adrinalinjunkie
02-22-2008, 04:37 PM
I love it! Almost a second fasster than Haga and Bayliss....he was flying!!
Corser grabs 41st Superbike career pole in Qatar
Update: February 22, 2008, 17:00 PM ET
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TIMES: World Superbike Superpole (http://www.superbike.it/pubb_EN/news_ext.php?id=2072)
Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia) powered to the 41st pole position of his career in the opening round of the 2008 HANNspree Superbike World Championship at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar but he had to work hard to hold off the challenge of Ruben Xaus and Max Biaggi, second and third respectively. Corser's time of 1'58.053 was four-tenths of a second quicker than the circuit's best lap, which the 36-year-old Australian set for Yamaha last year. Xaus and Biaggi, both on Ducati 1098 RS08 machines from the private Sterilgarda Go Eleven squad, were heading for a sensational 1-2 before Corser put in his quick lap. Alongside them on the grid for the two races tomorrow will be Alstare Suzuki's young German rider Max Neukirchner.
"I really like this track and the Yamaha seems to work well round here" declared Corser."Last year was a good result but now I feel more relaxed and at ease with the team. I've got to thank all the guys, they worked really hard in the tests which helped us a lot but now I've got to keep my head down and be consistent. We actually struggled a bit in the last free practice after making a few small changes but we went back to we know what works well and hopefully now we can go for the win tomorrow".
"The team is working very well, I was here testing and was really focused on this race" said Xaus. "The bike worked perfect, the team is incredible, Max Biaggi next to me has given me really more motivation and also more focus so what can I say? Second and third and front row for the team is fantastic!"
"I don't know if the factory is happy or not but we made an amazing job to be second and third" said Biaggi. "We have a kind of OK set-up for tomorrow, it all depends on the conditions. I more or less made an endurance run for the tyre and I know what it is doing. We will see tomorrow but it looks like it's going to be tough here as always".
"Today was not so bad for us, I was not testing here unlike my team-mates and I think we have now a good set-up" said Neukirchner. "For one lap we are really fast but I think we must try and do a good race to score some points tomorrow".
Lorenzo Lanzi (RG Team) will line up on the outside of the second row in fifth place on another Ducati 1098 customer machine, a fraction ahead of Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB). Troy Bayliss could only manage seventh on the factory Ducati Xerox 1098, ahead of Yukio Kagayama (Alstare Suzuki) and Carlos Checa (HANNspree Ten Kate Honda), taking part in his first-ever Superpole, while Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) rounded out the top 10.
World Supersport
Frenchman Fabien Foret (Yamaha World Supersport) continued his impressive start to the weekend as he notched up the first pole position of the year at Losail on his YZF-R6 machine. Foret, WSS champion in 2002, knocked a tenth of a second off the circuit's best lap to record a time of 2'01.928. He will be joined on the front row of the grid by Craig Jones on the Parkalgar Honda CBR600RR, the British rider looking promising for this new Portuguese-backed team. Two more Hondas are alongside, the Intermoto Czech version of Matthieu Lagrive and the HANNspree Ten Kate version of BSB sensation Jonathan Rea. 2007 runner-up Broc Parkes was fifth quickest on the other Yamaha World Supersport machine, while Triumph had an encouraging debut with Australian veteran Garry McCoy powering the 675cc triple machine to seventh place ahead of another Triumph of Italian Ivan Clementi.
Alfa Romeo Superpole Award
Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB) is the first winner in the ALFA 159 SUPERPOLE AWARD contest, which has been launched at this weekend's opening round in Qatar. The prize, an Alfa Romeo 159 3.2 Sportwagon Ti, will be awarded at the end of the season to the rider in the Superbike World Championship who has totaled the highest number of Superpoles.
