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

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

Day 1 Report - Yamaha

Corser an early contender on day one

Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) enjoyed a competitive start to his Brno race weekend by scoring second best time behind local favourite Jakub Smrz, on the recently resurfaced 5.403km Brno circuit.

Corser's early pace has already seen him under the previous circuit best, with one more qualifying session plus Superpole on Saturday to determine his final grid position.

Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) was held back in his early laps by a niggling fault with his machine's electronics package and lost him track time that held back his ultimate provisional qualifying position to 12th.

The weather conditions remained dry through first qualifying, despite some dark clouds skirting the track, and both Corser and Haga would prefer dry conditions for day two, to complete their pre-race set-up work in consistent conditions.

David Checa (Yamaha GMT94) is in a provisional Superpole qualifying slot, 14th, one place ahead of his brother Carlos.

Shinichi Nakatomi (Team YZF Yamaha) was 17th today, Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha GMT94) 19th, making Superpole entry a real possibility for each rider after the final official qualifying session.

Troy Corser (2nd - 1'59.493 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "The settings feel reasonably good already and I think the grip from the track is starting to come in more, with rubber being put onto the track. I think sand is washing onto the track when it rains so I hope it doesn't rain tonight. I think there will be more life from the tyres as well, although the front tyre is still a bit of a problem for race distance. But we still have something to try in the set-up of the bike to help that a little. There is a lot of pressure on the front tyre here, more than at any other track, maybe. And there is a lot of heavy braking going into corners here. Up the steep hill our bike is pretty good compared to the other guys I was on track with, so I'm quite happy so far."

Noriyuki Haga (12th - 2'00.371 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "This morning we had problems with the electronics and that stopped us from making a lot of laps and that has stopped us from making good lap times. So it has taken time to try and catch up. We started with different settings from last year, and we tried another setting this afternoon, and finally we found a good feeling. Not enough for the race yet, so I hope tomorrow we find even better settings. For me, the track feels the same as last year, maybe it is more slippery."

Massimo Meregalli (Team Manager, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "Troy is up front and Nori can get there two, so we will see how we go tomorrow. Nori lost some time when we had a few problems this morning but we are confident because this is still only Friday. Our tyre choice here is critical, but we have already found one rear that works well. Now we need to find a front one. But overall we are OK. The riders feel different things from the track surface but that is because they have very different riding styles!"

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QUALIFYING 1 REPORT - 18/07/2008

Parkes under the outright lap record on day one

The brilliant 2008 qualifying record of Broc Parkes continued at Brno on the first day of track action, as the Australian Supersport Superstar slotted in a 2'03.604 to create a new track best. He beat the previous record by 1.2 seconds, with one more day of qualifying to go.

Parkes, who is looking for his second win of the year on Sunday, was 0.318 seconds ahead of second best qualifier Josh Brookes, with Andrew Pitt third.

The weather conditions at Brno were dry but relatively cool at 25°C, at a track where the usual temperature is well over 30°C at this time of year.

Fabien Foret had a drama-filled day, falling in the morning session and then again in the afternoon, having just completed his fastest lap.

Massimo Roccoli (Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) was only 17th fastest after experiencing problems matching tyre and suspension choices to the recently resurface circuit in the first timed session.

David Salom (Yamaha Spain World Supersport) was 18th in the first day rankings, but still less than two seconds from Parkes' provisional pole.

Broc Parkes (1st - 2'03.604 - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "We had a little issue with top end power this morning but the guys in the team sorted out quite quickly so we were able to set the best lap time in the qualifying session. The track is very smooth after being resurfaced but it's still a bit too new and needs to have a little more rubber on it. There is a narrow line right now but I think it will improve all weekend. We used some settings based on the test we did at Vallelunga recently and they worked out pretty good as well, even though the temperature is nothing like as much here as it was in Italy."

Wilco Zeelenberg (Team Manager, Yamaha World Supersport Team) "Broc did his usual great job and set a very fast lap, although there are a couple of other riders not too far away from him. I hope we will find him even more speed for the races but with a wider margin of safety in his setup. We have to be happy that despite Fabien's crash and injury he didn't end up with any more permanent damage. But it's still a very disappointing day for Fabien and the team. One of his vertebrae is broken through but there is no nerve damage so the medical people think it could be two or three months before he is fit again. It appears he ran into the first corner fast just after his quickest lap and then just couldn't hold the line and crashed."

Massimo Roccoli (17th - 2'05.517 seconds - Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) "I was searching for a good suspension set-up today but although the rear is OK, but the front was still a problem. The front felt light everywhere and the choice of tyres at the moment is not so good. But after checks with the suspension technicians we will fix it for tomorrow."

David Salom: (18th - 2'05.582 seconds - Yamaha Spain) "It has been difficult because we had problems with the front tyres. The front suspension was not working so well, so we changed the spring and it was better. We need to sort out some things because at the point of starting to accelerate I can't do it the way I want to. I've improved my time from last year by two seconds, but I'm not happy because I'm 18th."