THE DUCATI XEROX TEAM RESERVE PROVISIONAL PLACES ON THE
FRONT TWO ROWS AT THE RING
After a wet free practice session in the morning, factory
riders Troy Bayliss and Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) were
relieved that the track had dried somewhat before the afternoon's
first qualifying session, in which Bayliss achieved the second
fastest time and Fabrizio the eighth. With neither rider ever
having seen this track until their arrival here yesterday,
changes to set-up were made throughout the day with each rider
facing their respective difficulties. It was no surprise that,
aside from Bayliss, the fastest riders of the day were Corser,
Checa and Neukirchner, the few to have ridden the track before
(though alterations have been made to the track in recent
years). Having said that, the nine fastest riders all recorded
times within a second of each other and so this promises for
some close racing over the weekend.
Troy Bayliss 1m57.6s
"I was pretty happy with this morning's session in the
rain and we found a pretty good solution which allowed us
to put in some decent laps. This afternoon in drier conditions
was more difficult and we had a few niggling problems with
one bike that threw us off and put us a little behind everyone
else. We finally got a few good laps in and got going towards
the end of the session but I could be happier and hope we
can do a bit better tomorrow. I'm also pretty sore from the
crash I had in Salt Lake and one of my ribs had been hurting
out there today but anyway, we'll see what tomorrow brings."
Michel Fabrizio 1m58.0s
"It went quite well today all things considered. We have
no idea how the weather will be over the weekend which is
a problem of course but I went pretty well this afternoon
and it seems like a nice track. I'm losing a couple of tenths
in the first split, in a similar way to how I was going at
Miller so I want to try and make a bit of time up round those
first corners tomorrow. We've tried different tyres today,
during the wet and dry sessions, so we know more or less what
to try tomorrow, whatever the conditions. I'm feeling quietly
confident for the weekend."
TIMES: 1. Corser (Yamaha) 1m57.2s; 2. Bayliss
(Ducati Xerox) 1m57.6s; 3. Checa (Honda) 1m57.8s; 4. Neukirchner
(Suzuki) 1m57.9s; 5. Kagayama (Suzuki) 1m57.9s; 6. Laconi
(Kawasaki) 1m57.9s; 7. Haga (Yamaha) 1m58.0s; 8. Fabrizio
(Ducati Xerox) 1m58.0s
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