Various and sundry press accounts from Qataria, scene of today's WSBK action:

2007 SBK CORONA EXTRA SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

LOSAIL - 1st ROUND - 22nd, 23rd and 24th FEBRUARY

FIRST QUALIFYING PRACTICE

Losail, Thursday 22 February 2007

HAGA SETS THE EARLY PACE IN FIRST 2007 QUALIFYING SESSION - THREE MANUFACTURERS IN THE TOP THREE AT LOSAIL

Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) proved to be the fastest rider in the first session of the weekend at Losail, after carving 0.6 seconds from the previous best SBK lap of the 5.4km circuit. A close session saw James Toseland (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) ride to within 0.037 seconds of Haga, and edge out SBK 'rookie' Max Biaggi (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) to third. Biaggi was the early pacesetter, proving an instant hit when the first competitive laps were played out under the hot sun in the Qatari desert.

The overnight front row four was completed by 1996 and 2005 World Champion Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia), in his first competitive SBK ride for his new employers.

LANZI AHEAD OF BAYLISS AFTER OPENING SHOTS ARE FIRED

Given his speed during testing, the biggest surprise of the day was reserved for the news that Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) was not only not the fastest rider, but also that he was also outperformed on the day by his team-mate Lorenzo Lanzi. The top two Ducati riders were fifth and sixth respectively. Former Qatar race winner Yukio Kagayama (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) earned seventh fastest time, and the big seven were the only ones within a second of provisional pole. The second row was completed by multiple SBK race winner of years gone by, Ruben Xaus (Team Sterilgarda Ducati), a welcome sight in the top eight. British rider Dean Ellison (Team Pedercini 999RS) was 18th from 23 entrants.

ROLFO TOP TEN WITH NIETO FASTEST KAWASAKI RIDER

Roby Rolfo (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) is far enough along his Honda learning curve to be ninth fastest after the first day of qualifying, and also did well enough to ace the top Kawasaki rider on show, Fonsi Nieto (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse) who was tenth. Regis Laconi (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse) was only 13th but is almost sure to make improvements on day two. The private riders placed well behind the best of the officially supported machines, as Michel Fabrizio (DFX Corse Honda) and Max Neukirchner (Suzuki Germany) completed the overnight third row.

BROOKES ON THE PACE WITH MUGGERIDGE UNLUCKY

Alto Evolution Honda rider Josh Brookes scored 14th best time on his CBR1000RR, but a double bike failure for his fellow Aussie and Alto Evolution rider Karl Muggeridge prevented him from setting even a single qualifying lap. The last two riders into the top 16 today were lone Yamaha YZF Team rider Shinichi Nakatomi and DFX Corse Honda rider Steve Martin. New SBK inductee Jakub Smrz (Team Caracchi Ducati SC) was a battling 17th, one place up on Ellison.

WORLD SUPERSPORT Katsuaki Fujiwara (Althea Honda) proved he was back on top form at one of his favourite circuits by taking the fastest time in the opening qualifying session. His time of 2'03.258 was less than 0.2 seconds from the previous fastest lap. The early formbook was also written by the irrepressible Gianluca Nannelli (Team Caracchi Ducati SC 749R) who was second; only 0.219 seconds from Fujiwara and his new Honda CBR600RR.

The Hannspree Ten Kate Honda pairing of Kenan Sofuoglu and Sebastien Charpentier filled the overnight front row, while the still-developing GIL Kawasaki of Fabien Foret, the 2002 Champion, scored a more than creditable fifth place in a line-up of 34 riders.

Kevin Curtain (Yamaha SSP Racing) was the R6 filling in a Kawasaki sandwich, as he edged out Pere Riba (GIL Kawasaki) for seventh, just 0.691 seconds from Fujiwara after only one day of action. Curtain's team-mate Broc Parkes was eighth, the last rider less than a second from Fujiwara.
Despite the first unofficial practice session for Supersport being twice stopped and delayed to clean up the track surface, the afternoon timed session went ahead as planned, with only one rider from the 34 possibles outside the qualifying limit.

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LANZI AND BAYLISS (DUCATI XEROX) GET 2007 SEASON UNDERWAY WITH FIFTH AND SIXTH QUICKEST TIMES IN QATAR FIRST QUALIFYING

Losail (Qatar), Thursday 22nd February: The 2007 World Superbike season got underway today for the Ducati Xerox Team with fifth and sixth quickest times respectively for Lorenzo Lanzi and Troy Bayliss in first qualifying in Qatar. Times were almost one second off the pace of last December's test session, but today's qualifying session was a hard-fought affair as the top six riders were all within half a second of each other.

Double world champion Bayliss took a bit of time to settle into the rhythm and was not entirely happy with his first day's performance.

"Everything is not going so bad, but we're having just a few little problems like getting the bike to do exactly what we want from when we tested here last time" he declared. "The times are not really so bad, and we're not so far off the front. It's just that everyone's riding really well at the moment and I'm missing a little something and in these conditions it doesn't take much to be down a couple of places because everyone's going very fast. We've got a few things to think about, especially at the front where we're struggling a bit but we'll try them tomorrow and hopefully I'll be a bit further up at the front.

Lorenzo Lanzi on the other hand was enthusiastic about his fifth place on the grid and was confident there was more to come.

"That wasn't bad for first qualifying but I can see that our rivals have got a good race pace, especially Max, Nori and James. We had a few problems like last year when it started to get warmer in the afternoon and for our twin-cylinder Ducati these are the worst possible conditions because you start to slide around at the rear. I'm happy that we've still got a few more things to try and I'm sure we can set a good race pace seeing as we can make a few more changes to the set-up. As for me, I feel much better after the winter, calm and relaxed, we've done a lot of testing and that has helped me to get back into form."

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Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra news
2007 Superbike World Championship
Round 1, Losail, Qatar
Thursday qualifying, 22nd February
Circuit: 5.380 kms. Conditions: Dry, sunny 21-25C

PROVISIONAL FRONT ROW FOR MAX!

Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Max Biaggi continued his superb progress with the new GSX-R1000 K7 at Qatar today, ending up with the third fastest time. His team mate Yukio Kagayama was not far behind, finishing seventh fastest in the overall standings. Max and Yukio were satisfied with the continuing development of the new bike and both are working on improving the bike's acceleration in preparation for Saturday's two races. It was Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) who posted the day's fastest time, with a lap of 1:59.019 - almost a second under the official lap record. Second fastest is James Toseland (Honda), with Max third and former Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Troy Corser (now Yamaha) fourth.

MAX - 3rd, 1:59.369

I don't feel that there's been a big change to the track, since we tested here recently, but for sure the hotter conditions this afternoon had an effect on the grip level. It's normal, that when the track gets hot, the performance (or grip) goes down. That's when you have to understand your tyres and try and conserve them towards the end of a race. The rear is not a problem for me, but the front tyre is worked much harder and that's why you have to work to get the best chassis set-up and balance to be able to run hard at the end of a race. At the moment, the area where we are working the most is on the acceleration of the bike. Of course, like all riders I want better acceleration, but I feel that it is in this area where we are a bit lacking. If we can improve that, without losing anything elsewhere, I think we can have a good raceday.

YUKIO - 7th, 1:59.805

No big problems at all today and because of our recent tests our bike is pretty much OK for this track. There was a little problem with chattering, but we are working on improving the bike's acceleration, mainly because that's what I feel I need at the moment. For me, the track was a little slippery probably because the strong winds in the past couple of days have deposited some sand on the surface.

My two bikes here have slightly different engine characteristics and maybe I need a compromise between the two. We will try a couple of things tomorrow and see if we can make an improvement.
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