HM Plant / GSE Ducati

The British pairing of Neil Hodgson and James Toseland will line-up on the second row of the grid for Sunday’s two Superbike races at the 13th and final round of the Superbike World Championship. The HM Plant Ducati duo qualified in fifth and seventh positions respectively at Imola after failing to improve on their qualifying practice times in the one-lap Superpole session.

Rain swept across the 4.933km circuit near Bologna this morning to prevent the 31-strong field from improving the times set in yesterday’s dry first session. The conditions improved for Superpole, but the track was still damp in places. This prevented the Superbike field from attacking last year’s pole position time of 1:48.694 set by Troy Corser.

“I was up on time through the first two splits, but wasn’t as confident through the Acque Minerali due to the track conditions,” explained Hodgson in his last Superpole on board the HM Plant Ducati. “The guys in front of me were more aggressive, but I was just happy to come home safely and not make any unnecessary mistakes. I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s races and hope for better luck than I had here last year.”

Toseland lost a similar amount of time on his Superpole lap: “I was about a second down on where I should have been and that would have possibly seen me qualify on the front row. However, it was difficult to read the track conditions and I have to be content with a place on the second row. The weather has made it difficult for everyone in terms of race set-up for tomorrow, but if anything that should even things up.”
 

Ducati Infostrada

Ducati Infostrada riders Ruben Xaus and Troy Bayliss will start tomorrow’s thirteenth and final round of the World Superbike Championship at Imola from second and third position on the grid, after Honda’s Colin Edwards took pole in the decisive Superpole session. Ben Bostrom (Ducati L&M) moved up from a qualifying ninth to sixth place and a row 2 start for Sunday’s two races.

The morning’s second and final qualifying session was disrupted by rain, preventing any improvement on yesterday’s time, but the weather conditions turned favourable for the afternoon free practice hour and Superpole. Troy’s time of 1’49.702 was good enough for third place on the grid, sixth-tenths of a second behind the pole time set by Edwards.

“I thought my Superpole lap was faster than it was” declared Troy, “and it would have been nice to have been on pole for the final race of the year here at Imola in front of all the Ducati fans, but it wasn’t to be. Now I feel like Colin felt a couple of months ago, but I’m determined to turn things around tomorrow. We’ve got a couple more things to try in the morning after we lost today’s qualifying session because of rain. I’m feeling really good on the bike and tomorrow I’m certainly going to give it everything I’ve got tomorrow to beat Colin and take the title.”

Ruben Xaus (Ducati Infostrada) continued his excellent weekend form to take second place on the grid, just a fraction behind Colin. “Things have gone really well for me this weekend” declared Ruben. “The bike is working so well and so are the tyres and I really love this circuit. Tomorrow the real battle is between Troy and Colin but I hope to be able to get in there with them and win the race. My Superpole lap was quite good today, that must mean I’m getting better at it all the time!”

Ben Bostrom (Ducati L&M) was not entirely satisfied with his Superpole lap despite moving up from ninth overnight to sixth on the grid. “That was a terrible Superpole lap and I don’t really know why” declared Ben. “After the wet morning session, I had programmed myself to lap in a certain way, where to brake and where to accelerate and I think I just carried on like that in Superpole. The bike feels great, the tyres are also great, it’s just that the rider wasn’t working well today. I have no complaints, sixth place on the grid means I will just have to work a bit harder tomorrow, but I’m sure it’s going to be a good race”.