World SBK Results from day one at Phillip Island

Day One

Carlos Checa is on provisional pole position after a bruising opening qualifying session at Phillip Island for the opening round of the 2010 Yamaha Superbike World Championship.

The veteran guided his Ducati to the top with a best lap of 1:32.155, although the outing wasn’t all smooth sailing for the Spaniard when he went down as the track temperature reached a massive 51 degrees.

Checa’s crash was relatively harmless, but the main pyrotechnics came from British duo James Toseland (Yamaha) and Shane Byrne (Ducati), who were both savagely highsided from their machines in the same spot at Turn 11. Toseland has a bruised left wrist after his ordeal, but he and Byrne will both be back in action for final qualifying tomorrow.

But today belonged to a resurgent Checa, with the former 500cc GP winner continuing to show strong form on the privateer Althea Ducati after parting ways with the factory Honda equip of 2009.

“I’m satisfied with my effort today,” said Checa. “We have to remember the race will probably produce different weather conditions, but this a very good starting point.

“I would like to thank my team for all its efforts, and I hope “Shakey’ (Byrne) will be fine tomorrow to fight for a good result in qualifying and Superpole”.

Other leading lights to crash in the 60-minute session included Australian star Troy Corser (BMW) and Italy’s Max Biaggi (Aprilia).

Biaggi’s countryman Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) was the second fastest, vaulting up nine spots from this morning’s opening practice session, with the top five completed by the ultra-consistent Leon Haslam (Suzuki), Byrne and reigning world No. 2 Noriyuki Haga (Ducati).

Less than one-second separated the top 10 riders, with Australian Chris Vermeulen (Kawasaki) just outside that window in 12th spot, ahead of his three countrymen – Corser in 16th, Andrew Pitt (BMW) in 17th and Josh Brookes (Honda) in 22nd.

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The top 16 riders after tomorrow’s second qualifying session will contest the three-stage Superpole shootout to determine final grid positions for Sunday’s two 22-lap races.

Vermeulen continues to show gradual improvement in every outing on the factory Kawasaki, with his main focus still on fine-tuning his suspension and chassis settings.

“We made some small changes to the bike today and it made a difference,” said Vermeulen. “Today was actually quite difficult to ride, with some wind and the track temperature getting up, which made things a little slippery.

“The edges of the tyres get pretty greasy in those situations, so it’s easy just to push a little bit too hard and go down the road, as we’ve seen today with the number of crashes. Although these things have traction control, they can still throw you down the road!

“But as far as we’re concerned, the bike is becoming more consistent and we’re aiming to improve again tomorrow – but I hope the conditions are a little cooler.”

While Vermeulen’s stocks continue to improve, Corser, a seven-time winner at Phillip Island, is still struggling to find consistent grip on his powerful factory BMW.

“We had some problems with the grip and with the position of the bike in the first session,” said Corser. “We basically changed the settings of the rear shock and the front fork. We also changed the clutch to something we used last year.

“My confidence was better immediately. Still, we lacked grip at the beginning of the second session. Again, we changed the shock setting. The bike then felt easier to control and the grip was better. At the end of qualifying we fitted new race tyres to the bike. I had more grip immediately. I just arrived a little too fast in Turn 10 and lost both front and rear at the same time.”

In world supersport, Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki) completed the opening day on top, and then it was only 0.310secs back to Michele Pirro (Honda) in fifth position.
The logjam also included Eugene Laverty (Honda) in second, ahead of Kenan Sofuoglu (Honda) and Katsuaki Fujiwara (Kawasaki).

—  Ducati Report

The World Superbike Championship officially got underway at Phillip Island today and, for the Ducati Xerox team and riders Noriyuki Haga and Michel Fabrizio, results of the first qualifying session were very positive, Fabrizio propelling himself to second place on the timesheets and Haga concluding in fifth.

After the very encouraging results of the recent tests held here last weekend, Michel closing fastest and Noriyuki in sixth, the team returned to work today in a motivated and enthusiastic frame of mind.

