Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By Glenn LeSanto

Hodgson Continues To Dominate Qualifying

Britain’s Neil Hodgson maintained his grip on qualifying at the first round of the 2003 WSB season here in Valencia this morning.

Although Hodgson was unable to better the time he set in yesterday’s qualifying, he stayed on top of the time sheet as no other rider was able to join him in the 1-minute 34-second bracket.

Hodgson’s Ducati Fila teammate Ruben Xaus came close, lapping at 1:35.069, but then the Spaniard was held up by a couple of slower riders on his final flying lap.

Australian Troy Corser put a smile on his boss’s face as Carl Fogarty watched his number one rider take the Petronas to an impressive third-fastest, lapping the twisting Spanish circuit at 1:35.200. But some question marks hang over the ability of the Foggy Petronas Triple maintaining the pace over race distance–James Hayden’s FP1 suffered a big engine failure during qualifying on Saturday. The Petronas team is not exactly forthcoming with real information and the riders are all under contract to be guarded when talking to the press. Nevertheless, a provisional third place on the grid as we go into Superpole is a brilliant achievement for a bike so young.

Behind Troy Corser, Chris Walker was enjoying himself, posting consistently fast lap times although unable to improve on his Friday time. Only a late charge by Xaus and Corser shifted him down the order to fourth. Walker shared a best lap time of 1:35.347 with his HM Plant Ducati teammate, James Toseland.

Australian Steve Martin did an impressive 1:35.552 on what is still pretty experimental Pirelli rubber. He was obviously pushing his tyres hard and after the session he commented; “I nearly crashed five times on that lap!”

New rules limiting the number of tyres to 13 each session may help keep budgets down but Pirelli engineers feel it counts against them. Whereas Dunlop can experiment with different covers across their many riders, Pirelli have only three men to bring back that all-important feedback, so they are going to make slower progress in choosing the ideal tyres. Creative methods of circumventing the rule have already appeared, with four grooves being hand-cut into slicks to make them “rain tyres.” There are no restrictions on the use of rain tyres in dry conditions, yet.

Combined Qualifying Times:

1. Neil Hodgson, Ducati 999F03, 1:34.932
2. Ruben Xaus, Ducati 999F03, 1:35.069
3. Troy Corser, Foggy FP1, 1:35.200
4. Chris Walker, Ducati 998F02, 1:35.347
5. James Toseland, Ducati 998F02, 1:35.347
6. Steve Martin, Ducati 998RS, 1:35.552
7. Pierfrancesco Chili, Ducati 998RS, 1:35.687
8. Regis Laconi, Ducati 998RS, 1:36.150
9. James Haydon, Foggy FP1, 1:36.176
10. Marco Borciani, Ducati 998RS, 1:36.305
11. Giovanni Bussei, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:36.492
12. Lucio Pedercini, Ducati 998RS, 1:36.499
13. Gregorio Lavilla, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:36.551
14. Mauro Sanchini, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:36.553
15. David Garcia, Ducati 998RS, 1:36.560
16. Juan Borja, Ducati 998RS, 1:36.847
17. Nello Russo, Ducati 998RS, 1:37.037
18. Ivan Clementi, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:37.082
19. Walter Tortoroglio, Honda RC51, 1:37.415
20. Alex Gramigni, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:37.573