Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By Glenn Le Santo

He’s been in great form all weekend, fast, but not as fast as Neil Hodgson. But Regis Laconi was fastest when it counted, on his Superpole lap – while a mistake from Hodgson pushed him back onto the second row.

Superpole was interrupted by spectacular crash when Nello Russo lost the rear end in turn two. At first he seemed to have saved a highside but as the bike ran into the gravel trap he was flipped off the machine and landed heavily in the safety bales. He was taken to the medical center and the latest report is that he’s hurt, possibly with broken bones, but he’s not in a serious condition. He’s been airlifted to Sendai hospital for precautionary brain scans.

After the restart it was Walker who impressed–riding with a serious injury to his left foot, Walker nonetheless finished sixth, just behind Hodgson. Pierfrancesco Chili tried hard to rob Laconi of pole, failing by just 0.02-second.

“I had a few set-up problems in Superpole,” said Chili, “but I think we’ll have a better set up for the Sunday.”

Laconi not only took his first-ever pole position but was the first Frenchman to take pole for 11 years.

“Normally I prefer fast tracks, and here there are many slow turns,” said Laconi. “But I am happy because it seems now I am fast in both fast and slow turns. I am also happy to put an Italian bike on pole in Japan.”

Third on the grid was taken by Gregorio Lavilla on the ever-improving Suzuki GSX-R1000.

“Every time we go take the bike out on the track I can feel some improvement,” commented Lavilla. “I am very happy with today’s result which again demonstrates the potential of the GSX-R. But I think in Monza we’ll see the real level of the bike!”

The three regular riders are joined on the grid by All-Japan Champion Atsushi Watanabe who claimed to have only ridden his bike for the first time two weeks ago. This prompted a clearly sceptical Chili to shout, “Pinocchio!” suggesting Watanabe might have been a little economic with the truth.

World Superbike Championship
Round Three, Sugo, Japan
25-26-27 April 2003-04-25

Superpole result:

1. Regis Laconi, FRA, Ducati, 1:30.064
2. Pierfrancesco Chili, ITA, Ducati, 1:30.084
3. Gregorio Lavilla, ESP, Suzuki, 1:30.496
4. Atsushi Watanabe, JPN, Suzuki, 1:30.582
5. Neil Hodgson, GBR, Ducati, 1:30.636
6. Chris Walker, GBR, Ducati, 1:31.033
7. James Toseland, GBR, Ducati, 1:31.053
8. Troy Corser, AUS, FP1, 1:31.369
9. H. Izutsu, JPN, Honda, 1:31.500
10. Lucio Pedercini, ITA, Ducati, 1:31.593



More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

HODGSON (TEAM DUCATI FILA) MISSES OUT ON FRONT ROW START IN SUPERPOLE – XAUS DOWN IN TWELFTH

Team Ducati Fila riders Neil Hodgson and Ruben Xaus will start the Japanese Round of the World Superbike Championship at Sugo from row 2 and 3 respectively after this afternoon’s Superpole session.

29-year-old Hodgson set the pace in the morning’s second and final qualifying session, ending up with a time of 1:30.708, but an improvement of just one-tenth of a second in the one-lap dash left him fifth quickest, half a second away from eventual polesitter Regis Laconi (NCR Ducati). “I didn’t put a good lap together really and you only get one chance. I had a few slides and pushed hard but it didn’t feel right at all” said Neil. “My set-up for the race is not 100% perfect but I don’t think anyone will have a perfect set-up, we just didn’t get enough lap time. I set my quickest qualifying time on my race tyre and did a good long-run so I’m pretty happy with the way the bike is. Starting from row 2 shouldn’t be that much of a problem because you can judge the start a little bit better”.

Teammate Xaus continued to struggle on the second factory Ducati 999 and will start from row 3 after setting 12th-quickest time. “All weekend I haven’t had the right feeling and I can’t even do a 1:31 lap time” declared Ruben. “I think it’s a set-up problem because I know I’m not that slow. The 999 is a new bike and it’s quite difficult to ride around this circuit, the other guys have gone pretty fast so what we needed to do was find the right direction to go and we didn’t do that. If I get a good feeling in the races, I can fight for top 3 but I need that feeling, otherwise I’m not going to push hard for nothing. I’ve started from row 3 before, it’s not so good but that’s not the problem for me. I need to ride the bike and at the moment the bike is riding me.”



More, from a press release issued by Troy Corser’s publicist:

2003 World Superbike Championship
Round 3, Sugo, Japan, Saturday 26th April 2003, Final Qualifying
Circuit: 3.737 kms, Weather: Dry, mostly sunny 23 C.

