After finishing regulation qualifying fourth fastest, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team rider Troy Corser could have expected to make a strong challenge for his 42nd career Superpole win, but a crash late in the pre-Superpole free practice session meant he eventually had to work with his number two machine. He finished Superpole eighth quickest, and now takes a second row start in Sunday's 23-lap Superbike races at Valencia.
Corser's team-mate Noriyuki Haga chased an optimum set-up through the practice sessions and rode hard to record a top ten Superpole finish, after qualifying only 15th in the regular sessions. The team tried several solutions to improve the overall machine set-up for both riders, during four exhausting SBK practice sessions, and will continue to work in the 20-minute warm-up session tomorrow morning.
David Checa (Yamaha GMT94) was last man into Superpole but qualified 14th on the grid, a strong result for the local rider, especially with so many officially supported machines on the Valencia entry list. Team YZF Yamaha rider Shinichi Nakatomi missed out on a Superpole ride and now starts the races from 21st place on the grid, equating to a sixth row start.
Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha GMT94) experienced a technical problem early in the timed session today that held back his progress and he finished 22nd in the ranking, although only 1.3 seconds from the pre-Superpole best time. Thirty riders qualified for the races on Sunday.
Troy Corser (8th - 1'34.492 - Yamaha Italy WSB Team)"We are just having to work harder because we were not here for the official tests like most other people. I'm not hurt after falling but I had to use my other bike for Superpole, not my number one machine. We haven't chosen a tyre for the races yet so we'll do that tomorrow."
Noriyuki Haga (10th - 1'34.770 - Yamaha Italy WSB Team)"Superpole was an improvement after qualifying, so that was good. We have found it hard to get a rear suspension set-up that stops the chattering we have right now, so we will be working on that in warm-up tomorrow. When we get the suspension setting OK we will then be able to decide which tyre will work best for the races. The engine has been strong, the engine braking system is very good, but we cannot make the most of the whole package yet."
Massimo Meregalli (Team Manager, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team)"This has been a tough qualifying and Superpole but I am always confident that we can have good results on raceday. I know our riders and I know what they can do, so that gives us all confidence. Troy had a small crash a few minutes before Superpole but he is OK and the bike was only damaged by sliding along the ground, nothing too bad. You always expect things to be tight here in qualifying, but the times are particularly close this year."
David Checa
David Checa (14th - 1'35.089 - Yamaha GMT94 Team)"I was very satisfied to get into Superpole but after trying out the qualifying tyre in free practice I thought maybe I would like to use a race tyre anyway, because there was a lot of grip and it upset the bike in a few corners. We decided to use a qualifier anyway and after the team made some clever changes it worked very well. My target was to get a 1'35.2 and we actually got a 1'35.0. For the races we should be OK but I have to think about the Le Mans Endurance race coming up soon. This is also very important for Yamaha."
Circuit Length: 4005
Temp: 22
Weather: Sunny
Superpole - WSB - Spain - Valencia:1. Max Neukirchner - Suzuki - GER 1'33.805
2. Yukio Kagayama - Suzuki - JPN 1'33.928
3. Troy Bayliss - Ducati - AUS 1'33.976
4. Ruben Xaus - Ducati - ESP 1'34.332
5. Lorenzo Lanzi - Ducati - ITA 1'34.370
6. Ryuichi Kiyonari - Honda - JPN 1'34.370
7. Carlos Checa - Honda - ESP 1'34.492
8. Troy Corser - Yamaha - AUS 1'34.613
9. Max Biaggi - Ducati - ITA 1'34.658
10. Noriyuki Haga - Yamaha - JPN 1'34.770
11. Michel Fabrizio - Ducati - ITA 1'34.799
12. Makoto Tamada - Kawasaki - JPN 1'34.930
13. Fonsi Nieto - Suzuki - ESP 1'34.959
14. David Checa - Yamaha - ESP 1'35.089
15. Regis Laconi - Kawasaki - FRA 1'35.232
Qualifying 2:
Pos. - Rider - Nat. - QUAL I - QUAL II1. Carlos Checa - ESP n/a 1'34.418
2. Max Neukirchner - GER 1'34.806 1'34.546
3. Lorenzo Lanzi - ITA 1'35.085 1'34.587
4. Troy Corser - AUS 1'35.424 1'34.607
5. Yukio Kagayama - JPN 1'34.932 1'34.762
6. Fonsi Nieto - ESP 1'35.766 1'34.922
7. Troy Bayliss - AUS 1'35.060 1'34.936
8. Michel Fabrizio - ITA 1'35.080 1'35.004
9. Ruben Xaus - ESP 1'35.892 1'35.008
10. Ryuichi Kiyonari - JPN 1'35.550 1'35.148
11. Jakub Smrz - CZE 1'35.262 1'35.193
12. Makoto Tamada - JPN 1'35.598 1'35.209
13. Regis Laconi - FRA 1'35.278 1'35.874
14. Max Biaggi - ITA 1'36.305 1'35.304
15. Noriyuki Haga - JPN 1'35.548 1'35.331
16. David Checa - ESP 1'36.066 1'35.380
21. Shinichi Nakatomi - JPN 1'36.088 1'35.703
22. Sebastien Gimbert - FRA 1'35.766 54'15.498