Losail 5.380 m
SBK
22
Superbike - Qualifying Practices + Superpole
Losail, 21-22-23 February 2008
No. Rider Nat Team Bike Sess. 1 Sess. 2Laps Superpole Time Gap Avg
1 11 T. CORSER AUS Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Yamaha YZF-R1 1'59.627 1'58.560 34 1'58.053 1'58.053 164,062
2 111 R. XAUS ESP Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati 1098 RS 08 2'00.695 1'59.940 33 1'58.689 1'58.689 0.636 163,183
3 3 M.BIAGGI ITA Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati 1098 RS 08 2'00.744 1'59.435 37 1'58.767 1'58.767 0.714 163,076
4 76 M.NEUKIRCHNER GER Team Alstare Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R1000 2'00.904 1'58.990 38 1'58.964 1'58.964 0.911 162,806
5 57 L. LANZI ITA R.G. Team Ducati 1098 RS 08 2'00.724 1'59.337 37 1'58.975 1'58.975 0.922 162,791
6 41 N. HAGA JPN Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Yamaha YZF-R1 2'00.476 1'59.173 31 1'59.017 1'59.017 0.964 162,733
7 21 T. BAYLISS AUS Ducati Xerox Team Ducati 1098 F08 1'59.853 1'58.829 35 1'59.224 1'59.224 1.171 162,451
8 34 Y. KAGAYAMA JPN Team Suzuki Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 2'00.599 1'59.998 37 1'59.285 1'59.285 1.232 162,367
9 7 C. CHECA ESP Hannspree Ten Kate Honda Honda CBR1000RR 2'01.409 1'59.758 38 1'59.417 1'59.417 1.364 162,188
10 84 M.FABRIZIO ITA Ducati Xerox Team Ducati 1098 F08 2'00.937 1'59.554 35 1'59.450 1'59.450 1.397 162,143
11 10 F. NIETO ESP Team Suzuki Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 2'00.307 1'59.805 41 1'59.921 1'59.921 1.868 161,506
12 96 J. SMRZ CZE Guandalini Racing by Grifo's Ducati 1098 RS 08 2'01.955 2'00.148 34 1'59.984 1'59.984 1.931 161,422
13 36 G.LAVILLA ESP Ventaxia VK Honda Honda CBR1000RR 2'01.729 2'00.438 34 2'00.095 2'00.095 2.042 161,272
14 54 K. SOFUOGLU TUR Hannspree Ten Kate Honda Jr. Honda CBR1000RR 2'03.765 2'00.292 38 2'00.313 2'00.313 2.260 160,980
15 44 R. ROLFO ITA Hannspree Honda Althea Honda CBR1000RR 2'02.004 2'00.522 38 2'01.208 2'01.208 3.155 159,791
16 86 A. BADOVINI ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 2'01.677 2'00.033 33 2'01.238 2'01.238 3.185 159,752
17 194 S. GIMBERT FRA Yamaha France Ipone GMT 94 Yamaha YZF-R1 2'00.857 2'00.554 41 2'00.554 160,658
18 31 K. MUGGERIDGE AUS D.F. Racing Honda CBR1000RR 2'01.086 2'00.607 34 2'00.607 160,588
19 94 D. CHECA ESP Yamaha France Ipone GMT 94 Yamaha YZF-R1 2'01.984 2'00.643 41 2'00.643 160,540
20 23 R. KIYONARI JPN Hannspree Ten Kate Honda Honda CBR1000RR 2'02.494 2'00.698 38 2'00.698 160,467
21 13 V. IANNUZZO ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 2'02.256 2'00.854 32 2'00.854 160,259
22 83 R. HOLLAND AUS D.F. Racing Honda CBR1000RR 2'03.006 2'00.971 38 2'00.971 160,104
23 100 M.TAMADA JPN Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse Kawasaki ZX-10R 2'04.264 2'01.303 30 2'01.303 159,666
24 22 L. MORELLI ITA Alto Evolution Honda Superbike Honda CBR1000RR 2'02.980 2'01.396 38 2'01.396 159,544
25 55 R. LACONI FRA Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse Kawasaki ZX-10R 2'02.100 2'01.429 32 2'01.429 159,501
26 38 S. NAKATOMI JPN YZF Yamaha Yamaha YZF-R1 2'03.542 2'01.675 40 2'01.675 159,178
27 88 S. AOYAMA JPN Alto Evolution Honda Superbike Honda CBR1000RR 2'03.796 2'02.059 41 2'02.059 158,677
28 77 L. NAPOLEONE FRA Grillini PBR Team Yamaha YZF-R1 2'06.363 2'05.516 31 2'05.516 154,307