Various PR from today's action in Germania:
Subject: Alstare Suzuki news/WSC7/Saturday
Team Suzuki Alstare news
2008 Superbike World Championship
Round 7, Nürburgring, Germany
Final qualifying, Saturday 14th June
Circuit: 5.137 kms
Conditions: Mostly overcast, some sun 12-14C.
MAX DELIGHTS THE HOME FANS BY STORMING TO SUPERPOLE!
Team Alstare Suzuki rider Max Neukirchner delighted the home fans by taking Superpole at the Nürburgring today. The young German had to dig deep to beat Troy Bayliss (Ducati) and Carlos Checa (Honda), but he lapped the 5.137 kilometre circuit without mistake to end with a time of 1:55.471 - three tenths of a second quicker then his nearest rival.
Team Suzuki Alstare rider Fonsi Nieto had a Superpole to forget and finished 14th quickest, but team mate Yukio Kagayama missed Superpole completely! He crashed at the end of the free practice just before Superpole and hit his head and hand hard. Although the Clinica Mobile failed to find any broken bones, Yukio was taken to a local hospital for a check-up. Depending on the results, Yukio may be forced to sit out tomorrow's pair of 20 lap races
Max - 1st, 1:55.471
I saw that Carlos had done a very fast lap and I knew my lap would have to be perfect to beat him, but my lap was very good and without mistake. I am so happy to win Superpole, especially in front of my home fans and it is a very special feeling. I want to thank my whole team for the good job they have done this weekend. I am happy with my bike set-up for the race, but I hope that it doesn't rain because that would be a shame for all the spectators - and all the riders of course!
Fonsi - 14th, 1:57.491
My Superpole was not good - as usual. I am not sure why it's always this way. The fourth row of the grid gives me a lot of work to do in the races tomorrow. I tried my best in Superpole and pushed as hard as I could, but I made a couple of small errors and that was enough to push me down the grid. It's a pity because I found a good set-up in practice and qualifying and know that I can do well in the races.
Yukio - 16th, (DNS Superpole)
No comment because of awaiting results of tests.
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PRESS RELEASE | Nurburgring, day-2
Team Pedercini's riders have been not able to improve their results during the second day of qualifying on the German track of Nurburgring. Despite that, the Italian Team aims to get precious points in tomorrow's race. The second timed session has been run on a dry track and all the riders were able to ride in good weather conditions. Also Iannuzzo and Badovini cut some tenths off their yesterday time but, on the other hand, the session has not been helpful to find the best setting for the race. The Italian duo will try to fill the gap during tomorrow's warm-up when they will test the ultimate solutions.
AYRTON BADOVINI | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 22nd time in 1'58.654: "I felt confident to take a better starting position but, anyway, nothing is compromised. My race pace is close to my best time and that allows me to aim for a final position into the points. I hope in tomorrow morning warm-up in order to make another step forward. If it will rain, everything will be reset and I will have to focus on getting immediately a good feeling with the track which yesterday seemed to me to be really slippery when is wet".
VITTORIO IANNUZZO | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 26th time in 1'59.789: "I still do not have everything ready for the race because today we haven't found the right settings to decrease the rear chattering. Tomorrow morning we are going to test the ultimate solutions and then we will decide how to face the race. My goal is to improve my performance both on the wet or on the dry. I would like to get my season first points, although my hand is still not at the top due to the injury happened in Australia".
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Saturday Jun 14 2008
Superpole - Nuerburgring
BAYLISS SECOND AND FABRIZIO FIFTH ON TOMORROW'S START LINE AT NUERBURGRING
Nuerburgring (Germany) Saturday 14 June: Troy Bayliss and Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) both had a very positive day today at the Nuerburgring despite very changeable weather conditions. After having qualified fastest for Superpole, Bayliss hoped to be able to take the pole position but in the end an extremely fast lap from Neukirchner - in front of his home crowd - meant that the Australian had to be satisfied with a second place start for tomorrow's races. Meanwhile Fabrizio improved on his best lap time during Superpole and will line up in fifth place on the grid, having lost out on a front row start by just a fraction of a second. Only the fastest three riders - Neukirchner, Bayliss and Checa - managed to lap today in under 1m56.
