Friday World Superbike Qualifying Results: 1. Chris Walker, Kawasaki ZX-10R, 2:03.064 2. Troy Corser, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:03.487 3. Max Neukirchner, Honda CBR1000RR, 2:03.912 4. Jose Luis Cardoso, Yamaha YZF-R1, 2:03.917 5. Regis Laconi, Ducati 999F05, 2:04.184 6. Mauro Sanchini, Kawasaki ZX-10R, 2:04.330 7. Ivan Clementi, Ducati 999RS, 2:04.336 8. Chris Vermeulen, Honda CBR1000RR, 2:04.436 9. James Toseland, Ducati 999F05, 2:04.613 10. Noriyuki Haga, Yamaha YZF-R1, 2:04.729 11. Yukio Kagayama, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:04.782 12. Norick Abe, Yamaha YZF-R1, 2:04.824 13. Pierfrancesco Chili, Honda CBR1000RR, 2:04.834 14. Karl Muggeridge, Honda CBR1000RR, 2:04.862 15. Andrew Pitt, Yamaha YZF-R1, 2:04.882 16. Lorenzo Lanzi, Ducati 999RS, 2:04.912 17. Garry McCoy, Foggy Petronas FP1, 2:05.155 18. David Checa, Yamaha YZF-R1, 2:05.399 19. Marco Borciani, Ducati 999RS, 2:05.503 20. Steve Martin, Foggy Petronas FP1, 2:05.606 21. Fonsi Nieto, Ducati 999RS, 2:05.691 22. Sebastien Gimbert, Yamaha YZF-R1, 2:05.882 23. Gianluca Vizziello, Yamaha YZF-R1, 2:05.943 24. Alessio Velini, Ducati 999RS, 2:06.075 25. Ben Bostrom, Honda CBR1000RR, 2:06.183 More, from a press release issued by Winston Ten Kate Honda: VERMEULEN ON PROVISIONAL SECOND ROW IN BRNO Chris Vermeulen set the eighth fastest time in this afternoon’s opening qualifying session for Sunday’s two seventh round World Superbike championship races at Brno in the Czech Republic. Provisional pole position was taken by Britain’s Chris Walker with Vermeulen’s Winston Ten Kate Honda team-mate, Karl Muggeridge, currently lying in 14th place. It is the first visit for both team and riders to the 5.4km Brno circuit, 220km south-east of Prague and today’s practice and qualifying sessions were used by Vermeulen and Muggeridge to increase their knowledge of circuit layout and search for the ideal set-up for their Honda CBR1000RRs. Ronald ten Kate team manager: “Karl has been making good progress here and competing comfortably at the front on race tyres. He was lying in fourth place after this morning’s free practice but, unfortunately, we chose the wrong qualifying tyre from the two that Pirelli have brought here. It was a harder compound and Karl went no more quickly than he had been going on race tyres. Because Chris and Karl don’t know the circuit and we haven’t tested here like most of the other front runners, we knew we’d be playing a bit of catch-up today. But we’ll work through everything this evening and I’m confident that the crew can find some things to put the guys back up there tomorrow.” Chris Vermeulen eighth fastest, 2m04.436s “To be honest, I’m struggling a little with the track here but getting to know it better each time I go out. I like it a lot but it’s very bumpy in places and we’ve been working to get the bike better through those sections. I’ve also been running a bit wide here and there and looking for some more exit grip from certain corners. It all adds up to losing time in specific areas of the track but I’ll sit down with the team later and I’m sure we’ll be able to find ways to improve those areas tomorrow.” Karl Muggeridge fourteenth fastest, 2m04.862s “OK, so fourteenth doesn’t look great but I’m actually pretty happy with the steps we’ve made today. We tried a couple of new chassis components this afternoon and I felt we were making progress. Unfortunately, I ended up pushing the front a little too hard and slid off in the first sector during that session. The qualifier just didn’t work at all but I think we’re going OK on race tyres and during the day we’ve improved in certain areas of the track where we were struggling earlier. I’m happy with the rear of the bike so now we just have to concentrate on the front.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Noriyuki Haga ended first qualifying at Brno in 10th place after an action packed session that saw the leader board change dramatically in the dying moments. With most teams and many riders making their first visit to the Czech circuit, Haga and his Yamaha Motor Italia team-mate Andrew Pitt were able to take advantage of their recent test at the venue. Arriving at the circuit with proven machine settings from the test, both men were able to lap consistently at the expected race pace, however both found themselves shuffled down the order when their rivals fitted super-sticky qualifying tyres. Haga too fitted a qualifier for his final run, but felt that the settings of his machine were unable to take full advantage of tyre’s characteristics in the warm conditions. Pitt ended the day in 15th place, vitally within the cut-off zone for tomorrow’s grid deciding superpole session. Despite his the relatively lowly grid position, the Australian remained upbeat after the session – declaring that an improvement in his own riding can find big improvements