World Supersport 2004 - Round 1 - Valencia - Friday Qualifying

Ten Kate rider Karl Muggeridge set the second fastest time in the opening qualifying session of the 2004 World Supersport Championship here at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia Spain.

The major rule change to last years championship is that everybody will be on Pirelli tyres and that there is no special qualifying tyre anymore. Each rider has a choice between three types, which is basically soft, medium and hard.

This will definitely make it hard to break any last years lap records and the qualifying sessions might not be that exciting anymore, although Muggas proved with a 1’37.665 at the official SBK test in Valencia two weeks ago, that it is possible to break lap records even on race tyre.

Muggas comments: The conditions were really unforgiving today with these gusty winds and I was quite a challenge, since every lap was different. We are pretty much ready with the bike, after all the testing in Valencia this winter. We will work a little bit on the chassis to help to improve the front end grip for tomorrow’s sessions. Hopefully the weather will stay dry, so we get another chance on the qualifying. We are quite sure that we both, Broc and me, can improve our lap times.

The new USB Power Commander is already available for the ZX-10R, as is a powershifter