2008 HANNSPREE SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP®
2nd ROUND – PHILLIP ISLAND (AUSTRALIA) - 29th
FEBRUARY, 1st and 2nd MARCH
SUPERPOLE
Troy Bayliss grabbed his first Superpole of the year at the
end of an eventful day for the 38-year-old Australian at Phillip
Island. The Ducati Xerox rider crashed three minutes before
the end of the morning Q2 session after setting the quickest
time, earning himself eight stitches in his left elbow in
the process, then he smashed the circuit record at the end
of second free practice. Finally in Superpole he shaved a
further three-tenths off that time to take the pole away from
his fellow Aussie Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB), leaving
the mark at 1 minute 31.493 seconds. Young Italian Michel
Fabrizio was next up for the Ducati Xerox Team, edging out
Carlos Checa (HANNspree Ten Kate Honda) for the final front
row slot.
“It has been a bit eventful but I’m sitting here
on pole and that makes me feel good about tomorrow’s
race” declared Bayliss. “Deep down I knew Troy
was the man who I was going to have to beat. We always end
up fast here and it was pretty close and I’m sure it’s
going to be a good race tomorrow. I did a long-run yesterday
and planned to do another one today but the crash put paid
to that. I did quite a few laps and I’m reasonably happy
with the tyres and I feel sure the first few laps will be
decisive up to about lap 8 and then it’s definitely
going to get slower and a lot harder for the rest of the race.”
Corser said: “It’s always great to race here
at Phillip Island and see all the friends and family. Today
the bike was working well, but we had a few problems in that
last free practice trying to get the bike balanced. Unfortunately
we were unable to use the qualifying tyre before Superpole
so basically I was doing it for the first time on the qualifying
tyre. We can’t complain too much however and well done
to Troy.”
Fabrizio commented: “It’s been a great weekend
so far and hopefully I can continue. Let’s see if I
can stay with these two ‘old’ guys tomorrow! It’s
going to be a really tough race, I feel sure and for me to
finish behind them will be a great satisfaction.”
Carlos Checa declared: “I wasn’t sure with the
qualifying tyre, which I’ve only used a couple of times
but all the team pushed me to use them whereas I wanted to
use the race tyre. We are trying to understand better the
bike, which is still young, but the feeling for the tyres
is already good. This combination is working much better now
and we are at a good level quickly.”
Qatar winner Fonsi Nieto was fifth for Alstare Suzuki, followed
by the rapidly improving Jakub Smrz (Guandalini Ducati), Noriyuki
Haga (Yamaha WSB) and Max Neukirchner (Alstare Suzuki). Max
Biaggi (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati) had to abandon his Superpole
run before entering the shoot-out lap after his gear lever
snapped and the Italian will start from row 4 of the grid.
TIMES: World Superbike Superpole
1. Bayliss (Ducati) 1’31.493
2. Corser (Yamaha) 1’32.011
3. Fabrizio (Ducati) 1’32.164
4. Checa (Honda) 1’32.373
5. Nieto (Suzuki) 1’32.711
6. Smrz (Ducati) 1’32”714
7. Haga (Yamaha) 1’32.728
8. Neukirchner (Suzuki) 1’32.767
9. Holland (Honda) 1’32.903
10. Laconi (Kawasaki) 1’32“962
11. Xaus (Ducati) 1'32.983
12. Muggeridge (Honda) 1'33.028
13. Rolfo (Honda) 1'33.104
14. Lavilla (Honda) 1'34.060
15. Checa D. (Yamaha) 1'34.166
16. Biaggi (Ducati) 1’32.565
World Supersport
Australians dominated the second and final qualifying session
for their home World Supersport round, picking up the top
3 positions on the grid for tomorrow’s 21-lap race.
HANNspree Ten Kate Honda’s Andrew Pitt went half-a-second
under Charpentier’s lap record from last year to clinch
pole with a time of 1’34.592. Josh Brookes was three-tenths
slower on the similar HANNspree Stiggy Honda bike, with round
1 winner Broc Parkes making up the Aussie front-running trio
in third. His team-mate Fabien Foret was a shade behind in
fourth, ahead of the other Ten Kate and Stiggy machines of
Jonathan Rea and Robbin Harms.
Alfa Romeo Superpole Award
Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) is the second winner in the ALFA
159 SUPERPOLE AWARD contest, which was launched at the start
of the season. The prize, an Alfa Romeo 159 3.2 Sportwagon
Ti, will be awarded at the end of the year to the rider in
the Superbike World Championship who has totaled the highest
number of Superpoles. After two rounds therefore, the two
Troys, Corser and Bayliss are level with one pole each.
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