FIM Superbike World Championship Valencia, Spain April 21 First Qualifying Results: 1. Troy CORSER (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 1:34.920 2. Troy BAYLISS (Ducati 999F06) 1:34.963 3. Steve MARTIN (Foggy Petronas FP1) 1:35.653 4. Noriyuki HAGA (Yamaha YZF-R1) 1:35.658 5. Yukio KAGAYAMA (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 1:35.670 6. Ruben XAUS (Ducati 999F05) 1:35.721 7. Norick ABE (Yamaha YZF-R1) 1:35.974 8. Lorenzoo LANZI (Ducati 999F06) 1:35.999 9. Fonsi NIETO (Kawasaki ZX-10R) 1:36.004 10. Fabien FORET (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 1:36.026 11. James TOSELAND (Honda CBR1000RR) 1:36.116 12. Alex BARROS (Honda CBR1000RR) 1:36.130 13. Regis LACONI (Kawasaki ZX-10R) 1:36.161 14. Andrew PITT (Yamaha YZF-R1) 1:36.262 15. Chris WALKER (Kawasaki ZX-10R) 1:36.428 16. Michel FABRIZIO (Honda CBR1000RR) 1:36.658 17. Shinichi NAKATOMI (Yamaha YZF-R1) 1:36.794 18. Roberto ROLFO (Ducati 999F05) 1:36.848 19. Vittorio IANNUZZO (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 1:36.975 20. Gianluca NANNELLI (Honda CBR1000RR) 1:37.081 More, from a press release issued by Team Klaffi Honda: Day one – nice and sunny weather at Valencia. Alex enjoyed it to be out on the track again. He worked on the set up of his Klaffi Honda Fireblade to adjust it perfectly for the track of the Ricardo Tormo Circuit. The only problem in the morning was that the surface of the race track was not very clean caused by some heavy rain showers the day before. In the second third of the Free Practice Alex past a patch of mud on the track. He lost his front tyre and had a small crash. Alex lost some time and so he had no chance to test all the different tyres for the track. In the first Qualifying session during the afternoon Alex tried a new adjustment of the set-up of his bike. But this was no good choice. Alex Barros: “The suspension was not really better. Tomorrow we will work in the different direction. Also I used my tyres economically and the bike became worse in the end of the session.” Team Manager Klaus Klaffenböck: “After his crash this morning Alex had only one bike and it was not possible to optimise the set-up as it was our intention. Also he focused on a long distance use of the tyres. So Alex finished 12th today but this was not the final decision.” More, from a press release issued by Winston Ten Kate Honda: TOSELAND THE TOP HONDA RIDER AT VALENCIA James Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda) finished the first day of qualifying at Valencia as the fastest CBR1000RR Honda rider on show, despite knowing beforehand that Valencia would be one of the main challenges encountered during his 2006 World Championship campaign. After a day spent testing settings and working on race set-up, the 2004 champ sits 11th on the time sheets. Acting as stand in for regular team rider Karl Muggeridge at this race, Giovanni Bussei (Winston ten Kate Honda) had his first ride on the CBR1000RR in the morning untimed session, before setting 25th fastest time out of 33 entrants. It was the Italian riders first outing since the final race of 2005, and he spent the day easing himself back up to full racing speed With the threat of rain a constant concern to all the riders at Valencia, the afternoon qualifying session was a tense affair, and the weather predictions for the entire weekend allow for the possibility of rain at any stage. Ronald Ten Kate – Team Manager “Not an easy day for us. This morning, at the beginning of the session, and again this afternoon, we encountered the same problems as we had in our recent tests here. Towards the end we changed things a little bit and made some steps forward. We can improve tomorrow for sure. Giovanni is taking it step-by-step, and I am really pleased that he is approaching it, having been off a bike since Magny Cours last year. That’s a long time to be out, but he is doing well so far, constantly improving. If it is dry again tomorrow he will improve quite a bit, I’m sure of it.” James Toseland Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider (11th position 1’36.116) “Not such an easy day but basically because we have been testing things we did not get the chance to at the Misano test we missed. Not new parts or anything, just a different setting to solve a problem we have. We have tried a lot of things here and one bike is quite a lot different to the other bike, just to see how this affects the problem we have. We tried another tyre which proved to be better, and a new rear shock as well, and the final time was nearly a second faster. But I am not so sure how much was in the tyre and how much in the rear shock. It was one of those days where we had to try a lot of things, even if we didn’t have much success with most of them. At the end were doing consistently good lap times, and we have a pretty good base to work on for tomorrow, when I’m sure we can erase all the things from today. Our position in the times does not tell you where we really stand and I feel quite comfortable with our settings.” Giovanni