Martin sizzles for Foggy PETRONAS Racing in Misano
 Steve
Martin was on sizzling form in the sweltering heat of the
first day’s action at the sixth round of the Superbike
World Championship in Misano.
The Foggy PETRONAS Racing rider finished fifth fastest, just
0.06 seconds off the provisional front row time and 0.4 seconds
behind pace-setter, Troy Bayliss.
Track temperatures of around 50 degrees posed problems with
grip as riders struggled to match their times from the recent
test at the Italian circuit.
But Steve bounced back from a problematic morning practice
session to better his previous fastest lap at the circuit
on race rubber by 0.3 seconds.
He said: “Everything started to click together in the
second session after a morning to forget. I was behind Bayliss
and Barros and managed to stay with them for a few laps, the
first time I have been able to do that this year. I spent
most of the session on hard tyres but switched to softer ones
at the end to do the fast lap. I didn’t actually know
what time I had done, but I saw everyone looking pretty pleased
on pit-wall and guessed that it was a pretty fast lap.”
Team-mate Craig Jones struggled on his second outing here.
He said: “I thought we had moved on leaps and bounds
since the test here, so I don’t know what has gone wrong
today. I was struggling with the feel of the bike, especially
at the front, and lost a lot of confidence.”
Friday qualifying times, Superbike World Championship
round 6, Misano, Italy: 1 Bayliss 1:34.903; 2 Corser
1:35.016; 3 Laconi 1:35.166; 4 Walker 1:35.255; 5 Martin (Foggy
PETRONAS Racing) 1:35.313; 6 Pitt 1:35.448; 7 Fabrizio 1:35.466;
8 Toseland 1:35.553; 9 Kagayama 1:35.561; 10 Nieto 1:35.667;
29 Jones (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:38.339
Friday free practice times: 1 Bayliss (Ducati
Xerox) 1:35.051; 2 Corser (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1:35.168;
3 Laconi (PSG1 Kawasaki) 1:35.504; 4 Lanzi (Ducati Xerox)
1:35.528; 5 Kagayama (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1:35.711;
6 Walker (PSG1 Kawasaki) 1:35.740; 7 Pitt (Yamaha Italia)
1:35.800; 8 Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda) 1:35.846; 9
Nieto (PSG1 Kawasaki) 1:35.881; 10 Barros (Klaffi Honda) 1:36.045;
19 Martin (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:36.901; 30 Jones (Foggy
PETRONAS Racing) 1:38.631
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