James Toseland proved that all the pre-race work in getting the qualifying set-up of his CBR1000RR optimised around Misano had paid dividends, taking the Superpole win and putting himself in the prime position for Sunday’s two 25-lap races. It was his first Superpole win since joining the Winston Ten Kate Honda Team this season. His time of 1’33.833 was the best time of any weekend official qualifying session, despite the hot and slippery track surface. Having qualified eighth in regulation, Toseland rode superbly to top the sheets and look on as rider after rider failed to match his peerless best. Joining Toseland on the front row will be Aussies Troy Corser, Andrew Pitt and Steve Martin.
Karl Muggeridge had an opposite experience to Toseland, having spent much of his set-up time working with worn tyres, and finding his machine’s settings upset somewhat when he adopted fresh rubber, and attempted to set individual fast laps. He starts the race from the fifth row, having set 20th fastest time, missing out on Superpole qualification. Muggeridge’s artificially low grid position will be a major initial handicap on raceday but the team is confident that his race set-up should allow him to make up places throughout the race itself.
Ronald Ten Kate - Team Manager“Quite a stunning lap from James. We haven’t seen him quite on the pace all weekend, even on race tyres. But after the Silverstone experience, where we only qualified 14th, we realised how important it is, especially during the hot conditions, to start at the front. We had a good strategy in free practice, to make the bike and James ready for Superpole. He made a truly super lap out of it, so I am looking forward to tomorrow. I know that James is in very good physical shape and this has been a nice boost in motivation to all of us. On the other side of the garage it is almost an opposite situation. Karl didn’t make Superpole, which is very strange. But in free practice before Superpole he showed that he had found his feet again, so I know he will race hard tomorrow and I am sure he will give 100% to bring in a strong result.”
James Toseland – (Pole Position – Fastest lap time 1’33.833)“It was important for us to set a fast lap time, and for me especially as I have some of my family here for this weekend. The Winston Ten Kate Honda bike is always fast and the team worked really well. I am very well prepared for tomorrow and need to make a good start. I’m happy to be on pole and I love the track here at Misano. It’s been three years since my last pole position, at Magny Cours. I’m looking forward to tomorrow but I know it will be hard work out there.”
Karl Muggeridge – (20th position – Fastest lap time 1’35.864) “Our plans all went pear-shaped this morning. We jumped from one bike to another bike, then jumped back again. Too many things to change and we ended up with no tyres as well. Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong so it’s going to be a tough race tomorrow, extra hot, and it’s not particularly easy to overtake here. But you can, and I am going to have to, at just about every corner. So we just have to concentrate on our settings for tomorrow in warm-up.”
Superpole:1. Toseland - Winston Ten Kate Honda - 1'33.833
2. Corser - Suzuki - 1'33.866
3. Pitt - Yamaha - 1'34.031
4. Martin - Petronas - 1'34.178
5. Walker - Kawasaki - 1'34.472
20. Muggeridge - Winston Ten Kate Honda - 1'35.864
Related Linkswww.tenkateracing.com
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