SECOND ROW FOR TROY
After a difficult opening day of qualifying yesterday, it was back to regular business today at Sugo. The heavy overnight rain had left the track sodden, but by the time the morning qualifying started there was a dry line virtually around the whole track. But there were still a few damp patches about to catch out the unwary and there were many fallers in both the sessions today. Troy used the better weather to his advantage and steadily improved throughout the day. His Superpole lap was not one of his best, but he still managed to his Foggy Petronas FP1 onto the second row of the grid without a problem. Frenchman Regis Laconi (Ducati) took pole position today, with a time of 1:30.064 – the first time a Frenchman has been on pole in eleven years! Second quickest is Pierfrancesco Chili (Ducati), with Gregorio Lavilla (Suzuki) third and ‘wild card’ rider Atshusi Watanabe (Suzuki) fourth.

TROY – 8th, 1:31.369
Well I’m a lot happier then I was at the same time yesterday! Today we spent a lot of time trying different gearing, because this track gearing is critical. You have to get it spot on, but it’s always a bit of a compromise here. We maybe will try and change the internals for tomorrow’s warm-up and see if that makes our life a bit easier. At the moment the bike is handling pretty reasonably round here, but we’re just lacking a bit of grunt and acceleration. We’re using second gear a bit too much round here and running too high revs in the corner, so we’ll try and fix that for tomorrow. I had a small get-off this morning; when I went straight on at turn one. I was upright and OK, but the rain had made the run-off a mudbath and I just slipped over at slow speed. In the afternoon, I had a mechanical problem with one bike, but we can fix that also. In the wet yesterday, we had a bit of a tyre problem, so all us Michelin riders will be hoping it’s dry tomorrow. As long as it is, and I make a good start, I think we can get a couple of good results.


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

Second row start for Foggy PETRONAS Racing in Japan

Foggy PETRONAS Racing rider Troy Corser made the second row of the grid for tomorrow’s two World Superbike championship third round races at the Japanese circuit of Sugo.

The Australian went into the afternoon Superpole session 11th fastest but climbed three places on his FP1, the Malaysian superbike, with a time of 1:31.369. His best time of the day had been posted in the afternoon practice session, at 1:31.152.

Team-mate James Haydon was unable to qualify in the top 16 by the end of his first hour at this testing circuit in dry track conditions, following yesterday’s rain. But he made encouraging progress in the afternoon practice session to finish 17th fastest, more than a second quicker than his morning time, with 1:33.104.

Troy decided against using a qualifying tyre in the morning session, following a slow crash after over-shooting turn one and then an engine problem towards the end of the session. But he put together a typically smooth Superpole lap to start ahead of factory Ducati rider Ruben Xaus and three of the four local wild cards, with Regis Laconi claiming pole position.

Troy said: “I should probably have used a new front tyre for my Superpole lap, instead of one which had already done seven laps. I am going to go shorter overall with the gearing for tomorrow and make second gear longer internally, as I’m using fifth down the straight and second round the rest of the track. The crash this morning was similar to the one in warm-up for the races in 1998 but this time, instead of trying to turn in, I accelerated through the gravel up the hill and dropped it down. I am happy with the second row but need a good start as we might struggle out of the final chicane and it is difficult to pass on other parts of the circuit. But I feel that a top ten finish is achievable.”

James said: “The whole story has been about time for me as this is the type of circuit where there is no substitute for laps. There are so many line entries, little bumps and the final chicane makes such a difference. I am still not totally comfortable with the bike, which certainly doesn’t help at a new circuit, but it is getting better all the time. My best lap time in the afternoon was on race tyres and if I had done that in the previous session, when I ran out of time after a spark plug problem, I would have qualified for Superpole. I have never failed to qualify for Superpole before and, starting from the back row, I am going to need the kind of good start that I have been having so far.”

Team manager Nigel Bosworth said: “It would have been better to have sorted the gearing out yesterday, but we are effectively two hours behind after yesterday’s weather. On a new bike, at a new circuit, that makes such a big difference. Troy’s performance was very encouraging and James made good progress through getting his head down and learning the circuit. We feel we have good race tyres and a repeat of our Phillip Island results would be an achievement.”


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

Close formation for HM Plant Ducatis

Chris Walker and James Toseland have qualified in sixth and seventh positions respectively for the third round of the Superbike World Championship at Sugo in Japan. The HM Plant Ducati riders continued their trend of lapping in almost identical times in 2003, but shared contrasting fortunes in the dry conditions after Friday’s downpour.

