| QUALIFYING 2 REPORT | 16/05/2009 | | Spies on fire as he equals the Superpole record | | | Yamaha World Superbike rider Ben Spies erased any doubts anyone had of his abilities today as he equaled the all time consecutive Superpole record set in 1991 by fellow Texan Doug Polen. Spies had spent the earlier qualifying session and subsequent free practice sessions perfecting the set-up of the 2009 R1 in time for the Superpole heats. He came out strongly from the start and was looking fast from the word go. Saving his qualifiers for the last session, he put in an incredible 1.37.423 to go onto provisional pole with his first of the two super sticky tyres. As the session drew to a close it looked like Fabrizio was going to snatch the pole from him, putting in a super quick 1.37.289, only for the American rocket to cross the line a few seconds later 0.001 seconds faster, taking his sixth consecutive pole position start and his rightful place at the front of the grid.
Team-mate Tom Sykes had what could be his best Superpole session yet of the season, having performed well in the second qualifying session the British rider had finished in fourth, only 0.4 off leader Fabrizio. Some further fine tuning in the afternoon's free practice session saw Sykes ready and eager to perform in the Superpole heats. He came out strongly in the first session, scoring an initial provisional third. Session two proved even quicker, ducking under the 1.38 mark and keeping him in for the third session for the first time this year. By the end of the heats he had secured 8th position and a second row start on the grid for tomorrow's races. |
| Ben Spies, Yamaha World Superbike Team, (1st, 1'37.288)
"It was a good Superpole session, we got down to some fast times on race tyres in the first two heats which was great. It wasn't perfect at the end, I didn't feel I used the qualifiers as well as I could have, they were so grippy I didn't take full advantage of them. The bike is working really well but we need to find a bit more for the race so we're now going to concentrate on tomorrow. Michel Fabrizio has been riding well all weekend, I think the Ducatis will be up front and it's going to be a tough race. It's a long one and everyone will be sliding around at the end so it should be a great one to watch." |
|  | Tom Sykes, Yamaha World Superbike Team, (8th, 1'38.241)
"I struggled a bit yesterday but we made some big changes overnight and got a lot quicker today. I was really happy towards the end of qualifying, we found a few more tenths which made a difference. Superpole was good and I'm happy to have made it through to the third heat. There have been a couple of riders who have been up there all weekend and they're now on the third row so second is good for me to start from. I should get a good start and am looking to be consistent. There'll be a big drop off in race tyres so it'll be a case of seeing who can hold on till the end. Overall it is blue skies here so let's have some fun in south Africa!"
Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha World Superbike Team
"Six pole positions in a row is not so bad! Both riders did a great job in Superpole to be able to start on the first two rows. I think we solved most of our problems from yesterday through today's sessions so we're ready for race day. Our performance so far makes me think we can get good results in the races. The team has worked really hard to develop the set-up of both bikes from yesterday so we're looking forward to challenging for the podium." |
| Circuit Length: 4263
Lap Record: 1'42.178 (Noriyuki Haga, 01/01/2002)
Fastest Lap Ever: 1'37.288 (Ben Spies, 17/05/2009)
| | | 2009 WSB South Africa - Kyalami 16/05/2009 | | Pos. | Rider | Manu. | Nat. | Total Time | | 1 | Ben Spies | Yamaha | USA | 1'37.288 | | 2 | Michel Fabrizio | Ducati | ITA | 1'37.289 | | 3 | Max Biaggi | Aprilia | ITA | 1'37.466 | | 4 | Noriyuki Haga | Ducati | JPN | 1'37.544 | | 5 | Jonathan Rea | Honda | GBR | 1'37.634 | | 6 | Jakub Smrz | Ducati | CZE | 1'37.677 | | 7 | Carlos Checa | Honda | ESP | 1'37.940 | | 8 | Tom Sykes | Yamaha | GBR | 1'38.241 | | 9 | Shinya Nakano | Aprilia | JPN | 1'37.935 | | 10 | Leon Haslam | Honda | GBR | 1'37.988 | | 11 | Sheridan Morais | Kawasaki | RSA | 1'38.013 | | 12 | Ryuichi Kiyonari | Honda | JPN | 1'38.081 | | 13 | Yukio Kagayama | Suzuki | JPN | 1'38.130 | | 14 | Shane Byrne | Ducati | GBR | 1'38.171 | | 15 | Ruben Xaus | BMW | ESP | 1'38.194 | | 24 | Whyte Shaun | Yamaha | RSA | 1'41.737 |
