First strike for Spies in Qatar

From the World Superbike Championship

Ben Spies (Yamaha) set the quickest time on the opening day of qualifying action at the Losail circuit in Qatar on Thursday. The three-times AMA Superbike champion – and race 2 winner at Phillip Island – dominated qualifying, ending the one-hour session with a time of 1 minute 58.886 seconds, eight-tenths of a second off the best time set by Troy Corser (Yamaha) last year.

“Today went pretty good, the result will be more important Saturday but every time I come to the track with Yamaha the bike is getting better and it’s already such a fun bike to ride,” declared Spies. “The team’s working really good, but there are so many people that are fast out there that if you have just an OK session you end up behind. It’s going to be a tough year, but we’re clicking off session by session and we’ll see where we’re going to end up.”

Spies, the only rider to lap below the 1:59 mark, was close to a second quicker than almost all his rivals, with the exception of Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda), three-tenths behind. The young rider from Northern Ireland was the spearhead in the competitive three-rider Ten Kate Honda attack, with Carlos Checa and Ryuichi Kiyonari placing third and fifth respectively. The latter two were separated by Max Biaggi, who took his Aprilia RSV4 to a provisional front-row grid slot thanks to a quick lap at the end of the session.

In sixth place was the first Ducati, the Sterilgarda machine of Shane Byrne, while the factory 1098R machines are down in eighth (Michel Fabrizio) and 11th (Noriyuki Haga) respectively.

Last year’s winner Suzuki are so far struggling, with Max Neukirchner in 13th place, and Yukio Kagayama 15th, approximately 1.5 seconds off the pace. The two BMWs of Troy Corser and Ruben Xaus were right behind the Japanese rider in 16th and 17th.

The first day of Supersport action at Losail bore the mark of Yamaha as the two factory riders powered to the top two positions in qualifying. Cal Crutchlow from the UK set the provisional pole in a time of 2:02.634, with his French team-mate Fabien Foret just over a tenth behind.

The rest of the top 15 runners were all within one second, and they were headed by Phillip Island winner Kenan Sofuoglu (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda), in front of Hannspree Honda Althea’s Matthieu Lagrive, three-tenths off the pace.

The provisional second row is led by the young Australian Mark Aitchison (Hannspree Honda Althea) ahead of Spain’s Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki Motocard.com). Triumph also had a positive qualifying hour, with Garry McCoy and Gianluca Nannelli eighth and 11th on the ParkinGo BE1 675 machines.

Superbike Times
1. Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF R1 1:58.886
2. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1:59.177
3. Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 1:59.731
4. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 1:59.826
5. Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1:59.937
6. Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 1:59.980
7. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 2:00.024
8. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 2:00.101
9. Laconi R. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 2:00.232
10. Nakano S. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 2:00.238
11. Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 2:00.254
12. Sykes T. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 2:00.283
13. Neukirchner M. (GER) Suzuki GSX-R1000 K9 2:00.345
14. Rolfo R. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 2:00.374
15. Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R1000 K9 2:00.398
16. Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 2:00.455