Troy Bayliss 1m55.7s
"The practices have all been going well. In Superpole I thought I could beat Carlos', albeit very fast, time but I didn't realise during my lap that Max had already gone faster than Carlos - I forgot to look at my lap board when I went out so when I came down the straight I thought I'd got it but then I saw that Max had already gone faster and so I was second... Not that I could have gone any faster even if I'd known, so well done to Max - taking the pole in front of your home crowd is a very special thing. But tomorrow will be difficult and we'll see how it turns out tomorrow."
Michel Fabrizio 1m56.4s
"I'm very satisfied with the lap I made during Superpole, even though I am a little disappointed by the fact that I missed out on fourth place by just three-hundredths of a second but anyway, we are happy with the result. We worked hard today and I was able to improve on the eighth position that I held before the start of Superpole so much as to be able to start from fifth place on the grid tomorrow. I hope to get two better starts than I did in the last round at Miller and I also hope that the weather is fine tomorrow as we have done very little preparation if it were to be wet."
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PRESS RELEASE
2008 HANNSPREE FIM SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP®
NURBURGRING - 13, 14 and 15 JUNE - ROUND 7
SUPERPOLE
Nurburgring, Saturday 14 June 2008
Neukirchner powers to Superpole in home round at the Nurburgring
Max Neukirchner (Alstare Suzuki) powered to a second Superpole win of the season in his home round of the HANNspree FIM Superbike World Championship at the Nurburgring. The 25-year-old from Stollberg in the former East Germany, set an incredible time of 1 minute 55.471 seconds around the 5.137 km circuit on his Suzuki GSX-R1000. The remainder of the front row was made up of riders from three different manufacturers; Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) was three-tenths of a second down in second place, followed by Carlos Checa (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) and Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB), who ten days ago was undergoing surgery on a broken collarbone.
Max Neukirchner: "It was an unbelievable lap, I was really fast. I'm so happy for my team, they did a great job this weekend for my home race and to help me get my second pole position of the season. I hope the weather will be fine tomorrow and a lot of fans come here with the German flag and say ?go go go, Max!"
Troy Bayliss: "All the practices have been going quite well for us, when I saw Carlos's time I was pretty surprised and I thought that's around where my limit is going to be. I didn't expect Max to do such a good job, that was incredible the lap he pulled out. We're hoping that it's going to be a nice day tomorrow because the conditions have been quite mixed already. Although we're looking good in those situations, we'd love it to be a dry track because I think there's going to be a really good turn-out here. The Nurburgring is a lovely place with a great atmosphere so I'm looking forward to it."
Carlos Checa: "Here we didn't find the grip we had in America but we've been working on the bike to find more mechanical feeling with these tyres and finally it worked a bit better. I was confident with that feeling even with the qualifying tyres and on my Superpole lap the time came very good, then of course Troy and especially Max did a great lap time. We are on the first row and it's very positive, I think we'll catch up the pace and we'll be looking good for tomorrow."
Fifth place went to Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox), just a fraction away from another front row start. The young Italian was ahead of Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB), Lorenzo Lanzi (RG Ducati) and Max Biaggi (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati) whose second row start still gives him a chance of fighting for the win.
Ninth quickest time was clocked by Karl Muggeridge (DF Racing Honda), while Japan's Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki Alstare) had to miss the Superpole session after crashing out in the afternoon's free practice session and being taken to hospital with concussion.
