Tough start for Yamaha in Valencia

QUALIFYING 1 REPORT 09/04/2010 Tough start for Yamaha in Valencia It wasn't the easiest start to the Spanish race weekend for Yamaha Sterilgarda riders Cal Crutchlow and James Toseland today. The unforgiving Ricardo Tormo circuit proved challenging for both British riders with low grip on the track surface. Crutchlow made several changes to the bike during the qualifying session, leaving little time for an unbroken run to fully test the changes, ending the heat in ninth. Team-mate James Toseland had found a set-up to test, but then suffered a small crash as he settled in for some quick laps at the end of the session. Although uninjured and able to continue, it left not enough time to improve on his 12th place time. Cal Crutchlow Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team (9th, 1'35.052) "Today wasn't easy. We made good progress up to Portimao, unfortunately we are now at a track with much less grip which makes it again more difficult for us. Hopefully we can make improvements over the evening and into tomorrow. I look forward to getting started again in the morning and seeing how it goes." James Toseland James Toseland, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team (12th, 1'35.203) "A frustrating session for me today. I'd just put the softer tyre in at the end of the session, I came out of turn one really well but unfortunately I got my finger stuck under the brake lever and couldn't stop in time. I only just got the bike stopped right up by the barrier and then tipped it over. Luckily no damage to me or the bike so I got back on but by the time I'd cleaned all the dirt off them the performance of them had just dropped slightly. I was three tenths quicker than this morning and the time was there to be had but I ran out of time, frustrating as it was my error. We've got a lot of information from today so I'm looking forward to tomorrow." Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team Manager "A difficult day, but it seems for many of the 4 cylinder machines it wasn't easy to get good grip here. With chassis set up changes and adjustments in the electronics area we hope to improve this for tomorrow and also help to reduce tyre wear. I'm confident we will be more competitive tomorrow in the next session." Circuit Length: 4005 Weather: Hot and Sunny Lap Record: 1'35.007 (Neil Hodgson, 23/04/2003) Fastest Lap Ever: 1'33.270 (Ben Spies, 05/04/2009) Last Years Winner: Noriyuki Haga 2010 WSB Spain - Valencia 09/04/2010 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 1'34.220 2 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 1'34.502 3 Shane Byrne Ducati GBR 1'34.690 4 Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 1'34.771 5 Leon Haslam Suzuki GBR 1'34.780 6 Michel Fabrizio Ducati ITA 1'34.886 7 Noriyuki Haga Ducati JPN 1'34.935 8 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 1'35.049 9 Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR 1'35.052 10 Leon Camier Aprilia GBR 1'35.132 11 Sylvain Guintoli Suzuki FRA 1'35.189 12 James Toseland Yamaha GBR 1'35.203 13 Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 1'35.232 14 Troy Corser BMW AUS 1'35.279 15 Luca Scassa Ducati ITA 1'35.467 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. office@yrc.nl W. www.yamaha-racing.com © Copyright Yamaha 2010 | Unsubscribe