Australians lead German qualifying

From worldsbk.com
with files from Yamaha Racing

Two Australians headed the field on the first day of qualifying at the Nurburgring for the German Round of the HANNspree FIM Superbike World Championship, with Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB) leading the way from Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) by four-tenths of a second.

In Friday's one-hour timed session, which was held in the dry after all the recent rain, the riders immediately got down to some quick laps to make sure they locked in their qualifying places for Saturday's Superpole session, in view of the high risk of rain for Saturday.

Corser, who was also quickest in the morning's free practice session, set a time of one minute 57.257 seconds in Q1 to head the top three in the championship, Bayliss, Carlos Checa (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) and Max Neukirchner (Alstare Suzuki).

"The 'new' section of track is the early section and that is also the trickiest," Corser said. "Turn 1 especially. I think because it is blind and goes downhill, downhill, downhill, it's hard to get a braking point. If you go straight for the apex of the corner you can't get the bike turned. The rest of the track feels the same as last time I raced here but it still feels a bit dirty, like it needs bike rubber on it to deliver more grip. I think that's because of the rock concert they had here recently. We have steadily progressed with the bike and I'm pretty happy so far."

The second row is made up of Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki Alstare) of Japan, Frenchman Regis Laconi (Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse) and the surprising Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB), who had an operation on his broken collarbone just 10 days ago after the Miller round.

Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) also put in a good performance to finish in a provisional eighth place ahead of the Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati duo of Ruben Xaus and Max Biaggi.

The first Supersport qualifying session was dominated by Broc Parkes (Yamaha World Supersport). The Australian, who has recently recovered from a cracked elbow and two sprained wrists, was in terrific form and was the only rider to dip under the 2:01 mark.

Parkes ended up seven-tenths of a second ahead of his closest pursuer, Craig Jones (Parkalgar Racing Honda) from Britain, followed by Australian Mark Aitchison (Triumph Italia BE1) and his fellow Aussie Andrew Pitt (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda), over one second down.

Fifth quickest time went to Pitt's team-mate Jonathan Rea on row 2, followed by Fabien Foret (Yamaha World Supersport), Matthieu Lagrive (Intermoto Czech Honda) and the leading Suzuki of Barry Veneman (RES Software).

The difficult moment for points leader Joan Lascorz (Glaner Motocard.com Honda) continued as the Spaniard could only set 11th quickest time.

Brendan Roberts (Ducati Xerox Junior Team) powered to the provisional pole position in qualifying for the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup. The Australian, together with Frenchman Maxime Berger (Hannspree IDS Ten Kate Honda), six-tenths of a second slower, were the only riders to lap in under the 2:01 mark.

Fifth place went to championship leader, Xavier Simeon (Alstare Suzuki) of Belgium.

Championship leader Loris Baz (YZF Yamaha Junior Team) continued his impressive recent form with the quickest time in European Superstock 600 qualifying.

Superbike Qualifying Results
1. Corser T. (AUS) Yamaha YZF-R1 1:57.257
2. Bayliss T. (AUS) Ducati 1098 F08 1:57.694
3. Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 1:57.878
4. Neukirchner M. (GER) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:57.929
5. Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:57.956
6. Laconi R. (FRA) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1:57.989
7. Haga N. (JPN) Yamaha YZF-R1 1:58.020
8. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098 F08 1:58.044
9. Xaus R. (ESP) Ducati 1098 RS 08 1:58.258
10. Biaggi M. (ITA) Ducati 1098 RS 08 1:58.311
11. Lavilla G. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 1:58.322
12. Nieto F. (ESP) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:58.354
13. Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1:58.399
14. Gimbert S. (FRA) Yamaha YZF-R1 1:58.506
15. Lanzi L. (ITA) Ducati 1098 RS 08 1:58.514
16. Tamada M. (JPN) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1:58.568
17. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098 RS 08 1:58.852
18. Muggeridge K. (AUS) Honda CBR1000RR 1:58.976
19. Checa D. (ESP) Yamaha YZF-R1 1:59.313
20. Aoyama S. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1:59.488
21. Nakatomi S. (JPN) Yamaha YZF-R1 1:59.642
22. Sofuoglu K. (TUR) Honda CBR1000RR 1:59.675
23. Rolfo R. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1:59.690
24. Badovini A. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1:59.720
25. Pridmore J. (USA) Honda CBR1000RR 2:00.620
26. Iannuzzo V. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX-10R 2:00.705
27. Holland R. (AUS) Honda CBR1000RR 2:01.082
28. Napoleone L. (FRA) Yamaha YZF-R1 2:03.499