Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Brief [y... Bagliss The Sublime Ducati Xerox's Troy Bayliss earned the right to start the two PhilliP lsland races from pole position after a stunning Superpole ride, setting a new Superpole best of I :32.159. He had earlier broken a seven-year-old lap record, with a l:32.081 in the second untimed qualifying session. ln fact, Bayliss was on top of ever/ previous timed outinS. "lt's very nice to be on pole back here at Phillip lsland, at the moment I'm having a bit of a dream run," Bayliss said. "Everything's gone well today, my lap was good enough to take pole, but honestly I thought I was going to do a liftle bit better. lt wat messy and I had my feet in the wrong place in a few spots, but l'm haPPy. I'm not kidding myseli however, because I realize how hard tomorrow is going to be - with Nvo long races and plenty of heat out there. I really need to get a good start if I want to try and do something special, but Phillip lsland makes for Sreat racing and it tends to bring the top few guys toSether and you end up having a race and then it Sets sort- ed out at about two-thirds distance.'' Alstare Corona Extra Suzuki's Troy Corser struggled against a spinning rear on the latter part of his Superpole lap, but nonetheless set an impressive I :32,373. Winston Ten Kate Honda's James Toseland put in a l:33.003 in Superpole, which placed him third fastest. The last spot on the front row could not have been a more popular choice for the legions of Aussie fans in attendance, as Steve Martin secured a Prime piece of start-line real estate with the fourth fastest Superpole lap. His Petronas teammate, Englishman Craig Jones, was in the l:35 bracket, qualifying three from bottom - in 26th. Klaff Honda's Alex Barros was clearly enjoyinS his new SuPerbike career and set flfth fastest time in only his second World Superbike event. His Honda may not be the fastest yet, but he is using every one of his 20 years of racing experience to sum- mon up every horsepower available. "The conditions were perfect," Barros said. "l like the hot and sunny weather very much. And there are no guss of wind from the sea which can complicate things here. But beside this, we took a big step forward since Qatar. We have a very good setting for the race tomorrow. lstart from the second row - not so bad at ail. [roy] Bayliss and ffroy] Corser are in front and they are fast, but it is not impossible to catch them!" After a disappointing first day, Toseland's teammate Karl l'lu8geridge improved to sixth after Superpole, while fellow Aussie Andrew Pin Cfamaha lvlotor ltalia) and Pitt's teammate Noriyuki Haga finished off the second row of the grid. HaSa dropped time in Superpole, having been third fastest in regulation qualifyinS. The tough midfield in World Superbike this season was perfectly characterized by the results of the Superpole baftle, with not only four different tyPes of machine on row one, but four different types on row three. lt was headed up, after Superpole, by Ducati Xerox rider Lorenzo Lanzi, who was only l5th in regulation qualifyinS. ln l0th place overall, Chris Walker's PSG-l Kawasaki was the fastest ZX-loR on dis- play. DFX Honda's Pier-Francesco Chili was I lth, with his fastest laP on qualifiers, and despite a hairy moment when Yukio Kagayama ran off track on the exit of Siberia, he stayed upriSht to take I 2th place, linishing off row three. Con inued lrom pdge 27 Carl Foga.ty and Troy Corser, ensured that the records not only went, but were set, io high. With less grip from the track every year since, some thought the 1999 record (l:32.193) would onty go after a similar re- surface, but Bayliss, on qualifiers in Super- pole, would set the nerv best of l:32.159. The Iirst few sessions at Phillip lsland sta.ted relatively slowly, as the track surface, slightly green and dirty, took time to clean up. Wheh it got exceptionally hot in the a.fiemoon, some teams, notably the PSG- I Kawasaki trio once more, experienced front-8rip duration problems. Host expected better conditions on day two, but some teams, notabb/ the Ten (ate setup, believed that grip on day tyvo was a little reduced. Such was the reason why Sebastien Charpenti€r believed he could not break the track record in the World Supersport class. lt seems more likely that it was simply the fact that with no manufactur- e6'trre war anymore, rhe last true qualifying tires rn Supersport were available in 2003 . the year Chris Vermeulen set a best of l:15.291- The best Charpentier could man- age was l:35.615. Troy Cors€r looked to have run out of gas on Friday, when it appe.red that he missed two signals from his pit-lane crew !o retum to the pits. He was seen limping in soon thereaft€r, apolo'gizing to his crew, having had his head lirmly inside the bubble while goin8 for a faster time than Bayliss, losh Brooker took drastic action on Friday eveninS in an effort give his Ducati 749 rnore rcar traclion and suspension movernent. He look his rear shock to a bike specialist in Cranboume, and got the suspension valves and adius[men! orifices drilled larSer - to Sive more oilllow. He would qualify | 3th. Yukio K.gayama iuffered a revere high- speed highside crash on Saturday after tap- ping on the power a little too quickly wfiile right in front of Lorenzo bnzi, He would suwive largely unstathed, but sat out some track time to 8et his b€arings back again. ln what would be a disappointing weekend, he qualified only l2th. This ,,ear's Troy Corser comedy theme for his home round with Crocodile Man, a cat- toon pamphlet and CD depicting him as a green-skinned Superhero, in a reptilian Cap- tain America style. Branded a product of Corcer Comics, it followr on from a lorE line of such multimedia stunts, the most memo- rable one depicting him in the role of Brad Pitt in a take o{f of th€ movie Iro},,. As if it were not bad enough that Troy Bayliss was on top in each session, and the only man to break the old Troy Corser tmck record, he also set a I :33.8 after 20

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