FIM Superbike World Championship Portimao, Portugal October 15 Final Qualifying Results, After Superpole (all on Pirelli tires): From Superpole Knockout Session Three: 1. Jonathan REA, Great Britain (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:41.712 2. Carlos CHECA, Spain (Ducati 1098R), 1:41.951 3. Eugene LAVERTY, Ireland (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:42.173 4. Marco MELANDRI, Italy (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:42.259 5. Sylvain GUINTOLI, France (Ducati 1098R), 1:42.627 6. Jakub SMRZ, Czech Republic (Ducati 1098R), 1:42.710 7. Joan LASCORZ, Spain (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:43.282 8. Noriyuki HAGA, Japan (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 1:43.307 From Superpole Knockout Session Two: 9. Ayrton BADOVINI, Italy (BMW S1000RR), 1:42.645 10. Tom SYKES, Great Britain (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:42.740 11. Leon HASLAM, Great Britain (BMW S1000RR), 1:42.879 12. Leon CAMIER, Great Britain (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 1:43.012 From Superpole Knockout Session One: 13. Maxime BERGER, France (Ducati 1098R), 1:43.306 14. Michel FABRIZIO, Italy (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:43.661 15. Davide GIUGLIANO, Italy (Ducati 1098R), 1:43.683 16. Mark AITCHISON, Australia (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:44.078 Others On Grid: 17. Max BIAGGI, Italy (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 1:43.907 18. Troy CORSER, Australia (BMW S1000RR), 1:44.631 19. Karl MUGGERIDGE, Australia (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:45.268 20. Javier FORES, Spain (BMW S1000RR), 1:45.274 21. Josh WATERS, Australia (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:45.311 22. Santiago BARRAGAN, Spain (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:45.495 More, from a press release issued by PATA Racing Team: Noriyuki Haga will kick off this last round of the Superbike World Championship 2011 from the second row. The japanese rider worked a lot on suspensions setting and on his bike’s trade off, improving and shaving nearly a second off his timing. Only after one lap of Superpole 2, he did manage to secure Superpole 3 and gaining a starting position among the first two rows. At that point Nitro Nori gave it all after changing his soft tyres with race ones but without further improvements on his timing. Noriyuki Haga – Aprilia RSV4R #41 – “Everything seems working perfectly with qualifying tyre but we have some drive issues when it comes to round’s ones. I’m going to kick off from a good place so I need to do my best since the beginning trying to defend myself during the second part. Hopefully I’ll close this season with a good result!”. More, from a press release issued by Team Alstare Suzuki: FOURTH ROW FOR MICHEL Team Alstare Suzuki rider Michel Fabrizio didn’t get the big improvement he was hoping for in today’s qualifying and Superpole and will have to start tomorrow’s pair of 22 lap races from the fourth row of the grid. The team changed the entire braking system, in a bid to alleviate yesterday’s problems, and there was an improvement, but not enough for Michel to push as hard as he wanted. Michel’s place on the fourth row means he will need two superb starts if he is to have any chance of good results. Jonathan Rea (Honda) won Superpole today, with a lap of 1:41.712, inside the lap record. Second is Carlos Checa (Ducati), with Yamaha team mates Eugene Laverty and Marco Melandri in third and fourth Michel – 14th, 1:43.661 The team changed the whole braking system and the bike felt a bit better, but not enough for me to push really hard. At the moment, I do not have enough confidence in the bike to be more aggressive and that is a bit frustrating – for me and the team. They also made other changes to the bike, but I didn’t feel comfortable on the bumps – and there are a lot of them here! The fourth row is obviously not a good place to start, but I am hopeful that I can make good starts and get good results – as long as the problems have been solved. It’s going to be a long, hard day tomorrow, but whatever happens I will do my best. More, from a press release issued by BMW Motorrad Motorsport: Weather conditions: Sunny. Temperature: Air: 24 28 °C, Track: 32 42 °C Number of riders participating: 22 from 13 teams Fastest lap Qualifying Practices: Jonathan Rea (Castrol Honda) 1:42.569 min Fastest lap Superpole 3: Jonathan Rea (Castrol Honda) 1:41.712 min As expected, Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport experienced a challenging Saturday at Portimão (POR). Its factory