World SuperBike 2001 - Round 8 - Misano - SuperPole/Grid
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Neil Hodgson took his second successive pole position to sit at the head of the grid for round eight of the World Superbike championship at Misano, San Marino on Sunday. Corser - "The temperature is different to last week and what worked perfectly well then didn't work as good today. But it's the same for everybody and nobody made a huge leap ahead of anybody today. Yesterday was the worst kind of wind - it was bad going into turn one and also onto the back straight. Today it was better and we used qualifying to try and get a really good set-up for the race and chose some tyres that will last the distance and give good grip. If it is as hot tomorrow, for sure some people will suffer some tyre problems. Today I wasn't worried about not winning Superpole, because all I wanted to do was to make sure I was on the front row of the grid. I did that, so I'm happy. It's going to be two very hot and hard races tomorrow, but I 'm going for good results in both and close in on the title lead."
Castrol Honda's Colin Edwards was forced to work hard after qualifying in seventh place. The defending world champion set his fastest lap of the weekend to take third place on the grid. Aprilia's Regis Laconi leads row two after the Frenchman set the fifth fastest time. "I'm very satisfied - we've done a great job," said Regis Laconi. "The bike delivered just what I wanted and my fifth place raises my hopes after the beginning of the weekend which wasn't so bright. We're going to have two hard races and the heat won't help. But I'm ready and raring for a fight." Overnight pole-sitter Troy Bayliss (Ducati Infostrada) repeated his blistering Friday performance during the second session this morning, but the 32-year-old Australian then slipped down to sixth during the dash for pole with a time of 1’35.906 when he put the rear of his 996R Factory out of shape early on. “During my Superpole lap I went wide at the first split on the left-hander and that was the end of that”, declared Bayliss. “I feel pretty happy with the way the bike is set up after we did a long run this afternoon, but I’m a bit disappointed because I was expecting to get down into the 1’34s today.” Gregorio Lavilla finished seventh in Superpole after leading the last session of free practice on the final day of qualifying before tomorrow’s race. Gregorio said, “My Superpole lap started really good, but in trying not to out-brake myself I braked too early and that upset my rhythm. The bike felt as if it could have gone at least a couple of tenths of a second faster and that would have put me on the front row. We’ve got a good race set-up so I’m just going to give it all I’ve got in tomorrow’s race.” Aprilia test rider Alessandro Antonello was next quickest - "I don't think I heated up the tyres enough during the trial lap for the Superpole, I lost the front and slipped. But the situation is not lost - I'm starting off in second row, which isn't that bad." Ducati privateer Steve Martin once again was faster than many of the factory boys to take 9th and Akira Yanagawa complete the top 10. Akira struggled all day, just squeezing into Superpole but improving that position with a reasonable superpole lap. “My confidence is really low at the moment and I couldn’t find a set-up that allowed me to push to the limit in Superpole. My only concession is that we have a good race set-up so I’m hoping for a good start - then I’m sure I can improve.” Okada had a disappointing Superpole lap after being second fastest in official qualifying, dropping to a third row grid position in 11th. "I had my first good Superpole lap in Germany two weeks ago but today it all went wrong," Okada admitted. "I struggled throughout the lap, once you make a mistake you naturally try to make up for it immediately and that causes more mistakes. Starting from row three is a disappointment but I'm happy with the machine setting and Michelin tyres for the race so I'm confident of a top three finish." Ruben Xaus (Ducati Infostrada) will start the Misano races from the third row of the grid after setting a time of 1’36.459. The 23-year-old Catalan rider was eighth fastest in the morning’s final qualifying session. “It’s been a difficult weekend for me here at Misano. Although I’m pretty happy with the bike and have set some quick times, yesterday I crashed twice so I’ m still feeling the effects a little. But tomorrow I hope to run a steady race, make up some places and score some more points”. Australia’s Peter Goddard has struggled from a lack of grip with his new Benelli Tornado 900 at Misano in the lead-up to tomorrow's eighth round of the World Superbike Championship motorcycle series in Italy.
Goddard is making his championship comeback at Misano, and also providing Italian manufacturer Benelli with its debut in the series. Despite the problems, Goddard qualified 16th yesterday with a best lap of 1-min 38.039-secs around the 4km circuit in. In today's second qualifying session he recorded a quicker lap of 1-min 37.521-secs (an improvement of 0.518-secs), but slipped to 27th position and will start on the seventh row of the grid. Goddard - “With a new bike you always expect some problems, but we've had a few more than we needed. Yesterday we had to run a hard-compound tyre and we struggled for grip. Today we tried a softer tyre similar to what we'd tested on and it was better. Another thing yesterday was we lost water from the engine in my best bike. The temperature light was flashing so I had to stop and switch to my other bike. The second bike runs an engine with smaller valves and in theory it shouldn't be as good, but it was actually quicker around the race-track. Our lap times are slower than when we tested – it was very windy yesterday and it hurt our top speeds. We're improving all the time, but the rear is still sliding around with too much wheelspin. Misano has a bumpy, old surface and it's hard to get the tyres to grip. It's a bit like Laguna Seca (in the United States) in that respect. The team are putting a new engine in my best bike and I'll try that in the warm-up tomorrow to see what works best. It's going to be hard starting so far back, but our lap times in race-trim are better than where we've qualified. If I can make a good start I think it's possible to finish around 15th or so. If we could score some championship points this weekend it would be pretty good considering the bike has never been raced before." SuperPole Riders
who did not make the SuperPole cut off. |
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