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Saturday May 10 2008
Superpole - Monza

TROY BAYLISS AND THE DUCATI XEROX TEAM TAKE THEIR THIRD POLE POSITION OF THE SEASON AT MONZA

Monza (Italy) Saturday 10th May: Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) was the only rider to lap in under 1m45 in this afternoon's Superpole, a result that rewarded the Australian rider with his third pole position of the season for tomorrow's races at the Monza Autodromo, one of his preferred tracks. The hard work that the Ducati Xerox Team put in during the preceding sessions paid off and Troy, having qualified eighth for Superpole, was able to complete a flying lap on board his Ducati 1098 F08.

A more problematic day for Michel Fabrizio and his team who had difficulty finding the right set-up for Sunday's races. Losing valuable tenths at certain points of the track, such as the Parabolica curve, continued to be an issue today and the team will make further modifications to the Italian rider's F08 machine in preparation for tomorrow.

Troy Bayliss 1m44.9s
" It's been a mixed weekend, and we've struggled a little bit but now it's all come good today after a lot of hard work and we're going much more consistently fast. I feel good riding with the race tyre and I was pretty happy with my Superpole lap time today although I thought that Nori and Max may have gone a little faster than they did. I made a tiny mistake, as did they, but I was able to go fastest in the end. Tomorrow will be a great day of racing and Max has proved himself to be a real contender from now on so it'll definitely be interesting. Nori and Max will surely be up there fighting and the first few laps will be really important I think."

Michel Fabrizio 1m46.5s
"it's been really quite difficult this weekend and I am disappointed with the Superpole results of this afternoon. I hoped to go faster, at least going under 1m46 but it didn't happen. Just like yesterday I continued to lose time in today's sessions through the Parabolica curve and then made a couple of other little mistakes which meant I was unable to secure the starting position for the races that I hoped for. We'll make a few more changes tomorrow morning because I just didn't feel quite right today with the bike. On a positive note, my arm is not giving me any trouble so that is good news."

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PRESS RELEASE

2008 HANNSPREE FIM SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP®

MONZA- 5th ROUND - 9, 10 and 11 MAY
SUPERPOLE

Monza, Saturday 10 May 2008

Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) sets Monza alight with blistering Superpole lap

Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) set the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza alight this afternoon with a blistering time in Superpole, the Australian setting a new circuit best lap of 1 minute 44.931 seconds to clinch his third pole position in five races this season. Bayliss managed to improve his Free Practice 2 time on qualifying tyres a few minutes before Superpole by 0.008 seconds, leaving all his other rivals trailing. The front row however is also made up of machines from Suzuki, Yamaha and Honda as well as Ducati, with Kawasaki not far behind, confirming the competitiveness of all the manufacturers.

Second quickest time went to the rapidly improving Max Neukirchner (Suzuki Alstare), three-tenths of a second behind Bayliss, followed by 2007 double winner Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB) and Carlos Checa (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda). The Suzuki squad has looked particularly impressive so far here at Monza, with the Belgian team's other two riders Yukio Kagayama and Fonsi Nieto qualifying on row 2 of the grid, together with Ruben Xaus (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati) and Ryuichi Kiyonari (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda).

Max Biaggi (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati) made progress this afternoon, the Italian qualifying in fifteenth place after the two sessions but moving up to ninth in the one-lap dash, a result that gives him a third row grid start. Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB) struggled to twelfth quickest time behind Régis Laconi (Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse) but ahead of Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) in thirteenth.

Troy Bayliss: "It's been a bit of a mixed weekend, we've been struggling a bit with the race tyre but we've worked hard, trying different things and finally it's come quite good. We were down a little way this morning but made a few changes and now we are much more consistent on the race tyre. I was very happy with the lap I did in Superpole. I thought it was possible Nori or Max could do a little faster, but they made tiny mistakes and that was enough to keep that lap. I also made a little mistake in the first chicane when I ran wide but it came together good. Tomorrow will see some tough racing, Max is consistent on the tyre and proving to be a real contender. It's very difficult to get away at Monza, I have a feeling it's going to be between Max, Nori and myself but I'm sure it's going to be more than that for the first eight laps."

Max Neukirchner: "I'm really happy with the second place and I think we found a good race set-up for tomorrow. I did a lot of fast laps today and also yesterday and am happy that the mechanics did a good job, hopefully we are in front tomorrow. It's great to be up at the front with the other guys regularly in World Superbike, and now I feel really good in the team. I know it's only a second place I did, I made one little mistake in Superpole, but am really satisfied with today's performance."

