Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By Glenn LeSanto

We’re in the middle of a silly season here at Brands hatch, with riders and teams already negotiating next year’s contracts. But despite all manner of rumours flying around Stephane Chambon climbed on his bike and just got on
with his job ­ going faster than everyone else.

Chambon climbed to the top of the timesheet and stayed there, putting him on provisional pole ahead of Saturday’s final qualifying session.

Various riders tried to topple Chambon off the head of the grid, but none of them could budge him. Instead they all scrapped over second place, with Fabien Foret and Paolo Casoli both occupying provisional second on the grid before Christophe Cogan came along to make second on the grid his ­for today at least. Casoli ended the session in third, the lone Italian in an otherwise all-French front row after Foret nabbed provisional fourth.

British rider James Whitham is provisional fifth in front of Katsuaki Fujiwara. Scotland’s Iain MacPherson is seventh with reigning champion Andrew Pitt taking the final place on the provisional second row.

Friday World Supersport Qualifying Times:

1. Stéphane Chambon, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:29.473
2. Christophe Cogan, Honda CBR600F, 1:29.803
3. Paolo Casoli, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:29.838
4. Fabien Foret, Honda CBR600F, 1:30.098
5. James Whitham, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:30.202
6. Katsuaki Fujiwara, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:30.216
7. Iain MacPherson, Honda CBR600F, 1:30.238
8. Andrew Pitt, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 1:30.325
9. Stefano Cruciani, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:30.525
10. Chris Vermeulen, Honda CBR600F, 1:30.527
11. Kevin Curtain, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:30.544
12. Christian Kellner, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:30.615
13. Karl Muggeridge, Honda CBR600F, 1:30.798
14. Werner Daemen, Honda CBR600F, 1:30.859
15. Jörg Teuchert, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:30.902
16. Piergiorgio Bontempi, Ducati 748R, 1:30.937
17. Antonio Carlacci, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:30.975
18. Alessio Corradi, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:31.032
19. Robert Frost, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:31.140
20. Sebastien Charpentier, Honda CBR600F, 1:31.266
21. Stuart Easton, Ducati 748R, 1:31.339
22. Matthieu Lagrive, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:31.518
23. James Ellison, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 1:31.916
24. Scott Smart, Honda CBR600F, 1:31.987
25. John McGuinness, Honda CBR600F, 1:32.245
26. Nigel Arnold, Honda CBR600F, 1:32.481
27. Claudio Cipriani, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:32.888
28. Gianluca Nannelli, Ducati 748R, 1:34.017

From Ducati Corse:

WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP

Round 10 – Brands Hatch (UK), 28 July 2002

FRIDAY QUALIFYING

BAYLISS & XAUS (DUCATI INFOSTRADA) POWER TO PROVISIONAL 1-3 IN FIRST QUALIFYING AT BRANDS HATCH – BOSTROM (DUCATI L&M) TWELFTH

The Ducati Infostrada pairing of Troy Bayliss and Ruben Xaus set first and third quickest times in Friday first qualifying for the European Round of the World Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch as the Australian and the Spaniard sandwiched Honda’s Colin Edwards. The Texan was quickest for much of the session, but after Pierfrancesco Chili (Ducati NCR) had a spell at the top, Troy bolted on a qualifying tyre and powered to a time of 1’26.398. Despite suffering from shivers and a high temperature, Ruben Xaus (Ducati Infostrada) concluded his quick lap right behind Troy, ending up third quickest with a time of 1’26.599. Ben Bostrom (Ducati L&M) was unable to get on the pace of the leading group and ended up with a 1’27.523, which earned him twelfth fastest time in today’s session.

“I’m happy to be fastest, who knows what tomorrow can bring at Brands Hatch” declared Troy. “We still have to work on a few more little things but in general the day has gone OK. We tried a lot of tyres and on my race tyres I set a pretty good time, a flat 27, but I need to improve the bike set-up before I’m entirely satisfied. On my first lap on qualifiers at the end I had a big slide at Graham Hill Bend so I had to pass on that but I just managed to squeeze one more lap out of the tyre to set my time.”

