WSB / WSS Vallelunga - Qualifying 2

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QUALIFYING 2 REPORT 20/09/2008 Corser and Haga take front row starts Troy Corser After the wet weather endured by all on the first day, warm and sunny conditions for the final qualifying sessions allowed the Yamaha Motor Italia World Superbike riders to easily make it into Superpole, and subsequently earn front row starts for Sunday's Vallelunga races. Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) looked set to extend his record number of pole positions in WSB competition until Troy Bayliss finally just improved on his countryman's best time. Corser's 1'36.730 was only 0.124 seconds from Bayliss, offering the prospect of a close contest between these old adversaries on raceday. Seventh away in Superpole qualifying, Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) improved his final qualifying position to third, with a 1'36.915 that put him just behind Corser. Weather conditions are expected to be dry on raceday although track conditions are far less hot than they were during the team's successful test at Vallelunga in July. Shinichi Nakatomi (Team YZF Yamaha) missed a ride in Superpole by only a few places, finishing his qualifying sessions 19th overall. David Checa (Yamaha GMT94) replicated his 20th place in the wet on day one in the dry day two, while his team-mate Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha GMT94) was 2nd quickest. Troy Corser (2nd - 1'36.730 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "I was going strong in free practice, we put a soft tyre on for qualifying and it went really well. I'm just happy to be on the front row to be honest, after we only had one day of testing in the dry. The track is a lot less hot than it was for our summer tests so we will make final choices of tyres and set-up tomorrow. A good day for us, and we came so close to taking another Superpole win." Noriyuki Haga Noriyuki Haga (3rd - 1'36.915 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "I have a good feeling on the bike and I am so glad that it was dry today, even if I was fast in wet qualifying. After my big fall yesterday I did not want any wet track conditions. With only one day of dry track practice we will still be checking our set-up in morning warm-up, but starting from the front row is always something to be positive about." Massimo Meregalli (Team Manager, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "Today was a good day for both Noriyuki and Troy. 1st row is very important for us because here it is not so easy to overtake. Tomorrow during warm up we will decide on which tyre to use." Shinichi Nakatomi Shinichi Nakatomi (19th - 1'38.574 - Team YZF Yamaha) "I have been testing here in July, but now my feeling is very different. We changed the tyre and the settings, but I still do not have enough feeling. I hope we can find a good set up for the race. So far, even if we changed the settings, my feeling is not so good." Circuit Length: 3200 Weather: Sunny 2008 WSB Italy - Vallelunga 20/09/2008 Superpole Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'36.606 2 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 1'36.730 3 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'36.915 4 Max Biaggi Ducati ITA 1'37.134 5 Ryuichi Kiyonari Honda JPN 1'37.342 6 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 1'37.427 7 Michel Fabrizio Ducati ITA 1'37.550 8 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1'37.607 9 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 1'37.692 10 Fonsi Nieto Suzuki ESP 1'37.820 11 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP DNF 12 Carlos Checa Honda ESP DNF 13 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 1'37.910 14 Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 1'37.925 15 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 1'38.043 Qualifying 2 Pos. Rider Nat. QUAL I QUAL II 1 Troy Bayliss AUS 1'51.146 1'36.967 2 Max Neukirchner GER 1'53.336 1'37.257 3 Michel Fabrizio ITA 1'52.865 1'37.305 4 Ryuichi Kiyonari JPN 1'51.419 1'37.402 5 Ruben Xaus ESP 1'50.879 1'37.438 6 Carlos Checa ESP 1'52.143 1'37.536 7 Max Biaggi ITA 1'53.018 1'37.654 8 Troy Corser AUS 1'51.228 1'37.689 9 Fonsi Nieto ESP 1'52.719 1'37.757 10 Noriyuki Haga JPN 1'50.595 1'37.891 11 Karl Muggeridge AUS n/a 1'37.931 12 Yukio Kagayama JPN 1'52.507 1'38.039 13 Kenan Sofuoglu TUR 1'52.640 1'38.122 14 Roberto Rolfo ITA 1'52.407 1'38.147 15 Lorenzo Lanzi ITA 1'52.649 1'38.196 19 Shinichi Nakatomi JPN 1'57.138 1'38.574 20 David Checa ESP 1'53.374 1'38.660 22 Sebastien Gimbert FRA 1'53.464 