riders, Leon Haslam (GBR) and Troy Corser (AUS), will start the final round of the 2011 FIM Superbike World Championship from the third and fifth rows respectively. Leon finished 11th in today’s Superpole Qualifying after setting the fourth fastest time of the Qualifying Practices. His team mate, Troy, struggled to qualify for the deciding Superpole and occupies 18th on the grid on his BMW S 1000 RR. Ayrton Badovini (ITA) from the BMW Motorrad Italia SBK Team will start on his RR from ninth. His team mate, Xavier Fores (ESP), qualified 20th. Leon Haslam: Fastest lap Qualifying Practices: 1:43.090 min (P4) / Fastest lap FP: 1:44.303 min (P13) / Fastest lap Superpole 2: 1:42.879 min (P11) “On Friday we had an issue which meant we missed out on a lot of valuable track time, but today we have worked well and made some positive adjustments to the chassis. Obviously qualifying didn’t go according to plan, as we struggled to obtain the full potential from the qualifying tyres, but on race tyres we are looking good, so I am still confident. The start tomorrow from the third row will be really important, but if we can run with the leaders in the early laps then we could be on for a good result. We will have to wait and see.” Troy Corser: Fastest lap Qualifying Practices: 1:44.131 min (P18) / Fastest lap FP: 1:44.185 min (P11) “Sadly we have struggled to combat the issues from yesterday. The track’s bumpy and undulating nature has made a good set-up very hard to find. We have been working overtime to try and pull everything together, but sadly we ran out of time and missed out on Superpole completely. Now we have to do our utmost with the time available tomorrow to try and find a good setting for the races, and hopefully improve on what is an obviously disappointing starting position.” Rainer Bäumel (Head of Race Operations): “It continues to be a difficult weekend for us. Today we were able to progress with both riders, but unfortunately for Troy it was not enough to qualify for Superpole. Overall our gap to the very front is still too big. We will work hard and try to reduce this gap tomorrow. In the races a lot is possible. Leon is a fighter, he will certainly give his best and you can easily overtake on this track. Troy is facing an even bigger challenge starting from the fifth row. However, in Free Practice we were able to improve his RR in many areas, so also for him a lot is still possible.” More, from a press release issued by Castrol Honda: Rea takes Portimao pole in style Jonathan Rea set the fastest ever Superbike lap at Portimao in Portugal this afternoon to take pole position for tomorrow’s final two races of the 2011 World Superbike Championship. The Castrol Honda rider lapped the 4.592km Portimao circuit in a time of 1m41.712s, eclipsing by three tenths of a second the previous best lap set by Cal Crutchlow last season. Rea has been in scintillating form all weekend for the final SBK round of 2011 and was fastest in this morning’s second regulation qualifying session. But the 24-year-old from Northern Ireland saved his best lap for this afternoon’s final Superpole session to take his second consecutive pole position. Rea will be joined on the front row for tomorrow’s two 22-lap races by newly crowned World Superbike Champion Carlos Checa, who was second fastest today, ahead of Eugene Laverty and Marco Melandri, who round out the front row. Karl Muggeridge, replacing the injured Ruben Xaus, made further progress today as he continued to re-familiarise himself with the Portimao circuit and his CBR1000RR. The 37-year-old Australian was 19th fastest today for fifth row qualifying slot. Jonathan Rea P1 1m41.712s To be honest, I’d much rather swap this pole position and the one at Magny-Cours for two good results tomorrow, but I’m still very happy with today. I’m enjoying riding the bike so much right now and go out with a smile on my face in every session. We had quite a different strategy with tyres today but it looks like being quite a difficult race with the temperatures here and we think the race will probably start around lap ten. For now though, we’ll just savour the moment and I’ll try my best tomorrow, which is another day after all. Karl Muggeridge P19 1m45.268s It’s still a big job for me to get to grips with the bike and the tyres here. We made some progress today but it’s going to be tough to muscle the bike around here tomorrow. I don’t really have enough confidence yet in the bike so we’ll just have to work a little more tonight to bring that on. It’s still difficult to accelerate out of the corners properly but the entry has improved a lot, which is where I struggled