Bussei Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider (25th position 1’37.520) “That was not so easy, and it has been quite along time for me without riding a race bike. So coming here in Valencia, where all the riders tested quite recently, was not so easy. This morning I was just trying to get comfortable as I built up speed. We looked for balance on the bike and we found some good improvements. I hope that it will not rain tomorrow, so that I can continue to improve. I look forward to being competitive on Sunday, although it is not going to be simple. But this afternoon was a lot more comfortable than this morning.” More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse: BAYLISS SECOND QUICKEST FOR DUCATI XEROX AS BATTLE OF TWO TROYS CONTINUES AT VALENCIA Valencia (Spain), Friday 21 April: Troy Bayliss set second quickest time for the Ducati Xerox Team as his battle with reigning champion Troy Corser (Suzuki) continued in first qualifying at Valencia. Just 43/100ths of a second separated the two Australian rivals after the one-hour session while another Aussie, Steve Martin (Petronas) and Japan’s Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) made up the other two slots on the provisional front row of the grid. “I can’t be fastest all the time but all things considered everything is going OK” declared Troy. “We made a couple of minor changes to the bike in Misano and everything seemed to work quite well. When we came here the bike is so close to what it was last time we were here but we seem to be missing a little bit of feeling in the front. So one bike we’re definitely going to have exactly the same tomorrow morning and test it again, but honestly we’re going OK and the times are good. Valencia is a bit strange in the afternoon, you struggle for grip but on the race tyre, I’m using the hardest one possible and it seems to be working well. This morning I did a lot of laps on it and this afternoon we were just making a few changes here and there. It maybe wasn’t as good a session as it could have been but it was OK”. Lorenzo Lanzi improved later in the session to eighth place but then crashed out with a couple of minutes remaining. “I was pushing hard because tomorrow it looks as if it’s going to rain and I wanted to be as far up the timesheets as possible. I was doing another good time after the one that put me into eighth place, then I crashed in the second right hander. The front of the bike just turned in on me, I tried to keep it up and finish the curve but there was nothing doing. But there’s no problem and I’m not hurt”. More, from a press release issued by Foggy Petronas Racing: Martin third for FPR after day one in Spain Steve Martin’s stunning early season form continued today when he finished the first qualifying session at round three of the Superbike World Championship at Valencia, Spain, in third place. Only championship contenders Troy Corser and Troy Bayliss were able to better Steve’s fastest lap of 1:35.653. That represented an improvement on his fastest lap on race tyres during the recent test at the Ricardo Tormo circuit, and Steve was confident of breaking into the 1:34s on qualifying tyres tomorrow. He said: “The day has gone really well, although we had a few niggling electrical problems throughout the day. We carried on where we left off for the test, but it is not easy to be up there because every rider here is so fast it’s not funny! The forecast for tomorrow was not great so I put a softer rear in at the end of the session, knowing that I might not make it into Superpole otherwise, and put everything into it. But, as well as the fast laps, we managed to do a lot of race testing and we will now be concentrating on our race distance set-up.” The day did not go as smoothly for team-mate Craig Jones, who struggled with engine management problems and finished the afternoon session on 30th. He said: “I can’t remember a day like today and it’s frustrating, having had five trouble-free days of testing. The bike doesn’t seem to have been running properly all day. I actually got into a decent rhythm mid-session and was expecting to knock another second off. But I am only four tenths off the time I set in testing here, although I know I should be doing better as the chassis feels great.” More, from a press release issued by FGSport Group: CORSER TAKES OPENING DAY ADVANTAGE AT VALENCIA – REIGNING CHAMP REASSERTS AUTHORITY Troy Corser (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) won the opening battle of the Valencia weekend, taking the fastest time in the first qualifying session. With dark clouds overhead, and a cooling track surface, Corser displaced the man who looked likely to take the fastest lap, Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) with his 1’34.920 lap, easing out his countryman by 0.043 seconds. MARTIN MAGNIFICENT FOR THE PETRONAS TEAM Despite giving away 100cc to most of the competition, Steve Martin (Foggy Petronas FP-1) scored another remarkable milestone for both himself and his team by securing third fastest time