Windy conditions, which after the storms of the past few days will probably bring good weather for the weekend, made things difficult for the riders out on the track, especially on the western side of the circuit. After a quarter-of-an-hour, Corser and Bayliss were the first riders to get under 1m37s with times that were close to what they expect to do in the race. 

"The bike is perfect, it's easy to ride, what more can I say" commented a satisfied Troy Corser "Add to that the fact that I am really motivated and determined and that I can concentrate easily on my riding. From a physical point of view I have been preparing well and I can feel the benefits. The set-up is perfect, no modifications are necessary, and as for the choice of tyres, I can chose several different solutions; some we used today, but we'll decide tomorrow. The track was slippery in the morning but improved a lot in the afternoon. The wind was a bit of a problem but was acceptable when it was constant; instead when it was gusty it made life a lot more difficult. I know that I can go a lot quicker, we'll see tomorrow."

The Aprilia rider's lap left him clear of second fastest Hitoyasu Izutsu on a Kawasaki with local hope Ruben Xaus on a Ducati third quickest.  "I am really pleased", said Ruben Xaus. "Every time I go out onto the track my feeling with the 996R Factory improves. Today I set third-quickest time pretty easily. For someone who is making his debut in Superbike, I will need a bit more time to set up the bike the way I like it, but the experience of the team helps me a lot. I hope I will do well in front of my home crowd and I¹m curious to see how I will go in the first Superpole of my career."

Australia's Troy Bayliss fourth - "Not bad, we're on the front row of the grid even though I made a small error during my last good lap", declared Troy Bayliss. "On this track I have already lapped with better times and I feel confident for tomorrow. This has been a long winter and I am really pleased the championship is now about to start."

Izutsu's fellow Kawasaki rider Gregorio Lavilla was fifth fastest after the one-hour battle with American Ben Bostrom - fastest rider at the pre-season Valencia test three weeks ago - sixth on his Ducati.  "Today we did a lot of tests and there wasn't enough time to go for record lap times like we did in February", underlined Ben Bostrom. "It's only Friday and we have to go well tomorrow and above all on Sunday. This morning's slide didn't give me any problems and I feel OK for tomorrow. The time I set today wasn't bad seeing as it was obtained in just a couple of laps with qualifying tyres at the end of the session."

Italian Giovanni Bussei moved to seventh place in the closing stages of the session while reigning British Superbike champion Neil Hodgson was eighth fastest at the windswept 2.95-mile circuit.  "It has been extremely windy at Valencia today," explained 27-year-old Hodgson. "A lot of dust has been blown onto the track and it was slippery throughout the whole qualifying session. We still managed to get a good set-up for my GSE Racing Ducati by testing various Dunlop tyres so we are in a good position to improve upon during tomorrow’s final qualifying session."

Defending world champion Colin Edwards took the ninth best time with Corser's team-mate Regis Laconi 10th.   "My first Superbike qualifying session went well" said Regis Laconi "I can keep the pace I want to have in the race. It was only when I opted to lap on qualifying tyres and go for a fast time that I was disturbed by traffic on both occasions. I will set the right time to qualify for Superpole and for sure there won't be any traffic there! I had a few problems with grip at the rear but that was because the track today was quite slippery." 

The 9th placed Edwards - "The settings we had from the test here just haven't worked so we've had to start again and we're about halfway to getting the machine right. We're not miles away from getting the machine right and I'm sure we'll improve the machine for morning - we'll have to, simple as that."

Necomer James Toseland impressed with an 11th spot on the provisional grid - "I think we made good progress today and I’m happy to walk away from my first-ever World Superbike qualifying session in eleventh position,” said 20-year-old Toseland. “It’s still early days for me yet, but I ‘m feeling better on the bike every day and hopefully there’s more to come tomorrow.”

Image fest' from Friday at Valencia

Race Preview

2000 qualifying, fastest: Troy Corser, Australia (Aprilia) 1m 36.661s
2000 Superpole: Troy Corser, Australia (Aprilia) 1m 36.185s
2000 race winners: Troy Corser, Australia (Aprilia) and Noriyuki Haga, Japan (Yamaha)
Lap record: Troy Corser, Australia (Aprilia) 1m 36.817s (June 2000)

Last year at Valencia - 2000 Race 1 - 2000 Race 2 - 2000 Images - 2000 Quotes

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