Noriyuki Haga: "I am very happy for the time but am a bit disappointed because I could not improve last year's lap time, but that's OK. I get the first row and I think it's going to be a tough race and I try to do my best. I'm not sure how things will be tomorrow, especially on this track, I cannot think about race distance or even tactics, but we have 18 laps and anything can happen."
Alfa Romeo Superpole Award

Troy Bayliss is the Italian Round 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 five rounds, Bayliss leads with 3 Superpoles from Corser and Neukirchner with one apiece.

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QUALIFYING 2 REPORT 10/05/2008
Haga on front row as Corser battles on

Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) rode superbly in Superpole to push himself onto the front row for Sunday's Superbike races at the classic Monza circuit. The Japanese star was double winner at Monza last year and is now in the perfect starting place to go for more wins to add to his Valencia victory and his Assen second place. Haga shares row one with Troy Bayliss, Max Neukirchner and Carlos Checa.

Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) is still trying to find the optimum set-up to match a Monza circuit that is proving to be bumpy and a real test this season. Corser was 12th in Superpole, 1.5 seconds from the winner Bayliss, who set a new track best of 1'44.931.

The weather conditions at Monza have been warm from the outset of first practice, but the 50 degree track temperatures have made the business of set-up complicated for all the teams.

Superpole qualification eluded the rest of Yamaha's main runners, with Team YZF Yamaha rider Shinichi Nakatomi 18th in regulation qualifying, Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha GMT94) was 20th and young American substitute rider Michael Beck (Yamaha GMT94) was 29th, riding in place of the injured David Checa.

Noriyuki Haga (3rd - 1'45.665 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team)

"We have had problems with the general set up but we have been working hard to improve them through qualifying. Things feel a bit better now. We still need to find a little bit on the main straights. We need to have a bit more top end speed. For tomorrow, we need to make the most of our good starting position and get away with the front group."

Troy Corser (12th - 1'46.496 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team)

"The bike feels very nervous still, we shortened it a bit in free practice and tried a few other things. Our set-up is not very forgiving right now and the bike flicks you around a bit on the bumps. It's not too bad but we need to find a set-up to push for the whole race. We have one choice of tyre we can use, and the duration is OK. The bump into Ascari was about half the size last year, and I think that's because of the cars pushing it up under braking. We are struggling in a few places on the bumps. We need to get off the line clean tomorrow, stay with them, and see where we end up."

Massimo Meregalli (Team Manager, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team)

"We had a lot of problems at Assen on Friday but like this weekend we got better and better as the race weekend went on. For me, Noriyuki starting on the first row is really important. For sure we are checking and analyzing the data to make some more improvements if possible. For Troy, starting from the third row is not so easy here, but with the slipstream it is less difficult here than some other circuits to pass. We cannot understand why we are slower than last year because the bike is even better this year. We must be positive and for tomorrow I am sure both Noriyuki and Troy will be racing to win."

Shinichi Nakatomi (18th - 1'46.944 seconds - Team YZF Yamaha)

"Today we tried a new setting and it was better right away. I went one second faster but then I had a high side in the final free practice session. Nothing is broken and tomorrow I should be OK. I hope to try and gain some points."

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Earlier today Laconi was second fastest going into Superpole and Tamada was right on the pace on the opening day.

Superpole qualifying was not so kind to either rider, with Laconi eventually 11th fastest, losing nine places compared to his earlier superb performance. Tamada was fourth fastest on day one, tenth quickest on day two, then 14th after Superpole.

Laconi will now start on the third row of the grid; Tamada on row four, ahead of Jakub Smrz and Gregorio Lavilla.

Each Kawasaki rider is ready for the challenge ahead on raceday, after final checks and adjustments in morning warm-up. The spectre of at least some wet weather cannot be ruled out for raceday, despite the first two days being run in glorious spring sunshine.

Regis Laconi: "Compared to this morning the bike has improved and I feel more confident. The strange thing is that I used a qualifying tyre but didn't improve my time, because the grip didn't seem to increase. I made a good fast lap in Superpole but I'm still more than a second from the leading rider. Let's see what we can do tomorrow. I heard it could be raining, and I usually don't dislike riding in the wet, but in this case I would prefer a dry track. It is too dangerous considering the speeds we reach here."