on the opening day. Some 0.733 seconds shy of Corser, Martin nonetheless beat a further 30 riders to record his third place, at a circuit which clearly suits the sweet-handling three-cylinder FP-1. HAGA COMPLETES TOP FOUR Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) headed off the challenge of his friend and countryman Yukio Kagayama (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) to take fourth place on the timesheets on day one. Just behind, local hero Ruben Xaus (Sterilgarda Berik Ducati) proved top Spanish rider in sixth place. A quite superb showing from Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) saw him seventh fastest, at a circuit he was challenging for a podium finish at in 2005, before crashing out of contention. Lorenzo Lanzi survived a late fall on his Ducati Xerox machine with bumps and bruises, but still set the eighth best time. NIETO TOP KAWASAKI RIDER IN SPAIN During a day ended by the threat of rain that never came, Fonsi Nieto (PSG-1 Kawasaki) blasted his way to ninth fastest time, despite failing to set a completely clean lap on his ZX-10R. Privateer Alstare Suzuki rider Fabien Foret showed his speed and ability to learn quickly by posting a top ten time in only his third World Superbike meeting. TOSELAND THE FASTEST HONDA RIDER AFTER THE OPENING SALVOS After Valencia tests in March James Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda) stated that the Ricardo Tormo circuit would be a tough one for his machine, and thus far the rider who is second in the 2006 classification has proved his own predictions true. His 11th place after one day is expected to be improved upon, if day two dawns dry, as he spent much of the first day experimenting with set-up. Alex Barros was second fastest Honda rider, 12th quickest overall on his Klaffi Honda, having suffered a crash in the morning session, and having to use a single bike in the afternoon. WORLD SUPERSPORT CHAMPIONSHIP Sebastien Charpentier (Winston Ten Kate Honda) dismissed the previous qualifying lap record with ease on the first day at Valencia, breaking into the 1’36 bracket with his 1’36.913. His closest challenger, Broc Parkes (Yamaha Motor Germany) was fully 1.029 seconds behind the French Supersport Superstar, with another Honda rider, Katsuaki Fujiwara (Megabike Honda) in third, proving that he has largely recovered from the wrist injury he suffered at the start of the season. Once more Danish rider Robbin Harms impressed with his speed on Stiggy Motorsports Honda, setting fourth best time in a field of 38 would-be qualifiers. Spanish-resident American Kenny Noyes (Yamaha Team GMT94) was 14th fastest. More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Haga hot in Valencia qualifying Noriyuki Haga was in fine form during qualifying for Sunday’s third round of the Superbike World Championship, ending the day fourth on the timesheets. Having enjoyed successful tests at Valencia and Misano prior to this event, the Japanese star was able to take advantage of the Yamaha Motor Italia team’s continuing development work to put his YZF-R1 to the head of the timesheets for much of the session, only to be displaced in the closing stages. Despite his provisional front row starting position, Haga and his team will work on improving rear tyre grip and endurance ahead of Sunday’s two races. Haga’s team-mate Andrew Pitt had a difficult first day in Valencia, struggling with set-up problems that saw him slide off at slow speed during the session. The Australian started the day with the settings used successfully during the recent Misano test, only to revert back to the tried and Valencia set-up with limited success. The former supersport world champion was perplexed by the lack of front end feeling offered by his machine and will work with his team on rectifying the situation ahead of tomorrow’s final qualifying and superpole sessions. Despite his problems Pitt still ended the day in 14th position. Yamaha Motor France’s Norick Abe had one of his best qualifying performances as a superbike rider. The Japanese star, who fought for a podium placing in Valencia last year, was using a new specification engine for the first time and topped the timesheets during the session, ending the day seventh. Team-mate Shinichi Nakatomi was another giving his best showing of the year, finishing the day in 17th. Provisional pole position was today taken by world champion Troy Corser (Suzuki), with championship leader Troy Bayliss (Ducati) and Steve Martin (Petronas) making it a trio of Australians at the head of the leaderboard. With weather forecasts predicting a high chance of rain, today’s positions could determine the qualifying positions for tomorrow’s top 16 superpole session. Noriyuki Haga “Compared to the test here a few weeks ago the grip levels are very low. Our times are not so bad but we must work on making the rear tyre work better, so tonight we will sit with the team and plan some big changes for tomorrow. This is one of my favourite tracks so I hope that we can find the changes to allow us to fight for