Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra
2006 Superbike World Championship
Round 4, Monza, Italy
Friday 5th May
Circuit: 5.793m. Weather: Overcast, some rain in the afternoon,
17-19 C.
TROY IN TOP THREE, YUKIO AND FABIEN STRUGGLING.
Although the rain didn’t fall heavily in this afternoon’s
timed qualifying session, it was enough to make the track
slippery in places and make the riders exercise caution. The
morning untimed session had taken place in the dry, but the
heavy cloud cover meant that sooner or later it would rain.
When timed qualifying began, all the riders tried to get out
on the track and put in a fast time before the light drizzle
turned to rain and so the first ten minutes or so saw heavy
traffic. Most of the fast times were set in this period, with
Troy Corser posting a lap of 1:47.591 - the third quickest.
Troy’s team mate Yukio Kagayama’s right hand was
giving him problems in the three Monza chicanes and that,
together with the rain in the afternoon, was enough to prevent
him from pushing hard. He finished with the fourteenth fastest
time. Fabien had a disappointing day and could only manage
the twenty-sixth best time of the day.
TROY - 3rd, 1:47.591
The conditions this afternoon were pretty tricky and a lot
depended on how brave you wanted to be on a damp track! We
changed the set-up from the morning and the lap times came
pretty comfortably in the afternoon, but it was no point risking
anything and crashing, so I just took it fairly steadily.
When the afternoon qualifying began we all had the same idea
- to get out quickly and put in a fast lap. This track is
the kind of place where you need to find another fast rider
so that you can pull each other along, but throughout the
session I couldn’t find anybody to do that with me.
YUKIO - 14th, 1:48.828
I don’t have much to say really because I didn’t
push hard at all today. My right hand is still sore (from
the crash in Valencia) and it was difficult for me to change
direction in the chicanes. The slightly wet conditions made
it hard for all of us and I didn't want another crash, so
I rode steadily.
FABIEN - 26th, 1:50.711
I am very disappointed with myself today and I just couldn’t
relax on the bike in the afternoon when it was wet some of
the time. The problem was that it wasn’t wet all the
time, but it was difficult to know how hard to push and where.
I would like to forget about today and start afresh tomorrow,
when I hope it will be dry.
Friday qualifying
1 Haga (J-Yamaha) 1:47.007, 2 Bayliss (Aus-Ducati) 1:47.043,
3 TROY CORSER (Aus-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1:47.591,
4 Toseland (GB-Honda) 1:47.751, 5 Laconi (F-Kawasaki) 1:47.763,
6 Barros (Bra-Honda) 1:47.769, 7 Pitt (Aus-Yamaha) 1:47.793,
8 Xaus (E-Ducati) 1:47.852, 9 Fabrizio (I-Honda) 1:48.070,
10 Rolfo (I-Ducati) 1.48.334, 14 YUKIO KAGAYAMA (J-Alstare
Suzuki Corona Extra)N 1:48.828, 26 FABIEN FORET (F-Alstare
Engineering Corona Extra) 1:50.711,
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