Round 8, San Marino (at Misano)
Circuit: 4.226 kms Conditions: Hot, mostly sunny
30-34C
Final qualifying, Saturday 28th June
HARD DAY IN THE HOT SUN.
It was a hard day in the hot sun for Fonsi Nieto, Yukio Kagayama
and Max Neukirchner at Misano today and, despite their grid
positions, all three are in a positive frame of mind about
tomorrow’s pair of 24-lap races. The day started overcast,
but the sun soon burned off the clouds and the temperatures
began to rise straightaway. When Superpole began, the track
temperature was over 50 degrees centigrade and the sixteen
rider shoot out was dominated by Ducatis. They filled six
out of the top seven places, but it was Troy Corser’s
Yamaha that topped them all. The Aussie lapped under 1:36
- the only rider to do so - to claim his forty-second pole
position of his career. Fonsi ended ninth fastest, with Max
tenth, with Yukio defying the pain barrier to finish thirteenth.
Fonsi - 9th, 1:36.746
Today was very hard, because of the heat, but also because
we have six very strong Ducatis in the championship and this
circuit seems to suit them well. It’s going to be two
hard races tomorrow and the heat is going to affect the performance
of the tyres for sure. My Superpole wasn’t so bad and
one tenth of a second made such a big difference. It seems
that I’m never lucky on my Superpole lap, so once again
I’m going to have to get two good starts in the races
to get good results.
Max - 10th, 1:36.856
My first Superpole split was good, but the second was not
because I made a small mistake at one of the fast right-handers
and lost a little time. I’ve had a little problem getting
the bike to keep the line on the brakes and that has been
costing me time. My set-up is not quite right, so we may try
something in the warm-up tomorrow and see if we can improve
the bike. It’s really strange to see six Ducatis in
the top seven, but I am determined to get two good starts
and make sure they don’t dominate the races.
Yukio - 13th, 1:37.243
I think the base set-up of my bike is quite good, so we will
not make any big changes in the warm-up tomorrow. We’ve
been working a lot on the electronics, trying to improve the
feeling of the bike and we’re making progress. But my
biggest problem is my injury. I had a small painkilling injection
this morning, but I don’t think it worked! I had a stronger
one in the afternoon, but I was still suffering a lot of pain
- especially on the braking. Tomorrow is going to be very,
very hard. But my job is a racer and I have to race tomorrow.
If I have to forget the pain, that’s what I have to
do, because I want to race.
Final qualifying
1 Corser (Aus-Yamaha) 1:35.993, 2 Bayliss (Aus-Ducati) 1:36.106,
3 Xaus (E-Ducati) 1:36.189, 4 Fabrizio (I-Ducati) 1:36.403,
5 Biaggi (I-Ducati) 1:36.506, 6 Lanzi (I-Ducati) 1:36.609,
7 Smrz (CZ-Ducati) 1:36.652, 8 Laconi (F-Kawasaki) 1:36.691,
9 Fonsi Nieto (E-Suzuki Alstare) 1:36.746, 10 Max Neukirchner
(D-Alstare Suzuki) 1:36.856, 13 Yukio Kagayama (J-Suzuki Alstare)
1:37.243
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