Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By Glenn Le Santo

Yamaha take pole in Silverstone World Supersport qualifying

Jurgen vd Goorbergh put his Yamaha R6 on pole with only four minutes to go, setting a time of 1:56.096 that proved too quick for the chasing Suzuki’s to match.

Stephane Chambon and Katsuaki Fujiwara pushed the Yamaha-mounted Dutchman hard right up until the session timed out but were unable to budge him from pole. Chambon’s 1:56.543 earned him second ahead of Fujiwara who recorded a best lap of 1:56.586. Simone Sanna is the surprise addition to the front row with a best time of 1:56.622, joining his Belgarda Yamaha team mate vd Goorbergh at the front.

Noticeable by their absence from the front row are the two Ten Kate Hondas of Chris Vermeulen and Karl Muggeridge. The pair struggled with traffic and found themselves down in sixth and 13th respectively. They blamed traffic on their fast qualifying laps for their relatively poor grid position.


World Supersport Qualifying Results:

1. Jurgen vd Goorbergh, Yamaha, 1:56.096
2. Stephane Chambon, Suzuki, 1:56.543
3. Katsuaki Fujiwara, Suzuki, 1:56.586
4. Simone Sanna, Yamaha, 1:56.622
5. Alessio Corradi, Yamaha, 1:56.681
6. Chris Vermeulen, Honda, 1:56.719
7. Robert Ulm, Honda, 1:56.801
8. Fabien Foret, Kawasaki, 1:56.808
9. Pere Riba, Kawasaki, 1:57.037
10. Thierry vd Bosch, Yamaha, 1:57.073
11. Broc Parkes, Honda, 1:57.075
12. Matthieu Lagrive, Yamaha, 1:57.370
13. Karl Muggeridge, Honda, 1:57.432
14. Werner Daemen, Honda, 1:57.475
15. Iain MacPherson, Honda, 1:57.489
16. Sebastien Charpentier, Honda, 1:57.496
17. Christophe Cogan, Honda, 1:57.674
18. Christian Kellner, Yamaha, 1:57.889
19. Stefano Cruciani, Kawasaki, 1:58.087
20. Jorg Teuchert, Yamaha, 1:58.475


More, from a press release issued on behalf of Ten Kate Honda:

Heavy traffic keeps Ten Kate Honda off front row

For only the second time this season the Ten Kate Honda team will start a World Supersport race without a rider on the front row of the grid.

Both riders, championship leader Chris Vermeulen and his team mate Karl Muggeridge complained of heavy traffic ruining their fast qualifying laps.

“It’s not usual for us to be off the front row,” admitted team manager Ronald ten Kate. “I’m not happy that we’ll have to start from so far back tomorrow, but at least I know our lads can go quick on race tyres – before the qualifiers started going in we were consistently in the top four. We have some work to do before the race fine tuning our set up and I’m sure we’ll be treated to an explosive start to the race.”

The riders confirmed ten Kate’s view. “The Honda CBR600RR is fast and working really well on both race and qualifying tyres,” said Vermeulen. “But as soon as I got my qualifying tyre on I got caught in traffic.”

“I had just the same problems, the bike was going good and both Pirelli and WP Suspension had worked really hard to find a set up that could cope with the mix of fast turns and slow, bumpy turns.” confirmed Muggeridge. “But when I came around on my fast lap there were about eight riders coming out of the pit lane and I got caught behind them for next few turns.”


More, from a press release issued by Yamaha:

Jurgen van den Goorbergh grabbed the first pole position of his Supersport career with a sensational lap at Silverstone today.

Despite having no previous experience of the fast English circuit, the Yamaha Belgarda Team rider was in blistering form, setting a time almost half-a-second faster than second-placed Stephane Chambon (Suzuki).



After a day learning the circuit on Friday, the Dutchman set the fastest time in the Saturday morning free practice session. He remained calm in the final qualifying session, using most of the 45-minute session to test tyres. Despite a big slide, his first flying lap, set with around ten minutes remaining, moved him from 18th place to pole. He was able to improve the time further after pitting for a new rear tyre.

“I really like this track,” declared Van den Goorbergh. “There are some great, fast corners and I have learned the lines quickly. The bike is excellent, really fast, and I’m confident that we have found a good race tyre for tomorrow.”

Joining Jurgen on the front row is his team-mate Simone Sanna. The Italian shrugged off a crash early in the second qualifying session to qualify fourth in what is only his sixth race on a four-stroke machine.

In a good day’s work for the YZF-R6 riders Alessio Corradi (Yamaha Team Italia Spadaro) qualified fifth, while Yamaha Motor France IPONE riders Thierry van den Bosch and Matthieu Lagrive also had their best qualifying of the season, 10th and 12th respectively.

Of the regular Yamaha runners, only the Yamaha Motor Germany team were disappointed with their positions. Christian Kellner and Jorg Teuchert battled to find ideal suspension settings for their machines and will start tomorrow’s 19-lap race from 18th and 20th on the grid.