2006 Supersport World Championship
Round 9 – Assen (Holland)
Final Qualifying
CHARPENTIER ON POLE FOR CRUCIAL ASSEN RACE
Despite not making any improvement to his single best lap
time from the first qualifying session on Friday, Sebastien
Charpentier (Winston Ten Kate Honda) will start Sunday’s
21-lap Assen Supersport race from an important pole position.
Tied on points with second place Assen qualifier Kevin Curtain,
Charpentier has earned an advantage off the line, which may
prove important on Sunday. His team-mate Kenan Sofuoglu (Winston
Ten Kate Honda) pushed hard in the final two laps of the day
and improved from 12th on Friday to ninth today, and thus
starts from the head of the third row.
Dry yet cool weather greeted the start of both the final
unofficial and timed qualifying sessions at Assen, but Charpentier
was denied a chance to improve his time when a muscle spasm
caused him to call a temporary halt, until he was checked
over by medical staff.
Ronald Ten Kate – Team Manager
“The majority of the job was done yesterday by Seb,
doing a blistering lap around the new Assen circuit. Today
we had some problems as he suddenly found a muscle in his
back aching, and we had to get that checked and dealt with
by the Clinica Mobile this afternoon. It should be OK for
tomorrow because he did not have a crash, so the damage cannot
be a lot. I feel a bit sorry for Kenan, because he improved
quite a bit from yesterday and he was riding strongly, but
he couldn’t get in that one perfect lap around here,
and he made little mistakes all through his laps. But I am
sure he is also up for a fight again tomorrow. We’ll
definitely see him further up the times sheets tomorrow for
the race.”
Sebastien Charpentier – Winston Ten Kate Honda
Rider
(Pole Position - Fastest Lap 1’41.906 - 25 Laps)
“I wanted to improve my time from yesterday, and everything
was set, but I twisted a muscle in my back and decided to
stop. After such a big lay off from injury to my back it was
the only safe thing. The race is tomorrow, not today. I will
get it massaged later again to straighten it out and starting
from pole should be perfect.”
Kenan Sofuoglu – Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider
(9th Position - Fastest Lap 1’42.869 - 34 Laps)
“We made things better today with the set-up and my
approach to this new style of Assen, but I just could not
get in a completely clean lap. So I improved my time, but
not as much as I wanted to. I know that a good start is essential
and I’m sure I can make progress in real race conditions.”
FINAL QUALIFYING:
1. Charpentier - Winston Ten Kate Honda - 1'41.906
2. Curtain - Yamaha - 1'42.056
3. Parkes - Yamaha - 1'42.170
4. Tiberio - Honda - 1'42.320
5. Harms - Honda - 1'42.388
9. Sofuoglu - Winston Ten Kate Honda - 1'42.869
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