Chris Walker may have just beaten his team-mate in Superpole, but the gutsy Nottingham star is riding through the pain barrier after a crash in this morning’s second qualifying session. The HM Plant Ducati highsided at turn four with Walker breaking his little toe and losing some skin off the top of his foot as a result of the accident.

“That was painful,” said a brave Walker, who currently lies third in the championship after the first two rounds at Valencia and Phillip Island. “My foot is very uncomfortable and I’m anticipating that I’m going to be in agony tomorrow. This type of injury always feels worse on the second day after the adrenalin has died down a bit. The crash was my fault – I was pushing too hard in the first dry session before I had got the right balance for the set-up of my HM Plant Ducati.”

Team-mate James Toseland had a better day at the 3.737km circuit near Sendai. “I don’t feel that my Superpole lap gives a true reflection of my prospects for tomorrow,” said the 22-year-old Sheffield rider. “If it rains, I‘ve got a fantastic set-up on the HM Plant Ducati, but I think we’d all prefer dry conditions. I believe that I’ve been riding smoothly enough to get the best out of the bike around this circuit. I’d like to have been on the front row of the grid, but I’m in good shape for the two races and I should be able to run quite strongly.”

The timesheets were headed by Regis Laconi and Frankie Chili on Ducatis, with championship leader Neil Hodgson in fifth position after Superpole. Hodgson had been fastest after qualifying on his Ducati Corse 999, with a clear advantage over his team-mate and title challenger Ruben Xaus. Ducati hasn’t won a race at Sugo since 1995, but the signs look good in 2003, with the HM Plant Ducati team looking to extend its excellent start to the season.


More, from a press release issued by Scuderia Caracchi NCR Nortel Networks:

Laconi in pole at Sugo!

(Sugo 2003, April 26)

The weather let in peace Sugo area today, and also if cloudy the practice could run in dry conditions. With a perfect Superpole session Regis Laconi earned his first pole position in a world championship event of his career, bringing on the top a French rider after more as ten years (Roche’s time) for a front row formed exceptionally by all Dunlop rider.

After his third fastest in qualifying session Regis has been really fantastic in Superpole, without any small mistake, and neither Chili nor’ Hodgson, started after him, have been able to get a better performance. That’s an historical pole position, the first for Scuderia Caracchi NCR in Superbike World Championship in the modern era.

Regis is of course at the seventh heaven and his word show his happiness: “Everything did run in a perfect way and the team gave me a perfectly setted bike as well as tyres which worked very well. When I crossed the finish line I’ve seen on the cockpit the laptime that I’ve recorded I left my hand to the heaven for a joyful exploit because I’ve seen immediately that also for my rivals could not be easy to do better. Chili has been very fast, but not enough, and Hodgson rode a bad Superpole lap. Of course the race will be tomorrow, but for the moment I could offer this success to the team and I’m very happy for that. For the race Hodgson will be for sure a hard challenger, as well as Chili and the Suzuki’s riders, but for the moment we could enjoy this moment, it’s not easy for a private team that could happen. Usually I love the track with fast corners, but from today on I love Sugo too!”

The happiness for Laconi’s performance has been ruined from the bad crash in the morning of David Garcia: he started the final qualifying session a bit nervous due all the problems he had yesterday. Then David was starting to push looking for a good qualifying laptime when he has done a mistake, putting the front wheel out of the track on the wet grass and the crash has been inevitable. It has been a bad crash and David suffered the fracture and dislocation of the right thumb, as well several contusions and bruises. The dislocation has been fast recovered by the Clica Mobile people, but the fracture needs a surgery operation that will be done at the return in Europe, with the goal to be ready for Monza’s round next May 18.

“My God, what unbelievable day! ” – comments Garcia – “Yesterday I not actually practised, so this morning I started a bit nervous. I stopped several times to the pit for setting the bike that yesterday I wasn’t able to set, then about 20 minutes to the end of the session I started to push; at the moment of my crash my split time was the eleventh fastest, and it was just the second lap that I was pushing, but I put my front wheel on the grass and, when I rejoined the asphalt the bike put itself askance and did throw me out. I have been a lot of time asking the marshals to put my helmet out because I wasn’t able to do by myself due my hands pain, but they didn’t understand me and I wasn’t able to breathe! It has been a terrible moment. Back in Europe I’ll have a surgery operation at the hand, and I’m confident I’ll be able to race in Monza.”