WSB : First two rows for Yamaha Motor Italia duo
Round: 9 - Netherlands
Circuit: Assen
Date: 3 September 2005
Temp: 24ºC
Weather: Sunny

Noriyuki Haga rode a sensational superpole lap to grab front row starts for tomorrow's two-race round nine of the Superbike World Championship at Assen, in the Netherlands.

The Yamaha Motor Italia ace rode a determined lap to set a weekend's best time of 2:05.078, improving his position from 11th in regular qualifying to fourth on the final grid, despite losing time through several big slides. The Japanese rider will now work with his team technicians to refine the machine's suspension settings for the 16 lap races.

Team-mate Andrew Pitt retained his sixth position from regular qualifying with a 2:05.304. The smooth lap was marginally quicker than his previous best of the weekend, although the Australian was a little disappointed to miss out on a front row start.

Yamaha Motor France rider Norick Abe climbed into the top 16 to make superpole, ending the session in 15th place. Team-mate Sebastien Gimbert was on the superpole bubble and will start 17th.

Pitt's fellow Australian Chris Vermeulen (Honda) set pole position with a stunning 2:04.179 lap time.

Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia)
"We improved the bike this afternoon but I still had many big slides and we have not yet found the perfect suspension setting for tomorrow's race. Tonight we will make some more changes and I hope this can make the feeling with the bike better. But it is good to be on the front row. I like the Assen circuit and I will be trying as hard as I can to take the win tomorrow."

Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia)
"Superpole was ok but I am a little disappointed not to improve my position. I'd have liked to have got into the high 2:04s but I didn't and I'd have liked to have got onto the front row, but I didn't. But overall it's ok. We're consistently up there on race tyres and I think that we can get some good results in the races."

Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France)
"A so-so day. We made the grip a little better but still we need more improvement. I'm happy to make superpole but I hope we can find a solution tomorrow."

Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France)
"I am a bit disappointed not to make superpole but the race setting is not so bad, so I am looking forward to tomorrow."

Massimo Meregalli (Yamaha Motor Italia - Team Coordinator)
"With our riders on the front two rows we are quite happy. Both riders have been very consistent this weekend and we are optimistic for the race. We're also happy that the new parts we've tried out seem to be working well and it looks like the performance on the track confirms what the dyno told us. We now wait to see what tomorrow's race will bring."

Kevin Curtain slashed almost a second from his best lap of the weekend to start tomorrow's ninth round of the Supersport World Championship from the front row of the grid.

The multiple Australian champion's Yamaha Motor Germany squad worked hard overnight to cure the handling problems which blighted his qualifying session yesterday, allowing the 39-year-old to take his YZF-R6 around the long Dutch circuit in a time of 2:8.890, less than a second behind championship leader Sebastien Charpentier's pole position time.

But while Curtain was able to improve from his overnight sixth place, there was a reversal of fortunes for his team-mate Broc Parkes. The 23-year-old had ended the opening day in fourth but found himself shuffled back to 10th place on tomorrow's grid despite improving his time slightly from Friday. Parkes' best of 2:9.544 was a tenth of a second faster than his day one time, with a mistake on his final lap denying him the chance to improve further. The Australian was up on his best time at the first intermediate split, only to slide out uninjured mid way through the lap.

Kevin Curtain
"We've got the bike pretty much as good as we can, so I just did what I normally do: ride it as hard as I can and try to hold it together. I'm glad to be on the front row although it was a bit touch and go at the end. I came around for a final fast lap, only to find Broc riding out of the gravel and a bunch of other riders cruising past with their hands up. After that it was too late to put in another fast one, but thankfully I was able to hold onto the front row."

Broc Parkes
"I'm a bit disappointed to be starting on the third row. It was a difficult session with two stoppages and that made it hard to get a good rhythm. At the end I just lost the front and went down, I don't really know why - maybe it was some oil."