Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.
World Superbike Superpole Results;
1. Regis Laconi, Ducati 999F04, 1:48.258
2. Chris Vermeulen, Honda CBR1000RR, 1:48.594
3. Pierfrancesco Chili, Ducati 999RS, 1:48.655
4. Noriyuki Haga, Ducati 999RS, 1:49.152
5. Leon Haslam, Ducati 999RS, 1:49.259
6. James Toseland, Ducati 999F04, 1:49.422
7. Gianluca Nannelli, Ducati 998RS, 1:50.024
8. Marco Borciani, Ducati 999RS, 1:50.132
9. Chris Walker, Foggy Petronas FP1, 1:50.434
10. Garry McCoy, Ducati 999RS, 1:50.525
11. Steve Martin, Ducati 999RS, 1:50.534
12. Troy Corser, Foggy Petronas FP1, 1:50.996
13. Piergiorgio Bontempi, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:51.039
14. Lucio Pedercini, Ducati 998RS, 1:51.487
15. Mauro Sanchini, Kawasaki ZX-10R, 1:51.974
16. Paolo Blora, Ducati 999RS, 1:52.056
More, from a press release issued by FGSport Group:
SUPERPOLE QUALIFYING
LACONI’S HAT-TRICK OF SUPERPOLE WINS AND NEW SPEED RECORD FOR VERMULEN
Three Superpoles To Rule Them All: Regis Laconi (Ducati Fila 999F04) continued his superb run of qualifying form to secure his third Superpole win of the 2004 season, setting the best lap of the meeting with 1:48.258 in the process. His latest dose of pre-race domination came in front of an enthusiastic crowd of Ducatisti at one of the Italian factory’s home circuits, the magnificently appointed Monza. Second in Superpole, growing in stature with every competitive outing, Ten Kate Honda rider Chris Vermeulen was almost at the level of Laconi, despite making a small misjudgement under braking at the entrance to the first chicane on his flying lap. However, the Australian took a new top speed record for SBK at Monza of 313 kmh, beating Frankie Chili’s previous record top speed of 311.2 kmh, which has stood since 1998.
Chili Cooled Off: Pierfrancesco Chili (PSG-1 Ducati 998) sent his local fans wild when he temporarily headed the Superpole qualifying times, but after being deposed by first Vermeulen and ultimately Laconi, the veteran rider had to be content with a front row start in third position. Noriyuki Haga finished off the front row qualifying order – and by being fourth made the post Superpole front row a carbon copy of the front row order of regular qualifying.
Laconi Lords It Early On: The fastest rider on show in regular qualifying (which determines the top 16 to qualify for Superpole, and the grid order for those outside the top 16) was once more Regis Laconi. The second place for Chris Vermeulen in the pre-Superpole sessions was an outstanding result for the Ten Kate Honda team, which is new to Superbike this season.
Leon Top Five: Renegade Ducati rider Leon Haslam ended Superpole on the coat tails of his team leader Noriyuki Haga, finishing with fifth fastest time at the head of the second row. Ducati Fila factory pilot James Toseland could only go sixth, but feels confident that he can run in a podium position on raceday. Gianluca Nannelli continued his first day ferocity to scoop seventh place on his Ducati 998, the second row being finished off by the DFX Ducati 999 of Marco Borciani.
Petronas Power Up: Losing out in the horsepower stakes to the big twins and fours, the Petronas of Chris Walker is not the ideal weapon to attack the Monza citadel with. Walker made up for his missing grunt by simply attacking every corner and chicane on the 5.973km circuit, posting a ninth fastest time and now hoping to get away with the riders from rows one and two during the 18-lap races on Sunday. His team-mate Troy Corser was 12th. His fellow Aussies Garry McCoy (Xerox Nortel Ducati 999) and Steve Martin (Ducati DFX 999) went tenth and 11th respectively. All 25 entrants qualified with the permitted time limit.
