Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Hodgson on pole, Eric Bostrom Hurt

By Glenn LeSanto

Neil Hodgson smashed the best lap time at Oschersleben, lapping at 1:26.502 to take pole for Sunday¹s races. Colin Edwards, second-fastest, was the only other rider to make a lap in the 1:26 bracket.

Troy Bayliss could only manage sixth-fastest, leaving him with plenty to do in Sunday’s two Superbike races. Oschersleben is a tough place to pass at, making a front-row start all the more critical. Bayliss had a lucky escape when he ran very wide early in his lap. He ran right over the rumble strips onto the dirt but despite getting very sideways he managed to keep his Infostrada Ducati upright to complete his lap.

Ruben Xaus had one of his better Superpole rides to take the final front-row spot.

Ben Bostrom was happy to make it onto the front row, running third behind Edwards. But his brother Eric hasn’t had such a good day–he was forced to withdraw from Superpole with a suspected cracked wrist sustained in a crash during the morning qualifying session. This allowed Antonello to have a go at Superpole.

Juan Borja also couldn’t compete, having thouroughly trashed his bike in free practice just prior to Superpole. His cash-strapped team was unable to repair it in time for Superpole.

Superpole Results:

1. N Hodgson, GBR, 1:26.502

2. C Edwards, USA, 1:26.595

3. B Bostrom, USA, Ducati, 1:27.166

4. R Xaus, Spain, Ducati, 1:27.391

5. N Haga, Japan, Aprilia, 1:27.645

6. T Bayliss, Aus, Ducati, 1:27.664

7. P Chili, Italy, Ducati, 1:28.183

8. J Toseland, GBR, Ducati, 1:28.208

9. G Lavilla, Spain, Suzuki, 1:28.382

10. C Walker, GBR, Kawasaki, 1:28.640

11. S Martin, Aus, Ducati, 1:28.977

12. B Parkes, Aus, Ducati, 1:29.074

13. L Pedercini, Italy, Ducati, 1:29.122

14. M Borciani, Italy, Ducati, 1:29.732

15. A Antonello, Italy, Ducati, 1:30.143



More, from a press release issued by Castrol Honda:

SECOND PLACE FOR EDWARDS

Castrol Honda’s Colin Edwards will start from second place on the front row of the grid in tomorrow’s crucial 11th round of the World Superbike championship here at Oschersleben in Germany.

Edwards set the second fastest time in this afternoon’s Superpole final qualifying competition, just 0.09s behind polesetter Neil Hodgson.

Texan Edwards commented: “I got my best lap of the weekend in Superpole but it just wasn’t enough to topple Neil. I thought a 1:26.5 lap would be good enough but I didn¹t bank on Neil getting one too!”

Edwards continued: “I can’t say enough about the effort being made to win the championship. Honda have done their job with the new motor, Michelin are constantly giving us new, improved tyres and the new oil from Castrol has carried on from our success with it at the Suzuka 8 hours.”

SP-2 rider Edwards is chasing a 39-point deficit to championship leader Troy Bayliss and believes tomorrow’s races could help him close that gap. Edwards goes into tomorrow’s races having won the last three races, one at Laguna Seca, USA and a double victory at Brands Hatch five weeks ago.

“We’ve got a good race set-up,” added the 28-year-old. “If I can get a good start in both races I’ll be looking for a double here then move onto Assen next week and keep the pressure on.”


More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

ROW 2 FOR BAYLISS (DUCATI INFOSTRADA) AS HODGSON (HM PLANT DUCATI) GRABS POLE – FRONT ROW START FOR BOSTROM (DUCATI L&M) & XAUS (DUCATI INFOSTRADA)

Championship leader Troy Bayliss (Ducati Infostrada) could only manage sixth-quickest time in the Superpole qualifying session for the German Round of the World Superbike Championship at Oschersleben, as Britain’s Neil Hodgson (HM Plant Ducati) smashed the outright circuit record to grab pole. Ben Bostrom (Ducati L&M) was the quickest factory Ducati rider today in third, closely followed by Ruben Xaus (Ducati Infostrada) while Troy’s chief rival Colin Edwards (Honda) will line up on the grid directly ahead of the Australian on the front row.

Bayliss (Ducati Infostrada) was third quickest after the two qualifying sessions, but put his Ducati 998’s wheels on the grass in the first split and then hit the ripple-strip immediately after, which ruined his Superpole lap. The Australian set a time of 1:27.664 and will line up on the second row, alongside Haga (Aprilia) and directly behind Edwards. “Row 2 is obviously not where I wanted to be for the race tomorrow and I find myself in a position similar to last year. I’ve still got a few more things to try in the Sunday morning warm-up, which is a bit of a pain, but you can’t have it all your own way. These things bring out the best in you, so hopefully we’ll come up with something in the morning. I’m not entirely satisfied with my race set-up, all I can do is try and improve and keep Colin within striking distance tomorrow”.

Bostrom (Ducati L&M) was unfazed by a late crash in the afternoon’s free practice session to move up from fourth in qualifying to an impressive third in Superpole with a lap time of 1:27.166. “Every time we’re on the front row I’m happy” declared Ben. “This is a good spot, the boys did a great job after I crashed in the session before Superpole. The lap was good, the bike felt great and tomorrow’s a new day. At the start of the week I had a lot on my mind, but I’ve been getting more confident as the days go by. Now I realise I just have to ride the bike, a big thanks to the guys in my L&M team because it is just getting better and better all the time.”

Xaus (Ducati Infostrada) also moved up the starting-grid with an excellent time of 1’27.391, which earned him the outside slot on row 1 for tomorrow’s two races. “My Superpole lap was quite good, the quickest I have been all weekend, so it’s better late than never and it’s good to be on the front row” commented Ruben. “My long-run times were not perfect but not bad and I think I can gain some places in the race. In my last laps of my long-run I was doing the same times as in the early laps so that means that in the races I can try to ride at the end like I will at the beginning. The start will be important and I will try and follow Colin like last year and try to push him as much as possible, maybe even try to win!”



More, from a press release issued by Aprilia:

NORIYUKI HAGA TAKES APRILIA UP THE RATINGS

Oschersleben (Germany), Saturday 31 August 2002 – Noriyuki Haga made fifth quickest time in the final qualifying session of the German Superbike GP to be raced at Oschersleben. The Playstation2 – FGF Aprilia Team are back again among the top rankers. Making his debut on this circuit with the RSV, Haga’s eleventh place in Friday’s qualifying let him to get to grips with the trajectories of this track and with the set-up of his bike. The Japanese ace learnt fast and today’s result means he will be starting from second row, gunning for one of the top spots in the two 28-lap races on Sunday.

NORIYUKI HAGA (Playstation2 – FGF Aprilia Team rider) – “Oschersleben is a slow and strange track. To get a good time, you’ve got to jump on and off the curbs, and that’s not a way of riding that comes all that naturally to me. There’s a very tight and slow chicane where we lose a lot of time: the Aprilia is a bit heavy when changing direction, so we’re working to make it easier to ride, especially in that area.

GIACOMO GUIDOTTI (Technical Manager of the Playstation2 – FGF Aprilia Team) – “We’ve made huge strides since Friday. We haven’t turned the bike inside out: it wasn’t necessary. But we have made a few changes to the settings. Haga rode almost always alone so he could study the points where the behaviour of the bike needed attention, and so that he could find the best trajectories. At the end of the day, the results are very positive and the speed on race tyres is extremely promising. We’ll do a couple of tests on the suspension during the warm-up and then I think we’ll be ready for the challenge.”