World Superbike 2008 - Round Four

World Superbike 2008 - Round Four - Assen

Day 2 Report - Yamaha

Haga and Corser Earn Vital Front Row Start Positions at Assen

Noriyuki Haga and Troy Corser put in their best performances of the weekend when it really counted to take a second and fourth place respectively in the one-lap Superpole qualifying session at Assen.

The Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team pairing have declared themselves ready to race after exhaustive tests of machine set-up throughout qualifying. Each also completed a successful long run to determine which tyres to use for the two 22-lap races on Sunday.

Haga, who had been sixth fastest after regulation combined qualifying, showed all his skill and speed to set a 1'38.546 in Superpole and miss out on the 'win' by only 0.118 seconds. Corser set a 1'38.761 to line up on the front row of the grid alongside pole winner Troy Bayliss, Haga and third placed rider Ruben Xaus.

David Checa (Yamaha GMT94) secured a Superpole start by finishing 13th in combined qualifying, and after Superpole he starts the race 14th, from the fourth row of the grid.

Team YZF rider Shinichi Nakatomi was desperately unlucky not to qualify for Superpole, finishing one place out of a guaranteed start on the first four rows by only 0.069 seconds. Nakatomi was only 1.099 from Jakub Smrz' fastest pre-Superpole time, of 1'39.558. Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha GMT94) was 23rd fastest, 1.3 seconds from the pre-Superpole best, after experiencing technical issues in qualifying on a machine hastily rebuilt after the Le Mans 24-Hour race last weekend.

Noriyuki Haga (2nd - 1'38.546 - Yamaha Italy WSB Team) "It's great to be on the front row because it is the first time that has happened this year. I am already happy with the bike settings and the tyre choice for tomorrow, so I am really ready for the race. It's going to be tough and we can see that the lap times are very close, but I will try to ride aggressively from the front row and go for the best result possible."

Troy Corser (4th - 1'38.761 - Yamaha Italy WSB Team) "I spent a lot of laps trying to find a good race set-up so I wasn't too concerned about my lack of early pace. I had struggled on day one with front and rear grip, but we went back to what we knew and were able to improve our overall set-up. I knew we could go fast in Superpole and it's very important to be on the front row here. The first corner is tight and we can't afford to let the other guys get away. We're in a good position for the races."

Massimo Meregalli (Team Manager, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "To have two riders on the front row is what we always work towards so we are very happy with that. We have to wait to see how we manage the tyre life tomorrow but the test we did were not so bad. This afternoon both riders made quite long runs and the performance did not drop down, it was very consistent, so hopefully we can do that again tomorrow. I think there will be a few riders in it tomorrow, but I think we will be there also."

Shinichi Nakatomi (17th - 1'40.657 seconds, Team YZF Yamaha) "We changed the set-up in the beginning of the second timed session, and put in a new tyre. I pushed hard, but not enough to qualify. If it is dry on raceday than many riders will be together, so getting a good start is very important."

Christophe Guyot (Team Manager Yamaha GMT94 Team) It was good to have David in Superpole but he is disappointed not to be higher than 14th, because he did good times in practice and we expected him to be in about tenth or 11th position. But it is better to be disappointed with 14th place than to be happy that you got that high, like in Valencia. That means that we have improved, and our expectations have been lifted. Sebastien was very unlucky because we had very little time to prepare a new bike for Assen after last weekend's Endurance race, and that meant he had some technical problems during qualifying this weekend."

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QUALIFYING 2 REPORT - 26/04/2008

Parkes Takes Pole With New Track Best

Broc Parkes (Yamaha World Supersport Team) set a new track best at the 4.555km Assen circuit to take his first pole of the year, despite riding with a broken metacarpal bone in his left hand, sustained after a first day practice crash. Parkes set a 1'40.895 in what was a close final qualifying session, with a further 10 riders within one second of his new track best.

Parkes' team-mate Fabien Foret will line up on the front row also, having set fourth best time in the last qualifying session, only 0.293 seconds from Parkes. Foret had reverted to his pre-Assen testing set up to earn his best time of the weekend, with a 1'41.188. Both Yamaha World Supersport team riders have now set pole positions on the all-new Yamaha YZF-R6 machine, with Foret taking his pole prize at the opening round in Qatar.

Should raceday rain appear at Assen, all 36 riders in the WSS class will have some idea of the settings to use in wet conditions, as the unofficial practice session proved to be wet this morning.

Massimo Roccoli (Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) was the next best placed R6 rider, pushing his machine into the top ten, even though he was not completely confident in his front end set-up during the dry final qualifying session.

Yamaha Spain riders Angel Rodriguez and David Salom were 12th and 13th respectively, with Rodriguez now on the third row of the grid and Salom the fourth.

Broc Parkes (1st - 1m 40.895 - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "I was happy to be on top yesterday and today it is a bonus again. The team had the bike absolutely right so I just rode it as well as I could. Tomorrow will be a different story maybe, as I have to do 21 laps with a broken hand, but we will see how it goes. I know I can ride, so tomorrow I will have a painkiller and get through it. Today I'm pumped because this is my first pole this year and normally I am not the greatest qualifier in the world. This is a great feeling."

Fabien Foret (4th - 1m 41.188 - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "A front row start is what I could expect and it will be OK for the race. Hopefully tomorrow morning I will finalise a few things to make the bike a bit better for the race and make the ride more comfortable. My tyre choice has been made and we should be OK. The tyres are sliding a bit in these conditions but so is everyone else, it seems."

Wilco Zeelenberg (Team Manager, Yamaha World Supersport Team) "This is the kind of pre-race result we should expect after testing here recently. The plan is working out well so far, but this championship is hard and it will be a tough job in the race tomorrow. Even with a broken hand Broc improved on his time from yesterday and got pole position. He felt confident and we didn't really touch the bike, he just went out and rode even better. Fabien is back to almost the same set-up he had before the test, after trying a few new things. It is important that he has a good base for all 21-laps, not, just one fast lap. You don't need to do low 1'41s all the time in the race it is just a question of finding the right balance. We learned a bit in the rain this morning, so we know where to improve the set-up if raceday is wet."

Massimo Roccoli (10th - 1'41.742 seconds - Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) "The second qualifying was difficult today because the condition of the track was different from yesterday. My concern was with the front set-up because it feels very light and halfway through the corner I don't feel I can open the throttle hard. The first split is OK but the last part of the track is where we are struggling for time. We will try another set-up in warm-up and maybe make the wheelbase shorter."

Angel Rodriguez: (12th - 1'41.992 seconds - Yamaha Spain) "Today was fine with the wet track surface in the morning, but in the qualifying session I could not improve the time we achieved yesterday, because I tried some tyres and I didn't feel comfortable with them. We made some improvements in our suspension set up and tomorrow I hope to be in front; normally I start quite well."

David Salom: (13th - 1'42.097 seconds - Yamaha Spain) "I rode faster than yesterday and today I felt more comfortable, even at a higher pace. That gave me confidence and in the last minutes of the session I started to be able to go fast. We know we have a good rhythm for tomorrow, somewhere between mid and high 1'42s. I hope to be fighting with the riders near the front."