big-time yesterday. I just need to work on getting off them now but it’s all right and we’ll keep chipping away tomorrow. Ronald ten Kate team manager That was quite a special lap. We knew that Jonathan had quite a good pace around here but we were not actually expecting to see a 41s lap on display. So big compliments to him it was a great job, but more importantly race pace seems to be quite OK, so we’re looking forward to tomorrow. Karl is improving lap by lap so we hope tomorrow, with some more laps under his belt, that he can collect some points and enjoy his weekend with us. More, from a press release issued by Infront Motor Sports: Rea rips up the record books to win Tissot-Superpole Portimao (Portugal), Saturday 15 October 2011 A new best lap of 1 minute 41.712 seconds from Jonathan Rea (Castrol Honda) gave him his second Tissot-Superpole win in succession as the rider from Northern Ireland set out to end his season on a high. Second was new champion Carlos Checa (Althea Racing Ducati) with third and fourth places taken by Yamaha World Superbike team-mates Eugene Laverty and Marco Melandri respectively. Jonathan Rea: “I’d much rather swap this pole position for two wins tomorrow but it’s a great result all the same. I’m just really enjoying riding my bike at the moment, we had quite a bizarre strategy this weekend, using different tyres this morning and old ones this afternoon. But it’s so hot here at the moment and I think the race is really going to start at around lap 10.” Carlos Checa: “It’s a special weekend for me because it’s my 39th birthday, but we are for sure quite satisfied with my second position, because lapping in 1m41s is quite a good time. It’s just that Johnny is very strong. We are here to compete, but we want to be focused on the race. This for us is the best test for next year and I hope we can do some great results.” Eugene Laverty: “I would love to have got pole but I’m on the front row and that’s the important thing. I wasn’t going to beat Johnny today. It’s a good front row position and we’re looking strong for the races tomorrow, but so are the other guys so we will see.” The second row will feature the Effenbert-Liberty Ducati duo of Sylvain Guintoli and Jakub Smrz, in fifth and sixth places overall. Ever-improving Kawasaki rider Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki Racing Team) equalled his season best qualifying of seventh with PATA Aprilia Racing rider Noriyuki Haga eighth. Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia SBK) and Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team Superbike) completed the top ten. Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) and Leon Camier (Aprilia Alitalia) secured the final spots on the third row of the grid. Maxime Berger (Supersonic Racing Team Ducati), Michel Fabrizio (Suzuki Alstare), one-off Portimao rider Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Ducati) and Mark Aitchison (Pedercini Team Kawasaki) completed the 16 riders who made it into Superpole one. Max Biaggi just missed out on a Superpole place in his comeback ride for his Aprilia Alitalia team, and is 17th on the grid. Times: 1. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1’41.712; 2. Checa C. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 1’41.951; 3. Laverty E. (IRL) Yamaha YZF R1 1’42.173; 4. Melandri M. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R1 1’42.259; 5. Guintoli S. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 1’42.627; 6. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 1’42.710; 7. Lascorz J. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’43.282; 8. Haga N. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’43.307; 9. Badovini A. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 1’42.645; 10. Sykes T. (GBR) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’42.740; 11. Haslam L. (GBR) BMW S1000 RR 1’42.879; 12. Camier L. (GBR) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’43.012; 13. Berger M. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 1’43.306; 14. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’43.661; 15. Giugliano D. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1’43.683; 16. Aitchison M. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’44.078; etc. World Supersport Two Spanish Kawasaki Motocard.com machines will start tomorrow’s final round of the WSS championship from first and second on the grid after dominating the second qualifying run. Pole went to David Salom of Spain, with Australia’s Broc Parkes alongside. 