ALSTARE DUO QUALIFY IN MISANO TOP 10
Team Alstare Suzuki's Fonsi Nieto, Max Neukirchner and Yukio
Kagayama all had a difficult day in the heat during qualifying
for the Misano World Superbike Championship round in Italy,
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. When Superpole
began, the track temperature was over 50 degrees centigrade
and the 16-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 42nd pole position
of his career. Nieto scored ninth fastest with Neukirchner
10th and Kagayama - defying the pain barrier - 13th.
Fonsi Nieto - 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 Neukirchner - 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 Kagayama - 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 WSB 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.
SUPERSTOCK 1000:
Team Alstare Suzuki rider Xavi Simeon broke his left collarbone
in the morning practice, but ignored the pain to ride in this
afternoon's final qualifying session, where he finished with
the 12th fastest time!
He fell this morning, when he was high-sided, and broke his
collarbone in three places. He was X-rayed in the Clinica
Mobile and heavily strapped before he was allowed out on his
Suzuki GSX-R 1000 this afternoon. Amazingly, he ended up only
one tenth of a second slower then his previous best time!
Michele Pirro (Yamaha) took pole position, with Davide Giugliano
(Suzuki) second, Maxime Berger (Honda) third and Brendan Roberts
(Ducati) fourth.
Xavi Simeon - 12th, 1:40.927:
"The pain wasn't too bad, except when I broke hard or
changed direction from right to left! I was only one tenth
of a second slower then before the crash, so I think that
is pretty good really. This afternoon I didn't do so many
laps because I wanted to be as fit as possible for tomorrow.
Also, I didn't want to push too hard in case I crashed again.
It's going to be a long, tough 14 laps tomorrow - especially
as it will be most likely very hot. My job is to finish the
race and score as many points as possible. Even if I only
score one point, I think it will be worth it, because you
never know what might happen at the end of the championship.
Final Superstock 1000 qualifying: 1 Pirro
(I-Yamaha) 1:40.044, 2 Giugliano (I-Suzuki) 1:40.173, 3 Berger
(F-Honda) 1:40.361, 4 Roberts (Aus-Ducati) 1:40.443, 5 Perotti
(I-Suzuki) 1:40.484, 6 Antonelli (I-Honda) 1:40.528. 12 Xavi
Simeon (B-Alstare Suzuki) 1:40.927.
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