World Superbike 2006 - Round Three

Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra’s Troy Corser put his GSX-R1000 into provisional third place for Sunday’s fourth-round World Superbike Championship round at Monza in Italy.

Although the rain didn’t fall heavily in this afternoon’s timed qualifying session, it was enough to make the track slippery in places and make the riders exercise caution. The morning untimed session had taken place in the dry, but the heavy cloud cover threatened rain later in the day. When timed qualifying began, all the riders tried to get out on the track and put in a fast time before the light drizzle turned to rain and the first 10 minutes saw heavy traffic.

Most of the fast times were set in this period, with reigning champion Corser posting a lap of 1:47.591 - the third quickest. Corser’s team mate Yukio Kagayama’s right hand was giving him problems in the three Monza chicanes and that, together with the rain in the afternoon, was enough to prevent him from pushing hard. He finished with the 14th fastest time as Fabien had a disappointing day and could only manage 26th best time of the day.

Troy Corser - 3rd, 1:47.591:
“The conditions this afternoon were pretty tricky and a lot depended on how brave you wanted to be on a damp track! We changed the set-up from the morning and the lap times came pretty comfortably in the afternoon, but there was no point risking anything and crashing, so I just took it fairly steadily. When the afternoon qualifying began we all had the same idea - to get out quickly and put in a fast lap. This track is the kind of place where you need to find another fast rider so that you can pull each other along, but throughout the session I couldn’t find anybody to do that with me. “

Yukio Kagayama - 14th, 1:48.828:
“I don’t have much to say really because I didn’t push hard at all today. My right hand is still sore from the crash in Valencia and it was difficult for me to change direction in the chicanes. The slightly wet conditions made it hard for all of us and I didn't want another crash so I rode steadily.”

Fabien Foret - 26th, 1:50.711:
“I am very disappointed with myself today and I just couldn’t relax on the bike in the afternoon when it was wet some of the time. The problem was that it wasn’t wet all the time, but it was difficult to know how hard to push and where. I would like to forget about today and start afresh tomorrow when I hope it will be dry.