World Superbike Brno: Friday (updated regularly)

July 24, 2009 by admin
Filed under 2010 Race Calendar

NEWEST AT TOP

Yamaha World Superbike

Yamaha World Superbike Team riders Ben Spies and Tom Sykes ventured out today for their first time on the Brno circuit in the Czech Republic. Both riders spent the first free practice session learning the track layout and testing out the set up of their bike in advance of the afternoon’s qualifying session. Spies showed his usual flair for understanding a circuit in record time, ending the session in third position just two tenths off the leader Max Biaggi. The afternoon’s qualifying session saw similar action as Spies dedicated the session to working out the right tyre choice for Sunday’s two races and fine tuning the set up of his R1. He ended the session in fourth, six tenths off leader Max Biaggi.

Tom Sykes worked hard today, he finished the free practice session in 21st after a frustrating session with a technical issue reducing his time on the bike. He came back out in the afternoon’s qualifying and moved up to 8th midway through the session before dropping a couple of places to 16th at the end just behind championship leader Noriyuki Haga in 15th.

Ben Spies, Yamaha World Superbike Team (4th, 2′00.558)
“It was a good session for us today. We weren’t out there to go stupid and try and get the fastest lap, I’ve been concentrating on learning the circuit and working on finding the best tyres for Sunday. I think we’ve found the ones we want, the pace seems to be really good on them so I’m happy and the bike set up is pretty much there. We tried to fit as much as possible into today’s session in the dry in case the rain comes tomorrow and I think we achieved quite a lot. Let’s see what the weather brings us tomorrow.”

Tom Sykes, Yamaha World Superbike Team (16th, 2′01.070)
“The first session of the day wasn’t that great, we had a few problems and I missed some valuable time on track which isn’t ideal as I’m still trying to learn the circuit. For the second session we made some improvements and tried a couple of tyres out. We tried some different settings and I think I found a good rhythm but it was towards the end of the session so not enough time to put on a fresh tyre and make a better time. We’ll only get stronger so we’ll see what happens tomorrow. Weather permitting tomorrow the aim is to improve dramatically on lap times for a good two races Sunday.”

Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager
“For the first day of learning the circuit I think we did well today. We found a pretty good race pace for both riders and I think we now know which tyres we want for Sunday. I think it is possibly going to rain tomorrow so it was important for us to get some good dry time on the track today to get as much data as possible for the set up for Sunday.”

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Stiggy Racing Honda Superbike

The American–who missed out 8 races due to an injury–concluded a two-day test with his teammate Leon Haslam at the Czech track two weeks ago and used the collected data to clock the second fastest time of 2′01.399s.

Hopkins took another 0.4s off his earlier result in the first qualifying practice, but crashed out after a tyre change in the ultimate minutes of the session while pushing for his fastest lap.

Haslam struggled to find the right suspension set-up for his machine in the first session, but opened things up in the 60-minute qualifying practice. The Englishman–who claimed a podium in the last event at Donington–closed the first day of qualifying in 18th place.

John Hopkins – 2′01.021s:
“In the first session I was struggling a lot with the chattering of the bike. Right at the end we tried something different and then made a big improvement on the set-up and were able to go almost two-seconds quicker as I was able to run it through the corners better and hold the corner speed. We tried a new tyre towards the end of the qualifying session, but as I was trying to set a decent lap time I lost the front in one of the slower corners and had a small crash.”

Leon Haslam – 2′01.403s:
“I made some progress from this morning. I really struggled in the free practice session, we had a problem with one bike and the other bike was not set up the right way for the conditions at this circuit. We made some progress on the set-up and I have been able to ride at a pretty consistent pace, but we still need to find another second tomorrow and improve the lap times.”

Johan Stigefelt – Team Manager:
“John started off really well today and immediately felt comfortable on the bike. We tried some different settings on both bikes and made progress through both sessions. John had a small crash this afternoon on his fastest lap, but he is very confident on his potential and to further improve tomorrow. Leon is working hard on finding his set-up on this track. We tested here a couple of weeks ago, but we still need to utilise the test settings. We will analyse the data tonight to see where we can make the improvements. It is a suspension problem more than anything else, and we will just have to work out how to solve it.”

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Ducati Xerox

Brno (Czech Republic), Friday 24th July 2009: the tenth round of the World Superbike Championship got underway today at the Czech circuit of Brno and Ducati Xerox rider Michel Fabrizio immediately got to business, concluding first qualifying in second place.