tomorrow. The 2001 Supersport World Champion said that he felt tense on the bike and needs to ‘slow down to go faster’. Yamaha Motor France rider Norick Abe was happy after setting the 12th fastest time of the day. Having found himself on unfamiliar territory in his last three outings, the Japanese ace was happy to be back on a circuit he knows well from his Grand Prix days. Like countryman Haga, Abe was able to post a succession of competitive times on race rubber. His 2’06.137 saw him in the top five until the final minutes. Team-mate Sebastien Gimbert made a return from injury in Brno and ended the day 22nd. British rider Chris Walker (Kawasaki) took provisional pole position, ahead of Troy Corser (Suzuki) and Max Neukirchner (Honda). Yamaha privateer Jose-Luis Cardoso completed the provisional front row, with Regis Laconi (Ducati) ensuring that the top five places were occupied by five brands. Tomorrow morning sees the final qualifying session ahead of the afternoon superpole session, but with thunderstorms forecast qualification for the one-lap shootout could be determined by today’s times. Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) “On race tyres our times are good and I am quite happy because we are competitive with the race settings. I set my best time on the race tyre. At the end I used a soft qualifier but I could not go faster and did not feel that it offered more grip. If we can improve traction then I think we can make some better times tomorrow.” Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) “I need to relax a little and if I do that I know that I can improve the lap times. The bike’s alright, I’m quite happy with it actually, but there are places where I’m braking too hard and going into some of the corners too fast. If I work on that tomorrow then my lines should improve and the lap times will get much better.” Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) “It’s good to be back on a circuit I know well from my MotoGP days and things were not so bad today. I’m quite happy with my qualifying lap but our biggest problem is the same as in Misano: we need more rear grip. Even with a qualifying tyre on the bike was sliding and we must work hard to improve this.” Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France) “I am happy to be back after missing Misano with a broken leg. Today I had to work at improving my feeling and in this way I am quite happy with how it went.” More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse: LACONI AND TOSELAND (DUCATI XEROX TEAM) FIFTH AND NINTH IN BRNO HEAT Brno (Czech Republic), Friday 15 July: Régis Laconi and James Toseland set fifth and ninth quickest times respectively in first WSBK qualifying at Brno as a last-minute scramble on qualifying tyres moved them away from the top positions. Both Ducati Xerox Team riders, who tested here in much cooler conditions one month ago, complained about a lack of grip on their qualifying runs, but were confident with their performance on race set-up. “I was passed by quite a few riders at the end of the session, because they ran an extra lap on their qualifying tyres and with this heat it was easy for them to get their time down” declared Laconi. “I tried the new tyre, it wasn’t the same one I normally use but I wasn’t happy with my qualifying performance on it. I thought it was a quick lap, but it was only one-tenth faster than my time on a race tyre so we’ll have to take a look at everything and see what happened because I’m not happy to be one full second off the pace even though we’re all on qualifying tyres. Walker tested with us last month so it’s no surprise to see him at the front but we will certainly have to sort things out for tomorrow’s session.” “We’re not a mile away, we’re in the top 3 on race tyres but the qualifier I had didn’t seem to work as well as we expected and I went from third to ninth at the end” commented Toseland. “We have a few problems here because of the temperature difference and it seems that every lap we do the tyres change so much that you need a different setting on the bike from the test when it was ten degrees less. This morning I did a 2m04.1s on my second lap out and now I’m doing 2m05s laps with the same setting so it’s a bit frustrating. We’ve just got to make sure we get the setting right for tomorrow because I am confident that I can get two good results here.” More, from a press release issued by Foggy Petronas Racing: Superpole chances in balance at Brno Foggy PETRONAS Racing riders Garry McCoy and Steve Martin are both hoping for dry conditions for Saturday qualifying at the seventh round of the Superbike World Championship at Brno in the Czech Republic. Both riders narrowly missed out on the top 16 positions after Friday qualifying and, with mixed forecasts for tomorrow, wet weather could scupper their chances of making further progress with lap times in the