AMS Ducati’s Craig Connell came from behind to win the first of two Unlimited Superbike races during the Formula USA weekend at Willow Springs.

Shawn Higbee finished second on his Milennium Technologies/KWS Suzuki with local hero Ken Chase third on a White Tip Motorsports Suzuki. Corona Ebsco Suzuki’s Jimmy Moore was fourth and defending Champion Grant Lopez, who led most of the race but was shuffled back in a mad scramble on the last two laps, was fifth on a Valvoline EMGO Suzuki.

Results:

1. Craig Connell, Ducati
2. Shawn Higbee, Suzuki
3. Ken Chase, Suzuki
4. Jimmy Moore, Suzuki
5. Grant Lopez, Suzuki
6. Paul Harrell, Yamaha
7. Vincent Haskovec, Suzuki
8. Mike Ciccoto, Suzuki
9. Tray Batey, Aprilia
10. Lee Acree, Suzuki
11. Brian Parriott, Suzuki
12. Marc Palazzo, Honda
13. Tony Meiring, Suzuki
14. Brian Kovarick, Yamaha
15. Michael Barnes, Kawasaki
16. Chris Ulrich, Suzuki
17. Joe Gill, Yamaha
18. Eric Wood, Suzuki
19. Ty Howard, Kawasaki
20. Mike Himmelsbach, Aprilia

Shogun Motorsport’s Paul Harrell won the Formula USA Sport Bike race Sunday morning at Willow Springs under nearly perfect conditions, sunny, with a light breeze and temperatures in the 70s, a stark contrast to the weather on Friday and Saturday.

Harrell jumped out front and stayed out front to win 1.6 seconds ahead of Corona EBSCO Suzuki’s Vince Haskovec, who in turn had a 0.9-second advantage on Arclight Suzuki’s Lee Acree, with Acree’s teammate Brian Parriott nearly side-by-side with Acree across the line for fourth.

But in horsepower checks immediately after the race, Haskovec’s bike, built by well-respected tuner Carry Andrew, exceeded the class horsepower limit of 112 horsepower, and Haskovec was disqualified. That made Acree second and Parriott third.

But when it was Parriott’s turn to run on the dyno, his bike, built by Chuck Warren, also failed, moving Synergy Racing Technology’s Marc Palazzo into third.

On-track Results:

1. Paul Harrell, Yamaha
2. Vince Haskovec, Suzuki* (disqualified, horsepower)
3. Lee Acree, Suzuki
4. Brian Parriott, Suzuki*(disqualified, horsepower)
5. Marc Palazzo, Honda
6. Mike Ciccotto, Suzuki
7. Lance Isaacs, Honda
8. Brian Kovarick, Yamaha
9. Joe Gill, Yamaha
10. Karl Lowery, Yamaha
11. Shannon Ball, Suzuki
12. Ty Howard, Yamaha
13. Shane Prieto, Suzuki
14. Dale Kieffer, Suzuki
15. Shawn Conrad, Suzuki

Team Yamaha Belgarda’s Paolo Casoli took pole for Sunday’s Supersport World Championship race at Phillip Island, Australia.

According to a press release written by Kel Edge and issued by Yamaha, “The terrible conditions today prevented any rider improving their lap times from yesterday, so the grid stays the same.

“That means that yesterday’s lap of 1:36.916 by Team Yamaha Belgarda”s Paolo Casoli gives the Italian the pole position for the second round of the Supersport World Championship at Phillip Island tomorrow. The weather put paid to any chances of Casoli’s teammate Jamie Whitham improving his grid position, so he will start on
the fourth row. Both riders, though, are happy with the dry and wet set-ups of their YZF-R6 Yamahas and are confident of good results ­as long as today’s very strong winds don’t reappear.”

The release went on to quote Casoli as saying “The conditions were terrible, truly terrible and I didn’t like them much, they were impossible! I had a little crash in the morning when I lost the front end in the wet. After that I took it a bit more cautiously, ­after all there was no point doing anything stupid because nobody was going to go any quicker. I don’t mind if it is dry or wet tomorrow, but I don’t want a
dry race with lots of wind.

“We tried some new wet tires today and I think they’ll be good if it is a wet race. We’ll just have to wait and see what the weather is like in the morning.”

