VALENCIA – 3rd ROUND - 4th, 5th and 6th APRIL
FIRST QUALIFYING PRACTICE
Valencia, Friday 4th April 2008
Two Suzukis lead the way in Valencia 1st Qualifying
Two Suzuki GSX-R1000 machines headed the field in the opening
qualifying session for the Spanish WSBK Round at Valencia,
but it was German Max Neukirchner with a time of 1m34.806s
and his Japanese team-mate Yukio Kagayama, rather than Fonsi
Nieto, who were up at the front. The Alstare duo were the
only riders to dip under the 1m35s mark. Nieto, currently
lying second in the championship, was surprisingly down in
sixteenth position after struggling with rear tyre grip.
Carlos Checa took third quickest time on the HANNspree Ten
Kate Honda, the Spaniard closely followed by four twin-cylinder
Ducati 1098 machines. The factory Xerox pairing of Troy Bayliss
and Michel Fabrizio were fourth and fifth, separated by two-hundredths
of a second, with Lorenzo Lanzi (RG) and Jakub Smrz (Guandalini)
next up.
Régis Laconi (Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse) made progress
on the ZX-10R machine, notching up the eighth quickest time,
ahead of the Yamaha Motor Italia WSB pairing of Troy Corser
and Noriyuki Haga.
Max Biaggi (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati) has so far struggled
with his injured left wrist in the two sessions today and
is down in 24th position.
1. Neukirchner M. (GER) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1'34.806
2. Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1'34.932
3. Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 1'35.042
4. Bayliss T. (AUS) Ducati 1098 F08 1'35.060
5. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098 F08 1'35.080
6. Lanzi L. (ITA) Ducati 1098 RS 08 1'35.085
7. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098 RS 08 1'35.262
8. Laconi R. (FRA) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1'35.278
9. Corser T. (AUS) Yamaha YZF-R1 1'35.424
10. Haga N. (JPN) Yamaha YZF-R1 1'35.548
11. Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1'35.550
12. Tamada M. (JPN) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1'35.598
13. Muggeridge K. (AUS) Honda CBR1000RR 1'35.634
14. Rolfo R. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1'35.756
15. Gimbert S. (FRA) Yamaha YZF-R1 1'35.766
16. Nieto F. (ESP) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1'35.766
World Supersport
Andrew Pitt followed up his Phillip Island win with provisional
pole for the third round of the Supersport championship. The
HANNspree Ten Kate Honda rider clocked a time of 1m36.773s
to shave a couple of tenths off Charpentier’s circuit
record. Craig Jones (Parkalgar Honda) was three-tenths of
a second away in second, followed by the improving Kawasaki
ZX-6R machine of Katsuaki Fujiwara. Round 1 winner Broc Parkes
was fourth for Yamaha World Supersport ahead of championship
leader Joshua Brookes (HANNspree Stiggy Motorsport Honda)
and the similar Glaner Motocard.com CBR of the young Spanish
rider Joan Lascorz.
Superstock 1000
The opening qualifying session for Superstock 1000 was red-flagged
with a couple of minutes remaining after Rene Maehr (KTM)
crashed on oil left by Freddy Foray (Suzuki), but was unhurt.
New Yamaha WSB tester Claudio Corti broke the Superstock circuit
best lap with a time of 1m37.513s to finish ahead of Davide
Giugliano (Suzuki) and former champion Alessandro Polita (Ducati).
Aussie Brendan Roberts took the Junior Team 1098 to fourth
ahead of team-mate Domenico Colucci, while Maehr ended up
in an encouraging eighth place for the Austrian KTM team,
which is making its championship debut.
Superstock 600
The first session of European 600 Superstock was dominated
by Marco Bussolotti (Yamaha Motor Italia Junior Team), the
17-year-old Italian from Ancona posting a new record time
of 1’39.951 with his YZF-R6 machine, just a whisker
ahead of Frenchman Loris Baz (Yamaha Junior Team) and a similar
Yamaha of Danilo Petrucci (Team Trasimeno).
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