Motor Racing

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Superpole Success Sees Second Row Start for Laverty and Melandri at Phillip Island

	WORLD SUPERBIKE AUSTRALIA - ROUND 1
	Phillip Island
World Superbike	Qualifying 2 Report - 26/02/2011

Superpole Success Sees Second Row Start for Laverty and Melandri at Phillip Island

Yamaha World Superbike Team riders Eugene Laverty and Marco Melandri experienced their first ever Superpole shoot-out this afternoon at the Phillip Island International circuit in Australia. The adrenalin fuelled short 'qualifying heats' quickly sort the fastest riders from the pack to decide the grid line up for Sunday's two World Superbike races, the first of the 2011 season.

Laverty continued to display the consistent form fans have seen since he first jumped on the Yamaha R1 race bike, flying through the first, second and third Superpole heats in fifth place, earning himself a second row start for his first ever World Superbike race tomorrow.

Teammate and fellow World Superbike Superpole rookie Melandri was enjoying a much better day than yesterday. The Italian rider had clearly improved his set up from the day before, although was experiencing the stickier Superpole qualifier tyres for the first time this afternoon. Melandri cleared the first session in 11th place, then hung on in the second in eighth to make it through to the final session. Having used all his qualifiers in the first two sessions he couldn't improve on his time but held on for a second row start for what is also his first ever World Superbike race.

Eugene Laverty, Yamaha World Superbike Team

5th, 1'31.858

"So far so good! I've really been enjoying the weekend so far; everything seems to be running really smoothly. We're still working on our set up for race distance but for the faster laps in qualifying it seems to have worked well. Superpole was a new experience for me, the qualifying tyres require quite a different style of riding so I think I'm yet to get the best out of them. Bring on tomorrow, I'm ready and really excited about seeing what we can do, I just hope it doesn't rain!"

Marco Melandri, Yamaha World Superbike Team

8th, 1'32.662

"Yesterday was a bad day for me, today was better but still difficult! The Superpole event was new for me, so I'm happy to be on the second row at the end. I really like it, it's like having three times qualifying so it's pretty nice. It was pretty tough initially as I've never tried the qualifying tyres before, so I had no time to get used to the way they feel. I'm more confident for the races now so we will see what happens tomorrow."

Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager - Andrea Dosoli

"I'm happy considering both riders are rookies and they managed to get through to the final Superpole on their first attempt. Eugene continues to confirm what he showed in the past and more. Only two months ago Marco had a shoulder operation and even now is not 100% fit so his performance today was impressive. For our first race it's ok to start from the second row. We are still working to find the best set up for both riders as the race will be very demanding on tyres so the key point will be how to save them. We need a quick start off the line, then it's up to both Eugene and Marco to enjoy the race. It looks like it might rain tomorrow, which will obviously be difficult as we have limited wet set up knowledge here, I believe both riders, and especially Marco, can be strong in the wet so we'll see!"

Yamaha ParkinGO Team Line Up on the Second Row at Phillip Island

Yamaha ParkinGO rider Luca Scassa got down to work today with a new bike set up and quickly took steps forward to improve from the first qualifying session. The Italian moved up the provisional grid, gaining over half a second on yesterday's performance to take a well earned fifth place start on the second row for tomorrow's first World Supersport race of the 2011 season. Scassa completed a number of laps in the low 1.35's, hinting at a good race pace for tomorrow.

Scassa's teammate Chas Davies was unable to improve on yesterday's performance in the first qualifying session, the young Brit struggling to make another step but hanging in to keep a second row start on the grid in eighth for tomorrow's race. Unpredictable weather and a forecast for rain could make the opening round tomorrow an unpredictable one for all riders in the class.

2011 World Superbike Australia

Phillip Island 26/02/2011

1	Carlos Checa	Ducati	ESP	1'30.882
2	Max Biaggi	Aprilia	ITA	1'30.895
3	Sylvain Guintoli	Ducati	FRA	1'31.293
4	Leon Haslam	BMW	GBR	1'31.429
5	Eugene Laverty	Yamaha	GBR	1'31.858
6	Jakub Smrz	Ducati	CZE	1'31.980
7	Troy Corser	BMW	AUS	1'32.182
8	Marco Melandri	Yamaha	ITA	1'32.662
9	Michel Fabrizio	Suzuki	ITA	1'32.153
10	Tom Sykes	Kawasaki	GBR	1'32.204
11	Josh Waters	Suzuki	AUS	1'32.240
12	Jonathan Rea	Honda	GBR	1'32.708
13	Joan Lascorz	Kawasaki	ESP	1'32.346
14	Noriyuki Haga	Aprilia	JPN	1'32.391
15	James Toseland	BMW	GBR	1'32.547

