Tom Sykes on form with blistering pace in first German qualifying

QUALIFYING 1 REPORT 04/09/2009 Tom Sykes on form with blistering pace in first German qualifying Tom Sykes Yamaha World Superbike rider Tom Sykes looked immediately at home in familiar weather conditions on the Nurburgring circuit today. Although an issue in the first free practice session meant missing out on some lap time, the British rider made up for it in the afternoon, and despite a small crash he moved quickly up the ranks to finish the first qualifying session in second place, half a second off provisional pole man Jonathan Rea. Team-mate Ben Spies worked to find the right set up today, taking his time to understand how his bike performed in the wet conditions and hunting the perfect combination of bike set up and tyre choice. By the end of qualifying he was confident that the right combination had been found and was looking forward to bringing his lap times down in tomorrow's second qualifying session and following Superpole. Tom Sykes, Yamaha World Superbike Team (2nd, 2'11.781) "We started off steady this morning, we knew we had a couple of issues to sort out which took some time. We were also struggling for grip to start with but we made changes which worked. I went back out on a new tyre with all the changes in place and unfortunately the tyre wasn't up to temperature so I lost the back end. I managed to low side it gently and had no damage so got back on and carried on. We had a good gap in the weather so I chipped away at the time. I think maybe we can improve a bit more but I was really impressed with how much grip we were finding." Ben Spies Ben Spies, Yamaha World Superbike Team (13th, 2'13.898) "Today went ok, we weren't as high up in the time sheets as we wanted to be but it's always hard coming to a track and learning it in the wet when you don't know how the tarmac works in the rain. We worked on some set up stuff and towards the end of the session we started to get down to some better times than what we had been doing before. By the time we got to a really good set up we realized we had the wrong tyres on at the end of the session, there's pretty much one set of tyres that are working well in the rain and we weren't on them. We learnt a lot about the bike in the rain, we've found something pretty good so we just need to try some different rubber tomorrow and I'm sure the lap times will start to tumble." Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager "for sure the conditions we had today are the worst for learning a track. We have to wait for tomorrow's weather and hope it is better, but still we remain confident. Tom achieved some great results, I think the typical English weather helped him! He's showed us that he's always focusing on improving so we're happy." Circuit Length: 4556 Fastest Lap Ever: 1'55.471 (Max Neukirchner, 15/06/2008) Last Years Winner: Noriyuki Haga 2009 WSB Germany - Nürburgring 04/09/2009 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 2'11.278 2 Tom Sykes Yamaha GBR 2'11.781 3 Troy Corser BMW AUS 2'12.086 4 Michel Fabrizio Ducati ITA 2'12.354 5 Noriyuki Haga Ducati JPN 2'12.635 6 Shane Byrne Ducati GBR 2'12.819 7 Leon Haslam Honda GBR 2'12.979 8 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 2'13.089 9 Ryuichi Kiyonari Honda JPN 2'13.215 10 Luca Scassa Kawasaki ITA 2'13.238 11 Richard Cooper BMW GBR 2'13.391 12 Carlos Checa Honda ESP 2'13.550 13 Ben Spies Yamaha USA 2'13.898 14 Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 2'13.928 15 Karl Muggeridge Suzuki AUS 2'14.073 22 David Checa Yamaha ESP 2'15.913 FREE PRACTICE REPORT 04/09/2009 Crutchlow defies the rain to set the pace in free practice Cal Crutchlow The notorious Nurburgring weather did little to dampen Yamaha World Supersport rider Cal Crutchlow's spirits in free practice today, he was rarely outside the number one spot and finished the session on top, a second faster than the fastest superbike time from the earlier session. Crutchlow was one of only two riders to drop below the 1.15 mark, ending the session on a 2'13.170. Team-mate Fabien Foret was taking it carefully in the wet, concentrating on his set up the French rider stayed out lapping until he ran out of petrol seconds before the end of the session. Foret was happy to have found a set up that worked well in the wet in advance of tomorrow's qualifying session. Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha World Supersport Team (1st, 2'13.170) "Not a bad day to start with, the weather's been horrible! It's good to be up there again and keep the pressure on everybody else. Keenan is going to be fast here this weekend because he raced in the German Championship before so he knows the track. I'm looking forward to a good battle, we'll continue tomorrow, hopefully it'll be a bit drier and we'll do our best." Fabien Foret Fabien Foret, Yamaha World Supersport Team (23rd, 2'20.691) "it was good to feel a bit where the critical points are on the track in case we have the same weather tomorrow. Obviously I didn't push today, I wanted to be safe and ready for tomorrow. Qualifying is another story, that's where I'll try to push harder. I hope we have dry conditions for the race as it'll be better for me, but for today I just wanted to spend some time on the track and get a feel for it again." Wilco Zeelenberg, Yamaha World Supersport Team Manager "Very British weather today! Cal loves it and he's fast again so no problems there. Fabien always struggles a bit with his riding style in the wet but he went out and stayed out until his fuel was empty. For tomorrow it will probably be a bit wet again but everything is under control here so we're happy today." Circuit Length: 4556 Fastest Lap Ever: 2'00.015 (Broc Parkes, 15/06/2008) Last Years Winner: Andrew Pitt 2009 WSS Germany - Nürburgring 04/09/2009

Free Practice

Pos.	Rider	Manu.	Nat.	Total Time
1	Cal Crutchlow	Yamaha	GBR	2'13.170
2	Kenan Sofuoglu	Honda	TUR	2'13.480
3	Garry McCoy	Triumph	AUS	2'15.119
4	Michele Pirro	Yamaha	ITA	2'15.120
5	Mark Aitchison	Honda	AUS	2'15.675
6	Joan Lascorz	Kawasaki	ESP	2'15.688
7	Anthony West	Honda	AUS	2'15.861
8	Andrew Pitt	Honda	AUS	2'15.863
9	Eugene Laverty	Honda	GBR	2'16.423
10	Barry Veneman	Honda	NED	2'17.314
11	Kevin Wahr	Triumph	GER	2'17.493
12	Arie Vos	Honda	NED	2'17.824
13	Sam Lowes	Honda	GBR	2'17.887
14	Michael Laverty	Honda	GBR	2'18.101
15	Katsuaki Fujiwara	Kawasaki	JPN	2'18.240
22	Doni Tata Pradita	Yamaha	IDN	2'20.568
23	Fabien Foret	Yamaha	FRA	2'20.691
28	Yannick Guerra	Yamaha	ESP	2'31.622

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