World Superbike 2008 - Round Nine - Brno (Czech Republic)

World Superbike 2008 - Round Nine - Brno (Czech Republic)

Day 1 Report - HRC

HANNspree Ten Kate Honda
World Supersport Championship
Date: 18-07
Circuit: round 9, Brno
Qualifying Practice 1

Team battles through first day of qualifying

The hard work continued for the HANNspree Ten Kate Honda Superbike team today as they came into action on the first day of qualifying in Brno.

Carlos Checa spent his two session chasing the optimum set-up for his bike but struggled to find traction on the new surface of the Brno track. Checa went out in the free practice session using a different swing arm, but switched back to the regular KR component after the much anticipated improvement on the rear grip stayed out. A fastest time of 2'00.424 today sets him back at fifteenth place after the first official qualifying.

Ryuichi Kiyonari improved his pace midway the first qualifying session and managed to keep his lap times consistently, but lack of time towards the end of the session stopped him from improving his fastest time of 2’00.581. Team-mate Kenan Sofuoglu, the record breaking rider in last year’s Brno Supersport race, set his fastest lap today at 2’01.302. Both riders finished in 18th and 20th place respectively.
Despite today’s results the team are working hard and remain confident they can improve the results and find the right set-up that will push them up the time sheets with one more day of qualifying to go.

Carlos Checa, 2'00.424;
”I am not satisfied after today’s qualifying session. We are still some areas in which we loose too much. We still have chattering problems and its difficult to keep the right line on the track. We spent some time trying to find the best tyre combination but finally I didn’t have enough time to go out for my fastest lap. The front tyre was worn out and by the time I wennt in for a rear tyre change there wasn’t enough time to put a new front tyre. I am confident we can make a big step up front and find the connection with the fast group tomorrow.”

Ryuichi Kiyonari, 2'00.581;
”My feeling with the machine is as good as it was in Vallelunga last week during the test. I had some problems with the chattering of my bike and some smaller issues we tried to improve in the afternoon’s session. But it’s difficult and although I have been able to improve my lap times and keep them consistent, I am not happy with the results. The tyre life on this circuit is very short and we had to try several. Today I mainly concentrated on my riding and my feeling with bike. The set-up of the machine is nearly there, we’ve tried various things based on the Vallelunga test we did last week. I’m confident I can improve my lap times tomorrow and hopefully qualify for the Superpole.”

Kenan Sofuoglu, 2'01.302;
“My results wasn’t really good today, but we made some improvements. I had some chatter problems in the first session but we worked on it and found a good set up and a good tyre and improved the pace a little bit. I like the track a lot and have set some good results here in the past. It’s different on the Superbike but hopefully this will be a turning point for me and I can have a good result here on Sunday.”

MUGGAS ON A FRUSTRATING 22ND POSITION

WSB Rd. 9, Brno, Czeck Republic, Friday 18th July, 2008
Weather: cloudy, 21° C
Track: dry, 30° C

D.F. Racing’s Karl Muggeridge finished in 22nd position in todays first qualifying session here at round nine of the World Superbike Championship at Brno in Czeck Republic.

Muggas who was pretty excited to come to Brno and try out his new bike equipped with the new electronic system. The CBR 1000 looked promising and felt a lot better than the old one at the last SBK test in Vallelunga and there was only a couple of things that needed to be changed in the programme to make it run better into the corners. However, to Muggeridge’s disappointment his only bike with the new electronics on made it only around the Brno track for one lap and then it stopped.

So he found himself back faster back on the old one than he wished.

Muggas comments:” We were really struggling with finding a setup. The bike is having so bad chattering problems from the rear and front that I barley can se where I go on the track. It’s impossible to get a decent lap time done. It’s really frustrating to be on 22nd position and that even with risking a lot and riding the bike on the limit. I’m not sure yet how they are going to fix this, but we have to find a solution as it’s not possible to ride it like that.”

