Neukirchner scores Superpole at home

From worldsbk.com

Max Neukirchner (Alstare Suzuki) powered to a second Superpole win of the season in his home round of the HANNspree FIM Superbike World Championship at the Nurburgring on Saturday.

The 25-year-old from Stollberg in the former East Germany set an incredible time of 1 minute 55.471 seconds around the 5.137km circuit on his Suzuki GSX-R1000. The remainder of the front row was made up of riders from three different manufacturers; Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) was three-tenths of a second down in second place, followed by Carlos Checa (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) and Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB), who 10 days ago was undergoing surgery on a broken collarbone.

"It was an unbelievable lap, I was really fast," Neukirchner said. "I'm so happy for my team, they did a great job this weekend for my home race and to help me get my second pole position of the season. I hope the weather will be fine tomorrow and a lot of fans come here with the German flag and say ‘go go go, Max!'"

Fifth place went to Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox), just a fraction away from another front row start. The young Italian was ahead of Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB), Lorenzo Lanzi (RG Ducati) and Max Biaggi (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati) whose second row start still gives him a chance of fighting for the win.

Ninth quickest time was clocked by Karl Muggeridge (DF Racing Honda), while Japan's Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki Alstare) had to miss the Superpole session after crashing out in the afternoon's free practice session and being taken to hospital with concussion.

Broc Parkes (Yamaha World Supersport) clinched his third pole position of the season for the Supersport race at the Nurburgring with a lap time of 2:00.015. The 26-year-old Australian, after clocking quickest time on the opening day, repeated the performance Saturday to see off Britain's Craig Jones (Parkalgar Honda) by almost half-a-second.

Australian riders also made up the rest of the front row, with Joshua Brookes (Hannspree Stiggy Motorsport Honda) and Andrew Pitt (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) in third and fourth.

On the second row can be found the surprise of the weekend, Mark Aitchison (Triumph Italia BE1) with Matthieu Lagrive (Intermoto Czech Honda) and German wild-card Arne Tode (G-Lab Racing Triumph), while Tommy Hill (Hannspree Honda Althea), who returned to racing this weekend after recovering from injuries suffered six months ago, set a superb eighth quickest time.

The top two riders in the standings, Joan Lascorz (Glaner Motocard.com Honda) and Fabien Foret (Yamaha World Supersport) could only manage 11th and 10th quickest times respectively, the Frenchman ruining his day with a crash.

Rain prevented the Superstock 1000 field from improving on Friday's times, so pole position went to Brendan Roberts (Ducati Xerox Junior Team), who will be flanked on the front row by Maxime Berger (Hannspree IDS Ten Kate Honda), Davide Giugliano (Cruciani Moto Suzuki) and wild-card Dominic Lammert (Suzuki International Europe).

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

In the European 600 Superstock race, Patrick Vostarek (Intermoto Czech Honda) scored his first win of the year after a sprint finish with the championship leader Loris Baz (YZF Yamaha Junior Team) of France. The final podium slot went to Gino Rea (StoneBaker Yamaha) from Britain.

Superbike Qualifying Results
1. Neukirchner M. (GER) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:55.471
2. Bayliss T. (AUS) Ducati 1098 F08 1:55.791
3. Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 1:55.888
4. Haga N. (JPN) Yamaha YZF-R1 1:56.401
5. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098 F08 1:56.436
6. Corser T. (AUS) Yamaha YZF-R1 1:56.522
7. Lanzi L. (ITA) Ducati 1098 RS 08 1:56.574
8. Biaggi M. (ITA) Ducati 1098 RS 08 1:56.918
9. Muggeridge K. (AUS) Honda CBR1000RR 1:56.980
10. Xaus R. (ESP) Ducati 1098 RS 08 1:57.053
11. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098 RS 08 1:57.112
12. Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1:57.143
13. Laconi R. (FRA) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1:57.301
14. Nieto F. (ESP) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:57.491
15. Gimbert S. (FRA) Yamaha YZF-R1 1:57.514
16. Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R1000 0.000
17. Checa D. (ESP) Yamaha YZF-R1 1:58.180
18. Lavilla G. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 1:58.322
19. Nakatomi S. (JPN) Yamaha YZF-R1 1:58.512
20. Sofuoglu K. (TUR) Honda CBR1000RR 1:58.542
21. Tamada M. (JPN) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1:58.568
22. Badovini A. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1:58.654
23. Holland R. (AUS) Honda CBR1000RR 1:59.427
24. Aoyama S. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1:59.488
25. Rolfo R. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1:59.690
26. Iannuzzo V. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1:59.789
27. Pridmore J. (USA) Honda CBR1000RR 2:00.465
28. Napoleone L. (FRA) Yamaha YZF-R1 2:01.062