In the early afternoon the Superbike riders took to the tracks for the first free practice session. Faced with hotter track temperatures (circa 45°C) compared to those of last week’s test, both Noriyuki and Michel continued to work on the set-up of their Ducati 1198 machines. Both riders concentrated on tyre durability, trying to find the best set-up on used tyres. Michel was victim of a crash mid-session caused by an unexpected lack of grip at the front on entry into a corner, the asphalt was extremely slippery due to the heat. Having lost valuable time, the Italian rider exited on his second bike but was unfortunately unable to record a very fast lap, closing the session in 11th. Noriyuki made his fastest lap near the start of the session, closing in seventh place, but confident.

Later on, in the first qualifying session, the two factory riders significantly improved on their times , lapping consistently fast and towards the end of the session, on soft compounds, they both registered times that left them both happy and in the top five. Noteworthy performances also came from Carlos Checa and Shane “Shakey” Byrne (Althea Racing), they too riding the 1198, who finished the session in first and fourth placed respectively.

Michel Fabrizio 1m32.1s
“We tried different tyre solutions this morning and various setting solutions in agreement with my engineer. I had a fall, losing the front, but without causing myself, or my bike, too much damage fortunately. Then in the qualifying session we found a good direction with the tyre solution that may well be the one to choose for the race; the results were quite encouraging. During my fast lap I lost a couple of tenths through the last corner but I’m happy; we’ve worked well and I’m satisfied with the results. We have a good race pace but a lot will depend on Sunday’s weather.”

Noriyuki Haga 1m32.7s
“We’ve tested the different rear tyres that Pirelli make available to us this weekend but we are still undecided as to which will have the best durability in these hot conditions. Tomorrow we’ll try a different solution for the setting but overall I’m happy. The lap times have been consistent but today was very hot and although I felt I could have pushed a little more, I didn’t want to risk it, also because I saw that several riders crashed.”

—  Althea Ducati

After two intense winter test sessions in Portimao and Valencia, the Althea racing team faces one last two-day test session in Phillip Island before the season starts. Carlos Checa and Shakey Byrne declared themselves ready to take their Ducati 1098R into competitive action this weekend.

A dry track and good weather conditions for the first day of official testing in Phillip Island. During morning free practice both Althea team riders made the best use of their recent testing experiences on this track. Byrne reached third place (1’33”121) while Checa obtained the fifth position (1’33”218).

In afternoon qualifying session, both riders remained always in the first positions of the time chart. Near the end of the session with a fantastic lap Carlos Checa scored the provisional pole position (1’32”155). Unfortunately, he crashed a few minutes later, but he was able to restart with his second bike and end the qualifications.

Shakey also crashed at the end of the session during his last fast lap. It was a vicious crash and he was immediately transferred to the circuit’s medical center. Fortunately, the doctors did not find any injuries or damage. The English rider reached fourth place (1’32”635) and the first provisional front row. Final qualifying and then Superpole qualifying takes place tomorrow, Saturday 26th, before Sunday’s two 22-lap Superbike races.

Carlos Checa :”I’m really satisfied with today’s test. I worked very well with my technicians and we tested some different tires and settings. It’s always a good result for our team to reach the provisional pole position. Nevertheless, we have to remember that the race will be on Sunday and that probably we’ll have different weather conditions with colder temperature, but this a very good starting point. I would like to thank all the people in my team, and particularly the general manager Genesio Bevilacqua who was able to create such a competitive team. I hope Shakey will be all right tomorrow to fight for a good result during tomorrow’s qualifications and Superpole”.

Shane Byrne :”I had a big high side during my last fast lap while trying to improve my best lap time. I landed straight on my back and at the moment I’m experiencing a lot of pain. Hopefully tonight I’ll be able to rest and feel better tomorrow. I’m disappointed because the feeling with the bike was very good and without crashing I probably could have bettered my position. Now it’s important that I rest in order to be ready for tomorrow qualifying session and Superpole”.

Genesio Bevilacqua – General manager :” We are extremely pleased with Checa’s provisional pole position. He found a good setting that we hope to use also for the race. Tomorrow we’ll probably have different temperatures, but during our winter test sessions we worked with a lot of different temperatures, so I’m confident that also tomorrow we’ll be ready to compete for top positions. Shakey had a bad high side today but I know he’s a fighter, and tomorrow for sure he’ll try his best to contend for first places”.