Team HANNspree Stiggy Motorsport Honda news
2008 Supersport World Championship
Round 8, Brno, Czech Republic
Final qualifying, 18th July
Conditions: Dry, Air: 25 C
Track length: 5.403 kms

Team HANNspree Stiggy Motorsport Honda on the pace at Brno

The opening day at Brno circuit started well for Team HANNspree Stiggy Mototrsport Honda with Joshua Brookes setting the pace in the morning's free practice with a lap of 2.05.1. Team mate Robbin Harms also made a good start to the day, finishing sixth in the first session.
The afternoon qualifying looked promising, with the Stiggy riders confident of continuing their progress. In the end, they both made significant improvements on their previous lap times.

Joshua - 2nd, 2.03.922
This morning was going really well. I was fastest, but it was a total surprise to me as it didn't feel like I was going that fast plus the fact that we were still working on the set-up. For qualifying we managed to improve the bike and the lap times a lot. I didn't manage to keep my first place, but it doesn't matter as we still have some work to do. The track is nice, without the bumps, but the new surface seems to be of different material then normal. The grip is really good for a lap or two, but the track seems pretty hard on the tyres on longer distances. We will continue working the same way tomorrow and try to keep up the pace, though I'm sure it will be even faster.

Robbin - 12th 2.04.816
I'm really happy with the bike and the consistent lap times I was able to make in qualifying. I'm not super happy with my qualifying position, but the main thing is the feeling and potential of the bike. The grip is really good, compared to last year, and got a lot better in the afternoon session. My aim is to get a good qualifying lap tomorrow. I know I can make consistent lap times already, so what I need now is that one fast lap for a good grid position. We have a good base to work from, but will need to change the chassis settings a little and hopefully get a more stable feeling going into the corners. Other than that I'm really satisfied so far.

Johan Stigefelt
The weekend is progressing well for us, with both riders happy with their bikes and settings so far. Robbin really likes this tack and is confident of good results this weekend. Joshua is not 100% satisfied yet, but he is well on his way to finding a good feeling. We still have to make some more changes to the bikes so that they can improve their qualifying times tomorrow.

HANNspree Ten Kate Honda
World Supersport Championship
Date: 18-07
Circuit: round 9, Brno
Qualifying Practice 1

Andrew Pitt on provisional front row

HANNspree Ten Kate Honda rider Andrew Pitt was the third best qualifier today and claimed a provisional front row start in the first day of qualifying in Brno. Despite wet weather conditions in the previous days and a rainy forecast for Sunday’s race, the rain stayed out and both session were undertaken in dry but relatively cool conditions.

Pitt topped the time sheets for most of the duration of the two 45 minute sessions and was the first rider to dip under the best lap set by Kenan Sofuoglu on the Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR last year. Pitt managed to keep his pace consistently fast throughout the sessions and secured the third best qualifying time and a provisional front row start with a best lap of 2'04.176.

Team-mate Jonathan Rea spent most of his sessions today familiarising himself with the 5.403km long Brno track. Its combination of up and downs, fast corners and long straights, gives way for overtaking and knowledge of the track will be essential in order to claim a good result in the tight battles that have dominated the last Supersport races.

Rea struggled through the first session due to issues with his front tyre, but managed to straighten them out and picked up his pace in the official practice by setting his best time at 2 minute 04.622s, the seventh fastest time.

Andrew Pitt, 2'04.176;
“I’m happy with today’s results. We just tried to stay out there and did two long runs to test tyres and try and find the race set up. The new circuit here is very hard on the tyres and we had to test some tyres in case it’s wet tomorrow. We didn’t put tyre after tyre to try and set the fastest lap time. We have got our race tyre sorted out, there’s a just a few little things with the suspension but overall I’m happy we are on the provisional front row.”

Jonathan Rea, 2'04.622;
“I am really happy with my second session as we had a bad one this morning. The front tyre I’m normally confident with, just doesn’t seem to work here. I had to go back to using my least favourite tyre and work from there. However, it does work really well here and I’m getting a good feeling of it. We have done two long runs of more then ten laps. I’m happy with my fastest lap at the end of the session. My biggest problem is not knowing the circuit very well, there’s a lot of corners and a lot of new track for me to learn. I hope I can put it all together for the second qualifying session tomorrow and jump onto the front row.”