WSB : Yamaha men happy with Assen opener
Round: 9 - Netherlands
Circuit: Assen
Date: 2 September 2005
Temp: 23ºC
Weather: Sunny

Yamaha Motor Italia riders Andrew Pitt and Noriyuki Haga prepared for Sunday's two Superbike World Championship races at Assen, The Netherlands, with a strong showing on the first day of practice.

After ending the morning's free practice in first and third place, the R1 riders ended the afternoon's qualifying session with Pitt eighth fastest and Haga in 11th, despite both men working towards finding a good race setting rather than seeking the fastest outright lap time.

Australian Pitt was in the top three of the time sheets for the majority of the session, only to be shuffled back late on. Having opted to use his softer qualifying tyre to set his fastest lap early in the one hour session, the 29-year-old used the remainder of the session to work on race settings.

Haga, a race winner at the last two rounds, once again decided to concentrate on race settings and did not use a qualifying tyre in today's sessions. Despite this, the Japanese ace headed the timesheets for the first 20 minutes and ended the day 11th, 1.4 seconds from pole sitter James Toseland (Ducati). Haga was happy with his day's work and is likely to test an evolution of the R1 engine tomorrow.

Yamaha Motor France riders Sebastien Gimbert and Norick Abe endured contrasting days at Assen. Gimbert showed a return to his best form to end the day in 14th. The Frenchman has suffered a dip in form since a mid-season injury but full fitness and some developments to the front braking system on his R1 saw him regain confidence and improve his pace. Abe, however, was left scratching his head at a lack of rear end grip that saw him finish the day down in 21st position.

Final qualifying takes place tomorrow (Saturday) morning, with the grid positions for Sunday's races decided in the afternoon's superpole session.

Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia)
"We thought that there was a chance of rain during the session so we used the qualifier right at the beginning. It wasn't a bad lap but the qualifier didn't seem to give that much improvement over the race tyres we used in the morning. In the end the rain didn't come so we spent the rest of the hour working on race set-up. In that respect it's good. We're able to run consistent times on the race tyre and I'm feeling good about the race on Sunday. I just hope that tomorrow we can get a better lap in on the qualifier."

Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia)
"Today I worked only on the race settings and did not use the qualifying tyre. Basically the bike is already good and we are trying things to make a better set-up. Tomorrow we also have some new parts to try which should give more performance."

Massimo Meregalli (Yamaha Motor Italia - Team Coordinator) "Although our positions today are not so special I think that we are making good preparations for the race. Both riders were very fast in the morning session but in qualifying I think Andrew chose to use his soft tyre too early while Noriyuki decided not to use a qualifier and concentrate on the race setting. He has already decided on the race tyre and I am sure that we will make further progress tomorrow."

Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France)
"I am very happy because we found a good solution with the braking of the bike. We tried some things with the front brake and now the stability under braking is much better. This is good for the confidence and I was able to put in some good laps.

Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France)
"Today I have a problem with no rear grip. Even on the qualifying tyre we have wheelspin everywhere. Tonight we must work to find a solution and make the superpole qualifying."

Yamaha Motor Germany rider Broc Parkes enjoyed one of his best performances of the season today, ending the opening qualifying session on the provisional front row for Sunday's supersport race at Assen.

The 23-year-old Australian posted a best lap time of 2:09.662 around the long and technical Dutch circuit, less than a second behind championship leader Sebastien Charpentier (Honda), who set the day's best time, a 2:08.683.

Parkes' team-mate Kevin Curtain found himself in the unusual position of being outqualified by his younger countryman and ended the day sixth on the timesheets, taking his YZF-R6 around the circuit in 2:09.837 despite being held up by slower riders on each of his 'flying' laps.

Grid positions for Sunday's race will be determined during tomorrow's second 45-minute timed practice.

Broc Parkes
"I'm feeling really good this weekend. I've been training real hard in the month since Brands Hatch and have lost three or four kilos. The bike's working pretty good and although I'm still a second off Charpentier we should be able to go a bit quicker tomorrow."

Kevin Curtain
"I had a lot of problems with traffic today and I don't think I managed to get a clean lap in. We can also find some improvements with the handling of the bike. We need to improve the way that the bike behaves going into the corners. We'll work on something overnight but I think we already know the way to go and I'm confident that I can get further up in second qualifying."