Various and sundry quotes from a chilly Brands Hatch, scene of this weekend's WSBK round:

BAYLISS TAKES FIRST BLOOD FOR DUCATI XEROX TEAM IN BATTLE OF BRANDS

Brands Hatch (UK), Friday 4 August: Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) notched up the quickest time in the opening qualifying session for round 8 of the World Superbike Championship, powering his Ducati 999F06 around the 3.703 mile Brands Hatch circuit in 1m26.272s. His team-mate Lorenzo Lanzi was provisional tenth quickest, but with just one second separating the top 10 in the opening session, the Italian is in a good position to make progress tomorrow.

"It's nice to come back to Brands Hatch, nice to be here with cooler weather than the last few races and we had a good day" declared Troy. "I did quite a lot of sub-1m27s laps and I'm feeling pretty comfortable. Brands is a strange track, you have to make a few changes to the bike because no matter what you ride here, the bikes bottom out with all the braking that's done in dips and uphill, but honestly it's got some good character to it and I love riding around here. We've got a couple of little ideas for tomorrow to improve, nothing special, and we'll work a bit more with the tyres but I don't think we're going to go a lot quicker than that on the race tyre."

"Here things are going much better for me, I've got off to quite a good start even though I still have to improve because for me it's the most difficult track on the calendar" commented Lorenzo. "If I can start from the front two rows of the grid then I'll be happy. It's only the second year on a Superbike here for me, and last year I had just got back on track again after breaking my collarbone, so I haven't done many laps around here. This year I'm already one second quicker but for the moment it's not enough. We'll try and improve tomorrow and get further up the grid. Considering that I did this time on my own, on a track where someone ahead of you can help you a lot, I'm satisfied with my performance but there is room to improve."

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2006 SBK CORONA EXTRA SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

BRANDS HATCH - 8th ROUND - 4, 5 and 6 AUGUST

FIRST QUALIFYING PRACTICE

Brands Hatch, Friday 4 August 2006

BAYLISS MAKES AN EARLY STAND AT BRANDS - TROY VERSUS TROY WITH HAGA JUST BEHIND

After the first day of regulation qualifying at Brands Hatch Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) scored the overnight pole placing, with a 1'26.272 lap; almost under the existing best lap at the classic English circuit after only one day of practice. His quick early marker was almost matched by his old friend and rival Troy Corser (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) who was only 0.222 seconds down after one hour of free practice, and one hour of qualifying. The leading duo were closely followed by Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) who took his Yamaha to within 0.291 seconds of Bayliss' Ducati. The provisional front row was completed by Misano race winner, Andrew Pitt, Haga's team-mate.

MUGGERIDGE ON FORM WITH WALKER THE TOP KAWASAKI RIDER
Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda) scored fifth best time, making him the best Honda rider on display on day one. The Aussie, back to full fitness, headed the fastest local rider on day one - SBK regular in the PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse squad - Chris Walker. Proof that a strong performance at Brands is as much about track knowledge and rider skill as machinery, Ruben Xaus (Berik Sterilgarda Ducati) went seventh fastest, on a privateer Ducati.

WILDCARD HILL EIGHTH ON A FOUR

After scooping Superpole at Silverstone, wild card rider Tommy Hill showed his prowess at the full Brands Hatch circuit, finishing day one in eighth place in the rankings. After his most successful SBK race weekend in his two-year SBK career, double Brno race winner Yukio Kagayama (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) slotted home ninth, with the top ten rounded out by Bayliss' team-mate, Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati Xerox).

TOSELAND 11th AFTER EXPERIENCING EARLY PROBLEMS

James Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda) was disappointed to finish his first day at Brands Hatch just outside the top ten positions, after suffering braking problems with his machine. His old Ducati team-mate, Regis Laconi (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse) was 12th, despite a highside crash in the unofficial morning session, while double Brno podium sensation Michel Fabrizio (DFX Treme Honda) scoring the last place in the top 13.

WEATHER AN IMPORTANT FACTOR FOR SATURDAY MORNING
Despite some threatening clouds surrounding the Brands Hatch circuit all day, Friday stayed dry throughout, but should conditions deteriorate for the final regulation qualifying session on Saturday morning, the current top 16 will be the ones who go forward to Saturday afternoon's Superpole contest, which is the final determiner of the first four rows of the grid. Rounding out the top 16 on day one are Fonsi Nieto (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse), Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France) and Alex Barros (Klaffi Honda). Barros, unlike most of his peer group, was sampling Brands Hatch for the first time. New rider Kurtis Roberts (Pedercini Ducati) set an early qualifying time on his SBK weekend, and his first at Brands Hatch, some 4.7 seconds behind Bayliss. He had missed the first untimed session for administrative reasons.

