James Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda) proved that all the pre-race work in getting the qualifying set-up of his CBR1000RR optimised around Misano had paid dividends, taking the Superpole win and putting himself in the prime position for Sunday’s two 25-lap races. It was his first Superpole win since joining the Winston Ten Kate Honda Team this season. His time of 1’33.833 was the best time of any weekend official qualifying session, despite the hot and slippery track surface. Having qualified eighth in regulation, Toseland rode superbly to top the sheets and look on as rider after rider failed to match his peerless best. Joining Toseland on the front row will be Aussies Troy Corser, Andrew Pitt and Steve Martin.

Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda) had an opposite experience to Toseland, having spent much of his set-up time working with worn tyres, and finding his machine’s settings upset somewhat when he adopted fresh rubber, and attempted to set individual fast laps. He starts the race from the fifth row, having set 20th fastest time, missing out on Superpole qualification. Muggeridge’s artificially low grid position will be a major initial handicap on raceday but the team is confident that his race set-up should allow him to make up places throughout the race itself.

Ronald Ten Kate - Team Manager
“Quite a stunning lap from James. We haven’t seen him quite on the pace all weekend, even on race tyres. But after the Silverstone experience, where we only qualified 14th, we realised how important it is, especially during the hot conditions, to start at the front. We had a good strategy in free practice, to make the bike and James ready for Superpole. He made a truly super lap out of it, so I am looking forward to tomorrow. I know that James is in very good physical shape and this has been a nice boost in motivation to all of us. On the other side of the garage it is almost an opposite situation. Karl didn’t make Superpole, which is very strange. But in free practice before Superpole he showed that he had found his feet again, so I know he will race hard tomorrow and I am sure he will give 100% to bring in a strong result.”

James Toseland – Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider(Pole Position – Fastest lap time 1’33.833)

“It was important for us to set a fast lap time, and for me especially as I have some of my family here for this weekend. The Winston Ten Kate Honda bike is always fast and the team worked really well. I am very well prepared for tomorrow and need to make a good start. I’m happy to be on pole and I love the track here at Misano. It’s been three years since my last pole position, at Magny Cours. I’m looking forward to tomorrow but I know it will be hard work out there.”

Karl Muggeridge – Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider(20th position – Fastest lap time 1’35.864)

“Our plans all went pear-shaped this morning. We jumped from one bike to another bike, then jumped back again. Too many things to change and we ended up with no tyres as well. Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong so it’s going to be a tough race tomorrow, extra hot, and it’s not particularly easy to overtake here. But you can, and I am going to have to, at just about every corner. So we just have to concentrate on our settings for tomorrow in warm-up.”

Supersport

Kenan Sofuoglu (Winston Ten Kate Honda) recovered from a first day hiccup to set the 9th best time of the final qualifying session, and ensure that he starts the 23-lap World Supersport race at Misano from the first spot on the third row. His team-mate for the weekend, Arie Vos (Winston Ten Kate Honda), was 23rd fastest in combined times, having only shaved two tenths from his opening day best.

After a sometimes fraught and always steamy qualifying session, Sofuoglu moved into the top ten thanks to a change in his racing lines and small improvements in his machine settings. Vos was unable to make the expected level of improvement in his fastest single lap time after just missing the opportunity to go out with a softer rear tyre than he had used before.

Ronald Ten Kate - Team Manager
“On Kenan’s side there was quite a big improvement over yesterday, when the result was pretty much a disaster. Today things are going a lot better and we made some small adjustments to the bike to help him improve the times. He has stepped forward almost two seconds, which has allowed him to go ninth, and I am quite happy with that. He feels very comfortable now but it is a long race tomorrow for everyone. I feel a bit sorry for Arie, he did well yesterday but on day two we only improved a little bit with him. Towards the end we put in a softer tyre but we missed by a couple of seconds, so he missed a chance to go for a better time. That’s a pity because for sure the way we have seen him racing this year, he should be up a few rows closer to the front.”

Kenan Sofuoglu – Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider
(9th position – Fastest lap time 1’37.824)
“Today we had a good day and I improved my time by about two seconds, but I think we can still go about half a second better. In the warm-up tomorrow we will try to improve even more. Today I started to use the right lines, but yesterday was more difficult for us because most other people have tested here, and went fast right away. Now I have found my speed and I think tomorrow I can come in the top places. But the race is different, so we will see tomorrow. I think we found 50% in the bike and 50% in me today.”

Arie Vos – Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider
(23rd position – Fastest lap time 1’38.691)
“The problem with this circuit is that you have to push hard, but also not too hard. You have to also go easy in places, and I think I just tried too hard today. I did go a bit faster but the other guys made more progress. I’m not so happy with that, as I expected to be on the third row or so, but to be 23rd was a bit disappointing. It’s too bad for the boys in the team because they really worked hard, and I want to have success with them. It’s a long race, but I hope tomorrow I can make a good race.”