WSB / WSS Vallelunga - Qualifying 1

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QUALIFYING 1 REPORT 19/09/2008 Haga fastest as Yamaha riders shine Noriyuki Haga Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) set the fastest time of the first wet qualifying session at Vallelunga. In a great team display Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) went fourth fastest, despite the atrocious track conditions. Haga also fell at high speed in the timed session, on a part of the track where many riders also ran off the track or crashed. Corser came close to falling at the same spot, but saved his potential high-side before coming into the pits to finish his session with a top four time. The second day of qualifying, which will culminate as usual with Superpole, is expected to be run in dry conditions, which will allow the team to get back to the kind of settings they used in the summer test at Vallelunga in July. David Checa (Yamaha GMT94) went 20th, one place up on his team-mate Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha GMT94). Shinichi Nakatomi (Team YZF Yamaha) was 24th from 27 entrants. Noriyuki Haga (1st - 1'50.595 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "We set the fastest time so we can be very happy with that but the rain made things much more complicated for us, and everyone else as well. I fell hard on the part of the track that flicks left before the back straight, and the bike landed on my head at one stage. I was surprised because I had found more feel with the back tyre grip through the session, and when the back tyre went it felt the same way as it does when you hit oil. No warning, no slide, just gone. But we set the fastest time, even though I also fell earlier in that same session, when I lost the front. I would be happy if tomorrow it is not raining!" Troy Corser Troy Corser (4th - 1'51.228 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "Today it was just a case of getting through the day, no crashes and find a bit of a set-up, just in case we need it tomorrow. The track itself is not too bad when it is not actually raining. In those conditions there is some kind of grip, but it's just a bit greasy in a few places. As soon as it starts to rain the water starts building up, especially in the new surface where Nori fell. The water is not running off, so it's like a pond. Through the back kink you could not see the edges of the track. It would have been nice to get some nice dry track set-up, but we have a good set-up from the test we did here in the summer anyway." Massimo Meregalli (Team Manager, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "today went well apart from the big Nori crash. Even though we effectively lost a day's set up because of the rain today as we tested here in the dry in July we are confident we have a good base set up to go into the weekend with. Considering the weather on track we are very happy with our riders who both qualified well." Circuit Length: 3200 Weather: Heavy Rain 2008 WSB Italy - Vallelunga 19/09/2008 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'50.595 2 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 1'50.879 3 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'51.146 4 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 1'51.228 5 Ryuichi Kiyonari Honda JPN 1'51.419 6 Gregorio Lavilla Honda ESP 1'52.012 7 Carlos Checa Honda ESP 1'52.143 8 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 1'52.407 9 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 1'52.463 10 Chris Walker Honda GBR 1'52.466 11 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1'52.507 12 Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 1'52.640 13 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 1'52.649 14 Fonsi Nieto Suzuki ESP 1'52.719 15 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 1'52.738 20 David Checa Yamaha ESP 1'53.374 21 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 1'53.464 24 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 1'57.138 QUALIFYING 1 REPORT 19/09/2008 Wet weather welcomes Yamaha riders to Rome Eugene Laverty Inclement weather was the backdrop of yet another opening day of WSS qualifying, as Broc Parkes (Yamaha World Supersport Team) and Eugene Laverty (Yamaha World Supersport Team) made their first qualifying times at Vallelunga. Laverty set the 12th fastest time of the session relatively early, while Parkes built up confidence and speed to go 14th, despite the rain falling more heavily. With the rest of the race weekend expected to be fully dry, warm and sunny, the team hopes to be able to move from a machine set-up based on their recent wet weather experiences at Donington to the strong base set-up they found in official tests at Vallelunga in July. Massimo Roccoli (Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) was only 17th fastest due to the rainy conditions and an early fall, while David Salom (Yamaha Spain World Supersport) went 31st. His team-mate Jason Crowe (Yamaha Spain World Supersport) was 27th. Eugene Laverty (12th - 1'57.315 - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "I was happy with the set-up in the wet and I set a quick time early on. Then it started hammering with rain and I didn't want to push too much. I should be dry tomorrow so I just wanted to set a decent time and find a good wet set-up just in case it is wet again. 12th position doesn't matter so much right now, because it should be dry and hopefully I will get some dry track time tomorrow before the second qualifying session. I just need some dry time on this bike! My injured foot caused me a bit of a problem in the morning but this afternoon we made some adjustments to my boot and now it is OK." Broc Parkes Broc Parkes (14th - 1'57.534 - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "Today was OK. After Donington where we didn't do so well in the rain I had a lot better feeling with the bike here. It started to rain a lot harder near the end of the session but that's when I did my best lap, which shows we made progress. It will be dry tomorrow, so we will be looking forward to that. We have good dry information from our test here in the summer so it will be good to put that into action." Wilco Zeelenberg (Team Manager, Yamaha World Supersport Team) "It was interesting for us to see how we were doing after Donington, because we struggled there in the rain. Now it is good, even if we are not in the top of the times, but we have been able to handle the wet weather much better. Eugene is not 100% fit of course but he did well and Broc has shown that he is getting a bit of feel on a wet set-up. Tomorrow is going to be dry but the guys stayed out just to get a little bit of information on tyres and in the rain, but they didn't push or force too much." Massimo Roccoli (22nd - 1'58.386 seconds - Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) "I started the weekend here without much confidence in the wet and I fell in the morning session, when I lost the front. So in the afternoon I did not push too hard, partly because the weather is almost certain to be better tomorrow and on raceday, and partly because I did not want to have another fall." Circuit Length: 3200 Weather: Rain 2008 WSS Italy - Vallelunga 19/09/2008 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Matthieu Lagrive Honda FRA 1'54.362 2 Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 1'55.427 3 Gianluca Nannelli Honda ITA 1'55.858 4 Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 1'55.954 5 Chris Martin Kawasaki GBR 1'55.957 6 Barry Veneman Suzuki NED 1'55.996 7 Mark Aitchinson Triumph AUS 1'56.268 8 Joan Lascorz Honda ESP 1'56.324 9 Didier Van Keymeulen Suzuki BEL 1'56.329 10 Ivan Clementi Triumph ITA 1'56.952 11 Terence Toti Suzuki ITA 1'56.960 12 Eugene Laverty Yamaha GBR 1'57.315 13 Josh Hayes Honda USA 1'57.382 14 Broc Parkes Yamaha AUS 1'57.534 15 Andrew Pitt Honda AUS 1'57.607 22 Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 1'58.386 31 David Salom Yamaha ESP 2'1.701 Yamaha Racing Communications Hoogte Kadijk 61hs / 1018 BE Amsterdam / The Netherlands T. +31 (0) 20 625 6539 / F. +31 (0) 20 420 9470 E. office@yrc.nl W. http://www.yamaha-racing.com