More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:
LACONI (DUCATI FILA) POWERS TO THIRD POLE POSITION OF THE YEAR –
TOSELAND STARTS FROM ROW 2 WITH SIXTH QUICKEST TIME
Monza (Italy), Saturday 16 May 2004: With a time of 1:48.258 in Superpole, Regis Laconi clinched a third pole position of the season aboard his Ducati 999 Factory ’04, putting the Frenchman amongst the favourites for the win in the fourth round of the World Superbike championship at Monza.
Laconi lines up on the front row of the grid for the two races with the young Australian Vermeulen (Honda), local hero Chili (PSG-1 Ducati) and Japan’s Haga (Renegade Ducati) alongside, while James Toseland (Ducati Fila) will start from row 2 after qualifying sixth behind the other Ducati Renegade rider, Haslam.
“My Superpole lap was smooth but I felt immediately that the front tyre wasn’t perfect” declared Laconi. “In fact I lost the front at Ascari and as a result a little bit of time, if it hadn’t been for that I could have got under 1:48 but I am happy anyway. The bike’s race setting is good, my lap time on race tyres is good and we will see what happens tomorrow. We have been working well this weekend to get a good feeling here with the bike. Monza is a great place to race at , there is always a big fight with everyone. This track is so fast but my bike is so fast also and I am not worried about the speed!”
“My Superpole lap was not so good, I had a few minor problems here and there and was a bit ragged but that’s not the problem” commented Toseland. “We’re still trying to find out what’s wrong and the right direction to go in to solve the problem and improve my ‘feeling’ with the bike. With the engineers we’re having a look at the telemetry to try and get the best combination at the front and the back. The tyres are not a problem, but I don’t feel 100% comfortable on the bike. It’s frustrating for everyone and more so for me because I know I can win but I’m not able to express my potential out there.”
More, from a press release issued by Xerox Ducati Nortel Networks/Scuderia Caracchi:
Third row for Garry McCoy tomorrow at Monza
Garry McCoy will start on his 999RS Xerox Ducati Nortel Networks from the third row for the two races of tomorrow on the challenging circuit of Monza, 5743 meter and 18 lap for a total of 104,284 km for each of the two scheduled races.
McCoy, seventh after the morning’s final qualifying, suffered some problem on his flying lap to drop three positions to 10th.
“I’m not satisfied at all.” – confessed a disappointed Garry McCoy after the Superpole result – “Maybe the track conditions was a bit changed as yesterday, but the bike with the same set up, suffered a lack of grip. In the first spli time I’ve been always on the top, then I miss something in the second and in the final split. Today I had not the same feeling as the first practice day and to start from the third row means to have the danger to geld held up at the bottleneck first chicane and miss the group of the leaders since the first stage of the race. However in the morning’s session I reduced the gap from the leader and that gave me a good hope for a good grid position. Well, the race will be tomorrow and we’ll se to get something good.”
Miguel Praia, despite hard pains in the hand injured yesterday in the crash at Parabolica corner, reached the qualification in the final session, with only one hour of time awailable to qualify, while the other riders have had a couple of sessions to set their bikes.
“I’m happy to be qualified in just a practice session.” – said Praia at the end of qualifying – “Now I’m forced to learn the track during the race, and I have a lot of pains in my injured hand. We’ll se tomorrow what I’ll be able to do for the race.”
Giancarlo De Matteis failed the Superpole for a whisker at his debut on the 999RS, a very fast bike which recorded the second top speed of the practice day.
“Improving my feeling with this bike also the performance increases. The bike is very fast, unfortunately in the final ten minutes of the final session I found a lot of traffic, so I’ve been not able to make use of the soft tyres to get the Superpole qualifying.”