Makoto Tamada: "During the morning session today I wanted to use certain tyres, but we preferred not to use them and keep them for later. At the end of the session I felt it difficult to increase my speed. The engine is not performing quite the way we thought in some areas and we had a small problem during the afternoon session. I'm annoyed that I couldn't maintain yesterday's performance. I know tomorrow will be better and we'll solve everything. I hope it won't rain as this track will become very dangerous for all the riders if it does."

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Team Alstare Suzuki news
2008 Superbike World Championship
Round 5, Monza, Italy
Final qualifying, 10th May
Circuit: 5.793 kms. Conditions: Dry, mostly sunny 26-28C.

MAX ON THE FRONT ROW!

It took a new lap record by series leader Troy Bayliss (Ducati) to deprive Alstare Suzuki rider Max Neukirchner of a Superpole win at Monza today. Bayliss smashed Noriyuki Haga's 2007 time by well over a second, to take his third Superpole win of the season. Suzuki Alstare rider Yukio Kagayama thought his Superpole lap was a fast one, but was disappointed to find out he'd set the fifth quickest time instead. His team mate Fonsi Nieto made a big improvement in today's practice and qualifying sessions and will start tomorrow's pair of 18-lappers from the second row of the grid.

Max - 2nd, 1:45.287
I'm really happy today because I think we have a good bike set-up and I'm ready for the races. My engine felt strong today and although I made a small mistake in Superpole I'm happy to be on the front row of the grid. Monza is a fast track and I hope to enjoy myself and have some fun tomorrow.

Yukio - 5th, 1:45.777
It's funny but I really thought that my Superpole was a good one and that it was fast also. But when I saw the times I realised that it had only been good enough for fifth position and I was disappointed. Today we did a lot of good work and tested many tyres so we have a good idea of what set-up to use tomorrow. Maybe we'll make some small adjustments in the warm-up tomorrow morning but the bike is pretty good at the moment, so the rest is up to me!

Fonsi - 7th, 1:45.942
Yesterday, I think I lost my way a bit so I feel that my weekend only started today. Now my bike is getting better and although I still have problems in two corners, we are going in the right direction. This racetrack is strange and there are many different points, like braking and slipstreaming, to consider. We more or less know which tyres we will use, but a lot depends on the weather. But anyway, I'm a lot happier today then I was yesterday.

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PRESS RELEASE | Monza, day-2
WSBK'08 Round 5

Team Sterilgarda Go Eleven is satisfied with the results come from the second day of qualifying at Monza. Both Ruben Xaus and Max Biaggi showed to be ready to face tomorrow race and exciting the numerous supporters expected to come to the track. The Spanish rider will start from the sixth position taken today after a fantastic Superpole. On the contrary Max Biaggi was dogged again by misfortune. Once found a satisfying trim thanks to the hard work done during the afternoon free practice, the four-time world champion faced the Superople full of grit. Unfortunately an exhaust hitch influenced is quick lap decreasing the power of his motorbike and so making him losing meaningful tenths which would have allowed him to finish some position forward. In Superstock1000, Alex Polita is going to start from the thirteen position on the grid. The rider form Jesi was not able to improve his yesterday time due to a gear problem which influenced all his second timed session.

RUBEN XAUS | Ducati 1098 RS | 6th time in 1'45.795: "I'm really glad with my performance and I want to thank the team for the job done. At the round eve I was pretty worried about our power gap. I'm just sorry to have lost the first line for just some hundredth of second. We would have deserved it, both me and the team I mean. They was great to give me a motorbike so well fine tuned".

MAX BIAGGI | Ducati 1098 RS | 9th time in 1'46.039: "We made a step forward compared to yesterday, especially for the race trim. Unfortunately I had problems with the silencer at the beginning of the Superpole and the damage caused a light power decrease. Tomorrow a good start will be vital, I would like to be part of the leading pack immediately in order to run a great race, as the many supporters coming here will expect from me".

ALEX POLITA | Ducati 1098R | 13th time in 1'50.027: "It is not a lucky period. I would have tried to start from the first line but at the beginning of the second timed session the gears gave me problems and I was not able to ride with strength. I will start from a back line and I will have to play a recovery race. I will also have to be careful at the first corner in which a funnel is usually made and where everything might happens".

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