FIM Supersport World Championship
Broc Parkes (Yamaha World Supersport) clinched his third pole position of the season for the Supersport race at the Nurburgring with a lap time of 2 minutes 00.015 seconds . The 26-year-old Australian, after clocking quickest time on the opening day, repeated the performance today to see off Britain's Craig Jones (Parkalgar Honda) by almost half-a-second. Australian riders also made up the rest of the front row, with Joshua Brookes (Hannspree Stiggy Motorsport Honda) and Andrew Pitt (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) in third and fourth. On the second row can be found the surprise of the weekend, Mark Aitchison (Triumph Italia BE1) with Matthieu Lagrive (Intermoto Czech Honda) and German wild-card Arne Tode (G-Lab Racing Triumph), while Tommy Hill (Hannspree Honda Althea), who returned to racing this weekend after recovering from injuries suffered six months ago, set a superb eighth quickest time. The top two riders in the standings Joan Lascorz (Glaner Motocard.com Honda) and Fabien Foret (Yamaha World Supersport) could only manage eleventh and tenth quickest times respectively, the Frenchman ruining his day with a crash.
Superstock 1000 FIM Cup
Rain prevented the Superstock 1000 field from improving on Friday's times, so pole position went to Brendan Roberts (Ducati Xerox Junior Team), who will be flanked on the front row by Maxime Berger (Hannspree IDS Ten Kate Honda), Davide Giugliano (Cruciani Moto Suzuki) and by wild-card Dominic Lammert (Suzuki International Europe). Fifth place went to championship leader, the Belgian Xavier Simeon (Alstare Suzuki), followed by Michele Pirro (Yamaha Lorenzini by Leoni), Matej Smrz (MS Honda) and Fabrizio Perotti (Cruciani Moto Suzuki), with Claudio Corti (Yamaha Motor Italia Junior Team) next up.
European 600 Superstock Championship - Race
Patrick Vostarek (Intermoto Czech Honda) scored his first win of the year after a sprint finish with the championship leader Loris Baz (YZF Yamaha Junior Team) of France. The final podium slot went to Gino Rea (StoneBaker Yamaha) from Britain, who got the edge over Giuliano Gregorini (Lorini Honda), Marco Bussolotti (Yamaha Motor Italia Junior Team) and Dan Linfoot (StoneBaker Yamaha).
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QUALIFYING 2 REPORT 14/06/2008
Haga starts from the front row
Despite a couple of near highsides during his Superpole lap Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) clung on to both his machine and a front row start for Sunday's 20-lap Superbike races at the Nürburgring. The Japanese rider had been fourth fastest going into Superpole and replicated that performance in Superpole, with a lap time of 1'56.401. Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) just missed out on a front row start, setting a best lap of 1'56.522 to go sixth on the grid, and take a second row start. Local rider Max Neukirchner scored the Superpole win, with a 1'55.471, the absolute SBK track record at this new 5.137km Nürburgring layout.
Race pace for each official Yamaha rider is already strong and they have both completed a race simulation at a high pace. Shortly after the Superpole contest was finished the skies opened and the threat of rain at this hillside circuit became a reality. There is still a chance of rain on raceday, and there has already been a wet session of sorts, on the very first day of practice.
Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha GMT94) was a superb sixth before the Superpole contest kicked off, but after experiencing some difficulties in getting his rear tyre up to working temperature in his Superpole lap he slid down the order, ending up 15th fastest. 14th David Checa (Yamaha GMT94) missed out on Superpole qualification by a single place, while Shinichi Nakatomi (Team YZF Yamaha) improved on his day one ranking to start the races 19th.
Noriyuki Haga (4th - 1'56.401 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team)
"I almost highsided twice during my Superpole lap and that pulled my shoulder a bit, so I went to the Clinica Mobile to check it out. Everything is fine, just painful. We changed the bike setting from yesterday in regular qualifying and that went quite well, so we should be OK for tomorrow - if we have a dry race! Superpole was OK but we had a bit of a problem with the suspension settings. We realised problem was, so it's not a worry for tomorrow."