morning. On their first visit to the circuit on the PETRONAS FP1, and for Steve his first ever visit to the fast and undulating track, both Australians were able to make consistent progress throughout the day. However, facing the rare choice of two Pirelli qualifying tyres, Steve opted for the newer compound and improved his best lap by half a second while Garry, despite three laps on the traditional qualifier, also missed out on the top 16 by just 0.2 seconds. Garry said: “I knew this circuit was going to be tough for the bike because there are a couple of uphill sections and the straights are fairly long. Coming to a place I know though, I thought I would be able to find that little bit extra. And, in race conditions, we are not looking too bad and could be in the top ten. Maybe the new qualifier will work better if the temperatures are lower tomorrow morning but, having hoped for wet weather this weekend, we need it to be dry tomorrow now. We shortened the gears after the morning session and we still have a few things to try with the suspension, front and rear.” Steve said: “We are getting quicker all the time and I am pretty happy with my first day here. The circuit is great, although it’s one of those wide open tracks where a lot of acceleration and horsepower is needed. We have to hope that it doesn’t raining tomorrow and, although I am disappointed not to be in Superpole at the moment, I will be happy as long as we keep improving. I wanted to do a lot of laps in the morning so only used one rear, and then only two in the afternoon. I also used the new qualifier, which is not thought to have as much grip.” Friday qualifying times, Superbike World Championship round 7, Brno, Czech Republic: 1 Walker 2:03.064; 2 Corser 2:03.487; 3 Neukirchner 2:03.912; 4 Cardoso 2:03.927; 5 Laconi 2:04.184; 6 Sanchini 2:04.330; 7 Clementi 2:04.336; 8 Vermeulen 2:04.436; 9 Toseland 2:04.613; 10 Haga 2:04.729; 17 McCoy 2:05.155; 20 Martin 2:05.606 Friday morning free practice times: 1 Toseland (Ducati Xerox) 2:04.103; 2 Laconi (Ducati Xerox) 2:04.208; 3 Walker (PSG-1 Kawasaki) 2:05.065; 4 Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda) 2:05.133; 5 Lanzi (Ducati SC Carrachi) 2:05.135; 6 Haga (Yamaha Italia) 2:05.200; 7 Corser (Alstare Suzuki Corona) 2:05.241; 8 Pitt (Yamaha Italia) 2:05.271; 9 Cardoso (DFX) 2:05.280; 10 Chili (Klaffi Honda) 2:05.580; 15 McCoy (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 2:05.934; 23 Martin (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 2:07.665 More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki: World Superbike Championship leader Troy Corser finished within four-tenths-of a-second off pole in today’s opening qualifying for Sunday’s Brno race in the Czech Republic. The Australian put his Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra GSX-R1000 into provisional second place on the grid behind Chris Walker as team-mate Yukio Kagayama recorded 11th on his first visit to the circuit. The morning Free Practice session was dominated by the Ducatis of reigning World Champion James Toseland and Regis Laconi with Walker third quickest: All three had tested at Brno just two weeks or so ago. In the afternoon, Walker surprised everybody by taking provisional pole with a time of 2:03.064 with Corser setting 2:03.487. Third quickest was Max Neukirchner (Honda) with Jose-Luis Cardoso (Yamaha) fourth. Kagayama spent the day learning the demanding 5.403 kilometre Brno track and was not concerned about his position at the end of the day, knowing that he will improve his time considerably tomorrow. Troy Corser – 2nd, 2:03.487: “I know I’ve been here before but that was some time ago. Today the track wasn’t giving me much feedback so I took it fairly steady. Interestingly, when I put my qualifying tyres on, I felt I had much better grip and was able to push much harder. When I returned to the race rubber I couldn’t go nearly as fast and I didn’t feel the bike had much grip. We’ll have a look at the telemetry and see what is going on and maybe even try the kind of set-up we had at Qatar.” Yukio Kagayama – 11th, 2:04.782: “The first time I saw the track properly was today so I am not unhappy with 11th position. This track is very long and it is a hard track to learn quickly because it is also very wide and it is difficult to find braking points. It is a technical track and a track where you have to get the sequence of corners right if you want to make a fast lap. “Because it is so long, it is not possible to put in many laps in a session, so that makes it more difficult to learn. Today, I spent the time learning the track and trying to find out where I could go fast. I made a little mistake going into turn one and went straight on and into the gravel. Then, I just tipped over at a very slow speed, but there was no damage to the bike – or me!” More, from a press release issued by Scuderia