World SuperBike 2001 - Round 7 - SuperPole & Grid
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Subscribers to the MCNEWS.COM.AU SMS service got the results sent to their phone Britain’s Neil Hodgson has secured his first pole position of the 2001 Superbike World Championship at the new Lausitzring circuit in Germany. The reigning British Superbike Champion’s flying Superpole lap time of 1:40.205 was his fastest ever time set at the German circuit. He also edged out Troy Corser by one tenth of a second and reigning World Champion, Colin Edwards was third. “I didn’t think I was going to like this circuit, but it has grown on me,” said the 27-year-old Burnley rider, who is fifth in the championship. “It has been a challenge getting the bike adjusted to the circuit, but we’ve been able to overcome some of the difficulties we’ve faced since Wednesday. I think it is vital to start from the front row at Lausitzring and to secure pole position is just a bonus. More than anything, I’m really pleased for the team. They have worked really hard and I think they have proven the strength of GSE Racing.” Corser was 2nd quickest - "I was up in both the first two sections of Superpole, but then made very small mistake at the last turn. Exiting it, I think I must have just got on the gas a bit too early and the bike started to come round. I didn't want to crash, so I held on to the throttle - instead of winding it up for the straight - and managed to recover it OK. But, the mistake cost time - just enough to stop me from winning Superpole. It doesn't really matter, because the important thing is that I'm on the front row of the grid and that's what it's all about. The Aprilia was working well today and we've got a good bike set-up. I also know what tyres I'm going to use, so all I've got to do tomorrow is go out and try and win both races. I don't think anybody is going to run away with the races tomorrow and I'm sure it's going to be two long, hard races. But, I'm going all out for a double win and get back the lead in the championship." Edwards did just enough to beat team-mate Okada, by just 0.008s, to take third place as Okada celebrated his first front row start of the season. "That was hard work," admitted Edwards. "I saw Tady's time and realised he'd finally got the hang of the one-lap Superpole so I got my head down and went just about as hard as I want to go around here. I can't see the races being anything other than close tomorrow." Okada commented: "Superpole has always been difficult for me. We do the same sort of qualifying at the Suzuka 8 hours race so I should be used to it but for some reason I've found it difficult in World Superbike. I'm very happy to be on the front row. The season reaches the halfway stage this weekend so hopefully the second half will be better than the first for me - starting with some wins tomorrow." Ducati Corse riders Ben Bostrom (Ducati L&M) and Troy Bayliss (Ducati Infostrada) will line up on row 2 of the starting-grid. In a tough Superpole session in which the top 8 are separated by just three-tenths of a second, the American recorded his fastest time of the weekend and will start from fifth on the grid, while the current championship leader was unable to repeat his qualifying form and will line up three places behind in eighth. Bayliss (Ducati Infostrada) was next-to-last out in the Superpole session and although the 32-year-old from Taree, Australia was only one-tenth away from his morning qualifying mark, when he was second quickest, he could only manage eighth on the grid behind his main rivals with a time of 1’40.495. “I ’m pretty disappointed with my row 2 starting position because I expected to do a lot better, but my Superpole lap was a bit messy and not smooth at all” , said Bayliss. “In this morning’s final qualifying session it took a while to get going because I had a few tyre problems but then it all came good in the end when I waited until after the others had gone out on the track. I’m not entirely happy with my 996R’s race set-up but we’re going to try a few more things in the morning warm-up and see how it goes tomorrow.” Ducati L&M rider Ben Bostrom put the weekend’s niggling problems behind him to produce his quickest time of the meeting, recording 1’40.368 in Superpole, which almost earned him a front row grid position. Although he was disappointed not to be on the front row, the 27-year-old from Redding, California said that things were moving in the right direction and was confident of a good result tomorrow. “I thought for sure I could have made the front row of the grid today and even though I did a good Superpole lap, I made a few mistakes like overshooting turn 1”, declared Bostrom. “Both the bike and the tyres felt great and I did my best lap of the weekend. We’ve had a few problems the last couple of days but we’re going in the right direction and we know what we have to do tomorrow. In the morning qualifying hour I wasted a good tyre because of the traffic and then they red-flagged the session when I was on my quick lap.” 1. Neil Hodgson, Ducati, 1m
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