1'38.970 QUALIFYING 2 REPORT 20/09/2008 Parkes rockets to sixth pole of the year Broc Parkes Broc Parkes (Yamaha World Supersport Team) bounced back to top form on a dry track surface at Vallelunga and secured pole for Sunday's race, thanks to a new track best of 1'38.910. His time took him 0.345 seconds ahead of his nearest challenger and placed him in the perfect starting position to negotiate the fast opening corners at Vallelunga come raceday. Eugene Laverty (Yamaha World Supersport Team) starts the race from the second row of the grid after a strong qualifying performance on his first dry weather outing at Vallelunga. Laverty started out his qualifying session with one machine based on the team's settings from the official tests in July, and one with alternative suspension settings, which worked well on the relatively cool track temperatures experienced today. Parkes, who is going for his second race win of the 2008 season, has now scored three times as many poles as his nearest challengers, proving the pace of his Yamaha YZF-R6 at wide variety of circuits. Massimo Roccoli (Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) was prevented from setting a personal best time by another rider who collided with him, and bent his machine's exhaust so badly he could not negotiate right hand corners properly. David Salom (Yamaha Spain World Supersport) made improvements in the dry that took him to 21st place on the grid, while his team-mate Jason Crowe (Yamaha Spain World Supersport) was 24th fastest. Broc Parkes (1st - 1'38.910 - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "That was much better. We tried a few different things compared to the test we did here in the summer. As soon as I went out the bike felt really good and we worked from a good base. Towards the end of the session we threw a couple of tyres at it. And both times we were up there. I think it is looking good for tomorrow." Eugene Laverty Eugene Laverty (7th - 1'40.234 - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "Second row so I am happy with that because that was were I was aiming to be. The way things were yesterday, with no dry track time at all, to get in the second row today was near perfect. We tried a few different things from Öhlins today and they worked well for me. I was having some problems when trying to enter some corners aggressively, but those changes made things better. There are three corners I still need to work on before the race, just to be more flowing on the bike." Wilco Zeelenberg (Team Manager, Yamaha World Supersport Team) "We tried a few different things compared to the test because the circumstances have changed. The track temperatures were 62°C at the test, now they are much lower. The best thing is that the adjustments we have made since the test have seemed to work out quite well. It rained yesterday so the track took some time to clean up, and then the wind direction was very different, so we had to make changes to adjust for that. Broc set a great time and I am very happy for him. He performed well. Eugene went well and earned a start from row two, which is good considering how little time he had in the dry." Massimo Roccoli (20th - 1'41.104 - Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) "Today the set-up was better than yesterday because in the dry my feeling with the bike was very good. I had a little problem with the suspension settings that held me back early on, but in the end of the practice at the Campagnano corner, during my best lap to that point, another rider hit me. That impact bent the exhaust outwards and then it was impossible for me to make right hand corners. It was important for us to start near the front at this circuit, for me and the team, but tomorrow is another day and another race." Circuit Length: 3200 Weather: Sunny 2008 WSS Italy - Vallelunga 20/09/2008 Qualifying 2 Pos. Rider Nat. QUAL I QUAL II 1 Broc Parkes AUS 1'57.534 1'38.910 2 Barry Veneman NED 1'55.996 1'39.255 3 Jonathan Rea GBR 1'55.427 1'39.300 4 Gianluca Nannelli ITA 1'55.858 1'39.687 5 Andrew Pitt AUS 1'57.607 1'39.713 6 Joan Lascorz ESP 1'56.324 1'39.990 7 Eugene Laverty GBR 1'57.315 1'40.234 8 Matthieu Lagrive FRA 1'54.362 1'40.260 9 Robbin Harms DNK 1'57.775 1'40.290 10 Didier Van Keymeulen BEL 1'56.329 1'40.401 11 Mark Aitchinson AUS 1'56.268 1'40.459 12 Josh Hayes USA 1'57.382 1'40.540 13 Russell Holland AUS 2'1.479 1'40.570 14 Ivan Clementi ITA 1'56.952 1'40.575 15 Terence Toti ITA 1'56.960 1'40.714 19 Massimo Roccoli ITA 1'58.386 1'41.104 20 David Salom ESP 2'1.701 1'41.114 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