2011 champion Chaz Davies (Yamaha ParkinGO) was third quickest, followed by French youngster Florian Marino (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) in the final front row slot. Massimo Roccoli (Lorenzini by Leoni Kawasaki) was next up in fifth, with Sam Lowes of the home Parkalgar Honda team in sixth. Fabien Foret (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) and Luca Scassa (Yamaha ParkinGO), who both had harmless crashes during the session, were seventh and eighth. Times: 1. Salom D. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1’45.095; 2. Parkes B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1’45.145; 3. Davies C. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R6 1’45.253; 4. Marino F. (FRA) Honda CBR600RR 1’45.590; 5. Roccoli M. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1’45.706; 6. Lowes S. (GBR) Honda CBR600RR 1’45.787; 7. Foret F. (FRA) Honda CBR600RR 1’45.877; 8. Scassa L. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 1’45.968; etc. Superstock 1000 Danilo Petrucci (Barni Racing Ducati) powered to his sixth pole position of the year in the Superstock 1000 category, equalling Maxime Berger’s circuit best lap on the way. The Italian will have some tough competition alongside him on the front row: Frenchman Loris Baz (Ten Kate Junior Honda), Niccolò Canepa (Lazio MotorSport Ducati) and Sheridan Morais (Lorenzini by Leoni Kawasaki), all with experience in higher categories. Lorenzo Zanetti (BMW Motorrad Italia Superstock), Petrucci’s only adversary for the runner-up slot, was only in eleventh place on the third row, while his team-mate Sylvain Barrier was up in fifth ahead of Lorenzo Baroni (Althea Racing Ducati) and Bryan Staring (Pedercini Kawasaki). Times: 1. Petrucci D. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1’45.282; 2. Baz L. (FRA) Honda CBR1000RR 1’46.557; 3. Canepa N. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1’46.630; 4. Morais S. (RSA) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’46.690; 5. Barrier S. (FRA) BMW S1000 RR 1’46.759; 6. Baroni L. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1’46.862; 7. Staring B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’46.889; 8. Savadori L. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’46.980; etc. Superstock 600 Pole position for Sunday’s conclusive race in the European Superstock 600 Championship went to the young Frenchman Romain Lanusse (MRS Yamaha Racing France), who is still in with a chance of taking the runner-up slot. Alongside Lanusse can be found Britain’s Glenn Irwin (CN Racing Kawasaki), Dutchman Michael vd Mark (Ten Kate Honda Junior Team) and American Joshua Day (Revolution Racedays Kawasaki). Day is the chief rival in the title chase for Australian Jed Metcher (MTM-RT Motorsports Yamaha), who was sixth today. Daniele Beretta (Trasimeno Yamaha) will start from row two with fifth quickest time, together with Metcher, Tomas Krajci (TK Racing Slovakia Yamaha) and Riccardo Russo (Trasimeno Yamaha). Times: 1. Lanusse R. (FRA) Yamaha YZF R6 1’48.211; 2. Irwin G. (GBR) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1’48.483; 3. Vd Mark M. (NED) Honda CBR600RR 1’48.613; 4. Day J. (USA) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1’48.947; 5. Beretta D. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 1’48.961; 6. Metcher J. (AUS) Yamaha YZF R6 1’49.293; 7. Krajci T. (SVK) Yamaha YZF R6 1’49.342; 8. Russo R. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 1’49.414; etc. More, from a press release issued by Althea Racing: CHECA SECURES FRONT ROW START FOR THE FINAL SBK RACES OF 2011 AT PORTIMAO Portimao (Portugal), Saturday 15th October 2011: Althea Racing riders Carlos Checa and Davide Giugliano were back in action today at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve and, at the end of an extremely tight Superpole (the last of the 2011 season), Checa qualified in second and Giugliano fifteenth for what will surely be exciting races tomorrow. Times began to drop fairly rapidly this morning during the second qualifying session, which took place this morning on a cooler track (32ËšC) compared to yesterday afternoon. During his very first exit, Carlos immediately improved on his best time set yesterday, recording an impressive 1’43.0. Giugliano, having lost valuable time during yesterday’s session due to a crash, got back to work today and made significant improvement. He gradually improved on his times and in the final minutes put in a 1m43.4 followed by an even more impressive 1m43.0! With this very fast time he moved up into the top spots, closing in fifth place with a very similar time to Melandri and Haslam, in third and fourth position. Carlos too saved the best till last – his best lap (1m42.7) was also his last and this positioned him second at the session’s end, two tenths from Rea in first. Both Althea riders easily qualified for the afternoon’s Superpole. Both riders had small crashes during the early afternoon practice session but were luckily unhurt. Both Carlos and Davide went back out almost immediately on their second bikes, closing in fourth and fifteenth position respectively. Superpole 1: Carlos went out on race rubber and placed second after making just one fast lap (1m42.6). Davide too chose to ride first with a race tyre but returned to the track with the first qualifying tyre to try to improve his position. It’s the first time that the young Italian has ridden with the tyre solution and a couple of small mistakes, perhaps due to inexperience, meant that he closed in fifteenth position. His Superpole therefore came to an end at this point and he will line up on the fourth row of the grid for tomorrow’s races. Superpole 2: once again Checa needed just one lap, this time on a qualifier. His lap time, 1m42.1, put him in second at the end of this second phase. Superpole 3: in the final phase Carlos made two laps, the first of which was extremely fast (1m41.9) He unfortunately missed out on pole today by two tenths of a second but only he and polesitter Rea ducked under 1m42, beating Crutchlow’s lap record of 2010. Carlos Checa: “It’s a special weekend for many reasons and we are of course extremely satisfied to be on the front row. I was able to make a great lap and go under 1m42 which is a very good result but Johnny was stronger here today. We’re here to fight and tomorrow I want to be as competitive as ever. We will stay focused on tomorrow’s races and try to do our best.” Davide Giugliano: “We can’t be dissatisfied but, to tell the truth, I perhaps expected a little more from myself. I think that at this track and with this bike we can do a great job. We were doing that during some of the sessions but then it became more difficult in the Superpole with the qualifying tyre. I had never ridden with that tyre before and it was pretty different from what I’m used to. I hoped to reach the second phase, to please the team, but I think they’ll be equally pleased if I can make two strong races tomorrow. I need to make a good start and then try to stick with the group in front of me. Tomorrow’s another day and I’m confident.” More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service: In only its third appearance in the World Superbike Championship this year, Yoshimura Suzuki improved lap times in today’s final qualifying for the final round of the World Superbike Championship at Portimao in Portugal. Running its Suzuki GSX-R1000 Suzuka 8-Hour Race-specification machine on different tyres, Australian “Wild Card” rider Josh Waters bettered his lap times on a circuit both he and the team have never ridden. Although failing to make Superpole, Waters is upbeat about the learning curve, different tyres and overall machine set-up, and is hopeful of a good showing for the Japanese aftermarket tuning specialist in tomorrow’s two 22-lap races. Josh Waters – 21st – (1:45.311) “This has been a very steep learning curve for me and the team. This is my first time here and the track is very technical and quite difficult. There are many ups-and-downs and blind approaches and so you need to know the track and have a good bike set up. “I haven’t ridden this bike since the World Superbike round in Miller Motorsports Park in America, and it’s very different to my GSX-R1000 that I race in Australia. Also, I am having to learn how the bike behaves on Pirelli tyres as I race on other rubber at home. The bike is more-or-less the same as the Suzuka 8 hour Endurance bike I raced in July and that also runs on another brand of tyres, so we have been trying to get it dialled-in for the Pirellis and that takes a lot of work and understanding. “I am a little frustrated – for myself and the team – because I want to do much better. There’s just so much to do and not that much time to do it, but don’t forget we’re up against the best Superbike racers in the World and they all have so much more time and experience on their bikes than we do. It’s a tough challenge, but we’re improving bit by bit and I hope I can have a couple of good races and get some good results. Yohei Kato – Team Manager: “I am not satisfied with our progress so far, even though the last session today was a bit better than I expected. The bike is the Suzuka 8 hour bike and we are adapting it to this race track, but there’s so much work to do and things to learn. I am beginning to understand how difficult it is to get good results as a ‘Wild Card’. We will keep working, of course, and hope for good results tomorrow.” Final Qualifying results: 1 Jonathan Rea (GBR-Honda) 1:41.712, 2 Carlos Checa (ESP-Ducati) 1:41.951, 3 Eugene Laverty (GBR-Yamaha) 1:42.173, 4 Marco Melandri (ITA-Yamaha) 1:42.259, 5 Sylvain Guintoli (FRA-Ducati) 1:42.267, 6 Jakub Smrz (CZE-Ducati) 1:42.710. 