2006 Superbike World Championship
WSB Round 9 – Assen (Holland)
First Qualifying
TOSELAND TAKES PROVISIONAL FRONT ROW POSITION ON
DAY ONE
James Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda) scored what could
be a very valuable top four placing at Assen after the dry
first qualifying session, scoring a best time of 1’40.242
in the process. The new-look Assen was a new challenge to
all the Superbike riders, with Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten
Kate Honda) tenth overall, and well inside Superpole qualifying
- should the second qualifying session on Saturday morning
prove to be wet.
First qualifying was a largely close affair, with second
through to 13th places only separated by a second, as riders
learned the fastest way around the 4.555km track. Fastest
lap of the day was a 1’39.336 from Troy Bayliss.
Ronald Ten Kate – Team Manager
“A quite good result, considering we still have some
issues to resolve. Also, our home circuit has changed a bit
and we definitely seem to be struggling a bit on the first
part of the track, the new part. So we need to change things
a little bit on the set-up for that part, to allow the riders
to go fast there. As soon as we can have that resolved I think
we can have them both on the front row. It was important for
us to be near the front today, so that we ensured we would
reach Superpole, because the weather forecast for tomorrow
is quite bad. For sure my staff will work hard to get things
even better tomorrow, because our aim is a little bit higher
than we have achieved now.”
James Toseland – Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider
(4th Position – Fastest Lap 1’40.242 –
23 Laps)
“A difficult day and I have had to get used to it all
again, after being used to nought miles per hour for the last
three weeks! Now it’s back up to 160mph. The bike was
OK at the start, but we need to put in a little bit of work
and for me to just get back into the riding. Both Karl and
I have to improve on the first sector, so we maybe just have
to do a little bit more work on the bike for that really tight
section. On the other sections the bike is really good, so
I don’t really want to sacrifice three-quarters of the
track just for one quarter. We just need to work a bit more
on the bike but our speed is quite consistent.”
Karl Muggeridge – Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider
(10th Position – Fastest Lap 1’40.746 –
21 Laps)
“The track’s really nice we just need to understand
the way the bike’s going to work round here a little
bit. We need to work with gearing to get out of corners a
bit better, but I’m reasonably happy with the way it’s
going now. We can move up from here, and with more laps and
more time, we will get there."
FIRST QUALIFYING:
1. Bayliss - Ducati - 1'39.336
2. Lanzi - Ducati - 1'39.888
3. Fabrizio - Honda - 1'40.171
4. Toseland - Winston Ten Kate Honda - 1'40.242
5. Barros - Honda - 1'40.415
10. Muggeridge - Winston Ten Kate Honda - 1'40.746
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