World Superbike rookie American has put Yamaha and Pirelli in the record books by breaking an eighteen-year old consecutive Superpole record, set in 1991 by fellow Texan Doug Polen on a Ducati 888 Superbike and Dunlop tyres. The new Superpole format has worked for the very consistent Spies who used his Pirelli slicks and qualifiers in the new three-session Superpole format to take the front spot on the grid in the first seven races of the 2009 season.
With a time of 1’48.344, Spies was just 0.15 seconds off the Best Lap time of HANNspree Ten Kate rider Carlos Checa time from 2008. His chances of lowering that time were interrupted by an approaching storm, which began to wet the track towards the end of the third 12-minute session. Spies was followed by Carlos Checa, whose double race win last year proved that he is comfortable at Miller Motorsports racetrack. Ten Kate Honda teammate Ryuichi Kiyonari and Ducati Xerox’s Michel Fabrizio complete the front row of the grid going into tomorrow’s Superpole.
This is Pirelli’s second time racing at the newly constructed Miller Motorsports Park, which was confirmed today by representatives from the track and the organizer as a destination for the Superbike and Supersport World Championships for some years to come. The action tomorrow will also feature the Supersport class which was not present during the 2008 United States round.
It was Spanish rider Joan Lascorz who took Kawasaki’s first Supersport pole position of the season going into tomorrow’s race.
For the Miller race, Pirelli identified the qualifying tyres with yellow adhesive logos on the sidewalls, in lieu of the new design which was introduced at Monza due the tyres needing to be container shipped long before the new design was produced. The yellow-striped and white “Long P” logo will be featured again at the 8th round of the championship at the San Marino track of Misano.
| SBK Superpole
1 Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF R1 1’48.344 |
SS QP2
1 Lascorz J. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1’51.749 |
— Yamaha Report
TBC
— Suzuki Report
TBC
— Ducati Report
TBC
— Ten Kate Report
TBC
— Stiggy Report
TBC
— BMW Report
TBC
— Triumph Report
Gianluca Nannelli put on a great performance to take the first WSS front row ever for Triumph. The Italian finished today’s qualifying practice in fourth place as he scored a great result for both team ParkinGO Triumph BE1 Racing and the Triumph brand. Nannelli confirmed his great form as he was constantly fast throughout the entire day. Garry McCoy did well too as he qualified seventh on the starting grid. The Australian rider set a similar time to his teammate and is confident for tomorrow’s race.
GIANLUCA NANNELLI | Triumph Daytona 675 | 4th in 1’52.659: “I really enjoyed myself today as everything went smoothly like last weekend. I will start from an excellent position and I hope to perform at my best as I did today. In the race simulation runs we’ve conducted, we were very fast especially with worn out tyres which could prove to be decisive in the second part of the race tomorrow.”.
GARRY McCOY | Triumph Daytona 675 | 7th in 1’52.794: “We’ve made some changes since yesterday as far as bike setup is concerned and we nailed them. In fact, in the afternoon session I replicated this morning’s time, when I was fifth. Unfortunately, I made some small mistakes but the starting position is still very good and I hope to get in the leading pack from the beginning. However, the gap between the riders is very small and tomorrow we’ll have a very hard-fought race until the end”.
GIULIANO ROVELLI – TEAM MANAGER: “In the last couple of races we found equlibrium as we needed a few running-in rounds because we changed a lot since last season. I really have to congratulate Gianluca Nannelli who put on a great performance and captured a great front row position. I also would like to thank the entire team and our engineer Dani Corradini who always prepares high performant engines within the WSS regulations”.