Final qualifying times follow:

1. Casoli, Yamaha, 1:36.917
2. Fujiwara, Suzuki, 1:36.926
3. Curtain, Honda, 1:37.063
4. Guareschi, Ducati, 1:37.117
5. MacPherson, Kawasaki, 1:37.146
6. Thomas, Ducati, 1:37.156
7. Pirovano, Suzuki, 1:37.213
8. Pitt, Kawasaki, 137.216
9. Riba, Honda, 1:37.294
10. Muggeridge, Suzuki, 1:37.301

Shawn Higbee took the Millenium Technologies/KWS Motorsports Suzuki GSX-R750 to the top of the time charts during Saturday morning practice at windy Willow Springs. Winds intensified and changed direction today, causing particular problems for riders between turns eight and nine.

During the session, Vince Haskovec dropped a wheel off the outside of the track at the exit of turn six and suffered a vicious crash. He suffered no serious injuries and no one else was involved although his bike shot across the racetrack.

Fastest times follow:

1. Shawn Higbee, Suzuki, 1:22.878
2. Mike Ciccotto, Suzuki, 1:23.726
3. Jimmy Moore, Suzuki, 1:23.764
4. Paul Harrell, Yamaha, 1:23.577
5. Grant Lopez, 1:23.612
6. Lance Isaacs, Honda, 1:23.728
7. Ken Chase, Suzuki, 1:23.856
8. Vince Haskovec, Suzuki, 1:23.973
9. Brian Parriott, Suzuki, 1:24.232
10. Lee Acree, Suzuki, 1:24.269
11. Chris Ulrich, Suzuki, 1:24.625
12. Marc Palazzo, 1:24.637
13. Craig Connell, Ducati, 1:24.648
14. Tray Batey, Aprilia, 1:24.688
15. Joe Prussiano, Yamaha, 1:24.786
16. Tony “The Tiger” Meiring, Suzuki, 1:25.039
17. Eric Wood, Suzuki, 1:25.203
18. Joe Gill, Yamaha, 1:25.335
19. Michael Barnes, Kawasaki, 1:25.348
20. Bryan Kovarick, Yamaha, 1:25.381
21. Shane Prieto, Suzuki, 1:25.387
22. Mike Himmelsbach, Aprilia, 1:25.419
23. Ty Howard, Kawasaki, 1:25.428
24. Aaron Clark, Aprilia, 1:25.507
25. Mark Ledesma, Aprilia, 1:25.974
26. Byron Barbour, Suzuki, 1:26.726
27. Chuck Chouinard, Suzuki, 1:26.762
28. Brian Gibbs, Suzuki, 1:27.055
29. Michael Fitzpatrick, Yamaha, 1:27.142
30. Roland Williams, Suzuki, 1:27.170

By Glenn LeSanto

Troy Corser took his second pole position of the year, setting the fastest lap time in Saturday’s Superpole qualifying session for round three of the Superbike World Championship at Phillip Island, Australia.

The regular one-lap Superpole competition was switched to a “wet weather” format as rain threatened and high winds made conditions difficult at the 2.76-mile coastal circuit. Each of the top 16 riders from qualifying had 12 laps in a 50-minute session to record their best lap.

Corser put in some fast laps early in the session and then retired to his pit garage with three laps to spare. Corser watched Neil Hodgson go into provisional pole position and then got back on his Axo Aprilia late in the session to set a time just under Hodgson’s, to snatch pole from the reigning British Superbike Champion.

Corser commented that he was probably better equipped to deal with the weather than most of the other riders, saying “I know the places where the wind is really going to hit you because I know this track so well. I’ve ridden in worse conditions here before but this is close to being as bad today. But despite the weather I really like the track and I’m confident about the race.”

Corser had every reason to be upbeat, since is Aprilia was far faster than the rest of the pack through the speed trap, recording a top speed of 310 kph despite the wind. “That really surprised me as the bike was 20 kmh under that when we tested here pre-season,” said Corser. “The bike is going really well and I reckon it could do 320 kph without the wind.” Next bike up on the speed roster was also an Aprilia, ridden by Regis Laconi, showing 308 kph through the trap. Nearest bikes to the Aprilias on speed were Colin Edwards’ Honda and Troy Bayliss’ Ducati, which both managed 300 kph.

Hodgson was happy with his front-row place. “Everything that could go wrong did go wrong yesterday so hopefully that got all our bad luck behind us,” said Hodgson, who had been knocked off by Juan Borja during Friday’s session.

“I flew by Borja really fast and I think it made him mad,” Hodgson said of the incident. “He then seemed to want to get by again whatever happened and came by me on the inside between two corners. He then lost it on the brakes going into the turn and pushed me wide onto the grass. I bailed off before I hit the tire wall but landed awkwardly and twisted both ankles and hurt my neck. It really hurts and had started to give me problems at the end of Superpole.”