Troy Corser (6th - 1'56.522 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team)
"I made a mistake in Superpole and that stopped me challenging for a front row start. We're all set for the races tomorrow, just a couple of things to try in warm-up to see if they are even better. Our race pace is better in comparison with our single lap times anyway. I was using the camber on the kerbs in a couple of places, quite deliberately, which is something I remembered I could do from last time we raced here in 1999."
Massimo Meregalli (Team Manager, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team)
"It would have been ideal to have both riders on the front row but the Superpole result was OK and we are quite confident. Our race simulations have been good with both riders so let's see for tomorrow. Nori is OK, no problem for the races."
Sebastien Gimbert (15th - 1'57.516 seconds - GMT94 Yamaha)
"I am very happy to have got into Superpole and to have qualified sixth overall. My Superpole lap was difficult, with lots of slides. Nothing we could do about it, the tyre just wasn't working at its best after such a short time on the track."
Circuit Length: 4556
Weather: Dry
QUALIFYING 2 REPORT 14/06/2008
Parkes wins third pole of the season
Broc Parkes proved unstoppable once more in qualifying on his Yamaha World Supersport machine at the Nürburgring, securing his third pole of the season with a best lap of 2.00.015. Tantalisingly close to being the first rider under the two minute barrier in the return of WSS racing to this iconic circuit, Parkes was quickest in every single practice session, underlining his pre-race dominance not once but four times in all.
Parkes team-mate Fabien Foret had a disappointing time in final qualifying, falling from his machine as he went out for a hot lap and having to return to the pit lane to ride his second machine. He was overall tenth after his return to action, 1.187 seconds from Parkes and now starts from the third row. The race on Sunday has particular significance for the top two Yamaha Supersport competitors as Foret is second overall and Parkes third, with Championship leader Joan Lascorz one place behind Foret on the German grid.
Massimo Roccoli (Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) once again had troubles during qualifying and went 21st on the grid, while David De Gea (Yamaha Spain World Supersport) continued his early day form to go 14th in his comeback ride after injury. Jeremy Crowe (Yamaha Spain World Supersport) was a more than respectable 19th, riding as a substitute for David Salom.
Broc Parkes (1st - 2'00.015 - Yamaha World Supersport Team)
"I made one little mistake on my final flying lap when I missed a corner entry a bit, but the bike is working really well round here. My previous experience of half the circuit really helped me start practice in good shape and we only made little changes to the bike today; just small things here and there. It has been a good weekend so far and I want to keep the hammer down tomorrow because this is the point of the season where I need to win some more races."
Fabien Foret (10th - 2'01.202 - Yamaha World Supersport Team)
"I had a bit of a problem after the crash and that held me back a bit. I'm not happy to be where I am on the grid but tomorrow is raceday. I will do my best to get a good finish but I need a decent start and then we'll take things from there."
Wilco Zeelenberg (Team Manager, Yamaha World Supersport Team)
"I'm happy to see Broc take his third pole of the season but it was shame for Fabien to crash on a hot lap trying to improve his position. He had to use his second bike, which was set-up the same but didn't feel quite the same as the first one. So we will build up his number one bike again and tomorrow he will get his confidence back. His bike is set a bit hard over the bumps for him and we will try to improve that. The lap times are pretty close and we know Fabien is more of a racer than a qualifier. There are a few places to pass here, the biggest thing is the first corner, which is very tight."
Massimo Roccoli (21st - 2'02.078 seconds - Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni)
"This morning I felt that there was a problem with the electronics on the bike and that stopped us a bit. This afternoon I had the first practice with the bike the way I wanted it. The other problems were with my suspension set-up and the tyre choice. In the rear the bike was jumping across the tarmac. For me the race may be difficult, but if I get a god start I will probably be able to make up some ground and maybe my pace will be the same as the leading group."
