MONZA SECOND QUALIFYING
Superpole
BAYLISS TAKES STORMING FRONT ROW GRID SLOT FOR DUCATI
XEROX AT MONZA
Troy Bayliss rode a storming Superpole lap at the Autodromo
Nazionale di Monza this afternoon to line up second on the
starting-grid for tomorrow's Italian Round of the World Superbike
Championship. The Australian's time of 1'45.345 was only bettered
by polesitter Noriyuki Haga who was four-tenths of a second
quicker on his Yamaha. Max Biaggi (Suzuki) and Troy Corser
(Yamaha) make up the front row ahead of points leader James
Toseland (Honda), while Ducati Xerox team-mate Lorenzo Lanzi
recorded a 1'47.067 to go twelfth quickest.
"It all went well" declared Troy. "Superpole
is always a difficult one especially here in Monza, there
are a few nerves flying around because it's pretty special
here. It's been a little bit up and down for us this weekend
and we've had a few interruptions but we're getting there.
I've been struggling a little bit with the bike moving around
all weekend so we have to work a little bit more on that and
make a small change tomorrow morning but I'm happy to start
on the front row, its very important here. It's going to be
a very hard day tomorrow. I'm really struggling in the second
split but going really strong in the first and last split
which is good because I can always tailback on the start-finish
straight. Everyone's going so fast that it could be quite
dramatic tomorrow!"
"We tried to limit the damage in Superpole, but as I
was the first rider to go out the track was not very quick"
commented Lorenzo. "We could see that because the last
eight guys all went well. I improved on my last year's time,
we'll see what the races are like tomorrow but they are not
going to be easy. I did a lot of laps with different tyres
and we now have a clear idea on which one to choose. I want
to make a good start to remain with the leading group. I knew
that this was going to be the most difficult track on the
entire world championship calendar, but the bike is going
well and I hope to do a couple of good races tomorrow.
Times: 1. Haga (Yamaha) 1'44.941; 2. Bayliss
(Ducati Xerox) 1'45.345; 3. Biaggi (Suzuki) 1'45.415; 4. Corser
(Yamaha) 1'45.430; 5. Toseland (Honda) 1'45.824; 6. Muggeridge
(Honda) 1'46.232; 7. Laconi (Kawasaki) 1'46.437; 8. Kagayama
(Suzuki) 1'46.696; 9. Fabrizio (Honda) 1'46.753; 10. Rolfo
(Honda) 1'46.758.
TV Coverage : Eurosport 2 (Europe) Sunday
13 May, 1515 race 2 (delayed). Eurosport (Italy) Saturday
12 May, 1945 Superpole (delayed); Sunday 13 May, 1200 race
1 (live), 2000 race 2 (delayed). La7 (Italy) Saturday 12 May,
1550 Superpole (live); Sunday 13 May, 1150 race 1 (live),
1525 race 2 (live). RAI2 (Italy) Sunday 13 May, 1730 races
1 + 2 (highlights).
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