“I’m so exhausted” said Ruben Xaus, “but things have got a lot better since Thursday morning when I was shaking with a high fever. It’s difficult to do a qualifying session when you feel like that but in the end on the bike it was not too bad. When eventually I had a tyre at the front that gave me confidence, it was quite late but then I put a qualifying tyre on the rear and I set my good lap. Really I was thinking so much about the way I was today so I wasn’t able to concentrate 100% on the bike. Tomorrow it’ll be better and I’m sure I can improve my time but for the moment I’m happy with third place. Now I’ve set a good time, I can concentrate on race set-up and get ready to do a good Superpole tomorrow”.

“We’ve still got some way to go at the moment, but Friday doesn’t mean much, tomorrow is the important day” declared Ben Bostrom. “The bike feels good and I’m pretty happy, but we played around too much in that session. I tried too many tyres and too many different gears. It’s OK though, tomorrow we’ll only focus on the set-up and things will improve for sure”.



More, from HM Plant Ducati:

Getting the balance right

The European round of the Superbike World Championship at Brands Hatch got off to a positive start for HM Plant Ducati riders Neil Hodgson and James Toseland. The pair are anxious to put in the kind of performances that the 120,000-plus crowd that is expected to flock to the Kent circuit for Sunday’s two Superbike races knows they are capable of. In the first of the weekend’s timed qualifying sessions Hodgson earned himself fourth place on the provisional grid, while his team-mate managed to go 13th quickest.

Brands Hatch has always been a special event for Hodgson and the scene of some spectacular victories over the years. He realises more than anyone else the weight of expectation that hangs over him and is determined to take his first victory of the season in front of the massive contingent of HM Plant Ducati fans. He also realises that victory does not come in the first qualifying session.

“Of course I’d have liked to have been on provisional pole,” says Hodgson, “but I have a few things to sort out before I can really begin to push it and, providing it stays dry tomorrow, today’s times don’t really mean that much. Plus I’m only 0.3secs off Bayliss’ pole time anyway. The most important thing at the moment is to find the right tyre and adapt my bike to the circuit. My HM Plant Ducati 998 F01 is quite different from the bike that I last raced here and I know this track so well that any tiny little difference stands out a mile. So, I’m just getting used to the way it behaves compared to my old bike. I tried too many tyres out to get into a decent rhythm as well, but I’m going to sort it out for tomorrow because I’m expecting things to hot up and I think that we’ll see some 1:25sec laps. Once the bike’s right there’s no reason why I can’t do that sort of time and take pole.”

Toseland also used the first timed session wisely and made good progress in his search for the optimum set-up for his machine.

“I’m having a few problems getting the bike settled after braking,” he explains. “The way it is at the moment means that I can’t get on the power quick enough on the way out of corners, and that’s costing me time. I don’t think that I’m the only one struggling out there but we are getting closer to finding a solution. It’d be nice to get on the second row straight-away, especially as there’s so much support for the team, but that’s just not the way it works most of the time. It’s early days and it’ll be a different story by the time Superpole rolls around.”

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Friday Morning AMA Formula Xtreme Practice Times:

1. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:30.149
2. Jake Zemke, Honda CBR954RR, 1:30.335
3. Damon Buckmaster, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:30.383
4. Roger Lee Hayden, Honda CBR954RR, 1:30.417
5. Tom Kipp, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:31.124
6. Marty Craggill, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:31.299
7. Steve Rapp, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:31.445
8. Mike Hale, Honda CBR954RR, 1:31.566
9. Ben Spies, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:31.978
10. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:33.726
11. Troy Green, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:34.317
12. James Compton, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:35.186
13. John Haner, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:35.652
14. Lance Isaacs, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:36.111
15. Vincent Haskovec, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:36.865
16. Chuck Allen, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:36.892
17. Doug Duane, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:37.687
18. Leo Venega, Ducati, 1:38.489
19. Robert Jensen, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:39.059

Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki’s Josh Hayes and Corona Extra Suzuki’s Adam Fergusson participated in Friday morning’s Formula Xtreme practice but recorded no times because they did not have transponders on their bikes.

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

Arclight Suzuki’s Lee Acree suffered second-degree burns after he crashed during Friday practice at Mid-Ohio and a security guard refused to let him re-enter the paddock through the closest gate.

