Parkes in top four

From Yamaha Racing

VALENCIA, SPAIN -- Yamaha World Supersport Team riders Fabien Foret and Broc Parkes had vastly differing experiences during their first day of practice at Valencia, with Parkes finishing fourth on the time sheets and Foret suffering a slight concussion after a crash.

Despite not riding in the recent FGSport tests at Valencia on March 13-14, both Parkes and Foret started brightly in the opening unofficial session Friday morning, with Parkes fastest of all and Foret only 0.6 seconds behind.

Against expectations, the overcast afternoon session meant that it was only slightly warmer than the morning but the times of the top riders dropped significantly in any case. Andrew Pitt set a new track best of 1:36.773 to take provisional pole, with Parkes setting a best of 1:37.436 to go fourth fastest.

Foret rode for only four laps in the official session in the afternoon before he fell. He suffered a highside when his rear end slid and then finally snapped sideways on the exit of the first right hander of the circuit, while he was trying out a new tire at a high pace. Foret recorded a time of 1:38.351 and was ranked 14th.

"Not too bad for Friday and we knew we would be doing a little bit of catching up because we didn't test here," Parkes said. "When we got the end of the session we found a way to go forward but we didn't have enough time left to try it. We found some good and bad things today, so tonight we will absorb it all. I know we can be a lot better."

Qualifying Results
1. Andrew Pitt Honda AUS 1:36.773
2. Craig Jones Honda GBR 1:37.068
3. Katsuaki Fujiwara Kawasaki JPN 1:37.233
4. Broc Parkes Yamaha AUS 1:37.436
5. Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 1:37.449
6. Joan Lascorz Honda ESP 1:37.538
7. Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 1:37.551
8. Chris Walker Kawasaki GBR 1:37.810
9. Gianluca Vizziello Honda ITA 1:37.899
10. Barry Veneman Suzuki NED 1:37.985