World Superbike 2008 - Round Four

World Superbike 2008 - Round Four - Assen

Day 2 Report - HRC

HANNspree Ten Kate Honda
World Supersport Championship
Date: 26-04-08
Round: 4, Assen, The Netherlands
Supersport QP2

Rea takes second spot in strong day of qualifying

The second Supersport qualifying session saw HANNspree Ten Kate Honda’s Jonathan Rea firmly hold on to the provisional pole throughout most of the session, only to lose his leading position in the penultimate round to Broc Parkes.

Rea managed to show his outright pace throughout the afternoon session and was the first one to dip under the lap record set by Kenan Sofuoglu last year. Rea finished in 1'40.944 which places him on second place on the grid for tomorrow’s race.

Andrew Pitt managed to end the morning’s free practice session in 4th place but struggled to keep up his performance throughout the second qualifying. Pitt ended the session in 1'41.708 which places him on the 11th position on the grid in tomorrow’s Supersport race.
Ronald ten Kate, Team Manager;

“I am pleased with the results Jonathan achieved here today and want to give a big compliment to him and his team. He has been very competitive from the start at this circuit where he has no previous experience. The team has worked hard to help him familiarise with the track and have been rewarded for their effort.”

“It looks set to become a great Supersport race tomorrow with the top 10 riders all qualifying with less then a second difference between them.”
”Pitt has had a disappointing second day of qualifying and struggles to find the pace. We have tried a lot of new things and made some alterations in the set up but were forced to return to the latest setting we used here before.”

“I am confident Pitt will play a role in tomorrow’s battle for the top places.”

Jonathan Rea, 1'40.944;
”I am quite happy with my results today, but its annoying to be leading the field for most of the session and then being passed at the end.”
“We’ve tried a soft tire and a hard tire and managed to make both tires run very well. We are still making our minds up on the choice for tomorrow’s race tire. My team has done a great job making them work for me.”

“I’m happy to qualify on the front row, It gives me a clear track into turn one and we can start from there and try and put a good race together. For sure it will be really nice to be on the podium here in Assen for the team’s home race and that’s my goal for tomorrow.”

Andrew Pitt, 1'41.708;
“Qualifying on the third row of the grid is not ideal for tomorrow’s race and it will be a long run to make my way to the front of the field.”
“I’ve gained more confidence with the front of the bike, after we’ve made some changes to the front forks in yesterday’s session it seems to be getting better.”

“We have done some long runs this session to test the tires. We put one soft tire in, instead of two or three but ran out of time at the end of the session. We probably needed another 5 or 10 minutes. We’ll have to try and make our way forward in the race tomorrow.”

Team HANNspree Stiggy Motorsport Honda news
2008 Supersport World Championship
Round 4, Assen, Holland
Circuit: TT Circuit Assen, 4.555 kms
Conditions: Wet in the morning, dry in the afternoon, 13-17 C.
Final qualifying, 26th April

SECOND ROW FOR BROOKES AT ASSEN

The second day of the World Supersport Championship round at Assen saw the Supersport riders start the day with a wet free practice in the morning. HANNspree Stiggy Motorsport Honda riders Joshua Brookes and Robbin Harms decided to spend most of the session quietly in the garage waiting for the track conditions to improve. Luckily, the track was dry in the afternoon qualifying and the Stiggy riders were able to improve their lap times. Joshua's best lap time of 1.41.446 was good enough for 7th place and teammate Robbins lap of 1.42.237 put him 17th place on the grid for tomorrows race.

Joshua - 7th 1.41.446
Although we didn't quite make the right chassis changes we were hoping for, we managed to put together all the best bits from every session - gear box, suspension, wheels etc., for qualifying and finished with a good feeling on the bike towards the end. With only a few minutes left of practice I knew what I had to work with, so I tried to push harder at the end in order to get a better lap time. Unfortunately I crashed and that was that. Fortunately I wasn't injured in my fall, so that was a relief. Anyway, second row is not too bad here as the first turn is not so close. Im sure it will be tough race, but Ill do my best to finish in a good position.

Robbin - 17th 1.42.237
Seventeenth place on the grid is not what I was hoping for, obviously. But that's the result we ended up with this weekend and that's what I will have to try to make up for in the race tomorrow. I need to make a good start and do a good first couple of laps. The bike is not up to the level I was hoping for, as I have had trouble finding a good feeling. The parts of the track where I've always done well in the past are now a struggle getting through. I guess thats a result of us going the wrong way with the suspension settings and that's something we will have to work on for tomorrows warm-up. Hopefully by then the bike will feel better and I can start the race with a good set-up.

Johan Stigefelt (Team manger)
Even though the riders qualifying places are not what we expected, we are not so far away. I'm glad to have Josh up on the second row, as from there I think he has a great chance of a good race tomorrow. Robbin is a bit further down on the grid in fifth row. We are not too worried, as he really is a good starter and very strong in the first part of the race. Its always a risk making up lots of places in the race, but Robbin has done that before. Well all have our fingers crossed for a good result tomorrow.

-- Muggas

Karl Muggeridge (D.F. Racing Honda CBR1000RR) had an unlucky qualifying session this morning at round four of the World Superbike Championship here at Assen in Holland.

The session started with a bit a damp track after an early morning shower but towards the end of the session the track seemed to have dried out and everybody was trying to put a faster lap time in to make it into Superpole or to improve their times. With about nine minutes to go Muggas decided to have a go on his time to secure a Superole position but wasn’t able to finish the lap after a fast fall in the second split.

The Australian who was unhurt came back in and went straight back out on his second bike after a bit of a clean up. However the slight differences between the two bikes and a lot of traffic on the track enabled Muggas to improve his time and unfortunately he lost the Superpole qualifying.

Muggas comment: “That’s really annoying. We just shouldn’t be where we are. I know we can do better than that but there just seems to go always something wrong lately. Just before I went out I thought we should put a softer front in to get more grip but we decided to safe that one for later. But there was no later to be…. I really tried to work the tyres as hard as possible on the warm up lap, but the front was just too cold for the track temperature and just as I was to change directions it slid away and there was no chance to safe it. I can’t believe this happened; I should have just trusted my guts and put the other tyre in.

"Obviously my #1 bike was wrecked and I had to jump on the other one which was slightly different. I tried in the last 4 minutes to improve my position but I just never got a clear and good enough lap in. It will be a tough race tomorrow but we will work on our settings this afternoon and try to get another good result like in Valencia”

Saturday Qualifying Results (Assen, 4555 meters)

1. J. Smrz (Guandalini Racing by Grifo’s) 1’39.558
2. R. Xaus (Sterilgarda Go Eleven) 1’39.596
3. T. Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) 1’39.677
4. M. Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) 1’39.832
5. M. Neukirchner (Team Alstare Suzuki) 1’39.974
6. N. Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) 1’40.009
6. Y. Kagayama (Team Alstare Suzuki) 1’40.036
7. T. Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia) 1’40.042
8. F. Nieto (Team Alstare Suzuki) 1’40.082
9. C. Checa (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) 1’40.096
10. M. Tamada (Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse) 1’40.278