On the second day at Misano Alex Barros and the crew of Team Klaffi Honda still had to focus on the settings of the suspension. Alex did a 1’35.312 lap time in the second qualifying session and finished 13th. Alex Barros after qualifying: “This is really difficult today. We still have to work on the front suspension and to try a new solution.” Only a short time later the job was done and in the free practice in the afternoon Alex achieved a 1’34.695. Only Corser, Kagayama and Toseland were faster than the Brazilian rider of Team Klaffi Honda. In Superpole Alex did again a 1’34 lap time and finished 11th. That means a start from the third row tomorrow. Team Manager Klaus Klaffenböck: “The times of the fastest are very, very close. But today we took an important step forwards. The settings for the races tomorrow are perfect and Alex feels very well with his Fireblade.” Superpole and Starting Grid 1 Toseland J. (Honda) 1’33.833 2 Corser T. (Suzuki) 1’33.866 3 Pitt A. (Yamaha) 1’34.031 4 Martin S. (Petronas) 1’34.178 5 Walker C. (Kawasaki) 1’34.472 6 Haga N. (Yamaha) 1’34.487 7 Bayliss T. (Ducati) 1’34.523 8 Lanzi L. (Ducati) 1’34.556 9 Laconi R. (Kawasaki) 1’34.648 10 Kagayama Y. (Suzuki) 1’34.685 More, from a press release issued by Team Yamaha Motor France-Ipone: Superbike World Championship Round 6 Misano (Italy) 6/25/06 Qualifying Team Yamaha Motor France – Ipone Nakatomi with courage Despite breaking his radius during the last race at Silverstone, Shinichi Nakatomi qualified within the 16 fastest riders for his first ever Superpole. He was during this difficult task in 13th position. Sebastien Gimbert was 19th and Norick Abe 22nd. During the first timed session, Shinichi Nakatomi ended up 19th with a time of 1:36.111, Sebastien Gimbert 20th in 1:36.144 and Norick Abe, on a track he does like so much, 24th in 1:36.625. For the second time session on Saturday morning, the temperature was lower. It was 31° C on Friday (53° Cfor the track), and on Saturday 28° C (and 44° C). The three riders went quicker, with Shinichi Nakatomi qualifying for the Superpole with the 16th time in 1:35.593. Sebastien Gimbert was 19th in 1:35.781 and Norick Abe was 22nd in 1:36.061. The free practice session was much more dramatic with a crash for Nakatomi, happily with only two fingers bruised. Sebastien Gimbert crashed more violently in the first left hand corner of the track. His left foot was hurt, but no bones broken. So the two courageous riders will be able to race, but it will be difficult for them to fully show their real possibilities. Shinichi Nakatomi: “I am delighted to qualify for the first time for the Superpole. I almost forgot my arm was hurting as I was 200% motivated and concentrated. I think during the race I can use 70% of my possibilities. I have to be careful not to crash because if this is the case it could have bad consequences for the rest of my season.” Sebastien Gimbert: “It is not very good. The tyres were turning on the wheels and sometime it is OK for three fourths of the lap, then the tyre turns and there is a lot of shattering. Also the front suspension is going down too far but we could not find a solution with the fork. So there is less grip on the rear wheel when I accelerate and there is less grip on the front when I enter the curves.” Norick Abe: “It is obviously not good. But by the end of the second times session we found a good direction for the settings and we worked on it during the free practices. I want Sunday to be an other day, not like Friday and Saturday.” Martial Garcia (team manager): :I am very happy of the Superpole for Nakatomi. Considering his handicap, he proved he has impressive qualities. Sebastien Gimbert did a superb job as he is only 1.3 seconds from the best time. In 1:35.7 he would have been third of the qualifying practices last year. He had trouble this year with the tyres turning on the wheels. Norick Abe will prove during the race that he has the great talent that everybody knows.” Qualifying results: 1-Toseland (Honda) 1:33.833 ; 2-Corser (Suzuki) 1:33.866 ; 3-Pitt (Yamaha) 1:34.031 ; 4-Martin (Foggy Petronas) 1:34.178 ; 5-Walker (Kawasaki) 1:34.472; 13-Nakatomi (Yamaha) 1:35.003; 19-Gimbert (Yamaha) 1:35.781; 22-Abe (Yamaha) 1:36.061 World Championship standings: 1-Bayliss (Ducati) 225 points; 2-Corser (Suzuki) 149; 3-Haga (Yamaha) 133; 4-Toseland (Honda) 129; 5-Barros (Honda) 113; 9-Abe (Yamaha) 51; 17-Nakatomi (Yamaha) 18; 23-Gimbert (Yamaha) 7 More, from a press release issued by Winston Ten Kate Honda: 2006 Superbike World Championship Round 6 Misano (Italy) June 24 2006 Superpole TOSELAND SCORES SUPERPOLE WIN AFTER SUPERB FLYING LAP James Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda) proved that all the pre-race work in getting the qualifying set-up of his CBR1000RR optimised around Misano had paid dividends, taking the Superpole win and putting himself in the prime position for Sunday’s two 25-lap races. It was his first Superpole win since joining the Winston Ten Kate Honda Team this season. His time of 1’33.833 was the best time of any weekend official qualifying session, despite the hot and slippery track surface. Having qualified eighth in regulation, Toseland rode superbly to top the sheets and look on as rider after rider failed to match his peerless best. Joining Toseland on the front row will be Aussies Troy Corser, Andrew Pitt and Steve Martin. Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda) had an opposite experience to Toseland, having spent much of his set-up time working with worn tyres, and finding his machine’s settings upset somewhat when he adopted fresh rubber, and attempted to set individual fast laps. He starts the race from the fifth row, having set 20th fastest time, missing out on Superpole qualification. Muggeridge’s artificially low grid position will be a major initial handicap on raceday but the team is confident that his race set-up should allow him to make up places throughout the race itself. Ronald Ten Kate – Team Manager “Quite a stunning lap from James. We haven’t seen him quite on the pace all weekend, even on race tyres. But after the Silverstone experience, where we only qualified 14th, we realised how important it is, especially during the hot conditions, to start at the front. We had a good strategy in free practice, to make the bike and James ready for Superpole. He made a truly super lap out of it, so I am looking forward to tomorrow. I know that James is in very good physical shape and this has been a nice boost in motivation to all of us. On the other side of the garage it is almost an opposite situation. Karl didn’t make Superpole, which is very strange. But in free practice before Superpole he showed that he had found his feet again, so I know he will race hard tomorrow and I am sure he will give 100% to bring in a strong result.” James Toseland Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider (Pole Position Fastest lap time 1’33.833) “It was important for us to set a fast lap time, and for me especially as I have some of my family here for this weekend. The Winston Ten Kate Honda bike is always fast and the team worked really well. I am very well prepared for tomorrow and need to make a good start. I’m happy to be on pole and I love the track here at Misano. It’s been three years since my last pole position, at Magny Cours. I’m looking forward to tomorrow but I know it will be hard work out there.” Karl Muggeridge Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider (20th position Fastest lap time 1’35.864) “Our plans all went pear-shaped this morning. We jumped from one bike to another bike, then jumped back again. Too many things to change and we ended up with no tyres as well. Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong so it’s going to be a tough race tomorrow, extra hot, and it’s not particularly easy to overtake here. But you can, and I am going to have to, at just about every corner. So we just have to concentrate on our settings for tomorrow in warm-up.” SUPERPOLE: 1. Toseland – Winston Ten Kate Honda – 1’33.833 2. Corser – Suzuki – 1’33.866 3. Pitt – Yamaha – 1’34.031 4. Martin – Petronas – 1’34.178 5. Walker – Kawasaki – 1’34.472 20. Muggeridge – Winston Ten Kate Honda – 1’35.864 More, from a press release issued by Scuderia SC Caracchi: FOURTH ROW FOR ROBY ROLFO AT MISANO SUPERBIKE (Misano 2006 June 24) Fired practices today at Misano, and not only for the hot temperature on Santamonica Circuit. Roberto Rolfo will start tomorrow from the fourth row after a not very brilliant Superpole session where, also increasing the lap time achieved in qualifying session, has not been able to earn any starting position. “Today too has been a positive day.” said a quite satisfied Roberto Rolfo. “It’s a pity that I sleeped a little bit during the Superpole lap; the bike was running very well and the soft tyres had a very good grip, despite the hot temperature. But for tomorrow’s races I’m confident to be ready, we made a test in race condition and I covered several laps in a good pace. Tomorrow to have a good start will be very important, but with such hot weather 25 laps are very hard to run, both for the tyres as well for the rider, so the final laps will be very interesting to see.” Luka Nedog improved his lap time of yesterday for a second, but goes on to be not satisfied about his bike’s handling. “That’s true, I improved my lap time, but I still have traction troubles.” said at the end of qualifying Luka Nedog “When I open the throttle outing the corners the bike starts sliding and I’m forced to slow down, so I lose time, that happened with all the tyres, soft or hard. The problem lives most in the central sector of the track, where are the decisive corners. In all other things the bike is very good, now I like the front after the solution we found yesterday. For the race I don’t know what we’ll be able to do,on this track is quite difficult to pass and my starting position is quite behind.” For Stuart Easton went on the black day and the Scottish rider has not been able to improve his lap time, finishing far from the leaders the qualifying session. “We worked a lot today.” related a disappointed Stuart Easton at the end of the day “But I go on to have any confidence with the front, just like yesterday afternoon. The engine push very hard, but in such setting conditions I’m not able to ride and unfortunately I’ve been not able to understand the cause.” More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse: Saturday Jun 24 2006 Superpole – Saturday ROW 2 STARTS FOR BAYLISS AND LANZI (DUCATI XEROX TEAM) AS SCORCHING SUPERPOLE SPRINGS A FEW SURPRISES Misano Adriatico (Italy), Saturday 24 June: Troy Bayliss and Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) will line up on the second row of the grid for tomorrow’s sixth round of the World Superbike Championship at Misano Adriatico following today’s Superpole scorcher. Points leader Bayliss, quickest in both qualifying sessions, was unable to find the required rhythm in the one-lap dash and could only qualify in seventh place as James Toseland (Honda) took the pole. “That was a messy lap” declared Troy, “I nearly lost the front and then in the second last chicane almost hit the ripple-strip. I had no rhythm at all with the qualifying tyre. I am a little bit disappointed but it makes it all a little bit more interesting tomorrow. However we did a long-run in the free practice and did a pretty good job. I don’t think anyone else can run at my pace so I’m feeling very confident for the race. For sure the second row makes a little bit of difference but I’ll get a good start and go on from there.” After qualifying thirteenth yesterday, Lorenzo Lanzi made considerable progress today. In this morning’s second and final qualifying session the Italian moved up to seventh place and then finished eighth in Superpole to earn a row 2 start for the races behind team-mate Bayliss. “In Superpole I was the quickest in the first sector, but half-way through the lap the tyre started to go off” commented Lorenzo. “That was a real pity because it was the same tyre that I had tried before in the free practice and it promised really well for Superpole. Eighth place is not entirely satisfactory, but I’m on the second row so we’ll see how it goes from there”.