World Superbike 2008 - Round Eight

World Superbike 2008 - Round Eight - Misano (Spain)

Day 1 Report

WSB Rd. 8, Misano Adriatico, Friday 27th June, 2008
Weather: sunny, 34° C
Track: dry, 53° C

Karl Muggeridge qualified in the provisional 10th position in today’s first qualifying session here at the 8th round of the World Superbike Championship at the Santamonica circuit in Misano Italy.

In boiling hot conditions by 34° Celcius in the shade it was a tough session for the whole Superbike field with really close times and the top 13 within one second, and if we looked only at the second fastest time it would even be 15 guys within a second.

D.F. Honda’s Karl Muggeridge who hasn’t been participating at the Misano round in 2007 (because of the gone missing machinery) has spent most day on learning the track but also tried two different settings on the bikes. Muggas who was fastest Honda rider on his privateer CBR1000 in this afternoon’s session is pretty happy with todays’ achievements and is confident that there is even more in it after a few more laps around the track.

Muggas comments: “It’s pretty hard in the heat anyway but we got a lof of work to do with learning the track and finding a setting at the same time. I like the circuit and I gotta say it’s definetly better than it used to be when I last rode here in 2006. It’s a bit bumpier than I expected but other than that it’s great. I’ve been trying to do as many laps as possible, and my first and last splits look not too bad now, I gotta improve a bit in the second sector but that will come the more laps I get under my belt. At the moment I’m still a bit too shaky into the fast corner as I don’t know it well enough. The bike is working pretty well, we tried to different settings so far and tomorrow we are going to try out two different swing arms as well. So all in all a good start into the weekend.”

Ten Kate

Difficult first day of qualifying in Misano

The first day of qualifying in Misano took place in hot weather conditions today. With the temperature rising to 34 degrees, the three men strong HANNspree Ten Kate Honda squad struggled to find the right pace for the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblades.

Carlos Checa’s fastest lap of 1'38.189 in the first qualifying practice was 1.326s off the fastest time set by provisional pole sitter Troy Bayliss. After his strong performance in the USA round, Checa’s experienced difficulties with the set-up of his machine and used most of his 60-minute session to focus on finding the right grip for his Honda CBR1000RR. Chattering issues halted his performance throughout the session in which he was not able to find the pace and set some fast laps.

Kiyonari spent his qualifying sessions on getting used to the high temperature and learning the track as he has never ridden the Misano circuit before.

Carlos Checa, 1'38.189;
“I’m struggling to find the right feeling with the bike. We haven’t changed that much after America, but we seem to be unable to find the pace yet. The feeling is completely different. We have some chattering at the rear and the tyre seems to be jumping in some areas of the track so I can’t carry speed and ride consistently. We need to find some more grip and work on the way the bike turns if we want to reach a better result in tomorrow’s qualifying. We are out of the pace at the moment and will need to improve a lot.”

Ryuichi Kiyonari, 1'38.392;
“It’s my first time on this circuit here today. I find it very difficult, specially with the temperature being so high compared to the other tracks we’ve been to so far. The tyre feeling is completely different here because of that. The feeling with the machine is getting there, but we will make some more changes to the set-up. We’ll go through the circuit once again in the debrief and try to find the areas in which we can improve for tomorrow. It will be difficult but we need to improve the pace and set a good result in qualifying.”

Kenan Sofuoglu, 1'38.895;
“My position at the moment is not that good, but I am sure we can improve tomorrow. The feeling with the machine is good, but the lap times are not quite there yet. We still have a lot of work to do for tomorrow’s qualifying, hopefully we can get a couple of things sorted out.”

Stiggy - Team HANNspree Stiggy Motorsport Honda in progress despite the heat

On the opening day of the Italian World Supersport Championship round at boiling hot Misano, Team HANNspree Stiggy Motorsport Honda riders Joshua Brookes and Robbin Harms ended the first provisional qualifying session in 7th and 14th places respectively. The best lap time of the day was set by Broc Parkes with a lap of 1.40.132.

Joshua - 7th, 1.40.770
Generally it is going well, but I'm struggling a bit in the first sector as I am having a difficult time getting it right in the slow and bumpy parts of the track. I also kept making many mistakes and I found it difficult being consistent out there. I had problems concentrating and I think my focus were somewhere else today. I didn't sleep well last night because of the heat, so I think that's why I'm struggling. Despite the track temperature we have pretty good grip. We have two different tyre options for tomorrow, both good enough to last a race distance, so it's more a question of which has the best grip. I'll try to get a good night's sleep tonight and I'm sure tomorrow will be a lot better.

Robbin - 14th, 1.41.263
It's been a while since I felt comfortable on the bike right from the start of the weekend, but today it felt great and that's a really positive start for us! We have also been spared from technical troubles in both practices. We found really good grip - both in the rear and the front and we just need to decide which tyre combination to use for tomorrow's qualifying and Sunday's race. I'm especially happy with my consistency today and though I didn't manage to put in that one fast lap, I was able to find a good rhythm. We'll improve a few things on the bike tomorrow and hopefully it will give me a chance to move up the time sheets a bit.

Johan Stigefelt
Joshua, who has never raced here before, managed to do really well today. Even though he is struggling a bit in the first sector of the track, he managed a good overall performance. Robbin had a good day too. He is feeling confident and made good process in both practices. Tyres are always tricky here at Misano because of the heat, but it seems like both riders already have a pretty clear idea which ones they prefer. We will continue working this way for tomorrow and hopefully both riders will be able to improve further.

Ten Kate Supersport - Supersport team on provisional front row at Misano

The HANNspree Ten Kate Honda Supersport team started the first day of qualifying in Misano on the pace with both riders putting their Honda’s on the provisional front row for the race this weekend.

Jonathan Rea successfully concluded his first ever appearance on the 4.226km long track by setting the third fastest time of 1'41.453 in the free practice session. He managed to improve his time in the afternoon’s qualifying practice with a best lap of 1'40.690 and secured the day’s fourth fastest time.

Andrew Pitt started his day of qualifying in the middle of the field and used his time to concentrate on learning the track, but chased his way forward in the official qualifying session by setting a second fastest time of 1'40.387, only 0.2s behind provisional pole sitter Broc Parkes.

Jonathan Rea, 1'40.690;
“It’s been a really good fun session for me and I was close to the front most of the time. I really enjoy riding this track. We put a few laps together and now we are on the front row provisionally for the race. I think that’s a good result for a track I have never been to before. For sure there is a lot more left in the tank. I need to find some clear track tomorrow and push the pace I know I can set, we belong up the front row, if we have a good session then I am sure we can be up there.”

Andrew Pitt, 1'40.387;
“We are a little bit further then I thought we would be after this morning’s session. In the first session I tried learning the circuit and didn’t waste any tyres, we just one set of them. We are still not quite there yet. I got in behind Jonathan halfway through the session which got me on the pace. There’s definitely a few areas we need to improve. There’s still some things that surprise me and am not happy with. But I’m satisfied with today’s result. So far so good.”

Ronald ten Kate, Team manager;
“I am very pleased with the performance both Andrew and Jonathan have shown here today.” We are still working on the set-up of the bike in these conditions, but with the result we have set so far, I think we have done a remarkably good job today. We will still have to improve on the bike as we all know it will be a very tough race around here but with the boys already on the pace we can use tomorrow’s qualifying practice to further concentrate on the race set-up. It’s a very good start of the weekend, we’ll now just concentrate on making it better for tomorrow.”