Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By Glenn LeSanto

Ten Kate dominates qualifying

Ten Kate Hondas dominated qualifying for Sunday’s Supersport World Championship race – all the first three bikes on the front row coming from the Ten Kate stable.

Chris Vermeulen, who rides the Ten Kate prepared Van Zon Honda TKR CBR600FS, took pole, his stunning Friday time enough to keep him on top of the pile.

In second spot, Ten Kate Honda rider Fabien Foret was very happy about his qualifying performance but more importantly he is extremely confident for the race. “Qualifying was all good,” smiled Foret. “But I only pushed as hard as I needed to because the race is the most important thing and I didn’t want to take unnecessary risks in qualifying. I concentrated on my race set up, which is excellent. The Pirelli tires are working well and the WP Suspension people have worked very hard, in fact the whole team have pulled very hard this weekend to make everything right for me.”

Foret was pushed hard all the way by his teammate Iain MacPherson, who also had a great qualifying session. “Qualifying went well,” said MacPherson. “We worked hard on a race set-up and we have the bike working really well around here. I’m very confident for the race and I’ll do my best to ensure a good result for Foret.”

Sharing the front row with the Ten Kate trio is Championship contender Stephane Chambon, who sits third in the series at present. Second in the Championship behind Foret by only three points is Katsuaki Fujiwara, and he’s eighth on the grid. Stephane Charpentier provided the surprise of the session by qualifying on the second row in fifth. Paolo Casoli and Karl Muggeridge join him and Fujiwara on the second row.


Combined World Supersport Qualifying Results:

1. Chris Vermeulen, Honda CBR600, 2:06.077
2. Fabien Foret, Honda CBR600, 2:06.219
3. Iain MacPherson, Honda CBR600, 2:06.532
4. Stéphane Chambon, Suzuki GSX-R600, 2:06.765
5. Sebastien Charpentier, Honda CBR600, 2:06.905
6. Paolo Casoli, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:06.997
7. Karl Muggeridge, Honda CBR600, 2:07.012
8. Katsuaki Fujiwara, Suzuki GSX-R600, 2:07.089
9. Kevin Curtain, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:07.304
10. James Whitham, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:07.368
11. Christophe Cogan, Honda CBR600, 2:07.390
12. Alessio Corradi, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:07.419
13. Jan Hanson, Honda CBR600, 2:07.668
14. Andrew Pitt, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 2:07.854
15. Christian Kellner, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:07.902
16. Werner Daemen, Honda CBR600, 2:07.909
17. Robert Ulm, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:07.942
18. Jörg Teuchert, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:07.988
19. Piergiorgio Bontempi, Ducati 748R, 2:08.105
20. Giovanni Bussei, Ducati 748R, 2:08.213
21. James Ellison, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 2:08.416
22. Barry Veneman, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:08.990
23. Stefano Cruciani, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:09.343
24. Laurent Brian, Honda CBR600, 2:09.505
25. Robert Frost, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:09.528
26. Gianluca Nannelli, Ducati 748R, 2:09.561
27. Matthieu Lagrive, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:09.637
28. John McGuinness, Honda CBR600, 2:09.676
29. Claudio Cipriani, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:09.797
30. Antonio Carlacci, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:09.866
31. Christer Lindholm, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:10.107
32. Harry Van Beek, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:10.587
33. Rico Penzkofer, Ducati 748R, 2:11.634
DNQ. Giovanni Valtulini, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:16.884