Acree, a contender for the 2002 AMA Superstock Championship, crashed during Friday morning’s Superstock practice session. Relatively uninjured and his GSX-R750 relatively undamaged, Acree wanted to ride his bike back to the pits for quick repairs, hoping to rejoin the session, and a cornerworker obliged by letting the North Carolina rider exit the racetrack through a gate near the crash scene in the “Keyhole”.

Acree rode to another gate at the West end of the paddock, the gate nearest his team’s pit area, to re-enter the paddock, but the security guard stationed at the gate would not let Acree pass, instructing Acree to ride around to a different gate. While Acree tried to get the attention of his crew, within eyesight of him at the gate, Acree’s Suzuki overheated and the radiator overflow spilled boiling hot water onto Acree’s leg, resulting in second-degree burns.

At post time, the Arclight Suzuki team did not know if Acree would be able to ride in Friday afternoon’s Superstock practice or qualifying sessions.

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Bayliss starts ahead

By Glenn LeSanto

Troy Bayliss took provisional World Superbike pole at Brands Hatch during Friday’s qualifying, after setting a fast time just as the session came to a close. Before that Colin Edwards, who ended Bayliss’ winning streak at Laguna Seca, was on top of the pile. Edwards finished the first qualifying session of the weekend in provisional second.

The weather is good, the crowds are already pouring in to the undulating circuit at Brands Hatch in England and the grid is well padded with ultra-keen wild card riders. But still Bayliss tops the lot ­ putting in a lap of 1:26.398 on his very last lap. He was made to work for it though, with Edwards dominating much of the session and even Frankie Chili making it to the top of the timesheet for two or three minutes at the end. Chili was eventually pushed back down to fifth.

Britain’s Neil Hodgson, the focus of most of the British crowds’ attention since Fogarty retired, finished fourth fastest – but only after spending most of the session down in 10th.

Michael Rutter and Shane Byrne both put in impressive performances, the wild card pair finished seventh and eighth respectively after being even higher early in the session. Another local rider made it onto the provisional second row when Chris Walker squeezed his way into seventh late in the session. Walker and Edwards are riding the only two bikes not made by Ducati on the front two rows!

Another last-gasp fast lap came from Ruben Xaus who finished third fastest. There’s just under a second separating Bayliss from Walker at the back of the second row.

World Superbike Championship
Friday Qualifying
Brands Hatch

1. T. Bayliss, AUS, Ducati, 1:26.398
2. C. Edwards, USA, Honda, 1:26.450
3. R. Xaus, ESP, Ducati, 1:26.599
4. N. Hodgson, GBR, Ducati, 1:26.722
5. F. Chili, ITA, Ducati, 1:26.786
6. M. Rutter, GBR, Ducati, 1:26.877
7. S. Byrne, GBR, Ducati, 1:27.242
8. C. Walker, GBR, Kawasaki, 1:27.294
9. J. Borja, ESP, Ducati, 1:27.382
10. N. Haga, JPN, Aprilia, 1:27.449

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Friday Morning AMA Superbike Practice Times:

1. Mat Mladin, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:27.824
2. Nicky Hayden, Honda RC51, 1:28.140
3. Eric Bostrom, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:28.305
4. Doug Chandler, Ducati 998RS, 1:28.624
5. Aaron Yates, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:28.648
6. Miguel Duhamel, Honda RC51, 1:29.223
7. Kurtis Roberts, Honda RC51, 1:29.346
8. Jamie Hacking, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:29.604
9. Pascal Picotte, Ducati 998RS, 1:30.146
10. Anthony Gobert, Yamaha YZF-R7, 1:30.395
11. Jason DiSalvo, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:31.403
12. Chris Ulrich, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:31.883
13. Jimmy Moore, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:32.163
14. Chris Caylor, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:32.343
15. Adam Fergusson, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:32.594
16. Brian Livengood, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:33.182
17. Rich Conicelli, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:33.284
18. John Jacobi, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:33.505
19. Lee Acree, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:33.521
20. John Haner, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:33.539
21. Vincent Haskovec, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:34.131
22. Doug Duane, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:34.345
23. Shane Clarke, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:34.493
24. Andy Deatherage, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:34.504
25. Dean Mizdal, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:34.608
26. Robert Jensen, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:34.686
27. Chris Rankin, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:34.884
28. James Compton, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:35.120
29. Craig Connell, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:35.238
30. Michael Himmelsbach, Aprilia RSV1000R, 1:35.344