21 Josh Waters (JPN-Yoshimura Suzuki) 1:45.311. More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki: Equal Best Performance Sees Lascorz Into The Superpole Top Seven WSBK, Portimao, Portugal, 15 October 2011 Joan Lascorz scored a strong second row starting position at the final round of the year with his fellow official Kawasaki rider Tom Sykes working his way to the third row, in 10th place. Lascorz has found the business of qualifying and superpole not always straightforward in his rookie WSBK season but positive developments in his machine set-up, particularly under braking, allowed him to exploit more of capabilities of his Ninja ZX-10R in pre-race trim. His superpole performance made him the fastest Kawasaki rider on show before raceday. Starting from row two will be a nearly new experience for Joan, so he will be all out to stay with the leading riders in the early laps and make use of what is normally his strongest pace in the middle and at the end of races. Sykes had the opposite experience of Lascorz in Superpole and qualifying, starting strong but not finding the set-up improvements to allow him to compete for spot on the front two rows. His third row start is not ideal but Sykes is determined to find a better way in the two 22-lap races scheduled for Sunday afternoon. Mark Aitchison (Kawasaki Pedercini Team) made it into Superpole but a crash in the first session held him back and he could not make any more progress, ending up 16th. Regular Ninja ZX-10R Roberto Rolfo (Kawasaki Pedercini Team) missed the final race of the year after suffering an injury in a cycling accident at home after the previous round, and was replaced at Portimao by Spanish rider Santiago Barragan. He qualified 22nd. Joan Lascorz: “We made good improvements in braking and turning-in and I am happy with the bike so I made some good lap times. We did a lot of work with the engine braking and it has paid off. We have had some good pace in races this year but started too far from the front, so now I am going to start from the second row hopefully more things will be possible. I think we will have to concentrate our efforts around one tyre choice for tomorrow. The circuit is a bit bumpier than I remember, but that is the same for everyone.” Tom Sykes: “We used a race tyre in superpole one and made it through to superpole two, but obviously I am not happy where we are with the bike settings this weekend. We started off strongly in the first session but I do not feel we have made massive progress since then. We need to make a plan for tomorrow because I feel we can be at the sharp end but we are not quite there at the moment. I am struggling with turning the bike off the brakes, which at this track you need to do a few times. Ultimately we know what we want to do and we will try to achieve it for the races tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Alitalia Aprilia: A JUDGEMENT ERROR KEEPS MAX OUT OF THE PORTIMAO SUPERPOLE. THE CORSAIR WILL START FROM THE FIFTH ROW TOMORROW. TWELFTH PLACE TIME AND THE THIRD ROW FOR LEON CAMIER. Portimao, October 15th, 2011 Max Biaggi will start from the fifth row tomorrow in the Portimao Superbike round. In the last few minutes of the second qualifying session Max made a simple judgement error which relegated him to seventeenth place. In spite of the difficulties he encountered during the weekend, mostly due to the 40 days of forced down time and the consequences of his fractured foot, the five time world champion had a good shot at a decent start. Some rusty habits and his less than optimum physical condition complicated the situation more than had been expected. Max analysed the day’s events with a clear mind: “Being left out of Superpole was the most disappointing thing of the weekend, because even though I had some difficulties in all of the sessions, I would have had a decent chance at a good starting position. Unfortunately an error in judgement means that I’m forced to start from deep on the grid, just one more difficulty for the two races tomorrow. Rather than a set-up problem, it is more a lack of feeling after being out for three rounds, while the others kept racing and improving over the past 40 days. I’ve paid for my injury. Now I’ll take this race as more practice, trying to bring home as much as