From a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

XAUS AND HODGSON (DUCATI FILA) THIRD AND FOURTH IN FRIDAY QUALIFYING

Imola (Italy), 26 September: Ruben Xaus and Neil Hodgson powered their Ducati Fila 999 machines to a provisional third and fourth place on the grid in Friday first qualifying for the Imola World Superbike round.

James Toseland (HM Plant Ducati) and Regis Laconi (NCR Ducati) were the quickest today as only these four riders dipped beneath the 1:50 mark.

“It’s a bit of a bumpy track, compared to Assen, which is really smooth and today was quite a struggle but in the end I actually enjoyed it for the first time because I relaxed a bit” declared the new world champion. “You’ve got to be loose on the bike with all the bumps. My Ducati Fila 999 was a bit dodgy through the fastest part of the track but we changed it a bit to make it more stable. I’m having some good slides because it spins a lot on the track. If you can control that in the race, you know that when your tyres go off you will have a good feeling. I’m sure I can make up a tenth here and there all over the circuit and knock a lot more off my time tomorrow”.



“I wasn’t happy this morning because I had a technical problem and I had to come in and change to my other bike, which didn’t have an ideal set-up” declared Ruben. “This is a track that you really need to get used to and as it is only Friday running in 1:49 for me is good. We were really close with times for qualifying and race tyres. Every time we come here to Imola it’s different because I have a different bike and team so winning here in the past doesn’t count. For me the races are the only important thing and I want to come away with two victories or at least two good results. It’s important that the people enjoy and that Ducati enjoy what I do on Sunday”.

TIMES: 1. Toseland (HM Plant Ducati) 1:49.011; 2. Laconi (NCR Ducati) 1:49.472; 3. Xaus (Ducati Fila) 1:49.505; 4. Hodgson (Ducati Fila) 1:49.538; 5. Walker (HM Plant Ducati) 1:50.145; 6. Lavilla (Suzuki) 1:50.570; 7. Corser (Petronas) 1:50.752; 8. Chili (PSG-1 Ducati) 1:50.859; 9. Martin (Ducati DFX) 1:50.892; 10. Pedercini (Ducati) 1:51.206.


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

Toseland on provisional pole

James Toseland proved to be the fastest man around the Enzo e Dino Ferrari circuit in today’s first qualifying session. The 22-year-old Yorkshireman beat his nearest challenger Regis Laconi by almost half a second to take provisional pole ahead of Saturday’s final qualifying and Superpole. His HM Plant Ducati team-mate Chris Walker put in a solid performance to provisionally book fifth place on the grid with a best lap of 1:50.145.

Toseland has been on excellent form all season and barring a few unfortunate incidents, he has consistently been one of the fastest riders at every round. This is his second provisional pole of the season – the first being at Monza – and he is aiming to hold on to the coveted starting position.

“I’m pleased with the way things have gone so far,” said Toseland. “Psychologically, it’s good to be fastest straight away, but there’s still some way to go yet and I’m hoping to up the stakes a bit tomorrow. I spent most of the session at the top of the time sheets doing mid-1:50s on race tyres, so things are looking good for the rest of the weekend.”

Chris Walker wasn’t quite able to match the pace of his team-mate. Nevertheless, he still recorded the fifth fastest time of the day on only his second visit to the Italian circuit.

“That wasn’t too bad,” said Walker. “I got plenty of laps in and was pretty consistent throughout. Neil [Hodgson], Laconi and Xaus were always going to be the boys to beat around here and James is in really good form, so there’s a bit of gap between me and the top four at the moment but the HM Plant Ducati is working perfectly and I’m expecting to be on the front row by the end of tomorrow.”

First qualifying: 1. J. Toseland (HM Plant Ducati) 1:49.011; 2. R. Laconi (Ducati) 1:49.472; 3. R. Xaus (Ducati) 1:49.505; 4. N. Hodgson (Ducati) 1:49.538; 5. C. Walker (HM Plant Ducati) 1:50.145; 6. G. Lavilla (Suzuki) 1:50.570; 7. T. Corser (Foggy) 1:50.752; 8. P. Chili (Ducati) 1:50.859; 9. S. Martin (Ducati) 1:50.892; 10. L. Pedercini (Ducati) 1:51.206


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

Corser maintains Foggy PETRONAS Racing progress

Troy Corser maintained Foggy PETRONAS Racing’s recent progress with a promising first day of qualifying for the penultimate round of the World Superbike championship at Imola, Italy.

The Australian former world champ was seventh fastest in the afternoon session, on the team’s first day of action at the challenging circuit. Troy sliced 2.5 seconds off his best morning time to post a fastest lap of 1:50.752, within two seconds of provisional polesetter James Toseland.

