Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

1. Chris Vermeulen, Honda CBR600RR, 2:05.736
2. Karl Muggeridge, Honda CBR600RR, 2:05.921
3. Sebastien Charpentier, Honda CBR600RR, 2:06.630
4. Jurgen Vd Goorbergh, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:06.669
5. Katsuaki Fujiwara, Suzuki GSX-R600, 2:06.932
6. Stephane Chambon, Suzuki GSX-R600, 2:07.131
7. Barry Veneman, Honda CBR600RR, 2:07.313
8. Iain MacPherson, Honda CBR600RR, 2:07.485
9. Alessio Corradi, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:07.508
10. Simone Sanna, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:07.639
11. Gianluca Nannelli, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:07.712
12. Christian Kellner, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:07.923
13. Robert Ulm, Honda CBR600RR, 2:07.994
14. Pere Riba, Kawasaki ZX-6RR, 2:08.192
15. Werner Daemen, Honda CBR600RR, 2:08.229
16. Fabien Foret, Kawasaki ZX-6RR, 2:08.315
17. Jan Hanson, Honda CBR600RR, 2:08.340
18. Thieery Vd Bosch, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:08.494
19. Matthieu Lagrive, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:08.601
20. Dean Thomas, Honda CBR600RR, 2:08.828


More, from a press release issued by Honda Racing:

HONDA’S VERMEULEN SCOOPS ASSEN POLE POSITION

Honda CBR600RR rider Chris Vermeulen blasted to his second pole position of the year with the fastest lap in qualifying for round nine of the World Supersport championship at Assen in Holland.

Vermeulen¹s best lap time from Friday’s session was enough after rain hit the 3.74-mile circuit in the north of the country. Vermeulen’s lap, 0.3s faster than the best lap of 2002, edged out his team-mate Karl Muggeridge as the CBR600RR-armed pair did battle.

Vermeulen said: “There wasn’t too much we could learn in this afternoon’s wet session but I’m happy with the machine’s race set-up come rain or shine tomorrow. With a good chunk of the session remaining I parked the machine, I didn’t want to risk doing any damage chasing a pointless lap.”

Muggeridge commented: “I decided to stay out a bit longer and, as the track dried, we were able to test a range of slightly different tyres. I’m feeling very confident about tomorrow and looking to win a race ­ it’s been a while since I last did that!”

Sebastien Charpentier recorded his best qualifying result of the year with third place on his Klaffi Honda team CBR600RR. Charpentier also bounced back after destroying a machine in a Saturday morning free practice crash in the wet conditions.

“I just touched a white line and immediately lost control, the conditions were quite dangerous if you went anywhere near those white lines,” said Charpentier. “But I’ve got a good position on the grid and I’m confident I can stay with the two Ten Kate Hondas in tomorrow’s race.”

Dutchman Jurgen van den Goorbergh, 37 points behind championship leader Vermeulen, will start from fourth with the Suzuki pairing of Katsuaki Fujiwara and Stephane Chambon fifth and sixth respectively.

Barry Veneman, a Dutch wild card rider, starts from seventh place, on row two on his Esha Kobutex Honda team CBR600RR with Iain MacPherson eighth fastest on the Van Zon Honda.

“Despite the rain I’m a lot happier today,” admitted MacPherson. “We fitted a new frame to the machine I had a problem with and it feels much better ­ albeit in wet conditions. And we¹ve managed to find a really good setting with the machine should the conditions be wet.”

Alessio Corradi and Simone Sanna complete the top 10 on their Yamahas with Klaffi Honda¹s Robert Ulm 13th, he admitted: “The rain this afternoon did cost us as we wanted to try some new settings but maybe we can do that tomorrow morning in the warm-up.”

MacPherson’s Van Zon Honda team-mate Werner Daemen will start the 16-lap race from 15th place. Daemen said: “I didn¹t want to take any risks in the wet weather. Ten minutes more and I could have gone out with a full dry weather setting but the conditions were never going to be good enough for me to improve my lap time of Friday.”