Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Hodgson fastest as first shots fired in WSB 2003

By Glenn LeSanto

Neil Hodgson celebrated his new factory Ducati 999 ride in style by storming to the top of the timesheet in the first timed qualifying session of the 2003 World Superbike season.

Resplendent in the new Ducati Fila livery Hodgson got on with the job of producing fast lap after fast lap, recording a fastest time of 1:34.932. With conditions at the circuit far from ideal due to dust on the track Hodgson’s time was slower than Ben Bostrom’s best lap of 1:34.649 set during qualifying last year.

A re-run of Hodgson’s epic battle with Chris Walker in the 2000 British Superbike championship looks likely, Walker, on the HM Plant Ducati, was second quickest at 1:35.347. Spaniard Ruben Xaus will want to improve on his grid position, he’s in provisional third on the factory Ducati 999 but he’ll want to make sure he finishes in front of Walker!

The lack of full-factory machines meant privateers have a real chance of podium places this season. Frankie Chili and Steve Martin underlined this point by finishing the session fourth and fifth fastest respectively.

Talking of factory machines, things look to be improving in the Foggy pit garage as Troy Corser upped the pace to slot his FP1 into provisional seventh place with a time of 1:35.908. Four-times World Superbike champion and team owner Carl Fogarty said he was happy with progress. The team are billing this weekend’s debut race for the FP1 as ‘historic.’

Putting their achievement into perspective was Gregorio Lavilla, he was way down at 12th-fastest on the Suzuki, making him the second multi-cylinder bike – well behind Corser’s FP1. Lavilla’s time of 1:36.836 was nearly a second off Corser’s pace.

Superbike World Championship
Round One, Valencia, Spain, 28 February to 2 March, 2003

Fastest Times, Friday Qualifying:

1. N. Hodgson, GBR, Ducati, 1:34.932
2. C. Walker, GBR, Ducati, 1:35.347
3. R. Xaus, ESP, Ducati, 1:35.416
4. P. Chili, ITA, Ducati, 1:35.687
5. S. Martin, AUS, Ducati, 1:35.827
6. J. Toseland, GBR, Ducati, 1:35.839
7. T. Corser, AUS, FP1, 1:35.908
8. M. Borciani, ITA, Ducati, 1:36.305
9. R. Laconi, FRA, Ducati, 1:36.365
10. L. Pedercini, ITA, Ducati, 1:36.499


More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:


DUCATI CORSE PRESS INFORMATION

THE NEW DUCATI 999 QUICK AT VALENCIA HODGSON AND XAUS (TEAM DUCATI FILA) FIRST AND THIRD IN FRIDAY QUALIFYING

Valencia (Spain), Friday 28 February 2003 – Team Ducati Fila riders Neil Hodgson and Ruben Xaus set first and third quickest times in Friday qualifying for the opening round of the 2003 World Superbike Championship at Valencia, Spain. Hodgson set provisional pole with a time of 1:34.932, followed by another British rider Chris Walker (HM Plant Ducati) and Ducati Fila team-mate Ruben Xaus, on 1:35.416.

Three days of testing last week, in more wintry conditions, plus two practice sessions today enabled 29-year-old Hodgson to find a good set-up on his Ducati 999, which is making its track debut in the colours of new sponsor Fila. Hodgson also recorded his best time on lap 25 of a race simulation, a clear sign that the new Michelin tyres are providing excellent results.

“I did race distance this afternoon on the 999, which was quite hard after such a long time off the bike. I had planned to do one anyway for that reason but I felt a bit stiff after” declared Neil. “The bike feels good both at the front and the rear, but the temperatures were much warmer than last week and it was windier so that’s why I found it physically more challenging. Handling is spot on all the way round the track, I’m changing nothing from the settings. Everything feels really smooth, top speed is very good, things couldn’t be better!”