—  Yamaha Report

Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike riders Cal Crutchlow and James Toseland made a purposeful start to the first race weekend of the season today at the Phillip Island circuit. The riders faced a day of serious heat with track temperatures hitting 45°C. Having now solved the chatter issues that dominated the test last week, both Crutchlow and Toseland spent both the practice and qualifying sessions exploring the limits of the 2010 bike. With significant power increases across the rev range through off-season engine development, this was the first real opportunity for the riders to experience the changes and work on the set up of their bikes in advance of race day.

The high track temperatures drastically reduced grip on the track surface, causing Toseland to lose the back end of his R1 in turn 11, becoming one of seven riders to fall in the session. He was unhurt and came back out on his second bike.

One of the developments of the bike for 2010 include a lighter carbon fuel tank, this was changed to the heavier 2009 tank for today’s sessions, seeming to help eliminate the chatter issue.

Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team (10th 1’33.038)
“I think we’ve worked hard and got rid of the chatter problem. The 2009 parts that we’ve used seem to have helped us in that way. The tank and the seat unit seemed to have stopped the chatter now. If you look at our times, although we’re not initially fastest straight away we’ve got consistency across the sessions. We’ve got some more areas to work on and I’m looking forward to making the bike even better tomorrow. We’ve got a good direction to work in, it was just a little unfortunate that the track temperature was so hot today. Even so we were still doing the same times as Ben’s race pace from last year. Hopefully it will cool off over the next couple of days and work better for us.”

James Toseland, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team (13th 1’33.422)
“Unfortunately had a big crash today coming out of the penultimate corner which didn’t help things. I did go back out on the other bike but had a pain in my hand so came in as I wanted to make sure it was ok. We’re definitely making improvements, we’ve just had a lot to do in one day to work through the package. We’re only a bit over a second off pole now so we’ll focus down and keep moving forward tomorrow.”

Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team Manager
“Today we rode two practice sessions without chattering which is a very good improvement, so now the riders have to find the limits of the 2010 bike. Last weekend they couldn’t as the chatter held them back. Looking at this as the first day I think we’ve improved quite a lot. Unfortunately James crashed but he is fine, so we will see what they can both do tomorrow.”

—  BMW Report

An unlucky start to the 2010 season for Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport: In total, Ruben Xaus (ESP) was only able to complete ten laps today as he fell off his BMW S 1000 RR three times. Like most of the riders, Troy Corser (AUS) struggled with the grip level during both the Free Practice and the Qualifying Practice 1 session. Troy crashed shortly before the end of today’s Qualifying Practice session. Neither Troy nor Ruben suffered any major injuries. While Troy finished the first Qualifying Practice session of the year in 16th position, Ruben made it to 19th overall.

Troy Corser:
Bike: BMW S 1000 RR
Fastest lap Free Practice: 1:34.008 min / Fastest lap Qualifying Practice: 1:33.512 min
“We had some problems with the grip and with the position of the bike in the first session. We basically changed the settings of the rear shock and the front fork. We also changed the clutch to something we used last year. My confidence was better immediately. Still, we lacked grip at the beginning of the second session. Again, we changed the shock setting. The bike then felt easier to control and the grip was better. At the end of the Qualifying Practice we fitted new race tyres to the bike. I had more grip immediately. I just arrived a little too fast in turn 10 and lost both front and rear at the same time.”

Ruben Xaus:
Bike: BMW S 1000 RR
Fastest lap Free Practice: 1:33.692 min / Fastest lap Qualifying Practice 1: 1:33.984 min
“Today simply was not my day. During last week’s testing we completed nearly 150 laps without any major issues and today I crashed three times. Usually you crash when you push to the limit, but I did not risk anything when I fell off. I braked at the same points as before. We now have to look into the data and see what we can find out. However, I feel really sorry for the team.”

Davide Tardozzi (BMW Motorrad Motorsport Team Manager):
“It is obviously difficult to see something positive on a day you have four crashes. However, Troy crashed on his quickest lap during today’s Qualifying Practice. He was on to finish in the top eight. Ruben crashed right at the start of both sessions. At that time he was fifth and sixth respectively. It is good that the riders are confident with the sitting on the bike. We trust in them.”

