-mate Karl Muggeridge will start from tenth place on the grid for tomorrow’s two 21-lap races after improving from his regulation qualifying position of fourteenth. Ronald ten Kate team manager: “I have to say that was a phenomenal lap from Chris today not only pole position but a new best lap time as well. His time didn’t come as a complete surprise to us because he has shown today that he is already quick on race tyres and qualified for Superpole third fastest on race rubber. I think he’s perfectly prepared for tomorrow’s races but there seem to be a few other fast riders out there, too. Hopefully, they can get between him and Troy (Corser) to keep the championship alive to next weekend’s final round. Karl looked to be on a pretty good Superpole lap as well, but we think his brake pads were dislodged a bit when he went over a rumble strip and that meant he had to pump the brakes a couple of times to make the next corner. He’s in good shape for a couple of results tomorrow especially with the speed of the Honda CBR1000RR here.” Chris Vermeulen pole position, 1m48.075s “The lap was OK but, because I hadn’t used any qualifying tyres before, I was able to put one in during free practice and managed to do a pretty quick lap then. I was aiming for a 1m47s lap to be honest but just missed out on that. I’m happy with my second pole position, though, and the bike is pretty well set-up. It’s working really well on the race tyres but I’ve got to finish such a long way ahead of Troy that I’m just concentrating on trying to win both races. If I can do that, we’ll see what’s happening behind me.” Karl Muggeridge tenth fastest, 1m49.845s “I made a mistake in the first split on my Superpole lap when I went on the dirt. I just didn’t see it properly as it was in the shade, but that cost me some time. It almost put me through the screen as well, the rear was spinning up that much in the dust. Then I overshot a corner towards the end when I had to pump the brakes. But we’ve improved the bike a lot today and made progress from this morning. I’m happy with the race set-up and tyres, although we’ve got a few little things to do in the morning.” World Superbike, Imola final qualifying times: 1 Chris Vermeulen AUS (Winston Ten Kate Honda) 1m48.075s, 2 Regis Laconi FRA (Ducati) 1:48.506, 3 Troy Corser AUS (Suzuki) 1:48.649, 4 James Toseland GBR (Ducati) 1:48.867, 5 Lorenzo Lanzi ITA (Ducati) 1:48.923, 6 Noriyuki Haga JPN (Yamaha) 1:49.094, 7 Yukio Kagayama JPN (Suzuki) 1:49.271, 8 Ben Bostrom USA (Honda) 1:49.300, 9 Andrew Pitt AUS (Yamaha) 1:49.601, 10 Karl Muggeridge AUS (Winston Ten Kate Honda) 1:49.845. More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: WSB : Haga back to the front in Imola Round: 11 – Imola Circuit: Imola Date: 1 October 2005 Temp: 22ºC Weather: Sunny Yamaha Motor Italia rider Noriyuki Haga was back to his best form in Imola today, taking his Yamaha YZF-R1 to a second row start for tomorrow’s two-race 11th round of the Superbike World Championship. After ending the opening day a lowly 17th on the time sheets, the Japanese star reverted to tried and tested settings to leapfrog up the order. Within minutes of the morning’s second qualifying, Haga was into the top eight – a position he retained going into the afternoon’s superpole session. The crowd favourite was able to elevate himself further up the grid in the one lap superpole session, posting a 1:49.094 lap time to take sixth place on the grid. Team-mate Andrew Pitt had a good superpole session to end the day in ninth. The Australian had been 10th after the two qualifying sessions, but pushed hard on his superpole lap despite suffering the effects of influenza and a less than perfect bike set-up. Unfortunately the former supersport world champion narrowly missed out on a second row start. Yamaha Motor France pairing Norick Abe and Sebastien Gimbert both qualified for superpole and will start from the fourth row of the grid, in 13th and 15th place respectively. Pole position for tomorrow’s races was taken by Chris Vermeulen (Honda) from Regis Laconi (Ducati), with championship leader Troy Corser (Suzuki) third and outgoing world champion James Toseland (Ducati) completing the front row. Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) “I think we have some tough races tomorrow. In the morning warm-up we still have to try and find a rear tyre for the race and because I can’t find the tyre I can’t make the perfect suspension setting. Basically problem is only at rear. The front is very good so tonight we try to change the bike and find a solution.” Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) “Today was not a good day. I’m not feeling so great and we’ve still got some problems with the set-up: chatter is a problem and we’re struggling with grip a little bit. I hope that I’m feeling better tomorrow and we’ll just need to see what the races bring.” Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) “We made some improvements today and I am hopeful that we can have some good races tomorrow. I like this track and our times on the race tyre are good although we are not able to find a big improvement with the qualifier.” Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France) “Yesterday I made a mistake with the qualifier but today I was able to make an improvement with the soft tyre. My superpole lap was ok and I think that we can be strong in the races tomorrow.” Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator – Yamaha Motor Italia) “Both riders are having trouble with traction. It seems that when the surface does not have good grip we are suffering more than most, like in Misano. For sure we are better than yesterday and both riders made good improvements today. We will change some things tomorrow to try and improve the rear grip. We know that Noriyuki especially is stronger in the race than in qualifying so we must see what happens tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Scuderia SC Caracchi: FRONT ROW FOR NANNELLI ON IMOLA CIRCUIT, SECOND FOR LANZI Once more a fantastic day on Imola Circuit, intitled to Enzo and Dino Ferrari, for Scuderia SC Caracchi riders. Gianluca Nannelli, on the 749R Supersport painted in a new silver colour to honour the historic Ducati victory in the first edition of 200 Miles of Imola, will start tomorrow from the front row of the starting grid thanks the third fastest set in today’s qualifying, a result that actually has the value of a second position looking that Charpentier will not start due the bad crash during morning’s session. For just a few hundredth of seconds Lorenzo Lanzi on the 999F05 Superbike has still lost the front row and will start from the second row thanks the fifth fastest set in Superpole. “At the end of the final qualifying I tried to reach the Charpentier’s time.” said after the practices Gianluca Nannelli. “Unfortunately I made a couple of mistakes and I lost precious tenth of second. In the low chicane I found also some rider slow, so I remained second, but I believe to have a good chance for tomorrow’s race. The bike runs well and is quite fast, it’s not still perfect in the front which is going to lose the line, but we know how to recover to reduce the defect. Now I feel quite better, I have just some pain in the shoulder. Today I’ve been 8 tenth faster as yesterday and on this track I got always good results. I hope so to give a good performance to everybody who helped me, particularly to Ducati and to the whole team.” Also if a bit disappointed for missing a front row position Lorenzo Lanzi is however satisfied for today’s result. “Unfortunately a couple of mistakes, first at Villeneuve corner and then at Rivazza, slowed me down in Superpole and for a few hundredth of second that are missing for the front row.” – said back in the pit Lorenzo Lanzi. “That’s a pity because my second split has been perfect. The bike is very good thanks the great work of the team, I have an excellent pace for the race and during afternoon session I’ve been the only fastest as the 1’49″ limit using race tyres, a laptime that I repeat in Superpole. We worked a lot for selecting the race tyres and I believe that we found a good solution. Weather forecast for tomorrow speak for rain danger ant it would be a pity because Vermeulen and Corser are very fast, but all the Ducati team is ready to fight on his home-track and in front our fans.” More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse: LACONI AND TOSELAND CLAIM FRONT-ROW GRID POSITIONS FOR DUCATI XEROX TEAM AT IMOLA Imola (Italy), Saturday 1 October: Ducati Xerox Team riders Régis Laconi and James Toseland both claimed front-row grid positions for tomorrow’s eleventh and penultimate round of the World Superbike Championship at Imola’s Enzo & Dino Ferrari Circuit. With a time of 1m48.506s, Laconi was half-a-second off the record pace set by poleman Chris Vermeulen (Honda), but the Frenchman clinched the second slot on the grid ahead of championship leader Troy Corser (Suzuki), while James Toseland was just a fraction slower in fourth place with a time of 1m48.867s. Lorenzo Lanzi, riding for the Ducati SC team but carrying extra Xerox logos on the bike’s front and side fairings, completed an excellent day for the factory F05 machines around Imola with fifth place on the grid for tomorrow’s two races. “It was a good lap and I am very surprised that I can ride the bike like that in my condition because the right arm still has not enough power in the triceps and I have to push hard with my legs and also with my left arm to stay on the bike” declared Laconi. “I did 7 or 8 laps without getting tired and I hope tomorrow everything will be OK because the team have done a great job to be fast this weekend. We improved the bike a lot and it is now quite easy to ride. I have also been working very hard with the physiotherapist in the last month in preparation for this weekend. The first race will be hard, the second even harder but I am very happy with the set-up and we made a great result today in Superpole for Ducati”. “I crashed yesterday and my main finger for the brake is not working so well so I’m braking with my middle finger basically!” declared Toseland. “Chris did a fantastic lap to take pole, I made a slight mistake in sector two on my Superpole lap and paid for it, and maybe I could have been a couple of places higher. It wasn’t a 48 zero but it certainly would have been better. We’ve got a good race set-up for tomorrow and we’ve been doing consistently good lap times. I think we can still be a bit faster but with the changes I’ve made I’m sure we can be competitive”.