Hodgson said that he feels that his bike is still slower than the top factory bikes. “Honda, Ducati and Aprilia have all moved on since last year. I’m riding a year-old bike and if I ride really well I can beat them, but if I don’t–if I am going at anything less than my best then it really shows,” Hodgson explained.

Reigning World Champion Colin Edwards of Team Castrol Honda tried without success to topple Corser in the final minute of the session. Edwards said: “I knew I was on for a fast lap on my last run but I made a mistake and nearly crashed through the final corner. The front end tucked really bad and I thought I was off to the gravel trap. It came back but by then I’d lost maybe six tenths of a second.”

Edwards was philosophical about the weather at
Phillip Island this weekend, saying “You wake up in the morning and look out of the window and either think ‘yeeha’ or ‘oh shit!’.

“Yesterday it was blue skies so we got to test loads of tires, this morning it was rain and wind. But at least we’ve now got both wet and dry set-ups so whatever the weather on Sunday there’s no excuses now.”

Edwards’ teammate Tady Okada misunderstood the wet Superpole format and didn’t go fast enough while he still had laps left, he then had to end his session at a time when he thought he still had time leftover for a fast lap. When asked if he thought the engine problems suffered at the previous rounds had been cured, he replied simply, “I hope so.” Okada finished Superpole ninth-fastest with fellow Japanese rider Akira Yanagawa 10th-fastest.

Ben Bostrom–like Edwards, a race winner in the last round in South Africa–made the front row of the grid in fourth place. Considering how far he was down the order in the earlier wet session, Bostrom had to be happy to have made the front row.

Troy Bayliss crashed on his first Superpole lap but managed to get back to the pits and out again in time to complete his lap quota. Despite losing skin off his right foot in the crash Bayliss went fast enough to land fifth place, on the second row; the second row also included Regis Laconi in sixth, seventh-placed Gregorio Lavilla on a Kawasaki and Australian Ducati privateer Broc Parkes.

As the sun went down over Phillip Island on Saturday the sky still looked angry and the wind was blowing in very strong gusts, so it’s likely that Sunday’s races will be held in similar conditions to today’s practice sessions. Most riders agreed that they would rather have it either wet or dry, rather than the difficult mix of conditions that was thrown at them today, and all would rather race without the wind except for Neil Hodgson who claimed it wasn’t giving him any problems, but he’s English so he should be used to awful weather by now.

Final World Superbike Superpole qualifying times:
1. Troy Corser, Australia (Aprilia) 1:33.576
2. Neil Hodgson, GB (Ducati) 1:33.740s
3. Colin Edwards, USA (Castrol Honda) 1:33.822
4. Ben Bostrom, USA (Ducati) 1:33.922
5. Troy Bayliss, Australia (Ducati) 1:34.018
6. Regis Laconi, France (Aprilia) 1:34.114
7. Gregorio Lavilla, Spain (Kawasaki) 1:34.440
8. Broc Parkes, Australia (Ducati) 1:34.517
9. Tady Okada, Japan (Castrol Honda) 1:34.536
10. Akira Yanagawa, Japan (Kawasaki) 1:34.876

Corona EBSCO Suzuki’s Vincent Haskovec set fast time in Saturday morning Sportbike (600cc)practice at Willow Springs, before going back out and crashing in Unlimited Superbike practice.

On his Pro Sportbike GSX-R600, Haskovec turned a fastest lap in 1:24.429 and his second-fastest lap was a 1:24.562. Fastest times follow:

1. Vince Haskovec, Suzuki, 1:24.429
2. Mike Ciccotto, Suzuki, 1:24.477
3. Marc Palazzo, Honda, 1:24.661
4. Jimmy Moore, Suzuki, 1:24.836
5. Paul Harrell, Yamaha, 1:25.161
6. Brian Parriott, Suzuki, 1:25.208
7. Lance Isaacs, Honda, 1:25.518
8. Jacob West, Suzuki, 1:25.642
9. Lee Acree, Suzuki, 1:25.891
10. Joe Gill, Yamaha, 1:26.002
11. Shawn Conrad, Suzuki, 1:26.166
12. Brian Kovarick, Yamaha, 1:26.229
13. Kevin Pate, Kawasaki, 1:26.268
14. Ty Howard, Yamaha, 1:26.440
15. Shane Prieto, Suzuki, 1:26.766
16. Dale Kieffer, Suzuki, 1:26.793
17. Brian Gibbs, Suzuki, 1:26.809
18. Phil Herrin, Yamaha, 1:27.275
19. Stuart Statton, Yamaha, 1:27.330
20. Jason Paden, Suzuki, 1:27.375

Valentino Rossi qualified fastest for the South African 500cc Grand Prix Saturday, marginally ahead of Loris Capirossi, both on NSR500 Hondas.