—  Reitwagen BMW

Finally, the waiting is over and today saw the first practice and qualifying for this year’s Superbike World Championship. In what is, without a doubt, the most hotly-contested year in the championship’s history, team Reitwagen BMW riders Andrew Pitt and Roland Resch acquitted themselves very well, with Andrew finishing 17th. Considering the stock nature of his bike, today’s result was nothing short of a surprise to many in the paddock and it gives the whole team great optimism about the season ahead. Spaniard Carlos Checa (Ducati) topped the standings in this afternoon’s first qualifying, with Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) second and Leon Haslam (Suzuki) third.

Andrew – 17th, 1:33.940
„Obviously there’s a lot of work to do, but we are a new team, with a new bike and we are working from scratch, unlike any other team in the paddock I think. We are all on a very steep learning curve and when you get problems, like we did today, it holds up progress. We had shifter and other electronics problems and we had to work our way through different ideas and solutions, but it has all been very positive.
I was on a hot lap when Troy (Corser) crashed right in front of me. Without that distraction, I think I definitely would have sneaked into the top fifteen and that would have been pretty amazing for our very first qualifying.”

Roland – 20th, 1:34.065
“I feel very positive about today because we are very close to the BMW factory boys and considering our bike is so standard, that is pretty surprising. I lost a lot of track time today because of problems with the quickshifter and the rear brake and that was valuable time lost. We need as much track time as possible to learn about our bike and then put ideas into action. The track felt more slippery today, because of the heat, and that’s probably what helped cause many of the crashes. Also, the wind was from the back this afternoon and I had to be more careful going into the turns, as it would’ve been very easy to go in too hot. In fact, I did overshoot turn two this afternoon and went into the gravel trap fairly fast, but fortunately I managed to keep the bike upright and stop before hitting the tyre walls. It was a tricky moment, but at least the bike didn’t fall and I was able to get back on the track and ride back OK.”

—  Suzuki Report

Team Suzuki Alstare rider Leon Haslam didn’t chase lap times in today’s first qualifying session for the World Superbike Championship at Phillip Island in Australia, but took the third fastest lap of the day.

The young Briton worked all day trying to find a good race set-up and did not even use any soft tyres during the timed session this afternoon, when his best lap was set on race rubber.

His team mate Sylvain Guintoli continued to improve his understanding of his GSX-R1000 Suzuki and finished qualifying with the eighth quickest time.

Spaniard Carlos Checa (Ducati) posted the fastest time in qualifying, with Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) second.

Leon Haslam – 3rd, 1:32.373:  “I am really happy with today because we are well on the way to finding a good set-up for the race on Sunday. We tried all three different tyres and now we have good ideas about which one we will use depending on the conditions. I didn’t even use a soft tyre this afternoon and my fastest lap was done on ordinary race rubber.

“The differing temperatures have given us different challenges, but I’m pretty confident about the bike’s set-up, unless of course it rains and then we’ll all be in trouble. The track felt a bit slippery and greasy today, because of the hotter temperatures, and the wind was a bit of a problem in turns 1 and 2 and sector 4, but it was the same for everybody and we just had to cope with it. No problems really today, except that I heard from home this morning that my 19 year-old dog had died. He’s had a good, long life, but he will be missed.”

Sylvain Guintoli – 8th, 1:32.902: “We’ve made a good step forward today – maybe part of it was down to me using my right hand better – and I am really loving riding the bike. We tried many different settings and also did a lot of work on trying to improve the tyre life and, like Leon, I did my best lap on normal race rubber.

“At the moment, I am struggling a bit finding problems with the bike and everything is going very well. That’s also down to the hard work put in by the whole team and we are feeling good about our prospects on Sunday. First aim tomorrow morning is getting into Superpole. After that, we’ll see what happens.”

—  Ten Kate

Jonathan Rea set the seventh fastest time in this afternoon’s qualifying session at Phillip Island in Australia ahead of Sunday’s opening round of the 2010 World Superbike championship.

The 23-year-old from Northern Ireland cited bumps in the first and last turns of the 4.445km circuit as his main barriers in setting a faster lap time in today’s hour-long session, but is confident of improvement tomorrow.

Rea’s Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team-mate, Max Neukirchner, endured a frustrating afternoon, setting the 18th fastest time as Spain’s Carlos Checa grabbed the provisional pole position slot with a time just 0.007s ahead of Michel Fabrizio.