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MUGGERIDGE FIFTH AFTER FIRST QUALIFYING SESSION

Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda) ended his first day of practice at Brands Hatch in fifth position in the official qualifying ranking, despite a late fall. The Aussie rider, twice a winner in Supersport at Brands Hatch, has one more session on Saturday, plus Superpole qualifying, to consolidate and improve his grid position, as he goes for an eventual front row starting place.
James Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda) ran out 11th, after experiencing issues under braking at the undulating Brands Hatch circuit. This unusual problem held back his schedule on day one, leaving him further down the ranking than his recent excellent qualifying performances would have suggested. Championship leader Troy Bayliss was fastest on day one, with Troy Corser second.

Ronald Ten Kate - Team Manager

"In the morning things started out quite good for us, and the bikes seemed to be working OK, so we made only small adjustments in the afternoon. Then we had some strange problems with braking on James' machine, which slowed us down in the session, as he had to swap between bikes. That did not help a lot. We also lost some time with the softer tyres on, but since we have never had these problems anywhere else, they will be resolved for tomorrow."

James Toseland - Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider

"We had a few problems out with our control and that wasted some of our time in that session. We couldn't try the things we wanted to try because of it. We are getting a good direction with the set-up of the bike but the problem was really holding us back. I can assure you that we won't have the same problem tomorrow."

Karl Muggeridge - Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider

"A good first day, all-in-all. The bike is getting better; we just need to improve it a bit on the corner entry, to stop the bike vibrating a little. There are a few more bumps on the track than last year. Maybe this has been our best start to the weekend of the whole season."

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Haga and Pitt in fine form at Brands

Noriyuki Haga

Yamaha Motor Italia riders Noriyuki Haga and Andrew Pitt continued their splendid run of form today, blasting their Yamaha YZF-R1s to provisional front row starts at Brands Hatch today.

Both riders featured at the top of the timesheets throughout the two one-hour practice sessions as they worked on finding the ideal settings for Sunday's two 25-lap races around the challenging British circuit.

Haga's R1 was the fastest bike through the speed trap, recording almost 276kph up the Hawthorn Hill straight as the Japanese star powered to a 1:26.563 lap time - good enough to give him third place on the provisional grid.

Andrew Pitt

Team-mate Andrew Pitt also concentrated on his race settings but made a late charge to take fourth place at the chequered flag. The Australian ran strongly throughout the sessions and was able to make small refinements to allow his YZF-R1 to cope with the bumpy and demanding circuit. His best lap of 1:26.702 was good enough for fourth in the overnight standings.

British wild-card Tommy Hill proved his pole position in Silverstone was no fluke. The 21-year-old, who won the British R6 Cup in 2003, featured in the top four for much of the session on the Virgin Mobile Yamaha YZF-R1 with which he usually contests the British superbike championship. Hill ended the day ahead of numerous of the championship stars in eighth.

Sebastien Gimbert was the fastest of the Yamaha Motor France trio in 15th, just two places ahead of team-mate Norick Abe. Shinichi Nakatomi had a tough day on his first visit to the demanding British circuit. The Japanese rookie only completed a handful of laps after crashing 15 minutes into the afternoon qualifying session. The 27-year-old was uninjured in the crash and will compete in tomorrow's final qualifying session.

Championship leader Troy Bayliss (Ducati) topped the times with a 1:26.272 lap. World champion Troy Corser (Suzuki) was second. Second qualifying takes place tomorrow morning, with the final grid positions decided in the afternoon superpole session for the top 16 riders after the morning session.

Tommy Hill

Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia)
"As always we are working for the race and today we were able to complete a lot of laps and understand how the bike works on worn tyres. The bike is working very well from the very first session and I was able to do two race simulations. There are a few small things for us to try out tomorrow and hopefully these will help us to make some slight improvements for the race."

Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia)
"No real troubles today. The bike's working pretty good already but there are still some more things for us to try and improve tomorrow. I had a slight problem with the front end running wide on the entry to the corners today, but we were quickly able to solve that. We've now got to try and make the bike ride better over the bumps and I have to try and go quicker through the third sector, as I am losing some time there. Most of today was spent trying out tyres and we still have some work to do in deciding what to use in the race. Nothing is standing out as the obvious choice for the race, as all the options we have available seem to work well."

Tommy Hill (Virgin Mobile Yamaha)
"We came here with what we thought was a good package and I'm pleased with how things went today. We're maybe a little bit down on power (compared to the Yamaha Motor Italia machines) but we're able to make a bit up through the corners. We're also using development Pirelli tyres in the British championship, so we've got a few more adjustments to make to get the bike work better on these tyres. It's a great experience riding with these guys and I'm sure we can find that little bit extra tomorrow."