possible”. Leon Camier also had a complicated Superpole after putting the fifth best time on the board during the free practice session held immediately prior. Twelfth time and the third row on the grid for the young English rider, visibly disappointed at being eliminated in the second pole session. “I struggled with the soft tyre confirmed Leon I was never able to get in a really good lap. That is why I’m in twelfth place, which is not where I had hoped to be. I take a bit of comfort in my race pace… we’re not far off the best times over the long distance. If we can manage to improve the bike a bit more tomorrow I think we can count on two good races. The start will be fundamental. We can’t let our rivals up front escape because making up ground is always difficult”. More, from a press release issued by Yamaha: Yamaha WSB Team secure front row starts ahead of the grand finale in Portimao Eugene Laverty and Marco Melandri were on flying form today on the sunny Algarve circuit at Portimao to secure two front row starts on tomorrow’s grid for the final two races of the 2011 season. Both riders got straight down to business in this morning’s second qualifying session making several minor adjustments to their R1 set-ups in search of better grip and stability on the machine. Having made significant improvements, both riders concentrated on race set up in the afternoon’s free practice, completing a longer run before wrapping up the successful session at the top of the time sheets, with Melandri in first place and his team-mate just 0.031 of a second behind him in second position. In the first Superpole knockout session this afternoon, Melandri set the fastest time to claim the top slot, while his team-mate, just behind in third place went comfortably through to the second heat of the day, having both saved their qualifiers for the remaining two sessions. Laverty dominated the second heat using a qualifier to clock in an impressive 1’42.097, just 0.005 off the best lap time recorded on the R1 in 2010. While several riders switched to the last qualifying tyre to complete a further two laps and secure a place in the third heat, Melandri was bumped to eighth place. The final Superpole session of the season saw both Yamaha riders claim front row positions on tomorrow’s race grid, with Laverty in third place and his Italian team-mate beside him in fourth, setting them up nicely for the grand finale. Eugene Laverty Yamaha World Superbike Team – 3rd, 1’42.173 “It was a pretty good day overall. Another front row start is important, I was hoping to get pole but Johnny Rea was very strong and third on the grid is pretty good. This morning we tried a few things that didn’t quite work out but in the final free practice session we made a big step in the right direction, getting some more rear grip on the bike, which is really important ahead of tomorrow’s race day. We have some more work to do in the morning but we are almost there and I am confident enough that I can be fighting for a podium in the last two races of the season.” Marco Melandri Yamaha World Superbike Team – 4th, 1’42.259 “It was a great day today, we made good progress in qualifying and free practice, making steps in the right direction. The team worked hard and did a great job yet again, helping me gain more confidence and feeling on the bike and I was lapping quite fast. I concentrated on trying to get faster laps times in the Superpole qualifying session which has been my weakest point recently but I needed a few tenths of a second more. The important thing is to be on the front row and to have a good set up for tomorrow’s two races, which I am confident we have and that we can be strong and fighting for a win.” Andrea Dosoli – Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager “We were aiming for a front row start for the last races of the season, so that mission was accomplished today with both riders, confirming our strong total team performance. Eugene has been fast all weekend and yet again in today’s Superpole, which is very important as tomorrow he will be doing his best to hold on to the third place in the championship. He and his team worked hard to improve consistency on the race tyres and rear grip, areas where he was struggling a little yesterday. Marco gradually improved the set up on his machine throughout the day, gaining the confidence he requires to be 100 per cent competitive tomorrow. He put in some fast laps with the race tyres but was unable to improve much on the qualifier. Most important is that both riders will be starting from the front row and fighting to take home two more race wins before ending the season.”