2002 World SuperBike Championship - Round 13 - Imola - SuperPole

This afternoon's Superpole shootout at Imola was held in damp conditions, which gave a significant advantage to those riders starting their flying lap towards the end of the session; when the rapidly drying track was more conducive to fast lap times.

Despite the fact that he was an early starter in Superpole - having finished regular qualifying in fourteenth place - Fuchs Kawasaki's Chris Walker managed to post his fastest time of the weekend on his flying lap, to secure eleventh place on the grid for tomorrow's 21-lap Superbike races.

'I'm confident I could have gone faster in Superpole had I gone out later when the track was dryer, but that's the luck of the draw I guess,' said Walker. 'I don't really feel like I'm going quickly round here, because I don't really know the place properly yet. I do like the circuit though and I was going pretty well in the wet session this afternoon, so I'll definitely be doing a rain dance tonight. I'll be looking for two decent finishes tomorrow to end the season on a high and, if I can get a typical Stalker start, then there's no reason why I shouldn't be able to run with the boys up front.'

Walker's Fuchs Kawasaki team-mate, Hitoyasu Izutsu, also managed to post his fastest time of the weekend during Superpole, finishing the one lap session thirteenth fastest; an improvement of two places over his regular qualifying position.

'I think that we have made progress again today and my wrist is definitely improving,' said Izutsu. 'I'm pleased with my Superpole performance, as it was my best lap of the weekend, but now I need to concentrate on tomorrow's races. I just hope that my wrist will be strong enough for me to ride at my best in the last two races of the season.'