Noriyuki Haga grabbed his third consecutive front row start after taking second place in today's grid deciding superpole session at Assen. The Yamaha Motor Italia star put in his fastest lap of the weekend on his superpole lap, boosting him up three places from his position at the end of regular qualifying.
As always, Haga spent the day's two hour-long sessions working on finding a good set-up for tomorrow's 22-lap races. With his mechanics he was able to solve the tyre chatter problems that plagued him in Friday's practice and qualifying sessions. Team-mate Pitt was the biggest winner in superpole, elevating himself from 13th to eighth after setting his quickest lap of the weekend. The Australian has struggled to find a good set-up for the restyled Assen circuit this weekend, but finally made big progress in the afternoon's free practice session.
Yamaha Motor France's trio of riders were typically close in qualifying, with just three-tenths of a second separating them after the two one hour sessions. Frenchman Sebastien Gimbert was the fastest of the three. He qualifyed for superpole in 12th place but was marginally slower on his grid deciding lap, pushing him back to 15th position on tomorrow's grid. Team-mate Shinichi Nakatomi will line up alongside Gimbert after making the cut for superpole on his Dutch debut. The former Japanese 250cc champion cut over two seconds from his Friday time as his knowledge of the circuit improved although, like Gimbert, he was unable to up his pace on the sticky superpole tyre and was unable to advance up the grid. Norick Abe just missed the cut on the third Yamaha Motor France-entered YZF-R1 and will start from 18th position.
Pole position for tomorrow's race goes to defending champion Troy Corser (Suzuki), with Haga, Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki) and series leader Troy Bayliss (Ducati) completing the front row. Weather forecasts suggest a high chance of rain showers throughout the day, which could affect the races on a weekend when all track time has been in dry conditions.
Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia)"We made some big improvements today and the feeling with the suspension is now very good. For tomorrow we will make some final changes and finish testing some tyres. If it rains then that will also change the situation. Anyway, it is important to make a good start here so I am happy to be on the front row. We'll try to make the extra changes and then we must see what happens tomorrow."
Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) "We found a little problem with the bike and were able to make the bike better and more consistent. I was third fastest on the race tyre and although my superpole lap felt pretty good it was close but not close enough. Tomorrow's race is going to be tough and the last few laps are sure to be interesting!"
Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France) "We have done a good job today although I was a little disappointed to lose some places on my superpole lap. I think that we're in good shape for the races and I hope we can get some good results."
Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France)"I was very pleased to make such a big improvement today. We made a few changes but mostly the improvement was down to me learning the track better. I'm looking forward to the races tomorrow and hope that we can get some good points in both races."
Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France)"We've been working step-by-step to improve the bike and get the bike set up for the races. There is a very grippy surface here and we haven't had the same lack of traction that we've had at the last few races, it's just a case of making some small improvements. I know that there is a chance of rain tomorrow but I really hope that it stays dry."
Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia)"Both the riders did an improvment today and there are still some things to try for tomorrow and will do some more tests with the tyres. I'm quite positive tonight but we have to wait until tomorrow as it may be wet. We want it to be dry because you just never know what will happen in wet."
Circuit Length: 4555
Temp: 20
Weather:Dry
Superpole 2006 WSB Assen 02/09/2006: 1 Troy Corser Suzuki AUS 1'38.965
2 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'39.009
3 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1'39.176
4 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'39.304
5 Alex Barros Honda BRA 1'39.419
6 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 1'39.543
7 James Toseland Honda GBR 1'39.565
8 Andrew Pitt Yamaha AUS 1'39.758
9 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 1'39.958
10 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 1'40.149
11 Steve Martin Petronas AUS 1'40.251
12 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 1'40.264
13 Chris Walker Kawasaki GBR 1'40.388
14 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 1'40.503
15 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 1'40.585
16 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 1'40.742
Qualifying 2: 1 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 1'40.171
2 Chris Walker Kawasaki GBR 1'40.191
3 James Toseland Honda GBR 1'40.242
4 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 1'40.380
5 Andrew Pitt Yamaha AUS 1'40.397
6 Alex Barros Honda BRA 1'40.415
7 Steve Martin Petronas AUS 1'40.458
8 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 1'40.467
9 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 1'40.518
10 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 1'40.534
11 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1'40.567
12 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'40.612
13 Norick Abe Yamaha JPN 1'40.671
14 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 1'40.746
15 Troy Corser Suzuki AUS 1'40.837
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