Circuit Length:
4445

Weather:
Sunny

Lap Record:
1'32.402
(Troy Bayliss, 1/1/2006)

Fastest Lap Ever:
1'30.882
(Carlos Checa, 2/27/2011)

Last Years Winner:
Carlos Checa

Qualifying 1 & Qualifying 2

				I	II
1	Carlos Checa	Ducati	ESP	1'31.577	1'31.577
2	Max Biaggi	Aprilia	ITA	1'32.009	1'31.782
3	Tom Sykes	Kawasaki	GBR	1'32.705	1'31.813
4	Sylvain Guintoli	Ducati	FRA	1'31.850	1'31.850
5	Jonathan Rea	Honda	GBR	1'32.424	1'31.906
6	Eugene Laverty	Yamaha	GBR	1'31.969	1'31.969
7	Leon Haslam	BMW	GBR	1'32.082	1'32.023
8	Jakub Smrz	Ducati	CZE	1'32.066	1'32.066
9	Joan Lascorz	Kawasaki	ESP	1'32.163	1'32.085
10	Michel Fabrizio	Suzuki	ITA	1'32.108	1'32.108
11	Noriyuki Haga	Aprilia	JPN	1'33.058	1'32.168
12	Marco Melandri	Yamaha	ITA	1'32.700	1'32.237
13	Josh Waters	Suzuki	AUS	1'32.690	1'32.413
14	Ruben Xaus	Honda	ESP	1'33.411	1'32.503
15	Troy Corser	BMW	AUS	1'32.699	1'32.520

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Friday, February 25, 2011

Strong Start for Laverty in First Phillip Island Qualifying

	WORLD SUPERBIKE AUSTRALIA - ROUND 1
	Phillip Island
World Superbike	Qualifying 1 Report - 25/02/2011

Strong Start for Laverty in First Phillip Island Qualifying

New Yamaha World Superbike Team rider Eugene Laverty made an impressive debut today for his first ever World Superbike Championship race weekend. Having spent the morning's free practice session making further adjustments to his set up, the 24yr old rider from Northern Ireland sent a clear message in the afternoon's qualifying, the first of two over the weekend, using his 2011 R1 to its full potential to take third in the final timesheets just 0.392 seconds from front man Carlos Checa.

Laverty's new teammate, fellow World superbike rookie Marco Melandri had a less successful day today. The 28yr old Italian rider struggled to find a good feeling with the tyres used today, resulting in him losing the front end on turn 6 and falling. Melandri wasn't hurt in the incident and returned to complete qualifying on his number two bike but was unable to better eleventh in the timesheets, just over a second off the lead.

Eugene Laverty, Yamaha World Superbike Team

3rd, 1'31.969

"I'm very satisfied with my position today, I didn't expect to be that high up in the standings although my aim was to do a 1.31 to get me through to Superpole tomorrow, so I was expecting the lap time but not the position. We learnt a bit more today for our race set up but we still need to work on a bit of consistency. Thankfully we can now focus tomorrow morning on race set up."

Marco Melandri, Yamaha World Superbike Team

12th, 1'32.700

"It was a very bad day for me today everything seemed to be going wrong. Definitely a no meaning day, I will start fresh tomorrow! I lost the front when I was trying a harder front tyre, I had no feeling in it and suddenly it was just gone. Tomorrow we will go for a different tyre and a set up we know so we should be much better, I am confident we will be up there."

Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager - Andrea Dosoli

"It wasn't the best day today for Marco, he crashed after a few laps of qualifying, losing the front at turn six testing a harder front Pirelli tyre. He had to switch to a different bike and was less confident in pushing hard for the rest of the session. I have no doubt that tomorrow he will be much better. Eugene was quite fast and with small change to set up he was able to make a better lap time than the test here last week. He managed to test some different tyres today as the track temperatures were different to the test, so he has a better idea of what he should use for tomorrow and the race. Once again he's showed us his potential."

Yamaha ParkinGO Team Take Provisional Front Row Start with Davies

Yamaha ParkinGO Team rider Chas Davies took a big step forward today following last week's test here at Phillip Island. A new set up on the 2009 World Supersport Championship winning R6 worked well for the young British rider, propelling him up the time sheets to finish the first qualifying session in fourth with a time of 1'35.065 and earning a provisional front row start for Sunday's first race of the season.

Davies teammate Luca Scassa also impressed and wrapped up first qualifying in sixth, the Italian rider less than two tenths behind Davies with a time of 1'35.236. Scassa will also trial the new set up for tomorrow's second qualifying session, looking to kick off the first race with both riders on the front row. Both riders, second and fourth in the top speed ranking, were clearly benefiting from a further two sessions on their new race machinery, having had limited testing time in advance of this season's first race on Sunday due to a late agreement between Yamaha and ParkinGO to run the bikes.