Circuit Length: 4556
Weather: Dry
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PRESS RELEASE | Nurburgring, day-2
WSBK'08 Round 7
At the end of the second timed session of the WSBK seventh round, Team Sterilgarda Go Eleven feel confident with tomorrow's race from which it will start from the second and third line on the grid thanks respectively to the performances of Max Biaggi (8th) and Ruben Xaus (10th). Despite a leaden sky, the rain didn't fall during the qualifying second session although the weather was more wintry than summery. Hence, both the SBK riders of the team leaded by Marco Borciani were able to test and complete their fine-tune work. The ultimate settings will be decided tomorrow after the morning warm-up in which both the riders hope to bring the bike in dry trim. Unfortunately, on the other hand, the rain affected the second timed session of the FIM Superstock 1000 World Cup. As consequence, Alex Polita, who bettered his performance markedly this morning, will start from the 35th position on the grid. He will be forced to play a very attacking game in order to recover many positions. Although the points seem to be a mission impossible, "the Pirate" declared to be ready for the hard fought challenge.
MAX BIAGGI | Ducati 1098 RS | 8th time in 1'56.918: "I still have some problem, especially in the first part of the track where there is plenty of bumps caused by the F1. Even in the Superpole I got the most of the gap in that stretch of track, but I feel confident to find a good solution tomorrow during the warm-up when I will test a different setting. I cannot set any goal now because the rain might shift our ground".
RUBEN XAUS | Ducati 1098 RS | 10th time in 1'57.053: "I was forced to ride the spare machine during the Superpole due to my crash at the end of the free practice. I didn't find immediately the feeling with the bike and so I was not able to do better than this, but I'm pretty satisfied with my result. Tomorrow I feel confident to be among the bests especially in the second part of the race. I hope to do a good start in order to break the trackers early on".
ALEX POLITA | Ducati 1098R | 35th time in 2'05.426: "I come from another unlucky day. Unfortunately I didn't have the opportunity to recover from the back-lines due to the rain. What a bad luck! The sky has been leaden for all the day without rain except for our timed session. I will start from the far back of the grid and so recovering positions during the race will be really hard. Anyhow I will do my best as ever in order to take some points for the ranking. A good start will be vital".
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Qualifying Complete for Laconi and Tamada
Nurburgring, Germany, 14 June 2008
PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse competitor Régis Laconi took his Ninja ZX-10R to a 13th place in Superpole and now starts Sunday's races from the fourth row of the grid.
Qualifying Complete for Laconi and Tamada
Laconi was tenth going into Superpole, despite falling in the final untimed session and losing a couple of places on the timesheets, but in Superpole he never found the confidence and pace needed to get onto the front two rows.
Tamada, in his first ever visit to the Nürburgring, found it difficult to set-up his machine and he was 21st in qualifying, missing out on Superpole.
Weather conditions at the Nürburgring have been changeable throughout the weekend so far and more of the same is expected come raceday, Sunday 15th. Superpole was, however, held in dry conditions, with Laconi setting his best lap of 1'57.301 in the single lap competition for the top 16 grid places.
Régis Laconi: "It was hard to get back a good feeling after a crash in the timed session this morning, mainly because I am not sure why I crashed. The rear just slid out and I was off. I lost some time in the first section of the circuit all afternoon from then on. I am not happy with my starting position but I know I could have been faster had my mind not been disturbed a bit by the fall. After I sleep on it I know things will be much better tomorrow. The bike is quite good, we only had a little problem with the clutch in free practice, and that was fixed for Superpole. The bike should be good for the race itself."
Makoto Tamada: "I cannot be satisfied about this morning's result and we still are working to find the ideal set up on this particular track. We partly solved the problem before the final free practice session, by changing some aspects of the machine and I found a good feeling with the bike. That meant I was able to achieve a good race pace and maintain it. I'm quite optimistic for tomorrow, even if I know it will be difficult to make a good result starting from 21st place. But we have achieved a margin of improvement and we can close the gap. Tomorrow morning we will use the warm-up session to focus on the tyre choice. That is quite important considering the strange weather conditions we have had here."
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