Top times follow:

1. Valentino Rossi, Honda, 1:34.629
2. Loris Capirossi, Honda, 1:34.872
3. Shinya Nakano, Yamaha, 1:35.216
4. Garry McCoy, Yamaha, 1:35.434
5. Kenny Roberts, Suzuki, 1:35.476
6. Tohru Ukawa, Honda, 1:35.537
7. Norick Abe, Yamaha, 1:35.692
8. Max Biaggi, Yamaha, 1:36.554

Shawn Higbee put the Milenniuum Technologies/KWS Suzuki GSX-R750 on the pole for Sunday’s Formula USA Unlimited Superbike race, using a Dunlop qualifying tire to turn a 1:22.691.

Second-fastest was Ken Chase on the White Tip Motorsports Suzuki GSX-R750 on a Dunlop qualifying tire at 1:22.905. Craig Connell was third-fastest on the Advanced Motor Sports Ducati 996 on a Dunlop qualifying tire. And Grant Lopez finished off the front row on a Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki GSX-R750 on a Michelin race tire, which he said was the same tire he plans to run in the race tomorrow.

World Superbike refugee Lance Isaacs was fifth-fastest on a Synergy Racing Technologies Honda CBR929RR at 1:23.259, followed by Jimmy Moore on the Corona EBSCO Suzuki GSX-R750 on Dunlops at 1:23.278, Mike Ciccotto on a Hooters Suzuki on Pirelli tires at 1:23.460 and Paul Harrell on a Shogun Motorsports Yamaha on Pirelli tires at 1:23.515.

Fastest times follow:

1. Shawn Higbee, Suzuki, 1:22.691
2. Ken Chase, Suzuki, 1:22.905
3. Craig Connell, Ducati, 1:23.114
4. Grant Lopez, Suzuki, 1:23.220
5. Lance Isaacs, Honda, 1:23.259
6. Jimmy Moore, Suzuki, 1:23.278
7. Mike Ciccotto, Suzuki, 1:23.460
8. Paul Harrell, Yamaha, 1:23.515
9. Tray Batey, Aprilia, 1:23.580
10. Brian Parriott, Suzuki, 1:23.656
11. Vincent Haskovec, Suzuki, 1:23.703
12. Joe Prussiano, Yamaha, 1:23.775
13. Chris Ulrich, Suzuki, 1:23.781
14. Michael Barnes, Kawasaki, 1:23.830
15. Tony Meiring, Suzuki, 1:23.897
16. Marc Palazzo, Honda, 1:24.119
17. Lee Acree, Suzuki, 1:24.141
18. Ty Howard, Kawasaki, 1:24.371
19. Joe Gill, Yamaha, 1:24.534
20. Bryan Kovarick, Yamaha, 1:24.538
21. Mike Himmeslbach, Aprilia, 1:24.591; 22. Eric Wood, Suzuki 1:24.840; 23. Greg Leffler, Suzuki, 1:25.080; 24. Michael Fitzpatrick, Suzuki, 1:25.106; 25. Byron Barbour, Suzuki 1:25.928; 26. Brian Gibbs, Suzuki, 1:25.938; 27. Aaron Clark, Aprilia, 1:26.070; 28. Mark Ledesma, Aprilia, 1:26.214; 29. Roland Williams, Suzuki, 1:26.217; 30. Chuck Chouinard, Suzuki, 1:26.260; 31. Scott Jensen, Yamaha, 1:27.478; 32. Shane Prieto, 1:27.491; 33. Joshua Bryan, Suzuki, 1:27.501; 34. Ashley McKean, Suzuki, 1:27.868; 35. Martin Sims, Yamaha, 1:28.406; 36. Pete Christensen, Yamaha, 1:28.493; 37. Justin Blake, Suzuki, 1:28.515; 38. Kiyo Watanabe, Honda, 1:28.842; 39. Alan Burtt, Suzuki, 1:28.957; 40. William Pogue, Suzuki, 1:30.393; 41. Eric Haugo, Suzuki, 1:30.575.