1 ROUND – LOSAIL (QATAR) - 21st, 22nd and 23rd FEBRUARY
SUPERPOLE
CORSER GRABS 41ST SUPERBIKE CAREER POLE IN QATAR
Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia) powered to the 41st pole
position of his career in the opening round of the 2008 HANNspree
Superbike World Championship at the Losail International Circuit
in Qatar but he had to work hard to hold off the challenge
of Ruben Xaus and Max Biaggi, second and third respectively.
Corser’s time of 1’58.053 was four-tenths of a
second quicker than the circuit’s best lap, which the
36-year-old Australian set for Yamaha last year. Xaus and
Biaggi, both on Ducati 1098 RS08 machines from the private
Sterilgarda Go Eleven squad, were heading for a sensational
1-2 before Corser put in his quick lap. Alongside them on
the grid for the two races tomorrow will be Alstare Suzuki’s
young German rider Max Neukirchner.
“I really like this track and the Yamaha seems to work
well round here” declared Corser.”Last year was
a good result but now I feel more relaxed and at ease with
the team. I’ve got to thank all the guys, they worked
really hard in the tests which helped us a lot but now I’ve
got to keep my head down and be consistent. We actually struggled
a bit in the last free practice after making a few small changes
but we went back to we know what works well and hopefully
now we can go for the win tomorrow”.
“The team is working very well, I was here testing
and was really focused on this race” said Xaus. “The
bike worked perfect, the team is incredible, Max Biaggi next
to me has given me really more motivation and also more focus
so what can I say? Second and third and front row for the
team is fantastic!”
“I don’t know if the factory is happy or not
but we made an amazing job to be second and third” said
Biaggi. “We have a kind of OK set-up for tomorrow, it
all depends on the conditions. I more or less made an endurance
run for the tyre and I know what it is doing. We will see
tomorrow but it looks like it’s going to be tough here
as always.”
“Today was not so bad for us, I was not testing here
unlike my team-mates and I think we have now a good set-up”
said Neukirchner. “For one lap we are really fast but
I think we must try and do a good race to score some points
tomorrow.”
Lorenzo Lanzi (RG Team) will line up on the outside of the
second row in fifth place on another Ducati 1098 customer
machine, a fraction ahead of Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia
WSB). Troy Bayliss could only manage seventh on the factory
Ducati Xerox 1098, ahead of Yukio Kagayama (Alstare Suzuki)
and Carlos Checa (HANNspree Ten Kate Honda), taking part in
his first-ever Superpole, while Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox)
rounded out the top 10.
TIMES: World Superbike Superpole
1. Troy Corser (Yamaha) 1’58.053
2. Ruben Xaus (Ducati) 1’58.689
3. Max Biaggi (Ducati) 1’58.767
4. Max Neukirchner (Suzuki) 1’58.964
5. Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati) 1’58.975
6. Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) 1’59”017
7. Troy Bayliss (Ducati) 1’59.224
8. Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki) 1’59.285
9. Carlos Checa (Honda) 1'59.417
10. Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) 1'59.450
11. Fonsi Nieto (Suzuki) 1'59.921
12. Jakub Smrz (Ducati) 1'59.984
13. Gregorio Lavilla (Honda) 2'00.095
14. Kenan Sofuoglu (Honda) 2'00.313
15. Roberto Rolfo (Honda) 2'01.208
16. Ayrton Badovini (Kawasaki) 2'01.238
World Supersport
Frenchman Fabien Foret (Yamaha World Supersport) continued
his impressive start to the weekend as he notched up the first
pole position of the year at Losail on his YZF-R6 machine.
Foret, WSS champion in 2002, knocked a tenth of a second off
the circuit’s best lap to record a time of 2’01.928.
He will be joined on the front row of the grid by Craig Jones
on the Parkalgar Honda CBR600RR, the British rider looking
promising for this new Portuguese-backed team. Two more Hondas
are alongside, the Intermoto Czech version of Matthieu Lagrive
and the HANNspree Ten Kate version of BSB sensation Jonathan
Rea. 2007 runner-up Broc Parkes was fifth quickest on the
other Yamaha World Supersport machine, while Triumph had an
encouraging debut with Australian veteran Garry McCoy powering
the 675cc triple machine to seventh place ahead of another
Triumph of Italian Ivan Clementi.
Alfa Romeo Superpole Award
Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB) is the first winner
in the ALFA 159 SUPERPOLE AWARD contest, which has been launched
at this weekend’s opening round in Qatar. The prize,
an Alfa Romeo 159 3.2 Sportwagon Ti, will be awarded at the
end of the season to the rider in the Superbike World Championship
who has totaled the highest number of Superpoles.
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