| QUALIFYING 1 REPORT | 29/05/2009 | | Spies shows there's no place like home in the Utah sunshine | | | As the Superbike riders got down to the first day of qualifying at the Miller circuit today it was no surprises for Yamaha World Superbike rider Ben Spies as he showed the form that's seen him win here in five of his last six visits in the AMA Championship. The Texan's smooth lines and confident pace saw him finish the first free practice session of the day top of the leader boards. The afternoon qualifying session saw much of the same as Spies laid down consistently fast laps to end the day one place off provisional pole with a time of 1'49.901.
Team-mate Tom Sykes spent the free practice session working hard to familiarize himself with what is another new circuit for him in the 2009 championship. The afternoon's qualifying saw him capitalize on the earlier session, finding an extra second and a half through qualifying whilst he worked hard with his team to find a good set up for the track. |
| Ben Spies, Yamaha World Superbike Team (2nd, 1'49.901)
"today went really good, we got down to some decent times and we were working on the race set up. We definitely can improve it though. We were stuck with the gearbox setting today and didn't have time to change it before the end of the session, it wasn't ideal but it was good to get some good times with what we had. Tomorrow we'll go in and make some changes with the bike and come out swinging." |
| Tom Sykes, Yamaha World Superbike Team, (19th, 1'51.387)
"It was quite a steady day, but I think we have a lot of improvements to make. We found 1.5 seconds in the last session from this morning which is great, I'm sure we can make another significant step tomorrow. We'll go to bed tonight, have time to sleep on it and think about the circuit, take it all in and am pretty confident the boys and I will have something even better tomorrow."
Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha World Superbike Team
"Part of the day went well for us. We have some more time to spend on Tom's side. The track is not so easy to learn and it's his first time riding here. We will maybe make some comparisons between Tom and Ben and help Tom find where he's missing something on the lap. We will continue to work hard on both sides of the garage to find improvements for tomorrow's sessions." |
| | 2009 WSB United States - Salt Lake City 29/05/2009 | | Pos. | Rider | Manu. | Nat. | Total Time | | 1 | Max Biaggi | Aprilia | ITA | 1'49.820 | | 2 | Ben Spies | Yamaha | USA | 1'49.901 | | 3 | Carlos Checa | Honda | ESP | 1'50.144 | | 4 | Jakub Smrz | Ducati | CZE | 1'50.282 | | 5 | Michel Fabrizio | Ducati | ITA | 1'50.457 | | 6 | Jamie Hacking | Kawasaki | USA | 1'50.466 | | 7 | Shane Byrne | Ducati | GBR | 1'50.512 | | 8 | Yukio Kagayama | Suzuki | JPN | 1'50.556 | | 9 | Ryuichi Kiyonari | Honda | JPN | 1'50.701 | | 10 | Jonathan Rea | Honda | GBR | 1'50.740 | | 11 | Noriyuki Haga | Ducati | JPN | 1'50.755 | | 12 | Karl Muggeridge | Suzuki | AUS | 1'50.757 | | 13 | Broc Parkes | Kawasaki | AUS | 1'50.961 | | 14 | Troy Corser | BMW | AUS | 1'51.002 | | 15 | Gregorio Lavilla | Ducati | ESP | 1'51.046 | | 19 | Tom Sykes | Yamaha | GBR | 1'51.387 | | 26 | Erwan Nigon | Yamaha | FRA | 1'52.932 |
| FREE PRACTICE REPORT | 29/05/2009 | | Yamaha World Supersport make short work of their first US session | | | Yamaha rider Cal Crutchlow took to the Miller circuit for the first time today for Friday's free practice session. As with all Supersport riders with the exception of Sofuoglu this is Crutchlow's first visit to the track. As usual the young British rider showed his natural flair for adapting quickly and took no time to get to into the top half of the time sheet in the first free session, laying down consistently fast laps. The second session was not so smooth, some issues meant changing to the second bike mid-way and Crutchlow struggled to find the pace again before the end.
Team-mate Fabien Foret was on top form, with 20 minutes to go to the end of the first session he posted the fastest time and went straight into the top slot with a 1'54.99 lap. The French rider has continued to get faster and faster over the season, proving last year's crash at Brno is now well and truly behind him. As the first session drew to a close Foret was in fifth. The second free practice session saw more of the same confident pace as Foret continued to enjoy the circuit, laying down consistently fast laps to finish with a provisional third and a front row start. |
| Fabien Foret, Yamaha World Supersport Team, (3rd, 1'53.573)
"I'm actually really enjoying the track and my bike too. I'm very happy with how the bike is right now. I did quite a few laps and I think my race pace is pretty ok. Until now it's all good, we'll keep working and try to make the bike a bit better in a few places. Basically it's a good first day." |
| Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha World Supersport Team (6th, 1'53.956)
"It was a poor day for us to be honest, we're normally a lot more up there than that but we had a few problems over the day, and in the last session especially so we'll have to try and make sure we work on our areas where we're not the best for tomorrow and hopefully we'll be up there again."
Wilco Zeelenberg, Yamaha World Supersport Team
"both riders liked the track and settings wise we are quite pleased especially Fabien I have to say, he's really happy with the set up and the track especially which is good because since Kyalami he needed a bit of a lift. It's good he's started with the same pace as South Africa. Cal had a little bit of a problem with one bike so needed to change bikes halfway through the session and he was still trying to find the right gearing so he was a little bit slower than the morning session. For tomorrow I think everything will be fine." |
| | 2009 WSS United States - Salt Lake City 29/05/2009 | |
| Pos. | Rider | Manu. | Nat. | Total Time |
| 1 | Joan Lascorz | Kawasaki | ESP | 1'53.350 |
| 2 | Eugene Laverty | Honda | GBR | 1'53.549 |
| 3 | Fabien Foret | Yamaha | FRA | 1'53.573 |
| 4 | Kenan Sofuoglu | Honda | TUR | 1'53.637 |
| 5 | Andrew Pitt | Honda | AUS | 1'53.844 |
| 6 | Cal Crutchlow | Yamaha | GBR | 1'53.956 |
| 7 | Mark Aitchison | Honda | AUS | 1'54.333 |
| 8 | Garry McCoy | Triumph | AUS | 1'54.339 |
| 9 | Miguel Praia | Honda | POR | 1'54.475 |
| 10 | Katsuaki Fujiwara | Kawasaki | JPN | 1'54.598 |
| 11 | Michele Pirro | Yamaha | ITA | 1'54.599 |
| 12 | Gianluca Nannelli | Triumph | ITA | 1'54.614 |
| 13 | Anthony West | Honda | AUS | 1'55.012 |
| 14 | Matthieu Lagrive | Honda | FRA | 1'55.076 |
| 15 | Barry Veneman | Suzuki | NED | 1'55.287 |
| 16 | Doni Tata Pradita | Yamaha | IDN | 1'55.305 |
| 27 | Yannick Guerra | Yamaha | ESP | 1'58.093 |
| 28 | Andrew Nelson | Yamaha | CAN | 1'58.742 |
| 29 | Oleg Pianykh | Yamaha | RUS | 2'00.064 |
| 30 | Melissa Paris | Yamaha | USA | 2'00.018 |
| 31 | Chip Yates | Yamaha | USA | 2'03.336 |
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