A problem with the steering damper during the morning session slowed team-mate Xaus’s progress, but once it was resolved in the afternoon the 25-year-old from Barcelona began to lap on the pace, and he ended the day third quickest behind Walker.

“I couldn’t really ride the bike this morning, it felt strange at the front” declared Ruben. “It was a steering damper problem that we resolved in the afternoon and I soon got back down into the 1m35s mark again. That’s important because I did everything with a race tyre. I’ve got a good set-up at the rear, the front I still need to work a bit more with, but lap times are not so far from the first guys and I hope I can knock another half-a-second off my best time tomorrow.”


More, from a press release issued by HM Plant Ducati:

Flying the flag

HM Plant Ducati’s Chris Walker has qualified on the provisional front row of the grid after clocking a time of 1:35.347 prior to the first round of the 2003 Superbike World Championship at Valencia. The Nottingham rider was second fastest and only 0.415 seconds behind Ducati Corse’s Neil Hodgson on pole position. Walker’s team-mate James Toseland (1:35.839) was sixth, completing a trio of British riders in the top six positions.

Walker blitzed the opposition in the closing stages of today’s official qualifying session. His time was the fastest he has recorded around the 4km Ricardo Tormo circuit and is a fraction of a second outside Ben Bostrom’s lap record set in last year’s second race.

“Overall, I’m pleased with the way it’s gone today,” said Walker after his impressive time. “We’ve tested quite extensively here over the winter, so we’re fine-tuning the set-up on the HM Plant Ducati and working hard with Dunlop to select the correct race tyre. We’ll continue that process tomorrow, but every time I go out I’m feeling more comfortable with the HM Plant Ducati.”

Toseland was second in this morning’s free practice and actually went marginally slower in qualifying. However, the 22-year-old Sheffield rider is confident that there is more to come from the familiar number 52 HM Plant Ducati.

“I’ve been working hard this afternoon with the team to achieve a good level of consistency to my lap times on race tyres,” he said after 24 laps in this afternoon’s qualifying session. “My hand injury isn’t causing me too much discomfort, so I don’t think it’ll be a problem under race conditions. To be honest, after so many practice laps in testing, I’ll be looking forward to the start of the first race.”


More, from a press release issued by Foggy Petronas Racing:

Corser in touch as competition starts for Foggy PETRONAS Racing
Troy Corser was straight on the pace during Foggy PETRONAS Racing’s first day of competitive action at the first round of the World Superbike championship in Valencia. The Australian former world champion finished seventh fastest in the afternoon’s qualifying session with the promise of more to come before Sunday’s debut races for Carl Fogarty’s new team, which has been backed by Malaysian petroleum giant PETRONAS.

Riding the Foggy FP1 – the PETRONAS superbike – Corser made further progress on his best lap time of last weekend’s official test at the same circuit, to clock 1:35.908. Team-mate James Haydon had a frustrating day but still managed to approach his circuit best with a time of 1:36.949. The team also came to terms with the new WSBK tyre ruling, which states that a maximum of 13 rear slick tyres can be used on the two days of qualifying, so limiting the amount of crucial tyre testing capacity available to the team.

Nigel Bosworth said: “The biggest factor has been the new tyre ruling. We had discussed it in advance in detail but the practice is different to the theory, although we dealt with it very well. We are working well with Michelin in selecting a suitable race tyre, and we have not used any qualifiers yet as we are saving them for tomorrow morning. Troy is looking very positive, but James had some trouble with set-up and was dogged by engine problems.”

Troy said: “It is good to get two sessions under our belts and I wanted to stick a couple of decent lap times in early. The bike seems to be handling well and I have just lifted it a little, as the fairing was touching when I was going a bit quicker I have tried a range of tyres and the last seems to be the best so far. The lap times that I set on race tyres were about the same as the other riders and some of them then stuck a qualifier in towards the end.”

James said: “I am disappointed as I had a difficult day with many problems, some that we had not previously experienced. I have done a lap that was all right, but nothing like I could do.”