Last week Michel participated in the official Infront Motor Sports test session at Imola and was the most consistently fast of the Superbike riders. He vowed, at the conclusion of those tests, to do all he can to replicate his performance there during each of the remaining race weekends, and in today’s early afternoon practice session Michel got straight down to the task in hand. Immediately one of the fastest, Michel concluded the hour-long circuit in third place, on the Brno track that he cites as perhaps his favourite of all the international Superbike circuits. Team-mate Noriyuki, working to improve traction and feeling with the front of his Ducati 1198, finished eighteenth. Having not ridden since the crash at Donington Park nearly a month ago, which left him with fractures to his right ulna and left scapula, Nitro-Nori got back in the hot seat today and, perhaps not surprisingly, suffered from severe muscle ache in his left upper-arm. The team’s physiotherapist Leigh “Rok” Bryan commented that a certain degree of muscle ache is to be expected as Haga has not been able to use the left arm and shoulder to any great degree in the last few weeks.

In the afternoon qualifying session Noriyuki’s physical condition evidently slowed his progress, as the discomfort caused by his scapula meant that he was tiring easily and having difficulty braking. Despite not having any real issues with his 1198, it was this injury that hindered the rider and Haga concluded today’s proceedings in fifteenth place. Michel meanwhile made steady progress and was at the top of the timesheets for almost the entire session before fellow Roman Max Biaggi made a flying lap in the final minute, recording a fastest time less than a tenth of a second quicker than Michel. Times were very close this afternoon and it is worth noting that, Nori’s best time was less than a second off Michel’s pace.

Michel Fabrizio 2m00.0s
“I’ve made a good start. Max just beat me to the fastest time in the last minute but we expected him to be going well having testing here recently. I’m feeling fairly confident with the set-up of the bike and the tyres for Sunday will be the same that we used here last year I think so we’re sorted there. It should be a good race day as we’ve seen a variety of riders going strong in today’s two sessions; the more, the merrier I say!”

Noriyuki Haga 2m01.0s
“I have been gritting my teeth today to be honest. It’s the first time I’ve fractured my scapula and I hope to never do it again. It’s very painful, mainly when braking and so I’m losing time through every corner as it’s hard work changing direction. Having said that, this is without any painkillers so maybe I’ll think about taking some for the races. There are no real problems with the bike, just with the rider. Tomorrow we’ll see what we can do to modify the bike in order to facilitate braking.”

TIMES: 1. Biaggi (Aprilia) 1m59.9s; 2. Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) 2m00.0s; 3. Checa (Honda) 2m00.2s; 4. Spies (Yamaha) 2m00.5s; 5. Lanzi (Ducati) 2m00.5s; 6. Corser (BMW) 2m00.6s…. 15. Haga (Ducati Xerox) 2m01.0s

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Stiggy Racing Honda Supersport

After a successful two-day test at the Czech track two weeks ago, both Anthony West and Gianluca Vizziello put the performance of their updated engine parts into practice in the 60-minute free session on Friday afternoon.

The first free practice was led by Cal Crutchlow, who snuffed the fastest time of 2′02.334s and build up a lead of nearly 1.4s on his nearest rival.

Anthony West finished the first day in the sixth best time of 2′04.332s, closely followed by Gianluca Vizziello, who set the ninth fastest time at 2′04.646s.

Anthony West – 2′04.332s:
“I feel a lot better now than I did when we were testing here two weeks ago. We got some new parts for the bike and they seem to work well. I am happy with the results of the first session. I could have gone faster, but I got held up by some slower guys that were in my way. I am confident we can lower the lap times tomorrow.”

Gianluca Vizziello – 2′04.646s:
“I am very pleased with the new engine we have used here today. I have concentrated on getting to grips with the machine as it is a lot stronger. There is a lot of potential in this machine. I had some issues with the grip here and my bike kept on sliding, but I am sure we can make another step forward with the set-up in tomorrow’s second practice. I managed to take a second off the fastest time I set here during our two-day test. It will be interesting to see how much more we can take off.”

Johan Stigefelt – Team Manager:
“It looks good for us here at Brno. It has been one of the best Supersport practice sessions we have done so far this season. We have used the information gathered in the recent test at this track and have made some important progress already. We need to make some further steps in the next session’s, but today results are very promising. Both riders are satisfied with their machines and confident they can further improve tomorrow.”