the lead over the race distance.” Andrew Pitt “I’ve got a problem with the front end and that caused me to crash. We started today with the settings we used at the Misano test, but they just didn’t work here. We went back to what we used at the test here last month but I was just losing the front end everywhere. It was bouncing up and down and I just couldn’t push at all. We’re going to have to sort it out tonight but I’m not getting down about it. We’re not far off the pace and if we can sort this problem out then we should be right up there.” Norick Abe “My team has worked very hard to improve the engine performance for this race. In the first two races our performances were not so good and at the two tests we had I tried out six or seven engine specifications that did not seem much different. For this race we have another new engine and it is a big improvement. On my time attack lap I came across many slow riders and I was not able to make a faster lap time. I am feeling very confident for the weekend and hope to continue our improvements tomorrow.” Shinichi Nakatomi “It’s my best qualifying so far and I am happy with the progress we have made. The times are very close and I will be doing my best to make the superpole tomorrow.” Massimo Meregalli “It seems that there is some kind of problem on Andrew’s bike because we used the settings from when we rode here earlier this month and it is just not right. We are looking at the problem now and will have it fixed for tomorrow. Noriyuki did a good job but we are still not satisfied, we need to work on improving the set-up and will try some different things for tomorrow.” Martial Garcia “We have made some good improvements to the bike following the Misano test and our riders have responded with some good performances. I am also very pleased with the performance of our other regular rider Sebastien Gimbert. He is not here this weekend as he is competing at Le Mans with Yamaha GMT94 and has put them on pole position.” More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki: Troy Corser has set the fastest time in today’s World Superbike Championship qualifying in Valencia, Spain. The reigning World Champion posted a time of 1:34.920 on his Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra GSX-R1000, which was just over a tenth-of-a-second under the lap record. Team mate Yukio Kagayama posted the fifth fastest time, but the big surprise of the day was Fabien Foret who managed to get into the top 10 for the first time: Foret was ninth quickest until the closing stages, but was pushed down to 10th by a late charge by Fonsi Nieto (Kawasaki). Troy Corser – 1st, 1:34.920: “I’m pretty happy at this stage and it’s always good to top the standings. I liked the balance of the bike today and a lot of that was down to the work we did in the last two tests. Tomorrow we’ll try a few different ideas to try and improve tyre life and reduce rear wheel spin. When the conditions are a little cooler – like this afternoon – the grip is better, but then of course tyre life is worse, so we’ll see what we can improve tomorrow. ” Yukio Kagayama – 1:35.670: “Today was a so-so day, but it was a good so-so day. I’m not so happy with fifth because I would’ve preferred a top-0four finish instead. But we have another day of qualifying – and Superpole – tomorrow. I met some traffic on my fast lap. Otherwise I would’ve been on the provisional front row for sure. There are a couple of points on the track where I need to improve, but if I can sort them out, I think I can make the podiums.” Fabien Foret – 10th, 1:356.026: “My good lap could’ve been better, but I saw a yellow flag and had to ease the pace a little. But I’m happy to finish in the top 10 anyway and I think it is a very positive result for me. Tomorrow we’ll work on suspension and the injection system and see if we can improve the bike. My feeling with it is now more comfortable and I enjoyed myself today.” More, from a press release issued by Troy Corser’s publicist: TROY FIRST! Troy blitzed the lap record on the first day of qualifying at Valencia today and threw down the gauntlet to the rest of the field. Troy’s time of 1:34.920 was a tenth of a second or so under the 2003 lap record set by Neil Hodgson in 2003. Second quickest today is Troy Bayliss (Ducati), with Steve Martin (Petronas) third and Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) fourth. TROY – 1st, 1:34.920 All in all that was a pretty good day. A lot of today’s success was because of the hard work put in by the team in the last two tests – it really paid off. I liked the balance of the bike today and was pretty happy with everything we did. The gearing is OK and all we’ll do tomorrow is try a few different ideas to see if can improve the tyre life. At the moment when the conditions are cooler, we get better grip. But that’s at the expense of tyre life, so we are always trying to find the best combination of grip and wear. In the past this track has been more suited to twins, but we disproved that last year and I aim to do the same this year.