More, from a press release issued by Troy Corser’s publicist:
2004 World Superbike Championship
Round 4, Monza (Italy)
Saturday 15th May, Final Qualifying
Circuit: 5.793 kms, Weather: sun, 24°C
THIRD ROW FOR TROY
A small tyre problem on his Superpole lap deprived Troy of a higher grid position at Monza this afternoon, relegating him to the third row of the grid for tomorrow’s 18-lappers. Although the weekend hasn’t gone to Troy’s advantage, it has gone more or less as he expected. Monza is a horsepower circuit and, with the Petronas FP1 suffering a power disadvantage compared to most of the competition, it was always going to be a tough race for Troy. Frenchman Regis Laconi (Ducati) set the fastest lap in the 16-rider Superpole shoot-out and will start the pair of races in pole position. Second quickest was Aussie Chris Vermeulen (Honda), with crowd favourite Frankie Chili (Ducati) third and Noriyuki Haga (Ducati) fourth.
TROY – 12th, 1:50.996
Today we spent quite a bit of time working with the gearing and also the suspension – to get the best times on race rubber. And we did manage to get some consistently good results. It’s true that the first few laps were better then later laps. It’s funny because the tyres dropped off a little and then stayed consistent. When I went out on my Superpole lap, we were using a new front which had done just a few laps, but going into the Parabolica at the end of the warm-up lap the bike began to suffer some chattering and I lost drive going down the straight at the start of my timed lap. I struggled a bit throughout the lap and I’m not sure what the problem was because we didn’t experience that kind of thing on the race tyres. Maybe I then tried a bit too hard to make up time, but my lap was over really and all I could do was get the bike home as best as I could. Now I’m going to have to make a couple of really good starts if I am to have any chance of good results.
More, from a press release issued by Ten Kate Honda:
Vermeulen Qualifies Second
World Superbike rookie Chris Vermeulen (Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) propelled his flying yellow Honda to second place in Superpole qualifying at the 5.793km circuit of Monza, during a tense competition held in bright sunshine. The combination of rider and machine, each new to World Superbike this season, was irresistible to all but the factory Ducati of Regis Laconi, as Vermeulen rode with assured pace and a coolness that belies his 21 years.
The top speed of 313kmph achieved in qualifying by the Ten Kate Honda was the fastest ever recorded in World Superbike at Monza.
Having qualified second in regulation qualifying, Superpole was just the latest in a series of big steps the team and rider have made together in a short period of time. Vermeulen, with some new parts on the machine for this round, made full use of his qualifying Pirelli tyres to set his fast lap, and will share the front row with Laconi, local hero Pierfrancesco Chili (Ducati) and Noriyuki Haga (Ducati).
For Vermeulen Superpole was another highlight of what has been an auspicious debut. “Second is not so bad but it would have been nice to get pole position. My lap wasn’t perfect. The problem is that you have an hour since the last time you braked as hard as possible from over 300kmph so it’s easy to miss the exact braking mark. I hit the brakes a bit early and had a little wobble in the way into the first chicane and that lost me some time. I’m pretty happy the way things have gone so far and we’ve pretty much chosen the race tyre.”
Team Manager Ronald Ten Kate paid tribute to the efforts put in by the whole team. “We are a really seriously threat to take Superpole wins now and a threat to the opposition tomorrow. We have closed the gap to the front and in a reasonably short time. As a tuning company we are happy that we have achieved the fastest ever top speed in SBK today at Monza. With the benefit of slipstreaming we may even see a higher figure tomorrow.”
World Superbike Championship
Round Four – Monza, Italy
14 – 16 May 2004
Superpole Qualifying
1. R. Laconi, FRA, Ducati 999 F04, 1’48.258
2. C. Vermeulen, AUS, Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR, 1’48.594
3. P. Chili, ITA, Ducati 999 RS, 1’48.655
4. N. Haga, JPN, Ducati 999 RS, 1’49.152
5. L. Haslam, GBR, Ducati 999 RS, 1’49.259
6. J. Toseland, GBR, Ducati 999 F04, 1’49.422
7. G. Nannelli, ITA, Ducati 998 RS, 1’50.024
8. M. Borciani, ITA, Ducati 999 RS, 1’50.132
9. C. Walker, GBR, Petronas FP1, 1’50.434
10. G. Mccoy, AUS, Ducati 999 RS, 1’50.525