| Pos. | Rider | Nat. | QUAL I | QUAL II | | 1 | Michel Fabrizio | ITA | 1'38.103 | 1'38.103 | | 2 | Leon Haslam | GBR | 1'38.865 | 1'38.505 | | 3 | Jonathan Rea | GBR | 1'38.506 | 1'38.506 | | 4 | Tom Sykes | GBR | 1'39.258 | 1'38.514 | | 5 | Yukio Kagayama | JPN | 1'39.475 | 1'38.523 | | 6 | Ben Spies | USA | 1'38.600 | 1'38.600 | | 7 | Sheridan Morais | RSA | 1'39.388 | 1'38.767 | | 8 | Ryuichi Kiyonari | JPN | 1'39.788 | 1'38.905 | | 9 | Carlos Checa | ESP | 1'39.370 | 1'38.905 | | 10 | Jakub Smrz | CZE | 1'39.230 | 1'38.934 | | 11 | Noriyuki Haga | JPN | 1'39.055 | 1'38.961 | | 12 | Shinya Nakano | JPN | 1'38.998 | 1'38.998 | | 13 | Gregorio Lavilla | ESP | 1'39.389 | 1'39.089 | | 14 | Shane Byrne | GBR | 1'39.470 | 1'39.193 | | 15 | Ruben Xaus | ESP | 1'39.357 | 1'39.270 | | 24 | Whyte Shaun | RSA | 1'41.737 | 1'41.737 |
| QUALIFYING 1 REPORT | 16/05/2009 | | Crutchlow takes well deserved fifth pole position start | | | The first day of qualifying for the Supersport team saw Cal Crutchlow go straight to the top of the timings in the mid 1.41s. Halfway through the session Sofuoglu went .1 second faster than the Yamaha rider, and spent almost the entire remainder of the session at the top of the table with Crutchlow tucked in right behind with only the .1 second difference. Then, true to form, as the remaining seconds ticked down to end the session, Crutchlow came back out from his pit-stop and put down the perfect lap. Having familiarized himself with the circuit he chose the last minute to prove a point…and prove it he did. As the session came to an end he went back out on a new tyre and got down to business, his pole scoring lap was nearly half a second ahead of second place rider Sofuoglu, and he was the only rider to break into the 1.40's. In doing so he broke Stephane Chambon's Supersport lap record for the circuit, held since 2002 by over 4.5 seconds.
Team-mate Fabien Foret had a more frustrating session. He was quick and on the pace for most of the lap but unfortunately he had a repeated missed gear in the final split, taking at least two tenths of a second off his times. As a result of this he ended the qualifying session in seventh position, trailing Crutchlow by just under a second. |
| Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha World Supersport Team, (1st, 1'40.634)
"Overall it was a good session for us but we're still struggling a bit in a few areas. The lap times for everyone are pretty similar, I managed one really fast one at the end but it's going to be really close tomorrow. I'm looking forward to the race, I think Sofuoglu, Pitt and Laverty are going to be the biggest threat, so we'll see!" |
| Fabien Foret, Yamaha World Supersport Team, (7th, 1'41.603)
"It was a tough session for me today. I managed to put yesterday behind me and was focused on moving up the timings but I kept getting a missed gear in the final section of the track. This cost me time every lap which unfortunately kept me off the front row of the grid for tomorrow's start. Hopefully we will resolve the problem by tomorrow so I can concentrate on the race."
Wilco Zeelenberg, Yamaha World Supersport Team
"Cal was out for quite a long time on the same tyres, then near the end he came in for a new rear and went back out and did it again. The pace of both the riders clearly shows there are no big problems tyre wise for us which is good for tomorrow. Fabien unfortunately had some difficulties in the last split with a repeated missed gear, so lost 2 tenths each lap. On the plus side, the race pace tomorrow will be 1.41s and he did a lot of them consistently in the session so we'll see what happens." |
| | 2009 WSS South Africa - Kyalami 16/05/2009 | |
| Pos. | Rider | Manu. | Nat. | Total Time |
| 1 | Cal Crutchlow | Yamaha | GBR | 1'40.634 |
| 2 | Kenan Sofuoglu | Honda | TUR | 1'41.003 |
| 3 | Eugene Laverty | Honda | GBR | 1'41.161 |
| 4 | Andrew Pitt | Honda | AUS | 1'41.396 |
| 5 | Joan Lascorz | Kawasaki | ESP | 1'41.558 |
| 6 | Michele Pirro | Yamaha | ITA | 1'41.563 |
| 7 | Fabien Foret | Yamaha | FRA | 1'41.603 |
| 8 | Mark Aitchison | Honda | AUS | 1'41.699 |
| 9 | Gianluca Nannelli | Triumph | ITA | 1'41.778 |
| 10 | Katsuaki Fujiwara | Kawasaki | JPN | 1'42.003 |
| 11 | Massimo Roccoli | Honda | ITA | 1'42.079 |
| 12 | Garry McCoy | Triumph | AUS | 1'42.296 |
| 13 | Matthieu Lagrive | Honda | FRA | 1'42.603 |
| 14 | Doni Tata Pradita | Yamaha | IDN | 1'42.615 |
| 15 | Danilo Dell'omo | Honda | ITA | 1'42.781 |
| 28 | Yannick Guerra | Yamaha | ESP | 1'44.897 |
Yamaha Racing Communications
Hoogte Kadijk 61 HS / 1018 BE Amsterdam / The Netherlands
T. +31 (0) 20 330 2709 / F. +31 (0) 20 420 9470
E. W.
No comments:
Post a Comment