Jonathan Rea – P7, 1’32.884s
It’s difficult to know where the problems are coming from, but at least we have two sessions tomorrow to try to find the source. I’m struggling to pull the pin for an entire lap and the main problems are in the first and last corners, where the bumps are really unsettling the bike. The bits in between those two corners aren’t too bad, but it’s been hard work today. I think we know which tyre we’re going to use in the race, but we definitely need more time on the bike before we’re ready for Sunday.

Max Neukirchner – P18, 1’33.960s
It’s really frustrating, because we made some good progress this morning, using old tyres. As soon as we put a new one in this afternoon, it was spinning all the way through the faster turns and making the bike shudder in other parts of the circuit. Exactly the same thing happened with the second new tyre we put in, but we’re not sure exactly where the problem is. I know I can go faster because I was during the test last weekend, so we’ve got some work to get through tomorrow I think.

Ronald ten Kate – team manager
It’s been hard work to push the right buttons here at Phillip Island. With Jonathan we are moving forward with his race pace but struggling to get the most out of a fresh tyre. We’re a little more puzzled on Max’s side of the garage since his problems seem to be down to issues with the tyres. I think it’ll be a long night, but we’re determined to bring something fresh tomorrow morning.

Less than three tenths of a second separated the top five riders after this afternoon’s opening qualifying session for this weekend’s first round 2010 World Supersport championship race at Phillip Island in Australia.

Hannspree Ten Kate Honda rider, Kenan Sofuoglu, set the third fastest time in this afternoon’s 45-minute session, which took place in temperatures of more than 30 degrees with a track temperature of almost 50 degrees. The Turkish rider was just 0.054s behind provisional pole sitter, Joan Lascorz.

Sofuoglu’s new team-mate for 2010, Michele Pirro, was fifth fastest today, his debut competitive outing for the Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team. The 23-year-old Italian was less than two tenths behind his more experienced team-mate and only three tenths away from Lascorz’s time.

Kenan Sofuoglu – P3, 1’34.683s
I am actually very disappointed because it seems that we have only two tyre options and we are experiencing problems with both. We have a pretty good set-up to do a fast lap, but we have had to concentrate today’s time on trying to make the tyres last. I know I can probably go 0.5s faster but there is no point going for that. We don’t have many ideas for a solution right now, but we will all sit down later and try to come up with some ideas for tomorrow.

Michele Pirro – P5, 1’34.918s
The times are very close so I am not so unhappy with my performance today. The bike is not perfect, however, and we have worked hard to find the right set-up and tyre choice for the race on Sunday. Tomorrow we will try some different ideas to get the tyre to work better and I will try very hard for a front row starting position.

Ronald ten Kate – team manager
We have spent a lot of time today trying to find a good race set-up. Although we’re not far off, there is still a lot more to come. We have both riders fully up there and we’re confident that things will improve both tomorrow and on Sunday.

— Triumph Report

Team ParkinGO Triumph BE1 Racing kicked off the season with two practice sessions which determined the provisional starting grid of round 1 of World Supersport. The team did improve considerably compared to this week’s testing as Chaz Davies set the sixth fastest time, just three tenths behind the pole position. Sebastien Charpentier finished ninth and adapted the bike to his riding style while Jason Di Salvo found a better feeling with the track improving his position compared to the test. The only bad piece of news was a banal failure of communication between the Spanish and international Federations due to an erroneus license number which prevented David Salom from racing today.
The bike livery that the “Four Musketeers” will be racing on this season was also unveiled on this occasion.

CHAZ DAVIES | Triumph Daytona 675 | 6th in 1’34.939: “I improved my performance by over half a second compared to the test in the third section but I can do better. We’re trying to get more grip in that section of the track and hopefully finish in row one”.

SEBASTIEN CHARPENTIER | Triumph Daytona 675 | 9th in 1’36.039: “I tried out different cycle part solutions today as well. I’m starting to know the bike better. I think I’m on the right path and I’m confident I can further improve tomorrow”.

JASON DI SALVO | Triumph Daytona 675 | 10th in 1’36.208: “I did very well in the first lap right away and finished seventh. We then tried to push a little bit more but that setup solution didn’t help us improve although we made a tremendous amount of progress since the test. My goal for tomorrow is to get a better starting position”.