Norick Abe

Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France)
"I have raced here once before but I was so bad in the first session I think I forgot which way the track went! After the session my mechanic looked at the computer and we were able to find some big improvements. It felt much better in the afternoon and I think now we have a good starting point and I will be able to make a much better lap time tomorrow."

Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France)
"This is a new track for me so I could have done without crashing. I am ok but the bike was very badly damaged in the crash. We will be ready for tomorrow and we should be able to find some improvements."

Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia)
"Other than the gearbox settings, the bikes are virtually the same as at Brno and are working very well here as well. Both riders are happy and are only requesting a few small changes. That has allowed us to focus on the race and both Noriyuki and Andrew have been very impressive in the way they have worked to find that little bit extra that will hopefully help them late in the race on Sunday."

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Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra news
2006 Superbike World Championship
Round 8, Brands Hatch, UK
Friday 4th August
Circuit: 3.703 kms Weather: Dry, mostly overcast 20 C.

TROY SECOND FASTEST AND READY FOR MORE.
Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Troy Corser finished the first day of qualifying with the second quickest time, nearly three tenths of a second under the existing lap record. Throughout the day, he was right on the pace and made only minor adjustments to his GSX-R1000K6 during the two practice sessions. His team mate Yukio Kagayama spent the day concentrating on finding a good set-up for the race and ended the day with the ninth fastest lap. Both Troy and Yukio know that a front row grid place is vital at Brands and will use tomorrow's qualifying session and Superpole to make sure of finishing in the top four. Fastest today is series leader Troy Bayliss ((Ducati), who posted a time of 1:26.272 at the 3.703 kilometre circuit.

TROY - 2nd, 1:26.494

I felt today was quite good because I had a good feeling with the bike straightaway. We started with last year's Brands setting and then tried our set-up from Brno in the last round and the Brno set-up felt a lot better and the bike felt easier to ride. The lap times came pretty easily and I wasn't pushing at all, so I know there's more to come tomorrow. All we'll do tomorrow is make some minor changes (gearing etc.,) and get a set-up good enough to finish in the top four in Superpole. At Brands it's crucial to be on the front row and make a good start, otherwise you get held up and it's easy to lose touch with the leaders. So that's tomorrow's objective - the front row, preferably on pole!

YUKIO 9th, 1:27.165

Today my lap time was not good enough, but my feeling for the bike's set-up for the race is good! I had no big problems today and we will not do too much to the bike tomorrow morning except try some different suspension settings. But we will not be making any big changes because we already have a good base. I have to be on the front row of the grid because otherwise it is very difficult to finish in the top three. My plan is to be steady tomorrow, but do enough to be on the front row on Sunday. I have never won a race at Brands Hatch before, so this weekend will be a good chance to change that.
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Scuderia SC Caracchi
FIRST PRACTICE DAY AT BRANDS HATCH
(Brands Hatch 2006 August 4)

First practice day at Brands Hatch, near to London, with the return at 749R Ducati's wheel by Gianluca Nannelli side to Stuart Easton and Luka Nedog.
In Superbike Roberto Rolfo focused his work for the bike setting on a track totally new for him, without the goal of the fast lap time, and the final result let quite satisfied the SC Caracchi 999F05 Ducati's rider.

"Today has been a quite strange day, but at the end also positive." - said at the end of the day Roberto Rolfo. - "We probably understood what we need, forst for the front. My feeling is increased and i like this track, that I tested today for the first time. It's a very particular track, demanding but in the same time very amusing. The set up is very important, as well the experience; now I'm going to know better the lines. At this point we must focus our work on a good package set up, because the bike is still moving a lot, more in the front. I still lose time in the first track sector, while on the contrary the bike has actually improved in the fastest sector where I feel more confident. The engine too is pushes hardly, we have to set the bike for the final qualifiyng of tomorrow morning to join the Superpole admission, I'm confident about it."

Gianluca Nannelli practised today with care, to find once more the confidence with the twin Supersport after such a long time far from the 749R, that he used just for a few laps in April's test session in Misano.

"During the morning session I pay more attention to find once more the old feeling with the twin." - commented at the end of first qualifying session Gianluca Nannelli - "During afternoon session we had some problem with the steering damper, that's very important on this circuit, and we have still some problem with the front in the middle of the corners, but we have still a large improving space. With the team, that's the same group of friends that I leave at the end of 2005 season, I feel very well, everybody work in a very professional way. Tomorrow we'll work on the package set up, I'm sure we have still the margin to improve; about the engine is still on the top, it's not casual that we still are the fastest in the speed trap control!"

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