Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Fujiwara tops first 2003 Supersport qualifying

By Glenn LeSanto

Katsuaki Fujiwara took his Alstare Suzuki to the first provisional pole position of the 2003 season at the Ricardo Tormo circuit, Valencia, Spain.

Despite many riders complaining of slippery conditions, caused partly by dust on the track surface, Fujiwara managed to find enough grip to lap at 1:37.687, that’s within a hundredth of a second of Fabien Foret’s best qualifying lap here in 2002.

He was pushed hard all the way by Australians Chris Vermeulen and Karl Muggeridge, who both ride the new CBR600RR for Ten Kate Honda this year. Vermeulen finished the season-opening qualifying session in second place but wasn’t resting on his laurels, “I’m riding like a wuss!” joked the youngster from Queensland. “The circuit is very slippery even more than it was when we tested here last week,” commented Vermeulen, echoing the views of many riders. His fastest lap was 1:37.839, just 0.152 back on Fujiwara.

Robert Ulm, riding for Team Klaffi Honda, put a third Honda CBR600RR into the provisional top four, slotting in behind Muggeridge with a best lap of 1:37.940. Jorg Teuchert was the fastest of the Yamahas, lapping at 1:38.101 to make him provisional fifth on the Yamaha Germany YZF R6, just in front of Italian Gianluca Nannelli on the Lorenzini by Leoni Yamaha.

The new Kawasaki France team, fielding ex-Ten Kate pairing Pere Riba and Fabien Foret were next in the list. Riba was the fastest of the two ZX-6RR riders, his 1:38.355 made him seventh fastest just in front of Foret who lapped at a best time of 1:38.401.

Fujiwara’s team mate, Stephane Chambon was unable to ride as a result of back injuries sustained when he high-sided during the SBK test here last week.

World Supersport Championship
Valencia, 28 Feb to 2 March, 2003

Friday Qualifying, best times:

1. K. Fujiwara, JPN, Suzuki, 1:37.687
2. C. Vermeulen, AUS, Honda, 1:37.839
3. K. Muggeridge, AUS, Honda, 1:37.927
4. R. Ulm, AUT, Honda, 1:37.940
5. J. Teuchert, GER, Yamaha, 1:38.101
6. G. Nannelli, ITA, Yamaha, 1:38.282
7. P. Riba, ESP, Kawasaki, 1:38.355
8. F. Foret, FRA, Kawasaki, 1:38.401
9. C. Kellner, GER, Yamaha, 1:38.423
10. W. Daemen, BEL, Honda, 1:38.597


More, from a press release issued by Honda Racing:

HONDA’S NEW RR ON FORM IN SPAIN

Honda’s new CBR600RR flooded the provisional front row of the grid after Friday’s first qualifying session for the opening World Supersport championship round of the year at Valencia, Spain.

Ten Kate’s Chris Vermeulen, the fastest rider at the Valencia test session five days before, closed to within 0.2s of Friday¹s pace-setter Katsuaki Fujiwara.

Second-placed Vermeulen couldn’t repeat his 1:37.331 lap of last week but remains in confident mood, he said: “I think we got everything right apart from the fast lap. But the new tyre rule means we’re watching how many rear tyres we use and I made sure I saved some soft tyres for tomorrow afternoon.”

Vermeulen’s team-mate in the Dutch team, Karl Muggeridge, took third place on the provisional grid after a 45-minute session focused on improving the Australian rider’s race set-up. Muggeridge commented: “The bike feels great. We played around with the fuelling a little bit and improved the performance but overall we have a great package for the season.”

Completing the provisional front row is Robert Ulm on the Klaffi team’s Honda. Yet the dismayed Austrian said: “I made a mistake on my last lap, in the last section of the track, otherwise I could have been fastest ­ but there’s always tomorrow!”

Van Zon Honda¹s Werner Daemen completed the top 10, overjoyed with the race set-up of his 600cc machine, he revealed: “To have the race setting sorted on Friday afternoon is great. The fast laps were relatively easy today. And, but for a crash in front of me, I should have recorded a better lap time.”

BKM’s Christophe Cogan expects a better performance tomorrow than his 11th place today as he explained: “We only received a lot of the engine parts in the last couple of days so there will be a few changes to the gearbox and motor tonight now we have a direction to work in.”

Daemen’s team-mate Iain MacPherson bounced back from a crash to record the 12th best time, the Scotsman said: “I’d been having a few problems with the front suspension and the front wheel just tucked under as I came out of the
right-hand hairpin in the middle of the circuit.”

BKM Honda’s Broc Parkes also suffered a crash, putting his preferred machine out of action. The Australian ended the day in 16th place, he explained: “We had a lot of parts to test today and that crash really set me back. I crashed at the left-hander at the end of the back straight, the same place I crashed at last week¹s test!”

Gianluigi Scalvini took his Klaffi Honda to 17th place after only a handful of test days aboard the machine as the Italian makes his World Supersport debut. Scalvini commented: “The temperature was a lot warmer today than last
week’s test, that’s changed the setting of the bike and we’ll be having a re-think tonight.”

Friday’s World Supersport championship qualifying times:
1 Katsuaki Fujiwara, Japan (Suzuki) 1:37.687

2 Chris Vermeulen, Australia (Honda) 1:37.839

3 Karl Muggeridge, Australia (Honda) 1:37.927

4 Robert Ulm, Austria (Honda) 1:37.940

5 Jorg Teuchert, Germany (Yamaha) 1:38.101

6 Gianluca Nannelli, Italy (Yamaha) 1:38.282

7 Pere Riba, Spain (Kawasaki) 1:38.355

8 Fabien Foret, France (Kawasaki) 1:38.401

9 Christian Kellner, Germany (Yamaha) 1:38.423

10 Werner Daemen, Belgium (Honda) 1:38.597

11 Christophe Cogan, France (Honda) 1:38.646

12 Iain MacPherson, GB (Honda) 1:38.817