Troy Corser put in an excellent performance in today's Superpole to take the 40th pole of his WSB career, and Yamaha's third of the season, while his team mate Noriyuki Haga will start third on the grid in tomorrow's races. In this morning's qualifying session Corser and Bayliss fought an entertaining battle with the duo swapping between first and second place throughout. Corser was the first rider to break into the 1'35 lap times this weekend, matching his best time from last months test here, but Bayliss quickly followed suit to retain first place. Haga spent qualifying searching for his best race setting and took a second off his best time from yesterday to finish in seventh.
Haga was the first of the Yamaha Motor Italia team mates to go out in the Superpole session and he posted a 1'35.458 to go top of the leader board in front of Toseland. It was when Corser came out and achieved the first 1'34 lap time at the new Misano circuit that Haga was knocked down into second place. Bayliss, the last rider out, was unable to beat Corser's time and slid into second between the two Yamaha riders.
Corser goes into tomorrow's race with 13 podiums to his name at Misano. If he climbs the podium twice more tomorrow he will match the all-time record of the highest number of podiums achieved at a single circuit. The current holder of this record is Carl Fogarty with 15 podiums at Assen.
Shinichi Nakatomi made good progress in this morning's qualifying session to improve his time by almost two seconds. He qualified in 15th position, giving him his second chance of the season at Superpole. He was second out and put in a solid ride to move up a place on the starting grid to 14th.
Troy Corser (1st - 1'34.948 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team)
"It is good to finally get my fortieth pole; I haven't been consciously chasing it but we've been so close over so many race weekends that it was starting to seem a bit elusive. I'm really happy with the bike; we've got it working well and we've also found a good race tyre for this circuit. Because I had concerns yesterday with tyre life in this heat I did a long run in this morning's session to reassure myself and it seems fine. Tomorrow is going to be a tough race. It's going to be tough on the tyres because of the heat. I like the track with the new direction though. It's technically more challenging but that's good. I'm just really pleased with how the day has gone, from practice to Superpole."
Noriyuki Haga (3rd - 1'35.458 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team)
"Today has been okay for me, not perfect though. Superpole went okay but I haven't yet found the right set-up for tomorrow. This evening I need to think more about my suspension settings as I made some changes and it hasn't fully worked. The hot weather conditions only leave me with one tyre option really but I am happy to be on the front row as I know I can make a good start."
Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team)
"We are on the front row with both troy and Nori, which is a really good result for us as well as the riders. We still have a bit of work to do, especially on Nori's side but we are ready for a good battle tomorrow."
Shinichi Nakatomi (14th - 1'37.646 - Team Yamaha YZF)
"I'm very happy with my qualifying result for today. It felt good to take part in Superpole and I am pleased I was able to make up one starting place. It is very hot here but I am getting to know the circuit quite well. I hope I can do well in the races tomorrow for my team."
Circuit Length: 4060
Temp: 31
Weather: Dry
Superpole - WSB Misano:
1. Troy Corser - Yamaha - AUS 1'34.948
2. Troy Bayliss - Ducati - AUS 1'35.104
3. Noriyuki Haga - Yamaha - JPN 1'35.458
4. James Toseland - Honda - GBR 1'35.572
5. Max Biaggi - Suzuki - ITA 1'35.578
6. Lorenzo Lanzi - Ducati- ITA 1'36.026
7. Ruben Xaus - Ducati - ESP 1'36.131
8. Yukio Kagayama -Suzuki- JPN 1'36.206
9. Roberto Rolfo - Honda - ITA 1'36.489
10. Max Neukirchner - Suzuki - GER 1'36.548
11. Regis Laconi - Kawasaki - FRA 1'36.661
12. Michel Fabrizio - Honda - ITA 1'37.141
13. Marco Borciani - Ducati - ITA 1'37.535
14. Shinichi Nakatomi - Yamaha - JPN 1'37.646
15 .Fonsi Nieto - Kawasaki - ESP 1'37.914
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