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Friday Afternoon AMA Superstock Practice Times:

1. Ty Howard, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:31.866
2. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 1:32.003
3. Chris Caylor, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:32.054
4. Jake Zemke, Honda CBR600F4i, 1:32.222
5. Adam Fergusson, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:32.680
6. Ben Spies, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:32.965
7. John Haner, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:33.170
8. Rich Conicelli, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:33.347
9. Jimmy Moore, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:33.936
10. Shane Clarke, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:34.115
11. Mike Hale, Honda CBR600F4i, 1:34.332
12. Jimmy Filice, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 1:34.346
13. Robert Jensen, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:34.388
14. Tony Meiring, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 1:34.418
15. Vincent Haskovec, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:34.519

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Friday Afternoon AMA Formula Xtreme Practice Times:

1. Jake Zemke, Honda CBR954RR, 1:29.762
2. Damon Buckmaster, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:29.987
3. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:30.145
4. Steve Rapp, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:30.165
5. Roger Lee Hayden, Honda CBR954RR, 1:30.421
6. Marty Craggill, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:30.876
7. Josh Hayes, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:30.970
8. Ben Spies, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:31.411
9. Mike Hale, Honda CBR954RR, 1:31.677
10. Tom Kipp, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:31.839
11. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:32.210
12. Adam Fergusson, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:32.339
13. John Haner, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:33.246
14. Alex Gobert, Honda CBR954RR, 1:33.803
15. Lance Isaacs, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:33.897
16. James Compton, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:34.509
17. Robert Jensen, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:34.578
18. Chuck Allen, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:36.157
19. Doug Duane, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:36.488
20. Jason Curtis, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:36.609

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Friday Afternoon AMA Supersport Practice Times:

1. Anthony Gobert, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:31.751
2. Aaron Yates, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:31.800
3. Tom Kipp, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:31.995
4. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 1:32.307
5. Damon Buckmaster, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:32.379
6. Jamie Hacking, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:32.650
7. Josh Hayes, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:32.754
8. Ben Spies, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:32.876
9. Jake Zemke, Honda CBR600F4i, 1:33.039
10. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:33.133
11. Roger Lee Hayden, Honda CBR600F4i, 1:33.230
12. Ty Howard, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:33.237
13. Mike Hale, Honda CBR600F4i, 1:33.901
14. Michael Hannas, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 1:34.357
15. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:34.674
16. Tony Meiring, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 1:34.730
17. Jimmy Filice, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 1:35.222
18. Troy Green, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:35.670
19. Alex Gobert, Honda CBR600F4i, 1:35.739
20. Kevin Pate, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:35.834

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

1. Paolo Casoli, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:30.415
2. Christian Kellner, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:30.458
3. Stéphane Chambon, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:30.502
4. Jörg Teucher, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:30.593
5. Katsuaki Fujiwara, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:30.596
6. Iain MacPherson, Honda CBR600F, 1:30.780
7. Fabien Foret, Honda CBR600F, 1:30.883
8. Piergiorgio Bontempi, Ducati 748R, 1:31.120
9. Christophe Cogan, CBR600F, 1:31.144
10. Andrew Pitt, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 1:31.149
11. Karl Muggeridge, Honda CBR600F, 1:31.286
12. Kevin Curtain, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:31.303
13. James Whitham, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:31.331
14. Chris Vermeulen, Honda CBR600F, 1:31.503
15. Antonio Carlacci, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:31.882
16. Stefano Cruciani, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:31.974
17. Scott Smart, Honda CBR600F, 1:32.098
18. Robert Frost, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:32.298
19. John McGuinness, Honda CBR600F, 1:32.330
20. James Ellison, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 1:32.416
21. Matthieu Lagrive, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:32.601
22. Stuart Easton, Ducati 748R, 1:32.607
23. Nigel Arnold, Honda CBR600F, 1:32.717
24. Werner Daemen, Honda CBR600F, 1:32.761
25. Sebastien Charpentier, Honda CBR600F, 1:32.776
26. Alessio Corradi, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:32.786
27. Gianluca Nannelli, Ducati 748R, 1:34.238
28. Claudio Cipriani, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:35.019