Troy said: “I am only really starting to get used to the track again. We just made small adjustments to the suspension from this morning to soften the bike, as the track is very bumpy. The set-up we found was not bad and, although the bike is still moving around a little bit, you would expect that on a bumpy surface. I will change the offset for tomorrow to see if it will hold the line better. It’s encouraging that we are closer to the front runners on a Friday than we have been for a while.”

Team-mate James Haydon also made headway on his first visit to Imola since 1996. And, although he suffered a frustrating afternoon, there were signs that his luck had taken a turn for the better. James said: “I was so lucky on my final lap of the morning session. I was going flat out in fifth gear into the double right-hander and as soon as I hit the brakes a squirrel ambled onto the track. At first I thought it was a dog because its tail was up and it was looked so big. There was no way I could move because I was so hard on the brakes, and Neil Hodgson was right behind me as well. It would have been a massive crash if I had hit it. I haven’t been so freaked out by something like that for ages. We made a step forward in the afternoon, but not enough. I know I could have been in the 53s but a mechanical problem meant that I could not improve my time on a qualifying tyre. My injured hand is sore when I am off the bike but is not slowing me up.”

Friday qualifying times, World Superbike championship round 11, Imola, Italy: 1 Toseland (HM Plant Ducati) 1:49.011; 2 Laconi (NCR) 1:49.472; 3 Xaus (Ducati Fila) 1:49.505; 4 Hodgson (Ducati Fila) 1:49.538; 5 Walker (HM Plant Ducati) 1:50.145; 6 Lavilla (Alstare Suzuki) 1:50.570; 7 Corser (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:50.752; 8 Chili (PSG-1) 1:50.859; 9
Martin (DFX) 1:50.892; 10 Pedercini (Team Pedercini) 1:51.206; 18 Haydon (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:54.023

Free Practice times: 1 Laconi (NCR) 1:50.540; 2 Lavilla (Alstare Suzuki) 1:50.659; 3 Hodgson (Ducati Fila) 1:51.076; 4 Walker (HM Plant Ducati) 1:51.147; 5 Martin (DFX) 1:51.318; 6 Toseland (HM Plant Ducati) 1:51.507; 7 Chili (PSG-1) 1:51.569; 8 Xaus (Ducati Fila) 1:51.625; 9 Borja (DFX) 1:51.724; 10 Pedercni (Team Pedercini) 1:52.673; 14 Corser (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:53.235; 19 Haydon (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:56.101


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

Laconi second fast in the debut day at Imola

A splendid sun shined on Imola for the debut day of the penultimate round of 2004 Superbike World Championship on the 4933 meters of the track beside de Santerno river, full of glory in motorcycle racing.

Remembering his 2001 victory here in Imola Regis Laconi recorded today the second fastest in the first qualifying session, after has been the fastest in the morning’s free practice session. Laconi looks to be satisfied of today work on his 998RS Ducati Caracchi NCR Nortel Networks looking for the best set up for this difficult track.

“Yes, I’m quite satisfied of today’s work. We’ve lost some time for a braking system problem in one out of the two bikes, so later we concentrate on the second one. In my fastest lap with soft tyres I found some slow rider along the track, so I believe that I could a bit faster. Also on race set with race tyres we recorded quite good laptime, there’s of course some small details to set, but for tomorrow as well for the race I’m confident that we’ll be OK.”

David Garcia recorded a good 13th fastest; the hard physical rehabilitation word done in Forlì is giving some result, but the pain is still heavy, especially on an engaging track like Imola.

“Toady I’ve been fast enough and I got easily the result. ” – said Garcia at the end of the day – “The heaviest problem remains the pain in my arm after a few laps, more on this track with several points with hard braking that mean a big effort for the arms. I hope to be able to finish the race, but it would be difficult.”


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

SUPER SEVENTH FOR TROY ON OPENING DAY

Troy was happy at the end of one of his best opening days in this year’s Superbike World Championship. Despite spending the best part of the two sessions getting reacquainted with the demanding 4.933 kilometre Imola circuit, Troy was able to post the seventh quickest time of the day. Also, his lap time was not so far from provisional pole-setter James Toseland (Ducati). Toseland’s best lap of 1:49.011 was well under the lap record and he was followed by Regis Laconi, Ruben Xaus, Neil Hodgson and Chris Walker – all Ducati-mounted. Spaniard Gregorio Lavilla (Suzuki) was sixth fastest, just ahead of Troy.

TROY – 7TH, 1:50.752
Well that was one of the best first days we’ve had all season and I’m pretty happy with how it all went today. I really used most of the day getting to know the track again, so I didn’t really feel I was pushing hard at all. We made some small changes to the suspension in the afternoon and we’ll carry on trying to improve the bike tomorrow. The track felt a bit more bumpy then when I last rode here and that upsets the suspension quite a bit. We’ll try changing the offsets for tomorrow to see if we can get the bike to hold a line better. Today we are closer to the front then we’ve been for a while and that makes me and the team very happy.