Corser gets another Superpole

From worldsbk.com

Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB) set the Misano World Circuit alight Saturday afternoon with a fantastic Superpole lap of 1 minute 35.993 seconds, the only rider to get under the 1m36s mark.

The Australian, who recorded his second Superpole win of the year and the 42nd in his career, had to pull out all the stops to get the better of Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox), who ended up just over one-tenth of a second adrift.

Ducatis dominated the day's proceedings, with six of the 1098 machines filling out the top seven places. The front row of the grid was completed by Ruben Xaus (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati), who made up a lot of time in the second split, and Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox), who is fast becoming a contender in the one-lap dash.

"We've been working a lot on the race set-up and the high temperatures here have been making a few problems for the front and rear tire, but most of them have been pretty consistent," Corser said. "For the Superpole we changed the bike slightly after the free practice and the bike was a bit better. With the qualifier a little bit of extra grip gives you more confidence so I pushed really hard and it was fantastic to add another pole to the record.

"To be honest I was sitting there and the fact that the Ducatis were up the front just made me try even harder to get in front and be the first Japanese bike. Now I've got to do it in the race tomorrow as well."

After showing good form in qualifying, Max Biaggi (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati) confirmed his performance in Superpole, the Italian just missing out on the front row by a fraction. Biaggi will be flanked by Lorenzo Lanzi (RG Ducati), Jakub Smrz (Guandalini Ducati) and the first Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse ZX-10R of Frenchman Regis Laconi.

Both second and third placed riders in the championship standings, Carlos Checa (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) and Max Neukirchner (Alstare Suzuki), were in difficulty Saturday and failed to get any higher than row 3.

Double Nurburgring winner Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB) fared even worse, the Japanese rider struggling to 14th place on the grid for a fourth row start.

After dominating the first day of Supersport qualifying, Broc Parkes (Yamaha World Supersport) did the same again on the second day, the Australian setting pole position for Sunday's seventh round with a time of 1:39.398.

Once again Parkes' closest rival, almost half a second down, was Andrew Pitt (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda), with Fabien Foret (Yamaha World Supersport) and Craig Jones (Parkalgar Honda) also on the front row.

Three more Hondas were next up on row 2, Joshua Brookes (Hannspree Stiggy Motorsport), Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate) and Russell Holland, making his debut for the Hannspree Honda Althea team in Supersport.

Australian Mark Aitchison was again on the pace with his Triumph Italia BE1 Racing 675, while former points leader Joan Lascoz was down in 10th on the Glaner Motocard.com Honda.

Qualifying for the Superstock 1000 race was dominated by Italian riders, with Michele Pirro (Yamaha Lorenzini by Leoni) getting the better of Davide Giuliano (Cruciani Moto Suzuki Italia) by a whisker. The front row was completed by Frenchman Maxime Berger (Hannspree IDS Ten Kate Honda) and Brendan Roberts (Ducati Xerox Junior Team), who had been quickest on the opening day.

Championship leader Xavier Simeon (Alstare Suzuki) was 12th after completing the session with a broken right collarbone following a crash during the morning's free practice session.

Patrick Vostarek (Intermoto Czech Honda) scored a second win in a row in the European Superstock 600 Championship following his triumph at the Nurburgring two weeks ago. Starting from pole position, the Czech rider gradually increased his lead and took the flag for a comfortable victory.

The second podium slot went to Italian Marco Bussolotti (Yamaha Motor Italia Junior Team), who managed to hold off the points leader, Frenchman Loris Baz ((YZF Yamaha Junior Team) in the final stages.

Superbike Qualifying Results
1. Corser T. (AUS) Yamaha YZF-R1 1:35.993
2. Bayliss T. (AUS) Ducati 1098 F08 1:36.106
3. Xaus R. (ESP) Ducati 1098 RS 08 1:36.189
4. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098 F08 1:36.403
5. Biaggi M. (ITA) Ducati 1098 RS 08 1:36.506
6. Lanzi L. (ITA) Ducati 1098 RS 08 1:36.609
7. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098 RS 08 1:36.652
8. Laconi R. (FRA) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1:36.691
9. Nieto F. (ESP) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:36.746
10. Neukirchner M. (GER) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:36.856
11. Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 1:37.143
12. Tamada M. (JPN) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1:37.183
13. Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:37.243
14. Haga N. (JPN) Yamaha YZF-R1 1:37.395
15. Muggeridge K. (AUS) Honda CBR1000RR 1:37.950
16. Badovini A. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1:37.962
17. Rolfo R. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1:37.830
18. Checa D. (ESP) Yamaha YZF-R1 1:37.874
19. Lavilla G. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 1:37.891
20. Nakatomi S. (JPN) Yamaha YZF-R1 1:38.133
21. Gimbert S. (FRA) Yamaha YZF-R1 1:38.213
22. Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1:38.288
23. Aoyama S. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1:38.323
24. Sofuoglu K. (TUR) Honda CBR1000RR 1:38.394
25. Iannuzzo V. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1:38.873
26. Brignola N. (ITA) Yamaha YZF-R1 1:40.311
27. Pridmore J. (USA) Honda CBR1000RR 1:40.395