Foggy PETRONAS Racing riders remain positive at Imola
Foggy PETRONAS Racing riders Steve Martin and Craig Jones
retained a positive outlook after the first day of qualifying
for the 11th round of the Superbike World Championship at
Imola, Italy, today.
Steve finished one place out of the provisional Superpole
line-up in 17th while Craig, at his first visit to the circuit,
made progress throughout the day to finish 29th - but just
three seconds off the pace set by James Toseland.
Steve said: “Obviously I want to be in Superpole for
what might be the last World Superbike race at Imola and if
I can improve on everything just a little then I am confident
that I will make the top 16 tomorrow. There are a lot of areas
where we can improve, including suspension and engine fuelling.
Coming from a circuit like Lausitzring I need to soften the
suspension off all around, as this circuit is a lot bumpier.
For some reason I seem to struggle in practice here but the
worst I have been in recent years’ races is sixth so
I am still positive about the weekend.”
Craig, who improved on his morning time by more than 2.5
seconds, said: “I am only 3.1 seconds off the front
boys, so I can’t moan. And I know I can go faster tomorrow
straight away after a night to think about things. It’s
fairly similar to a lot of UK tracks with a lot of ups and
downs, but if you put some of these guys on Oulton Park or
Cadwell they wouldn’t know where they are going. Steve
gave me a few tips this morning which were really helpful.
He said I was scrubbing too much speed off and that I needed
to flow better between corners by carrying a bit more entry
speed.”
Friday qualifying times, Superbike World Championship
round 11, Imola, Italy: 1 Toseland 1:50.039; 2 Corser
1:50.250; 3 Bayliss 1:50.265; 4 Kagayama 1:50.357; 5 Barros
1:50.388; 6 Xaus 1:50.468; 7 Pitt 1:50.502; 8 Fabrizio 1:50.553;
9 Neukirchner 1:50.659; 10 Clementi 1:50.768; 17 Martin (Foggy
PETRONAS Racing) 1:51.398; 29 Jones (Foggy PETRONAS Racing)
1:53.102
Friday free practice: 1 Bayliss (Ducati
Xerox) 1:50.556; 2 Kagayama (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra)
1:50.644; 3 Corser (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1:50.952;
4 Barros (Klaffi Honda) 1:51.110; 5 Clementi (Team Pedercini)
1:51.135; 6 Neukirchner (Alstare Eng Corona Extra) 1:51.230;
7 Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda) 1:51.244; 8 Pitt (Yamaha
Italia) 1:51.413; 9 Fabrizio (DFX Treme) 1:51.450; 10 Xaus
(Sterilgarda – Berik) 1:51.470; 17 Martin (Foggy PETRONAS
Racing) 1:52.516; 30 Jones (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:55.701
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