SC Caracchi: FIRST PRACTICE DAY IN BRNO, WELL THE RIDERS OF SCUDERIA SC CARACCHI The Superbike returns after nine years of missing on the Czech track of Brno and in the first qualifying day the riders of Scuderia SC Caracchi obtained positive results. In Superbike Lorenzo Lanzi showed an optimal pace for the race conditions and is rather satisfied, while in Supersport Gianluca Nannelli obtained the ninth fastest despite of various problems of order emerged in this first day. Analogous Fonsi Nieto, to the taken ones with a wrong set up, appears confident for tomorrow’s final qualifying. “I’m rather satisfied for my result today”. Lorenzo Lanzi has commented at the end of the session. “Not looking at the qualifying position, sixteenth, until everybody were turning with race tyres I have always been in quarter-sixth position. In order from the race I have an optimal pace, the motor pushes very strongly and my bike has been recorded as the fastest today. Therefore for the moment we are in the group allowed to Superpole, I still have two qualifying tyres to use tomorrow, I like the track appeals, I have a very good feeling with the bike. In little words I actually have to say that I am satisfied “. In spite of some difficulty Fonsi Nieto appears trusting, even if the Spanish pilot, that recorded the 21st fastest, has toiled to find the correct set up on this track that he knows well in order to have already competed several times. “This morning all has gone enough well, but in the afternoon we have had to try a different setting”. he said at the end Fonsi Nieto. “we have setted the bike as in Misano, where it had given good results, but what it went well in Misano does not work here to Brno, therefore we have lost much time. But it was a test that we had to do. Actually we have lost the afternoon’s session, but we did not use the qualifying tyres that therefore we saved in order to use tomorrow, when we will return to the original set up, and I’m sure we improve our performance”. Less satisfied is Gianluca Nannelli, however his ninth fastest today, than he is not successful to set the bike for the demanding Bohemian track, in spite of the top speed showed, as always, by the 749R Ducati tuned by Franco Farnè. “The bike is very fast, but it is sliding a lot and I’m not able outing the corners as I would want, despite of all the suspensions tuning, this most in the afternoon with the warmer temperature. Tomorrow we must work in order to find again a set up that allows me to ride taking advantage of my riding style “. More, from a press release issued by Troy Corser’s publicist: TROY SECOND! Troy finished the first day of qualifying at Brno with the second fastest time – just a whisker behind Briton Chris Walker (Kawasaki) despite having some problems with grip. Troy is one of the few riders who has ridden here before (he took a tremendous double here in 1996), but he started off relearning the technically difficult and demanding circuit just like the rest of his fellow competitors. In the morning session he was only seventh, but when he put on his qualifying tyres for the afternoon timed session, he suddenly found the grip he had been lacking and was able to put in a very fast lap. In the end, he was only beaten by Chris Walker (Kawasaki) who put in an absolute flyer in the hot afternoon sun. Third quickest was Max Neukirchner (Honda), with Jose Luis Cardoso (Yamaha) completing the provisional front row of the grid. Troy’s team mate Yukio Kagayama finished eleventh quickest today – not bad considering that it was his first time at the circuit. TROY – 2nd, 2:03.487 It has been a bit of a funny day really. In the morning, I couldn’t get any feedback from the tyres at all. The problem was both the front and the rear and it just felt like the track was dirty and a bit greasy or something. Normally, either the front or rear is better or worse then the other, but this morning, both felt equally as bad. But, in the afternoon, things were completely different when I put on the qualifiers. Straightaway I had grip! I had more feel and I was able to push harder. When I put my regular race rubber back on, it was back to the old lack of feel. This track is technical and it is fast and wide and you have to know it well to put in quick laps. It is also a track where it is important to keep up good corner speed and that was something I couldn’t do with my race rubber today. Walker, Toseland and Laconi tested here recently and they also had some new tyres to try and so they arrived here already a step or two ahead of us. It is one of their designated test tracks, so it is OK for them to test. What we are not so happy about is that Pirelli gave them some new tyres to try out and all the top designated teams should get these at the same time – not some before the others. But, we’ll keep at it and we’ll do our best to get the better of them whatever. C ya.